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Japan Times
Events
Feb 19, 2002

Gene study sheds light on Alzheimer's disease

OSAKA -- Researchers at Osaka University have announced a breakthrough in determining the cause of Alzheimer's disease, raising hopes for improvements in the treatment of the currently incurable ailment that reportedly affects 1 million Japanese aged over 65.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 19, 2002

Back to nature on Yakushima Island

If you live in urban Japan, probably the only sky you see is sliced up by powerlines; trees grow in tiny parks hemmed in by concrete buildings and polluted expressways. Whatever happened to Japan's traditional love of nature?
EDITORIALS
Feb 18, 2002

The danger of a triple sell-off

Financial markets continue to send warning signals about Japan's economy. The most worrying is the possibility of a "triple fall" in shares, securities and yen rates. Investors here and abroad, increasingly nervous about the risk of holding Japanese assets, are selling off their holdings.
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2002

Open food-supply system needed

Five months have passed since the first case of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) was confirmed in Japan. The use of meat and bone meal, which is suspected to have transmitted the disease, has been banned, and testing for all cows has been introduced. But Japanese livestock farmers,...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2002

Official in mad cow scandal declined meat industry job

A former top farm ministry bureaucrat blamed for the outbreak of mad cow disease had been scheduled to take a post at a meat-industry organization but later declined the position, ministry officials confirmed Saturday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 17, 2002

Grow up, get over it or get done

Several weeks ago, Goro Inagaki, the quiet member of SMAP who for three months excluded himself from the group's activities as penance for a traffic violation, returned to showbiz with considerable fanfare.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Feb 17, 2002

Mmmm . . . tastes like crab

In virtually every cuisine on the planet, there are attempts to dress food up and make it look like something it isn't. Whether it's a classical Chinese cook carving vegetables to make them look like a phoenix, or a French chef twisting his bread dough to resemble a lobster, food often appears in costume....
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2002

Lawmakers plan antismoking league

Diet lawmakers are preparing to launch a nonpartisan antismoking league to cut health hazards and medical costs associated with tobacco, according to organizers.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2002

How safe will bank accounts be after March 31?

On April 1, the full guarantee on bank deposits will expire, and you owe it to yourself to make sure your savings are not at risk. Here are some frequently asked questions about what happens if a bank fails after March 31:
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2002

Investors swap stocks, MMFs for gold

Japanese individual investors are increasingly shying away from financial products with potential risk, especially after the sudden collapse of U.S. energy giant Enron Corp. dealt a severe blow to popular money management funds.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2002

G7 view of reform plans turns skeptical

Although the weakened yen did not come up for discussion at the latest meeting of finance leaders from the Group of Seven nations, Japan's planned economic measures met with skepticism.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2002

BOJ not planning to raise long-term bond purchases

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Wednesday there is no immediate need to increase the central bank's outright purchases of long-term government bonds to boost liquidity in the money market.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2002

Antideflation steps to be devised

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday formally instructed his Cabinet ministers in charge of the economy to compile a comprehensive package of antideflation measures, following the launch Tuesday of such discussions by a key government policy panel.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2002

Northwest expansion on track despite Sept. 11

The business expansion plans of Northwest Airlines tied to the opening of a new runway at Narita airport and a new terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport have been largely unaffected by the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a Tokyo-based executive of the airline.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 13, 2002

A traveler possessed by light

Part of the game of art nowadays is for artists, whatever their influence or orientation, to avoid classification. Once this happens, their work often devolves into well-worm cultural cliche. One 20th-century artist who escaped this process, though, was Paul Klee (1879- 1940), whose work is as hard to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Feb 13, 2002

An art collector's dream on display

"In the mid-1950s, I saw an irresistible inflow of Western culture, mostly American, into war-devastated Japan. I witnessed a fading of our culture, which had been passed to us from generation to generation. As I watched the change, I felt a sense of fear that our next generation might not know what...
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Feb 11, 2002

Wrong time to be in the wrong place

Naohiro Takahara's Argentine adventure with Boca Juniors came to a suddenly and unhappy end a few days ago when the Argentine club decided to cut short the one-year-loan deal of the Japan striker.
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Feb 11, 2002

Cold lands but warm hearts

The literally hang out the flags for visitors to the small town of Nishikawa in the snowy foothills of Yamagata's Dewa Sanzan mountains. A large British Union Jack was crossed with a Japanese Hinomaru over the entrance to Tamaki, a riverside restaurant famous for its Hina ryori (Doll's Festival food),...
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2002

Takenaka outlines four-pillar package to battle deflation

Economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka said Sunday the government will draft a comprehensive package for combating deflation in the near future that includes steps aimed at accelerating the disposal of nonperforming loans at commercial banks.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2002

Transplant expert rues cadaveric donor, social charity dearth

Surgery is an art founded on science, or so says University of Tokyo professor Masatoshi Makuuchi, who specializes in transplants and is one of the nation's leading liver surgeons.
COMMUNITY
Feb 10, 2002

A true poet of the people ...

Coming soon to a sidewalk near you is one of Japan's most original street artists, Hiromitsu Noriyasu, along with his growing cult of fans. The spirited 34-year-old has covered more than 16,000 km over the past seven months on his bicycle tour of Japan, raising funds to finance a film by composing poems...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 10, 2002

Love in a time of decline for homegrown literature

Is there a future for Japanese literature? That is the question posed by an article in the February issue of Bungakukai. Writer Akira Nagae visited various bookstores and publishers in search of an answer. The manager of a bookstore near an arts university in Tokyo feels authors and publishers are deceiving...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2002

Kawaguchi reaffirms ties with China, South Korea

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi held separate phone conversations Saturday with her Chinese and South Korean counterparts to reaffirm relations with the neighboring countries, a Foreign Ministry official said.
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2002

Lackluster debate hinders reform

Japan faces an urgent need to make a sweeping transition comparable in magnitude to the periods that followed the Meiji Restoration and the end of World War II. But judging from the plenary debates conducted in both Houses of the Diet this week, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's program of national...

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person