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BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2003

C&W IDC exec hands on challenge of making telecom regulations fairer

Changes in Japan's telecommunications industry over the past two years have been far-reaching and important, but much remains to be done to achieve a truly free and transparent market, according to Lisa Suits, outgoing vice president of the public policy division of Cable & Wireless IDC Inc.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2003

Yokota trip to N. Korea nixed; U.S. visit planned

A group of the families of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea said Sunday the group's representative, Shigeru Yokota, will not visit Pyongyang for the time being, but group members are planning to visit the United States to raise awareness of the abductions issue.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 26, 2003

A warrior's hometown goes prime-time

Ohara, a tiny village nestled in the mountainous region of northern Okayama Prefecture, is usually pervaded by a sense of tranquillity. Its landscape is one of rice fields punctuated by gently rising hills and the infrequent sound of a passing train.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 26, 2003

Reasoning against Iraq 'catastrophe'

Few were the world leaders who, in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, withheld moral support for the United States. Longtime friends and onetime foes, Christians, Jews and many Muslims alike sang as in one chorus: They would root out terrorism where it lurked. It seemed the birth of a new world...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2003

The world needs a new nuclear doctrine

After getting its first taste of an atomic holocaust in 1945, mankind has made various efforts to avoid nuclear calamity by enforcing a stalemate based on the doctrine of mutual assured destruction and an international agreement against nuclear proliferation.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2003

Trendy teas try to give soda, coffee a run for their money

With a couple of Starbucks and at least one other big-name coffee shop within easy walking distance, not long ago Tomohiro Tsuchiya would have been better off opening his little cafe somewhere else.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2003

Talks to seek return of U.S. base land

Japan and the United States have reached a basic agreement to start talks on the return of idle land in four U.S. military facilities in Yokohama, according to Japanese government officials.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2003

Japanese re-enters country after escaping North Korea

The adult child of a Japanese woman who accompanied her Korean husband to North Korea decades ago under a repatriation program secretly entered Japan last summer with the help of the Japanese government, sources said Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 23, 2003

Nintendo lights up Game Boy Advance

There is no mistaking it anymore, Nintendo does better in the United States than in Japan. Nintendo sold more than twice as many Nintendo 64 game console in the United States than in Japan.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 22, 2003

Can Matsui handle the pressure and avoid the 'cha-cha'?

So far, so good. New York Yankees player Hideki Matsui made it back to Japan, apparently in one piece, after a whirlwind trip to the Big Apple that included evasion of a large Japanese media contingent waiting for him at Newark Liberty Airport, an appearance at Yankee Stadium, the well-attended and media-smothered...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2003

The folly of inflation targets

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said recently the next governor of the Bank of Japan must take aggressive action to fight deflation, giving rise to expectations of inflation targeting among government and ruling coalition officials. I doubt, however, that inflation targeting will cure deflation. In...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 20, 2003

Hike in consumption tax center of lobby's vision

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) on Jan. 1 released a grand vision aimed at reviving Japan into a vigor- ous and attractive nation.
COMMENTARY
Jan 19, 2003

eo 20030119hc.xml Halting the small-arms trade

LONDON -- On New Year's Eve two teenage girls seeking fresh air from a party in Birmingham were killed in a shooting incident. Over 30 shots, some by a submachine gun, were fired in what seems to have been a shootout between rival gangs. The incident has led to demands that the crime of possessing an...
COMMUNITY
Jan 19, 2003

The danchi and postwar society

At the time, they were homes most Japanese could only dream about. Within their thick concrete walls, they were equipped with such mod cons as flush toilets and stainless-steel kitchen sinks, and they even had separate bedrooms -- for parents and children.
COMMENTARY
Jan 19, 2003

Halting the small-arms trade

LONDON -- On New Year's Eve two teenage girls seeking fresh air from a party in Birmingham were killed in a shooting incident. Over 30 shots, some by a submachine gun, were fired in what seems to have been a shootout between rival gangs. The incident has led to demands that the crime of possessing an...
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2003

World Bank chief against ODA cuts

Visiting World Bank President James Wolfensohn urged Japan on Thursday not to make significant cuts in its foreign aid, because peace and economic opportunities created by the assistance also benefit the donor.
EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 2003

From business to politics

A fter a nine-year break, Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) this year is resuming its role in mediating political donations from affiliated companies. The aim, of course, is to increase its influence on politics. In other words, Nippon Keidanren is seeking to sway politics with the policy...
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2003

Crested ibis may be freed into wilds of Sado by '07

After a comeback from the brink of extinction, Japan's crested ibis is being prepared to be reintroduced into the wild in four years, an official said.
EDITORIALS
Jan 15, 2003

Sidetracking the territorial issue

Japan and Russia remain far apart on the territorial dispute over the Northern Territories, a group of northern Pacific islands known to the Russians as the Southern Kurils. The meeting over the weekend in Moscow between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin produced no...
EDITORIALS
Jan 11, 2003

A lead to the abduction mystery

A North Korean spy is now on the wanted list of the Japanese police for directing a plot to kidnap a Japanese national to North Korea in 1977. It is the first time that an arrest warrant has been issued for a North Korean directly involved in a kidnapping case. If he is arrested, it will shed light on...
BUSINESS
Jan 11, 2003

Forex reserves approach $470 billion

Japan's foreign-exchange reserves at the end of December hit a new record, up $9.26 billion from a month earlier to $469.73 billion, the Finance Ministry said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 11, 2003

The 'risutora' blues: Music that won't go away

I have been "restored."
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2003

A shot in the arm or in the foot?

The economic package unveiled by U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday, coming on top of a huge tax cut announced last summer, is proof that the Bush administration is determined to revive the U.S. economy, which is still ailing from the collapse of a stock-market bubble. The stimulus plan is also...
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

Recession proving to be karaoke industry's ultimate sour note

After a decade in the karaoke business, lounge owner Kagura Muto has heard her share of sour notes. But business of late has been a different sort of flat.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2003

Japanese escape woes in 'Boogie Wonderland'

Middle-aged disco lovers in Japan boogie to the sounds of a past era, when flares, platform shoes and gold medallions were cool and the economy was on the upswing.

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