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EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2002

Feeding the frenzy

Make no mistake: The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush wants to wage war against Iraq. Whether it will do so is another matter; whether it should do so is yet another question. The skeptics received a real boost with the publication of a critique of U.S. foreign policy by former National...
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2002

Regional banks hit with negative rating

Moody's Investors Service Inc. on Friday gave Japan's regional banking sector a negative rating outlook.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2002

Tokyo seeks compensation for Mizuho computer fiasco

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Friday demanded that Mizuho Bank pay 17 million yen in compensation to cover losses caused by the bank's massive computer failure earlier this year, according to metropolitan government officials.
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2002

Reform of the highway corporations

A government panel discussing privatization plans for highway corporations has been meeting stiff resistance from a predictable source: the corporations themselves. They have held back some of the financial data requested by panel members, thus effectively blocking progress toward highway reform, a priority...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 22, 2002

Life stranger than fiction at Fulham

LONDON -- If Junichi Inamoto is feeling warm after training he could always stand between coach Jean Tigana and "the chairman's adviser for football" Franco Baresi to cool down.
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2002

Kyoei Mutual to choose Zenkyoren over Millea

Kyoei Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co. is expected to abandon its plans to merge with Millea Holdings Inc. in favor of operating under the wing of the National Mutual Insurance Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives (Zenkyoren), company officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2002

World Bank to push for effective aid use

Amid increasing public scrutiny of Japan's overseas aid policies, the World Bank will increase cooperation measures to ensure that official development assistance from Tokyo is used more effectively to fight poverty, according to Yukio Yoshimura, newly appointed head of the World Bank's office in Tokyo....
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2002

Employee-leasing agencies helping Chinese computer engineers to cash in

More Chinese computer engineers are coming to Japan via temporary-staff employment agencies, and some of them are finding a niche in the information technology industry, earning as much as 10 million yen a year.
COMMENTARY
Aug 19, 2002

Pakistan must modernize as a nation state

ISLAMABAD -- Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, is eager to lament the breakdown of past Pakistani governments in justifying his own assumption of wide-ranging political authority ahead of elections in October.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 18, 2002

What a pair they are

If you are a viewer of Japanese television, you have no doubt seen a pair of celebrities known as the Kano sisters. Single-handedly -- or perhaps double-handedly is more appropriate -- these two have lent new meaning to the term "boob tube."
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2002

Aug. 15: day to renew peace efforts

The 57th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II passed quietly, in part because Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi skipped a visit to Yasukuni Shrine this month. His trip to the shrine last August stirred up controversy both here and abroad, particularly in China and South Korea. To avoid a similar...
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
Aug 16, 2002

The Okinawan dollar-yen juggling act

Tenth in an occasional series By MAYUMI NEGISHI Staff writer NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- On Aug. 15, 1971, U.S. President Richard Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard and introduced floating exchange rates, sending the greenback plummeting.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
Aug 15, 2002

Postwar legacy holds key to identity of Okinawans

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- Akira Hamamatsu, 75, recalls Emperor Hirohito's surrender broadcast on Aug. 15, 1945, as little more than a garbled voice mixed with static.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2002

Koizumi restraint sidelines Yasukuni row

One year ago, a diplomatic row erupted over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 13 -- two days before the anniversary of Japan's surrender ending World War II -- in the face of protests from China and South Korea.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2002

Ministry set to press charges against food execs

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry is set to file criminal complaints against three managers of a subsidiary of Nippon Meat Packers Inc., better known as Nippon Ham, on suspicion they defrauded a beef-buyback program, ministry officials said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 14, 2002

Going all the way

Call me old-fashioned, but I never thought I'd see the day when I went to a male strip show . . . and actually enjoyed it. Ladies (and gentlemen), do not miss this hilarious Broadway musical, "The Full Monty."
COMMENTARY
Aug 13, 2002

Protecting Japan's interests

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi's advisory panel on ministry reform came up with its final report in late July. On the basis of the panel's recommendations, the ministry this month will formulate an action plan on ways of implementing reform. A spate of scandals involving the ministry have prompted...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2002

Tour leader opens eyes to harsh realities of Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY -- Most tourists don't expect to be scolded by tour operators while vacationing abroad. But that's what they're in for when they join a tour led by Hiromi Tanaka of Sinh Cafe Tours in Vietnam.
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2002

Another fallen political idol

Former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka's resignation from the Diet on Friday was a surprise even though her political fortunes had waned visibly in recent months amid a smoldering money scandal. Did she take responsibility for the "trouble" she had caused? Was she unable to bear the brunt of public criticism?...
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2002

Nippon Food beef probe expands

OSAKA -- Farm ministry investigators expanded their probe Saturday into the suspected defrauding of the state-run beef buyback program by Nippon Food Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan's largest ham and sausage maker, Nippon Meat Packers Inc.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 11, 2002

Money woes carry on as season dawns

Christopher Davies of the London Daily Telegraph is one of Britain's most prominent soccer writers. He regularly covers Premier League champion Arsenal in the Champions League and the Republic of Ireland internationally. Davies has covered eight World Cups and is a former chairman of the Football Writers'...
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 11, 2002

Bible scholar questions value of religion without substance

If something lacks substance, it is not to the taste of Bible scholar Michiko Ota. Thus, she contends, humans are better off without religion if that religion has lost its substance.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Nippon Food Inc. Osaka unit raided

OSAKA -- Farm ministry officials on Friday searched Nippon Food Inc.'s Osaka unit, which was implicated in the defrauding of a state-run beef buyback program, ministry officials said.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji