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COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2003

Break the Mideast impasse

EDMONTON, Canada -- When the U.N. General Assembly opened its 58th annual session on Sept. 19 with a moment of silence in memory of the U.N. staff killed and injured as a result of the terrorist attack in Baghdad last month, its 191 member governments renewed their pledge to uphold the principles of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Sep 24, 2003

Ito's embroidered art has got it all stitched up

The Watari-Um Museum of Contemporary Art in Shibuya is one of Japan's most respected private museums. Now, it seems, the beautiful, Mario Botta-designed art space has also become one of the country's leading supporters of young artists.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 24, 2003

The dark, radiant world of Rembrandt van Rijn

It doesn't look like the face of a man who paints religious scenes. Fleshy, with that famously crumpled nose, he sports a jaunty hat and a look of shabby dandyism. In his later years -- more than two decades after he engraved this 1631 self-portrait -- the artist would be forced into bankruptcy, unable...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2003

Shizuoka pulls out all the stops in bid to woo foreign investors

Shizuoka wants you badly -- if your company is considering building a base in the prefecture or doing business with any of the 100 or so local firms.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2003

More police, immigration officers sought

Seven prefectures in the Kanto and Kansai regions jointly filed a request Monday with the central government to increase the number of police and immigration officers assigned to major prefectures.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2003

Key ministers keep jobs as Koizumi plays it safe

Having surprised everyone by naming young Shinzo Abe as the new secretary general of the LDP on Sunday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi opted for a more staid formula in announcing his new Cabinet on Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2003

Ishihara wants truth on Japan Highway's health

Newly appointed transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara indicated Monday he might sack Japan Highway Public Corp. President Haruho Fujii over the troubled entity's controversial balance sheet.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2003

Abductees' kin upset by Kawaguchi's retention

Families of Japanese abducted to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s expressed disappointment Monday that Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi retained her post in the reshuffled Cabinet.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2003

Mr. Koizumi gets down to business

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reshuffled his Cabinet Monday after his victory in Saturday's Liberal Democratic Party presidential election. The new Cabinet demonstrates the prime minister's determination to push his mandate without being swayed by forces that oppose his policy line.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2003

Takenaka, Kawaguchi retain posts as dust settles after Cabinet reshuffle

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi retained Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka and Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi after reshuffling his Cabinet on Monday, defying calls for their ouster from within the Liberal Democratic Party.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 23, 2003

What was your impression of Japan before you came here?

Mark Friesen Industrial Designer, 40 I heard the whole packing people on the train story a lot, but before I came here I thought, "Oh, come on, nobody would ever do that." But it's true. Of course, since having lived here I've seen a lot more stranger things than that.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2003

22% of households struggling to save

More than 20 percent of Japan's households have no savings, the highest level in 40 years, while those that are saving have put aside more than ever, according to the results of an annual survey released Monday by the Bank of Japan.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2003

Big business groups expect Cabinet to produce

Leaders of the nation's three major business groups on Monday welcomed the new Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, expressing their hope for accelerating structural reforms.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2003

Camera system tracks fast objects

Toshiba Corp. said Monday it has developed an active camera system that can detect and track fast-moving objects in ambient lighting conditions, such as those in home and office environments.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2003

Takenaka to keep pushing banks on loans

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's controversial reappointment Monday of Heizo Takenaka as financial services minister means banks will still be under pressure to clean up their bad loans.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / A GAIJIN'S TALE
Sep 23, 2003

Armed for Japan

I have two tattoos. Nothing obtrusive, just a small bird and soccer mascot on my lower and upper right arm. With both coming about as a result of teenage rebellious tendencies, once my mother's tongue lashing had worn-off no further pain, inconvenience or usage was felt again -- until I landed in Japan....
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 23, 2003

MLB gets OK to start 2004 season in Japan

Event organizers of Japanese baseball said Monday they have given the green light to a request made by Major League Baseball to hold regular-season and exhibition games in Japan in March next year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 23, 2003

Confessions of a foreign correspondent

These are not happy times for people who make a living writing about Japan. With the country apparently having become, as one magazine put it, the "Switzerland of Asia," i.e., rich but boring, foreign newspapers are shuttering their Tokyo bureaus as fast as they can move their correspondents to cover...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 23, 2003

Science fiction or science fact and culture

J-culture In response to Simone returning home to France (Lifelines; July 22) more readers have come up with great information on English-language magazines about J-culture.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Sep 23, 2003

Retailers look to make a bundle on use of electronic money

More and more retailers are providing consumers with the option of using electronic money, essentially in the form of prepaid cards, instead of cash when purchasing goods.
COMMENTARY
Sep 23, 2003

LDP factions losing clout

The Liberal Democratic Party is an assemblage of factions. Since it has held the reins of government almost continuously, the LDP has derived much of its vitality from factional power struggles for the party presidency and the prime ministership.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2003

Mitsubishi Electric expects profit

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Monday that it expects to report a group net profit of 2 billion yen in the fiscal first half.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2003

Asia exports boost trade surplus 23.1%

Japan's trade surplus in August grew 23.1 percent from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive monthly rise, the Finance Ministry said Monday in a preliminary report.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2003

Greenback briefly tests 33-month low against yen

The U.S. dollar momentarily slid to a 33-month low against the yen Monday, rattling Tokyo investors who handed the stock market its worst setback in two years amid concerns that the currency fluctuations might undermine an export-driven recovery in Japan.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight