Yomiuri Shimbun/Daily Yomiuri articles from December 2001

Yomiuri Shimbun/Daily Yomiuri archives from December 2001

Govt to start drafting free-trade action plan.
December 31, 2001... Govt to start drafting free-trade action plan Yomiuri The government is set to start drawing up an action plan to push through the signing of a comprehensive economic cooperation accord--which includes a free-trade agreement--with...

27 'spy' ships operating in waters around Japan.
December 31, 2001... 27 'spy' ships operating in waters around Japan Yomiuri The Defense Agency has compiled a list of 27 suspicious ships sighted operating in waters around Japan and has tentatively classified them as North Korean spy ships, according...

Data Talk / Birthrates in Japan, Italy fall rapidly.
December 31, 2001... Data Talk / Birthrates in Japan, Italy fall rapidly Yomiuri As a result of the precipitous decline of Japan's birthrate, people aged 65 years of age or older accounted for 17.3 percent out of a population of 127 million in 2000,...

Spanish jeweler building bear market here.
December 31, 2001... Spanish jeweler building bear market here Mikiko Miyakawa Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri While the majority of Japanese companies are facing difficulties due to the faltering economy, a few firms are treating the situation as...

LDP debates limits of party reshuffle.
December 31, 2001... LDP debates limits of party reshuffle Yomiuri With Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi having signaled his readiness to reshuffle senior government and parliamentary posts, Liberal Democratic Party members have called for a reshuffle...

Students follow puppets to Tonda from Kentucky.
December 31, 2001... Students follow puppets to Tonda from Kentucky Yomiuri OTSU OTSU--Thirty-eight students from Berea College in Kentucky will serve apprenticeships with the Tonda Traditional Japanese Bunraku Puppet Troupe from Jan. 4 to Jan. 28...

Euro throws down gauntlet to Britain.
December 31, 2001... Euro throws down gauntlet to Britain Shuichi Habu Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent Yomiuri LONDON LONDON--Europe will take another major step toward unification at midnight Monday, when euro banknotes and coins go into general...

Data Talk: Birthrates in Japan, Italy fall rapidly.
December 31, 2001... As a result of the precipitous decline of Japan's birthrate, people aged 65 years of age or older accounted for 17.3 percent out of a population of 127 million in 2000, according to the Japan Aging Research Center. Japan and Italy led...

Spanish jeweler building bear market here.
December 31, 2001... While the majority of Japanese companies are facing difficulties due to the faltering economy, a few firms are treating the situation as a business opportunity. Tous Japan is a case in point. "We started our business just when the jewelry...

Students follow puppets to Tonda from Kentucky.
December 31, 2001... OTSU -- Thirty-eight students from Berea College in Kentucky will serve apprenticeships with the Tonda Traditional Japanese Bunraku Puppet Troupe from Jan. 4 to Jan. 28 in Biwacho, Shiga Prefecture. The troupe, whose puppets are national...

Euro throws down gauntlet to Britain.
December 31, 2001... LONDON -- Europe will take another major step toward unification at midnight Monday, when euro banknotes and coins go into general circulation. For the first time, several nations--12, to be exact--will simultaneously abandon their currencies...

In the feature on the Japan-South Korea forum carried on P.
December 30, 2001... In the feature on the Japan-South Korea forum carried on Page 12 of the Dec. 29 issue, the name of one of the panelists Yomiuri In the feature on the Japan-South Korea forum carried on Page 12 of the Dec. 29 issue, the name of one of...

ANA, 3 JR firms team up for ticket sales drive.
December 30, 2001... ANA, 3 JR firms team up for ticket sales drive Yomiuri All Nippon Airways plans to strengthen its alliance with three Japan Railways companies to directly sell discount JR tickets at ANA counters, sources said Saturday. The...

Year's blunders have N. Korea at bay.
December 30, 2001... Year's blunders have N. Korea at bay Takuji Kawata Yomiuri SEOUL Strong suspicions that an unidentified ship that sank in the East China Sea was on a spy mission for North Korea bolster the belief that the country is still...

Furor on the rise over Takebe's mad cow gaffe.
December 30, 2001... Furor on the rise over Takebe's mad cow gaffe Yomiuri Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe's controversial remarks about the outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan have caused both the ruling and opposition...

2 crew members 'likely drowned'.
December 30, 2001... KAGOSHIMA (Kyodo)--Results from 13-hour autopsies performed Friday on two crew members of an unidentified ship that sank last week after exchanging fire with Japan Coast Guard patrol boats indicate they may have drowned, investigation sources...

[0] Japan, ROK reach deal in saury spat.
December 29, 2001... SEOUL -- Japan agreed Friday to allow South Korea to catch 9,000 tons of saury next year, the same volume as the South Koreans caught this year, in waters off Sanriku region, Japanese government officials said Friday. The deal was struck...

Mayor to pay 1 mil. yen fine for accepting 1 mil. yen bribe.
December 29, 2001... NARA -- Fumio Ichihara, former mayor of Tenri, Nara Prefecture, was given an 18-month prison sentence Friday, suspended for three years, and was fined 1 million yen for accepting a bribe in 1998 on behalf of a man seeking a job with the...

[0] Govt finalizes plan to assist Afghanistan.
December 29, 2001... The government Thursday finalized its plan to assist the recovery of Afghanistan. The nation is to provide a variety of humanitarian services, including educational, health and medical aid as well as assistance with demining. The...

News in briefs.
December 29, 2001... 1. Princess Aiko born Crown Princess Masako gave birth to a baby girl at 2:43 p.m. on Dec. 1. The new princess, the first child of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, and the third grandchild of the Emperor and Empress, was...

Top 10 international news stories.
December 29, 2001... 1. Sept. 11 attacks shake world Islamic extremists hijacked four airliners in the United States on Sept. 11, crashing two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York , one into the Pentagon, while another crashed in...

Japan, ROK reach deal in saury spat.
December 29, 2001... Japan, ROK reach deal in saury spat Yomiuri SEOUL Japan agreed Friday to allow South Korea to catch 9,000 tons of saury next year, the same volume as the South Koreans caught this year, in waters off Sanriku region, Japanese...

Mayor to pay 1 mil. yen fine for accepting 1 mil. yen brib.
December 29, 2001... Mayor to pay 1 mil. yen fine for accepting 1 mil. yen bribe Yomiuri NARA Fumio Ichihara, former mayor of Tenri, Nara Prefecture, was given an 18-month prison sentence Friday, suspended for three years, and was fined 1 million...

Govt finalizes plan to assist Afghanistan.
December 29, 2001... Govt finalizes plan to assist Afghanistan Yomiuri The government Thursday finalized its plan to assist the recovery of Afghanistan. The nation is to provide a variety of humanitarian services, including educational, health and...

Public needs reason for reform pain.
December 29, 2001... Public needs reason for reform pain Jun Iio Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri The teacher at my son's day-care center looked puzzled when I told her that we would be returning to Japan from the United States in March. "Why...

1 Princess Aiko born Crown Princess Masako gave birth to a.
December 29, 2001... 1 Princess Aiko born Crown Princess Masako gave birth to a baby girl at 2:43 p.m. on Dec. 1. The new princess, the first Yomiuri Crown Princess Masako gave birth to a baby girl at 2:43 p.m. on Dec. 1. The new princess, the first...

Top 10 internaitonal news stories.
December 29, 2001... Top 10 internaitonal news stories Yomiuri 1 Sept. 11 attacks shake world Islamic extremists hijacked four airliners in the United States on Sept. 11, crashing two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York , one...

Pop culture exchanges promote vitality.
December 29, 2001... Pop culture exchanges promote vitality Yomiuri Umehara: (In previous forums) we discussed topics ranging from the Korean delegation to the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period (1603-1868) to cultural exchanges in the Nara period...

Stimulating creativity makes great minds.
December 29, 2001... Stimulating creativity makes great minds Yomiuri What is the source of creativity as a major contributor to the advancement of human intellect? This fundamental theme was explored by Ryoji Noyori, a chemistry professor at Nagoya...

Police: Killer stayed in house for hours.
December 29, 2001... Police: Killer stayed in house for hours Yomiuri The man who murdered four members of the Miyazawa family of Setagawa Ward, Tokyo, last year, may have stayed in their house overnight after killing them and used their personal...

Tokyo's living cost down 1.2%.
December 29, 2001... Tokyo's living cost down 1.2% Yomiuri Preliminary figures for the 2001 consumer price index in Tokyo's 23 wards indicate that the index has declined for a third consecutive year for the first time since the end of World War II, to...

Death sentence sought for killer of 6 women.
December 28, 2001... UTSUNOMIYA -- Prosecutors on Thursday demanded a death sentence from the Utsunomiya District Court for a man found guilty of murdering six female employees of a jewelry store that he set fire to and robbed of jewelry worth millions of yen in...

Ex-lawmaker's playboy son gets 8 years for fraud.
December 28, 2001... The Tokyo District Court sentenced the son of a former Diet member to eight years in jail for conspiring with his father to cheat 35 people across Japan of 665 million yen in a mutual aid fund scheme from 1994 to 1996. Prosecutors had...

Pyongyang 'insulted'.
December 28, 2001... SEOUL -- Pyongyang would take necessary measures toward Japan depending on what Tokyo does about an unidentified ship that sank in the East China Sea last Saturday after a shoot-out with Japan Coast Guard patrol boats, a North Korean Foreign...

Public fund injection option in crisis.
December 28, 2001... Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Taku Yamasaki agreed Thursday night that the government will "take every possible measure," including the injection of public funds, in the event of a financial...

2 death sentences carried out.
December 28, 2001... Death row inmates were hanged in detention houses in Tokyo and Nagoya on Thursday morning, the Justice Ministry said. Kojiro Asakura, 66, convicted of killing five members of a family in Tokyo in 1983 was executed in Tokyo. Toshihiko...

Narita airport sees 20% drop in travelers.
December 28, 2001... NARITA-C Chiba -- Narita airport is crowded with travelers aiming to celebrate the New Year in other countries, but it is expected that the overall number of passengers leaving for overseas destinations during the holiday period will show a...

Editorial: Basic law must reflect reality.
December 28, 2001... "Debate is needed on what kind of constitution should be established as the fundamental law that will guide Japan as a nation." Thus reads a part of the opening chapter of a recent interim report issued by a Minshuto (Democratic Party of...

Time for Koizumi to abolish the Bank of Japan.
December 28, 2001... Byline: Richard Werner Who needs salt that is not salty? Who needs a doctor who does not want to heal patients? And who needs the Bank of Japan? Like salt that never tastes salty, the central bank has for the past two decades...

In trying times, the ballpark is a place of solace and strength.
December 28, 2001... Byline: Takeshi Esaki As 2001 draws to a close, the people of the Kansai region look back on a host of brutal criminal acts and tragic accidents that the region suffered in the first year of the 21st century, such as the fatal stabbing...

Lingua Frankly: Public debate in Pittsburgh.
December 28, 2001... Byline: Takeshi Suzuki Competitive, or tournament-style, debate is by no means the only form of debating available. With public, or audience-oriented, debate, people from the community can attend and ask questions at the end. This...

Death sentence sought for killer of 6 women.
December 28, 2001... Death sentence sought for killer of 6 women Yomiuri UTSUNOMIYA Prosecutors on Thursday demanded a death sentence from the Utsunomiya District Court for a man found guilty of murdering six female employees of a jewelry store that...

Ex-lawmaker's playboy son gets 8 years for fraud.
December 28, 2001... Ex-lawmaker's playboy son gets 8 years for fraud Yomiuri The Tokyo District Court sentenced the son of a former Diet member to eight years in jail for conspiring with his father to cheat 35 people across Japan of 665 million yen in a...

Pyongyang 'insulted'.
December 28, 2001... Pyongyang 'insulted' Yomiuri SEOUL Pyongyang would take necessary measures toward Japan depending on what Tokyo does about an unidentified ship that sank in the East China Sea last Saturday after a shoot-out with Japan Coast...

Narita airport sees 20% drop in travelers.
December 28, 2001... Narita airport sees 20% drop in travelers Yomiuri NARITA?C Chiba Narita airport is crowded with travelers aiming to celebrate the New Year in other countries, but it is expected that the overall number of passengers leaving for...

In trying times, the ballpark is a place of solace and str.
December 28, 2001... In trying times, the ballpark is a place of solace and strength Takeshi Esaki Yomiuri As 2001 draws to a close, the people of the Kansai region look back on a host of brutal criminal acts and tragic accidents that the region...

Editorial / Basic law must reflect reality.
December 28, 2001... Editorial / Basic law must reflect reality Yomiuri "Debate is needed on what kind of constitution should be established as the fundamental law that will guide Japan as a nation." Thus reads a part of the opening chapter of a...

Yokomichi forms study team as dissent in Minshuto grows.
December 27, 2001... Yokomichi forms study team as dissent in Minshuto grows Yomiuri In an open show of dissent within the ranks of Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), Takahiro Yokomichi, a deputy party leader, and 15 colleagues on Tuesday formed a...

Ex-gangster admits robbery series.
December 27, 2001... Ex-gangster admits robbery series Yomiuri OSAKA A former gang member who was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of robbery has admitted to being involved in 12 other robberies and attempted robberies in Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Nara...

Kirin Brewery to purchase clean fuel-cell energy from Maru.
December 27, 2001... Kirin Brewery to purchase clean fuel-cell energy from Marubeni Yomiuri Kirin Brewery Co. has concluded a 15-year deal with Marubeni Co. to purchase electricity provided by the trading house using a fuel cell importedCopyright 2001...

Smoke shuts Narita section.
December 27, 2001... Smoke shuts Narita section Yomiuri CHIBA Passengers evacuated Narita airport, as smoke filled a corridor connecting the airport's No. 1 terminal building and No. 4 satellite at about 12:20 p.m. Wednesday, New Tokyo International...

A quick review: books in 2001 By Colin Donald.
December 27, 2001... A quick review: books in 2001 By Colin Donald Colin Donald Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri It was a year when literary fantasy--old and new--was made cinematic flesh. The Harry Potter film is conquering box office records...

'Bandits' steals a few laughs.
December 27, 2001... 'Bandits' steals a few laughs Dave Hilson Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri Bandits ** 1/2 Dir: Barry Levinson Cast: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Troy Garity Despite it being...

A taste with wide appeal.
December 27, 2001... A taste with wide appeal Melanie Goodfellow Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri Le gout des autres (Musshu Kasutera no Koi) *** Dir: Agnes Jaoui Cast: Anne Alvaro, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Alain Chabat,...

'Ichi': A painful look at violence in films Koroshiya Ichi.
December 27, 2001... 'Ichi': A painful look at violence in films Koroshiya Ichi (Ichi the Killer) HHH Dir: Takashi Miike Cast: Tadanobu Asano Aaron Gerow Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri Koroshiya Ichi (Ichi the Killer) *** Dir: Takashi...

Ancient relics tell amusing history.
December 27, 2001... Ancient relics tell amusing history Asami Nagai Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri For many students, history classes are synonymous with the endless memorization of dates, events and names. To show how engaging history can be,...

DBJ, Yasuda to rescue confectioner Hirota.
December 27, 2001... DBJ, Yasuda to rescue confectioner Hirota Yomiuri The Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) and a nonlife insurance company have agreed to jointly extend 100 million yen in loans to a bankrupt confectionery company, marking the first time...

Giants make pitch to sign big league hurler Wasdin.
December 27, 2001... Giants make pitch to sign big league hurler Wasdin Yomiuri The Yomiuri Giants, looking to fill the hole in their pitching staff left by the departure of Darrell May, are looking to sign major league right-hander John Wasdin. The...

Kirin Brewery to purchase clean fuel-cell energy from Marubeni.
December 27, 2001... Kirin Brewery Co. has concluded a 15-year deal with Marubeni Co. to purchase electricity provided by the trading house using a fuel cell imported from a U.S. company, Kirin officials said Wednesday. The deal marks the first time a major...

[0] Ex-gangster admits robbery series.
December 27, 2001... OSAKA -- A former gang member who was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of robbery has admitted to being involved in 12 other robberies and attempted robberies in Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Nara prefectures since February. Masatoshi Saito, 51,...

'Ichi': A painful look at violence in films.
December 27, 2001... Koroshiya Ichi (Ichi the Killer) *** Dir: Takashi Miike Cast: Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori, Shinya Tsukamoto, Sabu These days when the reality of violence hits home all too shockingly, one hears occasional voices questioning...

[0] Stuttgarter Ballet brings innovative productions.
December 27, 2001... Stuttgarter Ballet, the renowned German ballet company based in Stuttgart, will bring two of its acclaimed house productions--Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew--to Tokyo in February. Both ballets were choreographed by the late...

[0] Three arrested over 25 mil. yen bank robbery.
December 26, 2001... OSAKA -- A former member of a criminal group and two others were arrested Tuesday after they robbed a bank in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, in broad daylight, firing several shots and making away with 25 million yen. According to...

In The News: New Greenpeace Japan chief to boost image.
December 26, 2001... A 51-year-old former construction company president has been elected head of Greenpeace Japan, the local chapter of the international environmental organization, beating out 92 other applicants. Masashi Kimura officially takes control of...

Matsushita Electric consolidates hold on group.
December 26, 2001... Matsushita Electric consolidates hold on group Yomiuri Five firms belonging to the Matsushita group are to become wholly owned subsidiaries of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., one of the world's biggest manufacturers of consumer...

Mystery ship may be salvaged.
December 26, 2001... Mystery ship may be salvaged Yomiuri The unidentified ship that sank in the East China Sea after a firefight with Japan Coast Guard patrol boats late Saturday should be salvaged and investigated if possible, Prime Minister Junichiro...

Koizumi wins battle of the budget.
December 26, 2001... Koizumi wins battle of the budget Yomiuri The budget for fiscal 2002, the first compiled under the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, illustrates two things: The strong leadership of Koizumi, and the waning influence...

Hatoyama hams it up as 'Phantom'.
December 26, 2001... Hatoyama hams it up as 'Phantom' Yomiuri Yukio Hatoyama, leader of Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), played the title role in a brief performance of the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" at a dinner show held at a hotel in...

In The News / New Greenpeace Japan chief to boost image.
December 26, 2001... In The News / New Greenpeace Japan chief to boost image Jun Sato / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Yomiuri A 51-year-old former construction company president has been elected head of Greenpeace Japan, the local chapter of the...

Was 2001 a turning point in national politics? By Yoshimic.
December 26, 2001... Was 2001 a turning point in national politics? By Yoshimichi Hironaka "The result of the (Liberal Democratic Party's) pr Yoshimichi Hironaka Yomiuri "The result of the (Liberal Democratic Party's) presidential election was of...

Down and out in Osaka's Airin Many people will end this ye.
December 26, 2001... Down and out in Osaka's Airin Many people will end this year trapped in the misery of unemployment, and even homeless Yanagawa Yomiuri About 2,000 people are currently living on the streets, in parks or in a municipal...

The Top 20 Japan sports stories of 2001.
December 26, 2001... The Top 20 Japan sports stories of 2001 Ken Marantz Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter Yomiuri Anyone who had seen Ichiro Suzuki snare his seven straight Pacific League batting titles with the Orix BlueWave knew he was ready to take...

Matsui inks richest deal ever.
December 26, 2001... Matsui inks richest deal ever Yomiuri Yomiuri Giants center fielder Hideki Matsui celebrated Christmas in material fashion by signing the richest contract in Japanese baseball history on Tuesday. The Giants and Matsui came to...

Koizumi: Extend coast guard's range.
December 25, 2001... Koizumi: Extend coast guard's range Yomiuri Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi instructed Cabinet members to study legislative and other measures to deal with unidentified vessels after an exchange of fire Saturday between Japan Coast...

Experts: Ship's mission spying or drug-smuggling.
December 25, 2001... Experts: Ship's mission spying or drug-smuggling Yomiuri Academics have said that the suspected North Korean ship that sank in the East China Sea on Saturday night after being chased by Japan Coast Guard patrol boats might have been...

Web imperfect at reuniting families.
December 25, 2001... Web imperfect at reuniting families Tom Baker and Harumi Ozawa Daily Yomiuri Staff Writers Yomiuri From zip codes to Christmas gifts, the Internet can give you an answer to almost any search. But when it comes to tracking down...

Japan Perspective / Japan-U.S. issues due for review.
December 25, 2001... Japan Perspective / Japan-U.S. issues due for review Gaku Shibata Yomiuri A huge Christmas tree has been displayed this year in front of the Rockefeller Center building at the heart of Manhattan, delighting New Yorkers, many of...

BUSINESS SHOWROOM.
December 25, 2001... BUSINESS SHOWROOM PC3 Portable minidisc recorder Sharp Corp. has released a portable minidisc recorder, the IM-MT880. This model enables simple high-speed digital transfer of audio data from a personal computer to a minidisc via...

BUSINESS UPDATE.
December 25, 2001... BUSINESS UPDATE Yomiuri Business Update is a weekly omnibus of business information based on news releases from companies in Japan and abroad, domestic and international organizations, diplomatic missions and other entities. ...

Newspapers a tool for expressing opinions.
December 25, 2001... Newspapers a tool for expressing opinions Midori Matsuzawa Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri MITO--P. Charles Brown did almost nothing during his 90-minute English class aside from giving his students some instructions. Instead,...

Frontale?s assault team powers into semis.
December 25, 2001... Frontale?s assault team powers into semis Shintaro Kano Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter Yomiuri Kawasaki Frontale became the first-ever J.League Division Two side to reach the Emperor's Cup semifinals on Monday afternoon, sending...

[0] Koizumi: Extend coast guard's range.
December 25, 2001... Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi instructed Cabinet members to study legislative and other measures to deal with unidentified vessels after an exchange of fire Saturday between Japan Coast Guard patrol boats and a suspicious ship that sank in...

Japan Perspective: Japan-U.S. issues due for review.
December 25, 2001... A huge Christmas tree has been displayed this year in front of the Rockefeller Center building at the heart of Manhattan, delighting New Yorkers, many of them on their way to Mass at a Fifth Avenue church. The Christmas tree lights,...

[0] BUSINESS SHOWROOM.
December 25, 2001... -- PC3 Portable minidisc recorder Sharp Corp. has released a portable minidisc recorder, the IM-MT880. This model enables simple high-speed digital transfer of audio data from a personal computer to a minidisc via a cable connected...