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JAPAN
Nov 20, 2002

Crimes set record high, arrests record low in '01

Last year saw a record 2.74 million Penal Code violations, excluding traffic offenses, up 12 percent from 2000, but the arrest rate fell to a postwar low of 19.8 percent, the government reported Tuesday, adding that although foreigners committed a small percentage of the crimes, their offenses were models...
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2002

Tokyo, Seoul to team up on spy ships

The heads of the Japanese and South Korean coast guards agreed Tuesday to strengthen information-sharing on suspected North Korean spy ships should they be spotted off the two countries' coasts, Japanese officials said.
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2002

Mexico expects access to fruit, vegetable marts

Mexico expects Japan to open up its fruit and vegetable markets under a bilateral free-trade agreement for which the two countries have just begun negotiations, a senior Mexican official said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 20, 2002

The dangerous art of living quietly

Oriza Hirata's 1995 Kishida Drama Award-winning "Tokyo Notes" opened in Japan for the first time in four years Sunday, after touring overseas to critical acclaim. Now being staged at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Kinshicho by Seinendan, the company Hirata founded in 1983, this portrait of...
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2002

Government mulls abductee assistance measures

The government began consulting Monday with Liberal Democratic Party members on how Japan can take in and support the five known surviving Japanese abducted by North Korea and their immediate families still in the North, government officials said.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 18, 2002

Matsui exits on low note

"Godzilla" left his old stomping grounds with more of a whimper than a bang Sunday afternoon.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Nov 18, 2002

Benefits of opening up to foreign labor

HONG KONG -- In the previous article in this series, I asked whether capitalism would be sustainable into the 21st century. In the article before that, I emphasized that never had the world seen so many democracies, but warned that there were risks that the conditions for maintaining the momentum of...
BUSINESS
Nov 18, 2002

British law firm capitalizes on thirst for global tools, investment advice

Despite Japan's much-publicized economic problems, independent financial advisers Towry Law are "very pleased" with the performance of their Japan operations, according to John Simmonds, managing director of the Britain-based company.
EDITORIALS
Nov 17, 2002

A green light for ivory merchants

Japan said nothing in the runup to the 12th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the 160-nation forum that met in Chile last week to reconsider, among other things, the 13-year-old ban on ivory sales. It didn't have to, really. Everyone...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 17, 2002

Conveying messages of unity

It is estimated that an average of 220 people "evaporate" every day in Japan. The reasons are many, but can mostly be reduced to debt, love affairs, personal tragedy and involvement in crimes. And with no end in sight for the recession, the number is increasing year by year. Last year, about 80,000 Japanese...
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2002

JAL group operating profit dropped 26.7% in first half

Japan Airlines Co. said Friday its group operating profit for the first half of the business year fell 26.7 percent on a year-on-year basis to 28.55 billion yen.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 16, 2002

East meets West moves over for East meets East

While accepting that cultural exchange is hardly a new concept, Astrid (de los Rios) Nishimaki has her own very individual slant on the subject. "My aim is to bring Latin America, Arab countries and Japan closer together through the lingua franca of artists and creators."
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2002

Cabinet official hits ministry for refusing to issue Lee visa

A government official on Friday criticized the Foreign Ministry for refusing to issue a visa to allow former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui to visit Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2002

Bangladesh envoy praises ties, ODA

Bangladeshi Ambassador M. Serajul Islam said Wednesday his country's relations with Japan are extremely good, but he expressed hope Tokyo will not decrease its official development assistance to Bangladesh.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 14, 2002

Cleanups are only drops in the ocean

The year was 1980. I was conducting fish research on the Great Barrier Reef, off Cape York in Queensland, northeastern Australia. After a lengthy dive, I decided to take a short rest and then explore a small, unoccupied sandy islet nearby for signs of nesting sea turtles and terns in that wonderful ocean...
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2002

Lawyers unveil refugee policies plan

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations on Tuesday unveiled several proposals aimed at improving the procedures under which refugees are certified.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2002

Prison abuses in spotlight following guard arrests

The ongoing allegations of abuse of inmates at Nagoya Prison have highlighted human rights concerns that have been raised by domestic and international watchdogs over Japan's prison system.
EDITORIALS
Nov 13, 2002

The media and a jury system

A government panel on judicial reform is working on a bill that would create a Japanese version of the jury system. The idea is to allow selected citizens to work together with professional judges in deciding major criminal cases. The worry is that the bill might impose undue restrictions on media contact...
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2002

Government contemplates support for spouses of ethnic North Koreans

The government may consider offering livelihood support to Japanese who went to Pyongyang as spouses of North Koreans decades ago and who have since returned to Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 12, 2002

Young 'weed' Uehara has grown into ace

The Yomiuri Giants pitcher who once compared himself to a "weed" took his game to another high.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2002

Tokyo, Seoul want oil to still flow to Pyongyang

High-level officials from Japan, the United States and South Korea agreed Saturday to continue consultations on whether to suspend the supply of heavy oil to North Korea.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 10, 2002

Toilet Day brings loos out of the closet

A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, as the saying goes. And so it came to pass that a number of planners, researchers and designers in a self-styled group called Toiletopia embarked on a campaign to upgrade the nation's cans when they founded the Japan Toilet Association on May 15, 1985....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 10, 2002

A straight-shooter wherever she goes

With her Nikon camera, dozens of film rolls and a strong social conscience, photojournalist Natsuko Utsumi travels the world to capture the human face of the issues that shape public debate.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 10, 2002

Mitsuyo Ohira : Lessons in life

High-flying lawyer Mitsuyo Ohira doesn't have the kind of past you'd expect. After falling victim to bullying at junior high school, she attempted suicide by disembowelment, dropped out of school and hung out with drug-using delinquents. All that before, at age 16, becoming the wife of a gang boss.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Nov 10, 2002

Delicate pauses to refresh

There are really two kinds of restaurants.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 10, 2002

Getting up close with photojournalism

When a photojournalist sets out to document the human condition and aims the camera's lens at another person, he or she breaches the membrane of privacy that surrounds us all. It's a lot like joining in a dance -- but being (almost always) uninvited.
COMMENTARY
Nov 7, 2002

How safe is nuclear energy?

Recent scandals regarding Tokyo Electric Power Co. safety inspection procedures have added a new sense of urgency to a long-standing question: "Are nuclear power reactors throughout East Asia being operated safely?"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 6, 2002

Feminist charts no-woman's-land between peaceniks and the SDF

On Sept. 3 and 4 this year, soldiers at a Ground Self-Defense Force base in Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu were joined by an improbable guest: Japan's premier feminist and antiwar artist, Yoshiko Shimada.

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