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COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2003

Avoiding the pitfalls of Korea in Iraq

SEOUL -- Regrettably, the preference of U.S. policymakers to look to occupied Germany and Japan for policy guidance has blinded them to the pitfalls they are now facing in Iraq. Instead, they should be immersing themselves in the six-volume, thousand-page "History of the American Military Government...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2003

Fear rules Uzbek majority opposition

LONDON -- Uzbekistan President Islam Abduganievich Karimov will have been watching recent events in Georgia very closely. Could a "revolution" like the one that ousted President Eduard Shevardnadze happen in Uzbekistan?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 7, 2003

Japan's refusal to embrace sex education fuels spread of AIDS

U.S. President George W. Bush may be the best example of how ignorance can be wielded as a weapon, but most people who take advantage of their ignorance prefer to use it as a shield. Tadao Eguchi, the president of the hotel company that operates the hot-spring resort that canceled the reservations of...
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2003

Death penalty upheld for Hayashi

The Tokyo High Court on Friday upheld the death penalty for senior Aum Shinrikyo member Yasuo Hayashi for his roles in two fatal sarin attacks and an attempt to spread cyanide gas at JR Shinjuku Station.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2003

U.N. should play active role in Iraq, Kawaguchi tells Annan on phone

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on Friday urged the United Nations to play an active role in Iraq's reconstruction process, in the wake of the assassination of two Japanese diplomats in the country last weekend.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2003

SDF dispatch would involve 1,000 troops

The Self-Defense Forces team Japan plans to send to Iraq could be the biggest to be sent overseas, featuring some 1,000 troops of the ground, air and maritime forces, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2003

'03 road death toll to be under 8,000

Traffic deaths in 2003 are expected to fall below the 8,000 mark for the first time in 46 years, the National Police Agency said Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 6, 2003

Kazuo's list at four

Kyodo News Free agent infielder Kazuo Matsui said Thursday he has narrowed his choices of where to play next season to four major league teams.
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2003

Go slow on troop relocation

The United States, in an attempt to realign its military forces abroad, is planning to relocate its troops in South Korea. However, talks between the two countries do not appear to be going smoothly. A recent meeting in Seoul between U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and South Korean Defense...
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2003

Ashikaga Bank team coming soon

Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka indicated Friday that the government will select a new management team for the nationalized Ashikaga Bank in a few weeks.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 6, 2003

Teshima takes charge at Nippon Serier JT Cup

Taichi Teshima made six birdies on the way to a 5-under-par 65 to claim sole possession of the lead at the midway point of the season-ending Nippon Series JT Cup on Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2003

Cabinet endorses budget policies

In the face of a swelling fiscal deficit, the Cabinet on Friday endorsed basic policies for the fiscal 2004 budget, promising that the overall size of the budget and its core component -- general expenditure -- will not exceed those of fiscal 2003.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2003

New life insurance contracts slide

The Life Insurance Association of Japan said Friday that new individual life insurance contracts held by its 42 member firms were down 12.1 percent in the fiscal first half of 2003 from a year earlier.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 6, 2003

Drive! Hokkaido! -- turn left at the cow

I decided to "Drive! Hokkaido!" as the brochures say. When I left the Sapporo airport in my rental car, I was amazed at the surrounding scenery. Wow -- trees! I was so excited, I started barking (a trick I learned from years of driving with a dog in the car back home).
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2003

Autopsies reveal cause of death for slain diplomats

The two Japanese diplomats who were shot dead in northern Iraq were hit by more than a dozen bullets, the Metropolitan Police Department said Friday in releasing the results of autopsies.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2003

LDP panel eyes consumption tax hike in future

The government should raise the consumption tax to support the ailing public pension system in future, senior members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's tax panel agreed Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 6, 2003

The high cost of children -- don't kid yourself

At lunch with an old pal, I cannot help but notice the puffy bags hanging beneath his eyes.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2003

Foreign-exchange reserves reach record $644.57 billion

The nation's foreign-exchange reserves hit a fresh record high in November.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes