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JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Haneda extension, beltways enter urban renewal account

The government decided Tuesday that the expansion of Tokyo's Haneda airport to allow more international flights and the construction of beltway systems in major cities will be designated as urban redevelopment projects, officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Isahaya reclamation project faces review

An ongoing reclamation project in Isahaya Bay, Nagasaki Prefecture, will have to be scaled down as the current plan "is unrealistic to pursue," farm minister Tsutomu Takebe said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Kawakami to replace JICA head Saito

Veteran diplomat Takao Kawakami will replace Kunihiko Saito as head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Ogi told to submit privatization plans

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday ordered transport minister Chikage Ogi to submit her ministry's draft plans for privatizing six controversial state-backed corporations.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2001

Quake insurance tax break in works

The Cabinet Office said Saturday it will pursue an independent tax exemption system for earthquake insurance premiums in line with requests for revisions to the tax system in fiscal 2002, government officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2001

Disaster drill held at Diet building

The government staged a helicopter takeoff and landing drill in front of the Diet building Saturday morning, conducting the exercise as if a large-scale earthquake had occurred directly under the Kanto region.
JAPAN / PRIVATIZING PAINS
Aug 25, 2001

Local authorities turn up noses at broke pension fund resorts

Kyodo News The sale of 12 health resorts to repay debts incurred by the now-defunct Pension Welfare Service Public Corp. is not proceeding smoothly because the local governments that were asked to purchase them are all refusing to do so.
JAPAN / PRIVATIZING PAINS
Aug 24, 2001

Scrapping housing loan entity said threat to low-income ranks

Kyodo News A proposal by the Cabinet's administrative reform headquarters asking Government Housing Loan Corp. to effective stop extending new loans is meeting stiff opposition from the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry, promising heated debate toward the end of the year.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2001

Security alliance redefined after end of Cold War

Staff writer In August 1990, when then Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu telephoned U.S. President George Bush to offer a $1 billion contribution to the U.S.-led multinational forces in the Persian Gulf, Bush offered a disappointed-sounding "Thank you" before hanging up.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2001

TSE downbeat despite promise of reforms

The Tokyo stock market remains caught between crosscurrents stemming from expectations of the positive effects of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform initiative and fears of further deterioration in the prospects for economic and corporate earnings.
JAPAN / PRIVATIZING PAINS
Aug 23, 2001

Pork-barrel highway entity key target for privatization

Kyodo News Japan Highway Public Corp. is the most symbolic privatization target of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's "structural reforms without sanctuaries" campaign.
JAPAN / PRIVATIZING PAINS
Aug 22, 2001

Loss-riddled oil entity first to face privatization ax

Kyodo News The proposal by the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to scrap Japan National Oil Corp. and turn it into a private company as part of his structural reform scheme will leave the privatized firm with many problems unresolved.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Aug 21, 2001

Clowns at the circus of soccer

I was buttering my muffins the other morning when my Australian mate Nezbo called. So obviously I had to tell him how crap the Aussies are at soccer, didn't I?
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2001

Ending Chinese interference

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 13, backtracking on his vow to make the visit Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. Although he signed his name and title in the visitors' register, Koizumi would not say whether his visit to the shrine...
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2001

Nakatani climbs Fuji to warm ties with U.S.

Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani on Sunday climbed Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak, along with about 40 U.S. servicemen stationed in Okinawa in an effort to improve relations between Japan and the United States.
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2001

Obstacles to decentralization must embrace independence

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won big gains for his Liberal Democratic Party in the Upper House election and has been re-elected uncontested to a new two-year term as LDP chief. But the tasks ahead of him are mounting, and one of the biggest is the decentralization of administrative power.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2001

New memorial to war dead planned after Yasukuni furor

The government has come up with a plan to build a nondenominational cenotaph for the nation's war dead in the wake of the diplomatic furor caused by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, government sources said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 19, 2001

Politico battled clans, bureaucrats

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF OZAKI YUKIO: The Struggle For Constitutional Government in Japan. Translated by Fumiko Hara. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2001, 455 pp., $35 (hardback) Well into this fascinating account of Japanese politics, which spans the period from the beginning of the Meiji Era...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2001

India's hardliners wait as pressures wear out premier

When the Agra summit between India and Pakistan failed last month, it was widely feared that its biggest victim would be the Indian prime minister: Atal Bihari Vajpayee might have to go.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2001

Population decline not all bad news

Japan's population is charting a downward trajectory.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2001

Singles' consumer confidence falls

Consumer confidence among single-person households fell in the April-June period from a year earlier for the second consecutive quarterly fall, according to a government survey released Tuesday.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 15, 2001

Flights of fancy

Like a captivated child watching a magician's tricks, we demand to know "how?" How, that is, did a surge of Italian creativeness 600 years ago seemingly lay the foundations of the modern world?
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2001

Compromise visit could dilute 'Koizumi effect'

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's decision Monday to bring forward his controversial visit to Yasukuni Shrine may have saved face for opponents at home and abroad to a certain degree.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2001

Volunteers to be sought for disaster info network

The Cabinet Office is considering establishing a disaster preparedness program and soliciting volunteers to work for local governments as coordinators and contact points for victims, government sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2001

BOJ further eases credit policy

In a bid to improve the corporate outlook and fight falling prices, the policy-setting panel of the Bank of Japan decided Tuesday to further ease its grip on credit and boost liquidity by 1 trillion yen.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Workers' views on economy worsen

A monthly survey of workers close to the man on the street shows that views on the current and future states of the economy are at their lowest since the survey was launched in January 2000, the Cabinet Office said Friday.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.