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Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 17, 2002

Nintendo's Arakawa surprises with retirement announcement

Nobody really cared who the president of Nintendo of America was when Minoru Arakawa founded the company in 1980. With games like "Radarscope" and "Sheriff," it was just another Taito wannabe trying to break into the U.S. arcade market.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2002

Daiei creditors to wrap up bailout plan

Debt-saddled supermarket chain Daiei Inc. and its three major creditor banks are putting the final touches on a 400 billion yen bailout package that involves swapping some 300 billion yen in loans for Daiei shares, a source at one of the creditor banks said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 17, 2002

Group seeks to close digital gender divide

The old stereotype of the "computer geek" -- taped Coke-bottle glasses, pens and protractors in breast pocket -- has gotten a series of upgrades over the last decade. The geek has morphed into the "techno-wizard," complete with a huge salary, power, influence and sometimes even new glasses.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 17, 2002

Magic elfin adventures of Jak & Daxter land in Japan

Back in August, The Japan Times ran a feature about a company called Naughty Dog that specializes in 3-D adventure games.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

Smoking rate high among female health care workers

Smokers account for a quarter of all women working in Japan's health-care profession, a rate that is nearly double that for adult females nationwide, according to a Japanese Nursing Association survey.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

Tanaka not happy with temporary space

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka got her first glimpse Tuesday of a temporary high-rise facility she and her staff will use while the ministry undergoes renovation.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

Health minister finally meets plaintiffs over CJD lawsuits

Health minister Chikara Sakaguchi on Tuesday met with plaintiffs in two lawsuits filed over brain surgery patients who died after receiving dura mater tainted by the fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

Obituary: Kiyofumi Sakaguchi

Kiyofumi Sakaguchi, chairman of Prudential Life Insurance Co. of Japan, died of heart failure Jan. 11., company officials said Tuesday. He was 58.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

New Year's poetry-reading ceremony held at Imperial Palace

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko on Tuesday attended the annual New Year's poetry recital at the Imperial Palace, where poems by members of the Imperial family and the general public were recited in traditional style.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

State aims to boost female civil servant pool

The National Personnel Authority has unveiled plans drawn up by 31 government ministries, agencies and related institutions to improve the recruitment and promotion of female civil servants.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

Koreans' appeal for redress rebuffed

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal filed on behalf of two South Korean women demanding 60 million yen in damages and official apologies from the Japanese government over their forced labor during World War II.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

Experts push government to protect intellectual property

A group of experts has called on the government to adopt a set of 100 drastic reform steps to protect intellectual property rights as part of efforts to make Japan a world leader in the knowledge-oriented economy by 2010.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2002

Taiwan FamilyMart to go public

FamilyMart Co. said Tuesday its Taiwanese convenience store subsidiary will go public over the counter Feb. 25.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2002

Daihatsu Diesel in South Korea tieup

OSAKA -- Daihatsu Diesel Mfg. Co. said Tuesday it has formed a technical tieup with South Korea's HSD Engine Co. in the field of medium-speed marine diesel engines.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2002

Sumisei fund becomes first listed on OSE venture market

OSAKA -- A fund managed by Sumisei Global Investment Trust Management Co. on Tuesday became the first investment trust to be listed on a new market for venture funds set up by the Osaka Securities Exchange in December.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2002

More BOJ credit-easing steps soon: experts

Seventy-five percent of economists and financial analysts surveyed by Kyodo News believe the Bank of Japan will take additional credit-easing measures within three months, amid an increasingly gloomy economic outlook.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jan 16, 2002

Dhafer Youssef: 'Electric Sufi'

Sufism, the mystical side of Islam, is the inspiration of a musical style that emphasizes repetition and a trance-like intensity approaching ecstasy. Its most prominent style is qawwali, which developed in India and Pakistan and whose most famous practitioner was the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 16, 2002

Tales of innocence and odd experience

Through the opening party crowd ran Sam Taylor-Wood's adorable little daughter, Angelica, done up in a fairy costume with a papier-ma^che star floating above her head and a magic wand in her hand. It was a delightful moment that sent a ripple of good old warm-hearted smiles through the well-attended...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

NGOs protest resumption of work on Isahaya project

Three nongovernmental organizations on Tuesday lodged a protest with the farm ministry over a controversial land reclamation project in Isahaya Bay, Nagasaki Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

Red Army passport forger gets suspended term

The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced a member of the Japanese Red Army to a suspended 30-month prison term for forging passport documents in 1974 to help a colleague flee the country.
SUMO
Jan 16, 2002

Musashimaru handed second defeat, drops out of New Year tournament

Yokozuna Musashimaru dropped out of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Tuesday, the Japanese Sumo Association announced.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2002

Cambodian aid raises concern

Through its involvement in Cambodia since the U.N. peacekeeping process began in 1991, Japan has played a positive role in attempting to bring peace and development to Cambodia. Japan's generous aid program has brought some significant benefits to Cambodians over the past 10 years. These include a glistening...
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2002

UFJ Bank makes shaky debut

UFJ Holdings Inc. decided Tuesday to dip into its reserves to the tune of 1 trillion yen to make dividend payments, indicating that the group's new bank, which officially began operations the same day, is already desperately low on capital.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jan 16, 2002

If at first you don't succeed

Teen idol Ami Suzuki is apparently on the verge of making a comeback after disappearing from the J-pop radar more than a year ago.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2002

Mobile phone shipments down again

Domestic shipments of mobile phones and personal handy-phone handsets dropped 24.2 percent in November from a year ago to 3,229,000 units, marking a sixth consecutive month of decline, an industry group said Tuesday.

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