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JAPAN
May 11, 2002

Japan cranks up pressure on China

Japan on Friday ratcheted up the pressure on China to hand over five North Korean asylum seekers who were dragged out of the Japanese consulate in Shenyang two days earlier by trespassing Chinese police.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2002

Panel urges drastic, extensive action to ensure Japan is competitive again

If Japan is to regain its competitiveness, the government must take drastic and extensive action to increase research and development and make the country a base for value-added industries, according to a report Friday by a government panel.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2002

Learn the lessons, then let go of the past

The first step of Myanmar's democratization has begun following the bold step of the military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), to free Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday. Though it was a small step, it was a giant leap for the victimized people of Myanmar, who will now be able to live...
BUSINESS
May 10, 2002

Cabinet Office launches China study

The Economic and Social Research Institute, a research arm of the Cabinet Office, said Thursday it has set up a study group on China.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2002

Forex reserves hit $406.7 billion

Japan's foreign exchange reserves at the end of April were up $5.18 billion from a month earlier to a record $406.7 billion, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 10, 2002

Crane fly

* Japanese name: Kiriuji gaganbo * Scientific name: Tipula aino * Description: Crane flies are slender insects with light-brown bodies, a black rim around the wings and long legs that dangle beneath them when they fly. This gives them their other English name (used by children): daddy longlegs. Crane...
JAPAN
May 10, 2002

Prowhaling group sends message to IWC

A prowhaling lobby group held a special gathering in Tokyo on Thursday and called for the resumption of commercial whaling.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2002

Bandai reports 34.5% increase in pretax profit

Bandai Co., the nation's biggest toy maker, said Thursday its group pretax profit jumped 34.5 percent to 1.99 billion yen in the year that ended March 31 thanks to brisk sales in Japan and abroad.
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2002

Ms. Suu Kyi is free, again

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has been released from almost two years of house arrest in Myanmar. The military junta that rules the country has made an important concession to international opinion by deciding to release the democracy activist, but the government's commitment to genuine...
BUSINESS
May 9, 2002

DoCoMo profits vanish into writeoffs

After years of spectacular growth, NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Wednesday said group net profits in fiscal 2001 plunged 99.8 percent to 862 million yen due to losses on strategic foreign investments.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
May 9, 2002

Bush policies drawing fire from both left and right

WASHINGTON -- When George H.W. Bush was U.S. president, George W. Bush considered himself a disciplinarian, protecting his dad from sniping from the right. He worried about the weakening of his father's political position as his support from conservative Republicans eroded.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 9, 2002

Half-Japanese Dodger making name in L.A.

CHICAGO -- Want to stump your know-it-all boss or neighbor with a good baseball question?
BUSINESS
May 8, 2002

Osaka hopes its new bond market spurs economy

OSAKA -- The Osaka Prefectural Government announced Tuesday that it will set up a 50 billion yen bond market in September to enable small and midsize local firms having difficulty securing loans to raise funds.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 8, 2002

Heart and soul in your hands

A list of the things we humans take for granted would be long indeed. Not wishing to embark on a colossal environmental-spiritual- humanitarian itemization, I'll keep my list real short. One item, in fact: a clay mug.
EDITORIALS
May 6, 2002

Mutual Sino-American respect

Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao's weeklong visit to the United States, which culminated in a meeting with President George W. Bush on Wednesday, seems to have achieved its purpose: introducing China's next leader to U.S. officials. The 59-year-old Mr. Hu is expected to become secretary general of the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 5, 2002

Something for the little people

When it comes to the media, children haven't really been given much scope for expression. There are television programs and magazines designed for kids, but very few in which the target audience is also a part of the creation process. Some people want to change that.
COMMUNITY
May 5, 2002

Raising model children

From a fairly early age, my two children have done modeling work. They've posed for clothing catalogs, appeared on magazine covers and in J-pop videos, rubbed elbows with TV celebrities. They aren't mini-supermodels or chaidoru (child idols) -- thank God -- just your garden-variety kid models.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 5, 2002

Live and learn and learn

Swimming. Piano. English conversation.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 5, 2002

When the people put pen to paper

DEAR GENERAL MACARTHUR: Letters From the Japanese During the American Occupation, by Sodei Rinjiro. Rowman & Littlefield; Lanham, Maryland, 2001, 306 pp., $29.95 (cloth) It boggles the mind that Gen. Douglas MacArthur received some 500,000 letters from Japanese from all walks of life during his tenure...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 4, 2002

'Nagashibina': a tradition just for girls

Tomorrow is Children's Day, the politically correct way to say "Boys' Day." This is not to say that girls don't have a special day. The Doll Festival was March 3, but is not a national holiday like Boys' Day is.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 3, 2002

A cocoon of grandeur and propaganda

PYONGYANG -- Is change really in the air north of the Korean Peninsula's 38th parallel?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 3, 2002

Just your average, run-of-the-mill salaryman sings the blues

So let me introduce myself. I'm your futsu (run-of-the-mill), heikin (average) salaryman, nothing special. What's wrong with that? I can remember a time when this particular jiko-shokai (self-introduction) at company functions and karaoke parties was perfectly acceptable -- even welcomed.
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2002

'Third way' to stay in power

LONDON -- New Labour baffles just about everybody who comes across it. Is it "new" simply in the sense that a relaunched soap powder is new -- essentially the same plus a claim to have stronger power to wash away sins? Or is it really new, with just the Labour bit being misleading? And what on earth...
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
May 2, 2002

Nago ponders base-for-cash community conundrum

NAGO, Okinawa Pref. -- A prefabricated building behind Jisei Asato's home in the Toyohara district of Nago used to be an office occupied by the Kube Area Economic Promotion Council. It is now closed and bears "for rent" signs.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
May 2, 2002

Are you going to Kayabacho plant fair?

Yakushi-in Temple in Kayabacho, Edo, is hosting a bustling plant fair, and people of all ages and every walk of life are there. In this woodcut print (right) by Hasegawa Settan (1778-1843), we can see tonsured monks, geisha, a senior samurai holding the hand of a little boy, a young woman under an umbrella...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 1, 2002

Attitudinal shift is lifting taboo on death education: professor

Public attitudes in Japan toward death and dying have undergone considerable changes in the past 20 years, according to Alfons Deeken, founder and president of the Japanese Association for Death Education and Grief Counseling.
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2002

Le Pen victory a dark sign of the times

LONDON -- Political experts of all shades have been professing surprise and amazement that Jean-Marie Le Pen, with his wild mixture of views, some overtly racist, should have collected around 17 percent of the votes in the first round of the French presidential elections. But the real surprise is that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 1, 2002

Marc Chagall: painting the great power of love

In Japan, July 7 is a special day. It is the festival of Tanabata, the one night of the year when two celestial star-crossed lovers -- the Weaver (Vega) and the Cowherd (Altair) -- are said to cross the Milky Way to meet.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2002

Asia awaits Japan's recovery

Despite Japan's protracted economic slump, its neighbors are still looking to it for support and leadership.
EDITORIALS
Apr 29, 2002

The importance of conserving forests

Forests play a vital role in preventing global warming and building sustainable societies. So the need to protect and develop them can never be stressed enough. Japan's substantial forests make it a notable example. In brief, that is the message of the government report on forests and forestry released...

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