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COMMUNITY
Jan 13, 2002

Stories for sale at today's Antique Jamboree

It's not just the thrill of a bargain hunt or the search for something unique. Surely, the increasing popularity of antiques is also because every item tells a story. Who, for example, wore that exquisite cameo necklace, dripping with finest gold? Why did an unknown doll-maker never finish painting her...
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jan 13, 2002

Take me to your anti-leader

The Shibuya Takeshi Orchestra is one of the most singular, challenging and unusual jazz units in Tokyo. Many local groups strive for accomplished technique, pushing their instruments to the far edge of rapid-fire playing or polishing one style to perfection. The Shibuya Takeshi Orchestra, however, delights...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 13, 2002

Matsugen: Noodles at the cutting edge of Azabu

To call Matsugen a new-wave soba shop would be misleading, since the noodles it rolls, cuts, cooks and serves are entirely traditional. But judge it on looks and attitude alone, and it belongs without question to the present century, not the last.
SOCCER / World cup
Jan 13, 2002

Donations for World Cup 80 percent off expectations

The Japanese organizing committee for the 2002 World Cup (JAWOC) is struggling to raise donations, having received less than 20 percent of what was projected in its revenue plan.
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2002

A new framework for stability

The Korean Peninsula remains a potential flash point. The question for 2002 is whether North and South Korea, still technically at war, will be able to promote stability in the region. The answer partly depends on how domestic politics develops in South Korea, which will hold local elections in June...
COMMENTARY
Jan 12, 2002

Japan's economic black hole

Realism is finally impinging on the economic debate here. The "structural reform" ideologues may remain blind to the contradiction between urging privatization and liberalization even as they are being forced effectively to nationalize a banking system suffering from past liberalization excesses. But...
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

Badminton coach held over holdups at sex parlors

A former Chinese badminton coach involved in training Japanese Olympic athletes has been arrested in connection with a series of sex-parlor robberies, according to police sources.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

Japan-U.S. pact to expedite cooperation in crime probes

The government will conclude this year a criminal investigation cooperation treaty with the United States that would allow agencies to bypass diplomatic channels in exchanging information, government sources said.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

Kato says no evidence links him to tax scandal

Koichi Kato, former secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Friday there is no evidence implicating him in a tax evasion scandal concerning his secretary and maintained the aide had properly handled political funds.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 12, 2002

Eight enter Japanese Hall of Fame

Kazuhiro Yamauchi, one of the best sluggers of the late 1950s and 1960s, has been elected to the Hall of Fame along with seven other notable contributors to Japanese baseball, baseball officials said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2002

Chip makers drop dumping claim on South Koreans

Four Japanese chip makers have shied away from filing an antidumping petition against South Korean rivals that, the domestic makers say, export dynamic random access memory chips to Japan at unfairly low prices, according to industry sources.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2002

Japan-China panel to discuss farm import levels

Tokyo and Beijing have agreed to hold the first meeting of a bilateral trade panel charged with discussing import levels for three Chinese farm products in early February, the farm minister said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

Tokyo police chief emphasizes World Cup security at drill

Takeshi Noda, superintendent general of the Metropolitan Police Department, instructed his staff Friday to take full security precautions for the World Cup soccer finals that are to be jointly hosted by Japan and South Korea this year.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2002

Ailing Daiei looks to unload baseball team, dome

Troubled Daiei Inc. is planning to sell a majority of its shares in the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks baseball team and its ballpark, the Fukuoka Dome, as part of efforts to reduce its massive interest-bearing debts, according to company sources.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

Bank loans decline for fifth year in row

The average daily lending balance by the nation's banks in 2001 fell 3.9 percent from the year before to 447.05 trillion yen for the fifth straight year of decline, the Bank of Japan said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

Aum victim can keep welfare, compensation

A woman on welfare who was a victim of Aum Shinrikyo's 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system will be able to keep her welfare money, as well as 3 million yen in compensation she was awarded after the attack.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

'Kandahar' director laments Afghan bombing

Afghanistan needs books rather than bombs to educate a largely illiterate population that has endured nearly two decades of war, starvation and drought, celebrated Iranian movie director Mohsen Makhmalbaf told a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

Afghan files lawsuit over rejection of refugee status

OSAKA -- An Afghan national filed a suit against the Justice Ministry and the Osaka Immigration Bureau on Friday, demanding that the government rescind a decision to reject his application for refugee status, court officials said.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2002

Shiokawa eyes easing burden of direct taxes

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Friday he hopes to raise indirect taxes, including asset taxes, and reduce the burden of direct taxes in a comprehensive tax reform plan to be introduced later this month.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 12, 2002

Keiko Otsu

HELP stands for House in Emergency of Love and Peace. This shelter for Asian women and children was established in 1986 on the 100th anniversary of the Japan Women's Christian Temperance Union.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2002

Indo-Pakistani chances for peace improve

It now appears that war between nuclear powers India and Pakistan can be prevented. Islamabad's current crackdown on militant organizations may not have fully satisfied New Delhi, but Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's gesture at the recent conference of the South Asian Association for Regional...
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2002

Deposits at credit unions may get protection: FSA

Financial Services Agency chief Hakuo Yanagisawa said Friday the government may protect deposits at small savings associations as a safeguard against chaos after blanket deposit protection at failed banks is abolished in April.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2002

TSE moves into the education game

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is sponsoring seminars on stock trading for university students with the hope they will return to the market as investors in the future.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 12, 2002

Time for an ant, frog and cement facial

Most university students I teach have part-time jobs. These girls aren't using their money to pay for school fees, though. They use it to buy new clothes and go to "estee" facial treatments, starting at 25,000 yen for five visits.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2002

Hiranuma seeks Pacific economic bloc in 10 years

Takeo Hiranuma, minister of economy, trade and industry, called Friday for the creation within 10 years of a Pacific economic bloc that would not only include Japan and Southeast Asian states but also other East Asian and Oceanian nations.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 12, 2002

Tabibito Travel: flexible, friendly, frugal and fun

I first meet Matthew Cox for coffee in the summer of 2000. He wants to talk about writing, get feedback on a couple of articles, and doesn't yet get the lesson to be learned from American compatriot Raymond Carver.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2002

Filmmaker records life and death in Manila's garbage dumps

"Someone get a saw!" yells a rescue worker frantically digging in a heap of garbage for a buried body. A blackened corpse slowly emerges, but rescuers are unsure if it is a man or woman. "I know her," someone finally says. "It's Mrs. Garret."

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