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BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2001

Slips of politicians' tongues hurt economy

The dollar appears likely to continue hovering around 120 yen for some time.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 15, 2001

Troussier names squad to face France

Japan manager Philippe Troussier was in a confident mood Wednesday as he announced his senior team for an upcoming friendly international against world champion France, slated for March 24 at Saint-Dennis.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 15, 2001

Soccer lottery: A tax to fund bureaucrats' whims

The worst thing about the new soccer lottery system may be its name. "Toto" is taken from the Italian word totocalcio, which is the name of a similar lottery that has been in place in Italy for more than 50 years.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 15, 2001

Thai women, twice victimized

OWED JUSTICE: Thai Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan. Human Rights Watch, 227 pp., unpriced. For many women, the journey begins in northern Thailand, where refugees and hill-tribesmen languish in poverty and statelessness. The favored prey of sex-trade recruiters, these undocumented Thai...
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2001

JR firms see stagnant sales growth

The seven Japan Railway companies on Friday unveiled their business management plans for fiscal 2001, with four of them projecting sales of almost the same level as that of the current fiscal year.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2001

SOFA changes mulled to calm Okinawa

Despite persistent demands from Okinawa Prefecture for sweeping revisions to the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, the central government is hoping the most recent surge in anti-American sentiment can be appeased by improvements in the implementation of the pact.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2001

CTBT signatories plan talks to accelerate ratification steps

Some 160 signatory nations to a 1996 treaty banning nuclear tests will hold ministerial-level talks at the end of September in New York to accelerate efforts toward ratification.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 9, 2001

Bad days are over, but J. League must change with the times

When the J. League was launched on May 13, 1993, it had 10 teams in a single-division format. Since then, the league has grown and now consists of 28 teams in two divisions.
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Mar 9, 2001

Lifetime employment myth fades amid jobless realities

At the age of 40, Yoshiro Kamimura worked in sales at a chemical company, with a wife and two preschool children to support.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 9, 2001

They might be giants -- or 10 players who should be

Still don't know who's got what to offer in the J. League? Here's a quick guide to some of the players who should pique your interest in the coming season.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Mar 8, 2001

Rendezvous at Foodex

Japan's wine world is once again gearing up for the biggest event of the year: Foodex Japan 2001, the massive annual international food and drinks event to be held March 13-16 in the sprawling halls of the Nippon Convention Center (Makuhari Messe). The 26th Foodex Japan will be the most spectacular one...
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2001

Don't throw in the towel on free trade

Japan's towel makers have made a formal request to the government to curb rising textile exports from China and other developing countries. Emergency import restrictions, known as safeguards, are internationally recognized as an exception to the free-trade rules of the World Trade Organization. So far,...
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2001

Moscow confirms summit with Mori

Japan and Russia agreed Monday to hold a bilateral summit meeting in Russia's Irkutsk on March 25 as planned, regardless of mounting calls in Japan for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to step down.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2001

Proceed cautiously in Irkutsk

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is scheduled to visit Irkutsk, Russia, on March 25 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. What will happen if Mori steps down before then?
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 5, 2001

Nanjing Massacre evidence twisted at historian's whim

A publisher asks me to make excerpts from Judge Radhabinod Pal's "dissentient judgment" and write an introduction to the selection. The Indian jurist Pal was one of 11 judges who sat on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the Tokyo Trial). He found Japan not guilty, the only one to...
COMMENTARY
Mar 4, 2001

The media close in on Mori

Media vilification of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, to the point of virtually forcing his resignation, shows just how easily the major press and TV outlets here can control events in this emotional nation.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 4, 2001

Lydia Gomersall

Each year for 11 years now, Refugees International-Japan has been sponsoring its Art of Dining Exhibition. In this display, participants present highly individual, beautiful and imaginative tabletop settings for viewers' admiration and inspiration. Proceeds from the event go to RIJ's programs for the...
COMMUNITY
Mar 4, 2001

Japanese estate agent right at home in London

"I'll have the agreement drafted by Monday, then fax it over," Kazuyuki Nakamura was saying to a client over the phone last week in northwest London. "It's not your property? So who is the landlord? Well, he can appoint you to collect (rents) on his behalf. Otherwise we can, but then that will cost you;...
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 1, 2001

IOC delegates: the questions they should be asking

The International Olympic Committee has come Japan to check out Osaka's facilities for staging the 2008 Olympics.
JAPAN / BENCH REFORM
Feb 28, 2001

Fight gets under way to increase public's access to legal aid

Lawyer Masaki Kunihiro had never dreamed his life would be so busy in the small city of Hamada, Shimane Prefecture.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Feb 27, 2001

Making music in no-man's land

Through my work in the music industry, I have secured record deals with local labels for foreign musicians and have organized releases and tours overseas. As a columnist and DJ, I've been sent CDs from countless bands seeking promotion. I know there is no easy route to success in the business. And for...
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2001

ODA without a conscience

I was interviewed recently by a British postgraduate student who was in Tokyo to write a doctoral thesis on Japanese policies relating to official development assistance. She met a Foreign Ministry official to obtain information about Japan's ODA policy guidelines, but she said the interview was disappointing...
COMMENTARY
Feb 25, 2001

Breaking the yakuza's grip

LONDON -- The sad case of the murder of Lucy Blackman, the young British woman who was a hostess in a Roppongi bar, inevitably attracted the attention of the British media.
COMMENTARY
Feb 24, 2001

Mori's lame-duck maneuvers

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is coming under increasing pressure to resign. One likely scenario, according to sources in the ruling coalition, goes something like this: In early March, after the fiscal 2001 government budget clears the Lower House, he announces his intention to step down, and later that...
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2001

First trade deficit since '97 registered

Japan posted a global merchandise trade deficit of 95.3 billion yen in January, the first time its trade balance has plunged into the red since January 1997, according to a preliminary report released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2001

Russian ship chased into Japanese waters

A Russian ship fleeing the pursuit of Russian border guard vessels took shelter in Japanese territorial waters Tuesday night, the Japan Coast Guard said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2001

Russian ship chased into Japanese waters

A Russian ship fleeing the pursuit of Russian border guard vessels took shelter in Japanese territorial waters Tuesday night, the Japan Coast Guard said Wednesday.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami