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EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2000

Structural reform is still key

The Japanese economy seems to have hardly improved in the past three months and appears likely to slightly worsen in the next three. This dim picture is painted by the Bank of Japan's latest "tankan" survey, which sums up how business managers view their companies' performances. The economic perception...
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

Cultured skin next high-tech goal

First in a three series Kyodo News Professor Hisashi Aoyama is certain of the future of cultured skin.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 19, 2000

Wowed by the Lao and Siam

A DIPLOMAT IN SIAM, by Ernest Satow. Introduced and edited by Nigel Brailey. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2000, 206 pp., with maps and line drawings, $23. In the spring of 1886, Ernest Satow wrote to his friend W.G. Aston in Japan that his recent journey to the Lao states had been "on the whole a pleasant...
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2000

Police set to examine report on yakuza activities in U.S.

Japanese police authorities want to carefully examine a U.S. government report released Friday on the activities of Japanese crime syndicates, known as yakuza, in the United States, police officials said.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2000

Local civil servants grow fewer

The number of local public servants across Japan as of April 1 was 3,204,297, down 27,861 from a year earlier, the largest decline since the Home Affairs Ministry began surveying their numbers in 1975, the ministry said in a report released Sunday.
BUSINESS
Dec 18, 2000

Popularity polls belie Mori's 'reform plans'

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori launched his new Cabinet on Dec. 5, reshuffling his team to prepare for the reorganization of government ministries and agencies in January.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2000

FRC declares two Korean credit unions insolvent

The Financial Reconstruction Commission on Saturday declared Kansai Kogin and Tokyo Shogin insolvent, believing the credit unions are severely undercapitalized, and will appoint administrators to oversee them, FRC officials said.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2000

Lighthouses to be powered by wind and sun

The Japan Coast Guard has decided to combine solar energy and wind power to generate electricity for four lighthouses across Japan, Coast Guard officials said.
COMMENTARY
Dec 18, 2000

Bush's role on the Korean Peninsula

HONOLULU -- South Koreans are openly nervous about what the election of George W. Bush portends for the Korean peace process. Many also seem privately hopeful that the incoming president might, as one security analyst put it, "save us from ourselves."
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2000

A true match made in heaven

Wiener Philharmoniker Nov. 16, Seiji Ozawa conducting in Suntory Hall -- Symphony No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 90; Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 (Johannes Brahms, 1833-97)
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 17, 2000

Ruby Pawankar

The Fourth International Symposium on Basic Approach to Allergic Rhinitis will be held in Tokyo on Feb. 10 and 11. Its central theme, "allergy -- from the nose to the lung," is to focus on the impact and relation of allergic rhinitis and asthma. President of the Fourth ISBAAR and a founder of the series...
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

Conference to address endocrine disrupters threat

Amid mounting concerns over chemicals believed to mimic the functions of endocrines, scientists and policy experts from around the world will open a conference in Yokohama today to present new information and discuss the threat these synthetic chemicals pose to human health and the environment.
COMMENTARY
Dec 16, 2000

An isolated government clings to power

The United States and Japan are plagued by political chaos. The fierce U.S. presidential race ended in victory for George W. Bush after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the recounting of disputed ballots in Florida. In Japan, a disturbingly wide gap exists between the fragile support Prime Minister Yoshiro...
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

Venezuela sends thanks for flood aid

Venezuelan Ambassador Carlos Bivero has sent a statement to The Japan Times, expressing his country's "deep appreciation and gratitude" for Japanese assistance for Venezuelans hit hard by the torrential rains and flooding of a year ago.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2000

SDF to get four aircraft for midair refueling

Japan will introduce four airborne refueling planes to help extend the flight range of Self-Defense Forces aircraft in its midterm defense buildup plan for the five years from fiscal 2001, coalition sources said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 2000

Help needed for discontented workers

Despite the continuing bleak employment picture, perhaps partly because of it, many Japanese working men and women say they are unhappy in their jobs. This is not surprising, since changes in the traditional workplace are occurring so rapidly that the old rules and procedures for minimizing employee...
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2000

Ships to just view Antarctic's blue, minke whales

Two Japanese vessels will depart today from Setoda, Hiroshima Prefecture, to join an international study of blue and minke whales in Antarctic waters, the Fisheries Agency said.
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2000

Panel urges review of tax relief

The government's Tax Commission on Wednesday proposed reforms for fiscal 2001 that, among other things, seek to facilitate corporate realignment.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Deregulation deemed key to keep up with other nations

Japan should adopt a variety of deregulation measures, including the dismantling of the current holding company structure of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and permitting companies that issue stocks to run hospitals, a government advisory panel recommended Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Fujimori a Japanese, can stay: Kono

The government has officially confirmed that ousted Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has Japanese citizenship and that there is no problem with him staying indefinitely, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono announced Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Mock trial on sexual slavery finds Emperor Showa guilty

The late Emperor Showa was "guilty of crimes against humanity," judges ruled Tuesday at the end of a mock trial on Japan's role in forcing women into sexual slavery for its military before and during World War II.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Dec 13, 2000

Quest for the yellow-flowered toad lily

After visiting Ukishima bog-woodland in Shingu I took the express train back to Kushimoto. My quest was for a yellow-flowering toad lily, which reportedly grows wild in the southern Kii Peninsula.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear