Search - 2000

 
 
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2002

Flu vaccination linked to muscle-wasting disease

Five people in Japan suffered Guillain-Barre syndrome -- a disorder of progressive muscle weakness -- after receiving influenza vaccinations between January 2000 and April 2002, health ministry officials said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 18, 2002

Good neighbors to diversity

Japanese are increasingly waking up to find that their new neighbors are foreigners who have settled in this country. What should be done to build an affluent multicultural society in Japan? The Sapporo District Court recently handed down a ruling that makes us think about this question. Three foreigners...
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2002

Nuclear institute misused 1.5 million yen

Officials of the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute misappropriated 1.5 million yen in funds in fiscal 2000 to cover unauthorized food and drink expenses, the state-run body said Friday.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 15, 2002

New coach, new approach has Wales in hunt for Euro 2004

LONDON -- Question time.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2002

UFJ Tsubasa in data leak claim

Personal data on clients of UFJ Tsubasa Securities Co. have been leaked to a broker in Tokyo that deals with information on individuals, the company said Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2002

Mitsubishi reveals to media multiplatform Colt compact

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. unveiled Monday the new Colt compact as its first model using a platform jointly developed with German-American auto giant DaimlerChrysler AG.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2002

171 Chinese tourists reported missing

Some 170 Chinese nationals on tours to Japan have gone missing since the vacation tours were resumed in September 2000, transport ministry sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2002

Isolate Pyongyang if it doesn't come clean

WASHINGTON -- In June 1994, as the United States and North Korea stepped back from the brink of war over the North's nuclear weapons program, a moderate consensus in the U.S, South Korean, Japanese and Chinese governments applauded the Agreed Framework for averting a crisis through dialogue and negotiation....
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2002

An alphabet soup of FTAs in East Asia

CAMBRIDGE, England -- There are so many summit meetings nowadays that it is difficult to keep up. Only a week after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit finished in Mexico, East Asian governments met at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus 3 summit in Phnom Penh. ASEAN plus 3...
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2002

Fraud victims plan to sue broadcasters over TV ads

Lawyers for victims of a massive fraud involving the G.O. investment group plan to sue two broadcasters for airing TV ads featuring the group's president, Genta Ogami, who is now under arrest.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Nov 2, 2002

Pollution-weary Amagasaki pitches potato patches

AMAGASAKI, Hyogo Pref. -- It's hard to believe that the smoggy, traffic-laden industrial zone stretching from the Hanshin Line's Amagasaki Station to the shores of the Inland Sea was once a thriving sweet-potato belt.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 1, 2002

Saints skipper Strachan runs tight ship

LONDON -- It was, said Southampton striker James Beattie, "a moment of madness."
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2002

A six-party process to clear up the Korean air

T he crisis over North Korea's attempted acquisition by stealth of a nuclear capability through enriched uranium processing provides a golden opportunity for institutionalizing a process of concerted multilateral diplomacy.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 25, 2002

Building juggernaut hijacks tourist plan

Japan's new tourism drive, designed to double the number of foreign visitors to the country by 2007, should send a shiver down the spine of conservationists and environmentalists.
EDITORIALS
Oct 23, 2002

Ireland gives the EU a go-ahead

I f at first you don't succeed, try again. That appears to have been the thinking of Irish politicians in their battle to secure public endorsement of the Nice Treaty, which provides the ground rules for expanding the European Union. Last weekend, a second ballot won popular support. Ireland's change...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 23, 2002

Spirited away

QUEENSLAND, Australia -- Each August, ghosts who have no descendants pour through the Gates of Hell into the streets of cities and villages of Southeast Asia. During the full moon, the most dangerous time of the year, the earth teems with hordes of these creatures, lusting for ribald entertainment and...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2002

North Korea's last gambit

WASHINGTON -- North Korea's surprise announcement of a secret nuclear-weapons program has thrown cold water on a recent warming of relations with South Korea and Japan that included family reunions, rejuvenated economic cooperation and, in particular, a stunning admission of past misdeeds against Japanese...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Oct 20, 2002

Leeuwin Estate delivers a perfect hat trick

Wine lovers in Japan may have noticed the recent appearance of several new labels from Australia's Leeuwin Estate. Collectors have long coveted Leeuwin's Art Series wines. But these collectible, top-tier Leeuwin wines require cellar-aging to realize their potential and they bear a stiff cost commensurate...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 13, 2002

Japanese will have babies when living is easy

In the middle of September, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry released a set of countermeasures to address the declining birthrate, which Chikara Sakaguchi -- the head of the ministry -- has said will "sink Japan" if it remains as low as it is.
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2002

Japanese science shines again

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which is responsible for awarding the Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry, probably said it best when it described this year's physics laureates as having "used [the] very smallest components of the universe to increase our understanding of the very largest, the...
EDITORIALS
Oct 8, 2002

The U.S. returns to Pyongyang

The visit by Mr. James Kelly, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, to Pyongyang yielded no breakthrough in relations between North Korea and the United States. Nonetheless, the two sides are talking and appear committed to a serious dialogue. The U.S., like Japan, should give...
MORE SPORTS
Oct 4, 2002

Hewitt tested in AIG Japan Open victory

The weather was perfect. The expectations were high.
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2002

High-stake games on the Peninsula

For North and South Korea, the Asian Games that opened on Sunday in the South Korean port city of Pusan are not only an arena of competition, but also an opportunity for reconciliation. Following an earlier decision by Pyongyang to join the games, their teams paraded together under a single flag at the...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 29, 2002

How is marine Miyakejima now?

In early July 2000, Miyakejima Island's 7,000-year-old volcano roared back to life. Continual eruptions led to the entire population being evacuated over the next two months as emissions of very fine, extremely heavy ash were replaced by lethal gases gushing daily from a new 400-meter-deep crater. What...
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2002

Nuclear safety chief hit for leaking whistle-blower's identity

Industry minister Takeo Hiranuma on Friday reprimanded the chief of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and five other officials after the agency admitted it leaked to Tokyo Electric Power Co. the identity of a Tepco-related worker who blew the whistle on the company's coverups of nuclear plant...
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2002

Soot levels increased in fiscal 2001

Levels of suspended particulate matter in the air rose in fiscal 2001 compared with the previous year, while those of nitrogen dioxide remained almost unchanged, according to an Environment Ministry study released Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Sep 26, 2002

Ailing tourism sector seeking to lure more Asians

ATAMI, Shizuoka Pref. -- Ryuichiro Mori, sales manager at Hotel New Akao, sees one emerging ray of hope for this hot-spring city mired in a long-term slump: a group tourism boom in Taiwan, South Korea and China.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2002

Cloud of population decline may have silver lining

"Rabbit hutch" is a stereotypical term coined years ago by outsiders referring the cramped dwellings of crowded, urban Japan.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?