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JAPAN
Aug 15, 2002

Prime Osaka plot haunted by legacy of death

OSAKA -- In the Bon holiday period, when tradition has it that spirits return from beyond, visitors to temples and shrines in central Osaka pray not only for deceased relatives, but also for those who perished 30 years ago in a tragedy that still haunts local residents.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 15, 2002

Lions take advantage of a Lotte errors

CHIBA -- Errors don't win ball games and Chiba Lotte manager Koji Yamamoto was quite blunt about it. "I don't get how we can commit three errors in four innings," said Yamamoto, whose team handed three runs on those errors to the Seibu Lions in a 4-2 loss Wednesday night in front of 31,000 at Chiba Marine...
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 15, 2002

Indicted Foreign Ministry staff dismissed

The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday dismissed Akira Maejima, a former assistant director in charge of aid projects for Russia, following his indictment late last month, a Foreign Ministry official said.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2002

Agency to boost movie industry, Japan films abroad

The Agency for Cultural Affairs will expand its program to finance the showing of Japanese movies overseas and the production of films at home, according to agency officials.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2002

North Korea, Japan to hold talks Aug. 25

Foreign ministry officials from Japan and North Korea will hold two days of talks in Pyongyang beginning Aug. 25, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 15, 2002

1967: Summer of love -- and Bond in Japan

The summer of 1967 was not only the summer of love, but the summer of James Bond in Japan. "You Only Live Twice," the fifth James Bond movie, debuted in cinemas throughout the world 35 summers ago.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2002

Disaster victims unite, reach out

KOBE -- Survivors of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which destroyed much of Kobe and its adjacent areas, have exhibited a great sense of solidarity with disaster victims worldwide.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2002

Corporate bankruptcies climbed 15.8% in July

The number of corporate bankruptcies rose 15.8 percent in July from a year earlier to 1,814, marking a postwar record for the month and the first increase in three months, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Aug 15, 2002

History still alive on the old Nakasendo

Of the five highways (gokaido) built in the early years of the Tokugawa Shogunate to radiate through the country from its capital at Edo (present-day Tokyo), the best-known nowadays is the Tokaido coastal route to Kyoto. Hardly less used during the Edo Period (1603-1867), however, was the mountain route...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2002

Tax Commission head skeptical of Koizumi tax cuts

While Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is gearing up for tax cuts he hopes will boost the fragile economy, the head of his advisory panel is not shy about expressing skepticism about their effectiveness.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 15, 2002

Concrete forests glimpsed through four trees

Mike was upset when he heard that four gingko trees on the corner of a lot he can see from his Setagaya Ward house in Tokyo were to be cut down. A developer is to build six cookie-cutter homes on the 600-sq.-meter plot.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 15, 2002

Isolation spells survival in the Sea of Okhotsk

In penguinlike tuxedoed masses, the Tyuleni Island murres were standing in murmuring hordes, crowding the rock ledges of their remote breeding colony off the east coast of Sakhalin in the Sea of Okhotsk.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 15, 2002

Short women, listen up: size does matter

"Some girls are bigger than others," Morrissey sang. "Some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers."
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 15, 2002

A load of computer clubs and a wad of financial advice

This column may be produced in Tokyo, but the newspaper circulates nationwide and indeed is read online worldwide. So we feel we are not doing our jobs properly to focus on Tokyo alone. While we have heard of a Macintosh computer group in Osaka, there must be others -- and in Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo,...
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 15, 2002

Prevent blood clots

Exercise your feet and legs in your seat, avoid alcohol and drink plenty of water while flying.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2002

PNG's founding father back at the helm

SYDNEY — It's back to the future for Papua New Guinea. Only this time round the friends of the young, troubled South Pacific nation are hoping it's not a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same.
COMMUNITY
Aug 15, 2002

Where the hair salons are only slightly more modern than the food rationing

Ever been to a cake shop that operates a rationing policy?
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2002

Scandals keep exploding at USJ

OSAKA -- Universal Studios Japan, which is under investigation for improperly using and storing fireworks explosives, detonated an excessive amount of explosives this month in three of its attractions, officials from the prefecture and the company said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2002

June industrial output revised up

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Wednesday revised June's decline in industrial production to 0.2 percent from a preliminary 0.7 percent over the previous month.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Aug 15, 2002

Don't mess with the Maori

You may not know it, but Sony Computer Entertainment has an American game arm -- aptly known as Sony Computer Entertainment America.

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