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JAPAN
Sep 6, 2002

State set to delay deposit guarantee cap

The government may delay the April 1 imposition of a 10 million yen cap on refund guarantees for ordinary bank and other liquid deposits until financial institutions are fully prepared to introduce new, settlement-specific bank accounts, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda indicated Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Sep 4, 2002

X Japan pianist/drummer is now a global commodity

If you've walked by the Laforet building in Harajuku recently, you might have noticed a huge banner that draped the structure's exterior featuring a masked character, looking something like a pro wrestler, poking his head out of what appears to be a body of water.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2002

Panel formalizes road-firm privatization report

A key government panel on Friday formalized an interim report on ways to privatize four road-related public corporations, proposing to freeze a number of pending highway projects and minimize the financial burden on taxpayers.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2002

Artist hopes bird nest display in N.Y. inspires

Award-winning Japanese artist Mamoru Suzuki, who has collected more than 400 birds' nests from around the world, will hold an exhibition between Sept. 5 and Sept. 28 in New York to share what he considers to be nature's architectural wonders.
COMMENTARY
Aug 27, 2002

Build alternative to Yasukuni

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine in April inflamed Beijing, casting a chill on Japan-China relations. The row forced Koizumi to cancel a visit to Beijing he had planned for this fall to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-China diplomatic relations....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2002

Panel calls for separate entity to manage road firm liabilities

An independent entity should be set up to manage the liabilities and assets of four debt-saddled expressway firms, a government panel discussing the privatization of the companies said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2002

Don't wait for the meltdown

Brazil is hurtling toward an economic crisis that has little to do with whether a leftist gets elected president in October or the size of its standby credit announced Aug. 7 with the International Monetary Fund.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2002

PNG's founding father back at the helm

SYDNEY — It's back to the future for Papua New Guinea. Only this time round the friends of the young, troubled South Pacific nation are hoping it's not a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2002

Beijing forcing Chen to take own road

NEW YORK -- Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's posture toward China has undergone a significant change recently -- from showing infinite good will to proclaiming that Taiwan is an independent sovereign state and that Taiwan's future should be determined by the people of Taiwan. He now supports legislation...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 11, 2002

Book industry cries murder

Although everyone agrees that the Japanese publishing industry is in trouble, there is less consensus as to the causes. Book and magazine sales have been declining for five years and book revenues for last year were at roughly the same level as a decade earlier; indeed, some say that if it were not for...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2002

Bank notes to get high-tech makeover

The government will start replacing 10,000 yen, 5,000 yen and 1,000 yen bills with new notes that include sophisticated features to beat counterfeiters as early as April 2004, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa announced Friday.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 1, 2002

Isles trampled in white elephant stampede

Japan's islands have long been a source of tearful TV documentaries that focus on aging populations and families abandoned by children who have left for the cities.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Watered-down postal services legislation becomes law

The Diet enacted into law Wednesday a legislative package that will turn the Postal Services Agency into a government-run corporation and allow private firms to enter the mail delivery market.
COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2002

Terrorism exacts a high price

HONOLULU -- The war on terrorism will be with us for a long time; honest observers admit the fight will never end. New technologies have permanently altered the balance of power between states and individuals. It is just too easy to commit terrorist acts. The rising number of incidents and the increasing...
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Jul 12, 2002

Traditional industries adapting to stay afloat

KYOTO -- Tango Orimono Kogyo Kumiai, an association encompassing the traditional textile industry in Kyoto's Tango district, has tasted success with its foray into the skin-care products sector.
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2002

Honda to export cars from China

The president of Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday his company will set up a joint manufacturing plant in the Chinese coastal city of Guangzhou to produce and export small cars to the rest of Asia, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2002

Labour spinning backward

LONDON -- When its press becomes the story, a country is in a strange shape.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2002

Breeze of de-escalation blows in Kashmir

MADRAS, India -- Maybe the world is breathing easier now. There will probably not be a nuclear conflict between the two long warring Asian rivals, India and Pakistan. There are distinct signs of de-escalation between their armies, which have stood in a defiant eye-to-eye confrontation for several months....
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2002

Look for Japan to narrow gap in IT race

Can Japan catch up with the United States in information technology? The mere suggestion sounds preposterous, given the current climate of American triumphalism and Japanese gloom. Yet we should recall that not too long ago the U.S. and Japan were both declaring Japan's victory in the high-technology...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2002

Australia tightens net against illegal aliens

SYDNEY -- Now that the monsoon season is over, the huddled masses of Asia's worst conflict areas, notably Afghanistan and Iraq, are again looking abroad for refuge. As in past years, they see a big, empty island on the map and steer southeast. Unfortunately for them, the folks already here have other...
COMMENTARY
Jun 15, 2002

Russia looks both East and West, for now

HONG KONG -- Last July, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin, solemnly signed a landmark Treaty on Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation that was little short of a military alliance. Shortly before that, the two countries, together with Kazakstan, Tajikistan,...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 6, 2002

Don't go making a monkey of yourself, man

Monkey, primate, ape; the terms slip so easily off the tongue, but just what do they mean, and how do they differ? And what does it mean to talk of New World and Old World monkeys?
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jun 6, 2002

Lessons learned from E3 gathering

Few people could have been happier to see the end to this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) than Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 5, 2002

Raw power

The singer's name is Baba and he's the Japanese Iggy Pop -- when he was young and spritely. Baba's just smashed his head into a speaker, and blood from his nose splashes over the kids spilling onto the stage at a packed Shinjuku live house. In return, they offer him a similar rock 'n' roll sacrament...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 2, 2002

Still tastes like Shonen spirit

Raspberry rock? Pineapple pop? Just plain old vanilla? Osaka-based all-girl band Shonen Knife -- age 21 this year -- haven't been flavor of the month for many a moon.
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2002

An opportunity for peace in Indo-Pakistani faceoff

Once again, India and Pakistan are drifting toward war. New Delhi and Islamabad could, however, convert the present crisis into an opportunity to work toward a genuine peace.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 29, 2002

Top business lobbies tie knot, hope to better sway politics

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) and the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (Nikkeiren) merged Tuesday to become the Japan Business Federation, hoping the more powerful business lobby can wield greater influence over government policies.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 27, 2002

Downtown Detroit gets face-lift

DETROIT -- Downtown Detroit is trying another tactic to revive its glory days.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 15, 2002

Koto moves to stem resident boom

As many areas of central Tokyo try to woo new residents, Koto Ward is taking the opposite tack and virtually begging developers to stop constructing new apartment complexes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 15, 2002

Offspring of poetry's artistic polygamy

Several events this month platform the spoken and written words in new combinations: An exhibition of Japanese and French "visual poetry" opens May 15; poetry marries improvisational live jazz and shakuhachi performance; and a book launch for an anthology of new writing offers readings, music and dance....

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo