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JAPAN
Aug 2, 2001

DisneySea set for September grand opening

URAYASU, Chiba Pref. -- Tokyo DisneySea, the latest addition to the Disney amusement kingdom, entertained the media Wednesday ahead of a public opening set for Sept. 4.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 2, 2001

Salt tolerance and life's dispersal derby

Salt is an interesting mineral. We all need it. It is crucial to the operation of the cells that make up our bodies.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 2, 2001

You say Frankenfruit, we say miracle tomato

Prince Charles played into the hands of the sensation-seeking media -- and drew the groans of scientists -- with his comments last year on genetically modified crops. They are, he said, "Frankenstein foods." Rather than genetic manipulation, he urged investment in "traditional systems of agriculture."...
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2001

Experts to join Ehime Maru team

Japan will send two shipbuilding experts to observe the salvage of the Ehime Maru, a Japanese vessel that sank off Hawaii in February after being struck by a U.S. Navy submarine, government officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2001

Commuters fume over train temperatures

Frustration levels are running high among train and subway commuters amid a spell of uncomfortably hot weather this summer, driving many to demand cooler trains.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2001

Tanaka, Fukuda feud over top diplomats

A tug of war continued Wednesday over whether the nation's top diplomats would be removed, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda warning Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka that a prolonged stalemate could damage national interests.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2001

Vanity stamps on offer at Tokyo exhibition

Visitors to a weeklong stamp exhibit that began Wednesday in Tokyo can have their photo printed on a stamp sheet, postal services officials said.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2001

Major Indian software services firm turns gaze toward Japan

The economic slowdown in the United States is pushing a major Indian software services company to diversify into the Japanese market, said Vivek Paul, president of Wipro Technologies.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Aug 2, 2001

From old Edo to South Park

www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/flashback/0009/ National Geographic has been running a flashback series highlighting its rich photographic history. Here's the September 2000 peek-to-the-past: a Hadaka Matsui feat at Saidaiji Temple in Okayama just after World War II. The photographer's flash provided...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2001

A samurai flick for the MTV generation

Red Shadow Aka Kage Rating: * * 1/2 Director: Hiroyuki Nakano Running time: 108 minutes Language: JapaneseOpens Aug. 11 at Marunouchi Toei and other theaters Silent-era samurai movies fulfilled the same function as the westerns of W.S. Hart and Tom Mix: They entertained the common herd, particularly...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 1, 2001

American talking the talk down in Hiroshima

Most interpreters working for Japanese baseball teams are Japanese. Though there has been a need for translators in a variety of languages in recent years as the suketto (foreign "helpers") hired by Central and Pacific League teams have come from various countries, most of the men hired to change Nihongo...
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Shiokawa set to cut public works 10%

Five Cabinet members spoke out Tuesday on economic matters, with two, including Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa, calling for a reduction in public works for fiscal 2002, and the others discussing the need for a supplemental budget for the current fiscal year.
BUSINESS
Aug 1, 2001

Salaried households spent less in June

Households whose breadwinners work for companies spent less in June than a year before, the third straight month of decline and despite the first pickup in income in seven months, the government said in a preliminary report released Tuesday.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2001

There's 'cheerleader angst'

Bring It On Rating: * * * Director: Peyton Reed Running time: 98 minutes Language: EnglishNow showing Thank you, O Lord. Such was my reaction after viewing "Bring It On," a bouncing-with-exuberance tale of high school cheerleaders. Hey, where are you going? Don't put down the paper just because...
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Bath salt vendors flout norm, chase smell of success

OSAKA -- The Japanese affinity with hot spring resorts has long provided a market for firms selling bathing salts containing various minerals and ingredients.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Matsuo admits embezzlement

The Foreign Ministry's former head of logistics for VIP trips abroad pleaded guilty in court Tuesday to defrauding the government out of some 161 million yen by padding expenses of overseas visits by two former prime ministers between 1997 and 1999.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2001

. . . And then there's angst

Ghost World Rating: * * * * 1/4 Director: Terry Zwigoff Running time: 111 minutes Language: EnglishNow showing If you're lucky, you made it all the way through high school as one of the in-group, one of the "normal" kids. The next least-bad fate was to not fit in, but remain convinced that somehow...
BUSINESS
Aug 1, 2001

Honda profit up 45.1% in first quarter

Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday its consolidated operating profit for the April-June quarter jumped 45.1 percent from the same period a year earlier to 151.45 billion yen.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Prize-winning ninja novelist Futaro Yamada dies at 79

Futaro Yamada, whose unique, romantic and exciting ninja novels sent tidal waves through the Japanese literary world, died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital Saturday, his family said Tuesday. He was 79.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Aug 1, 2001

Poll victory not enough to convince market

Despite the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's victory in Sunday's Upper House election, the yen remains under downward pressure.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 1, 2001

Mario A's walking, talking, breathing, living doll

A new photography book titled "ma poupee japonaise" arrived in the post the other day, sent by German-Italian artist Mario A. After skimming through pictures of an apparently life-sized wooden doll posed mostly unclothed in a variety of private and public places, I uploaded a brief note about the publication...
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Elderly seen warming to overseas home-stays

Yujiro Hamada, 77, is typical of a rising number of middle-aged and elderly Japanese who have rejected more common overseas package tours in favor of extended stays abroad.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years