Tokyo

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Tokyo Sexwale was a political prisoner on infamous Robben Island during the apartheid era, a provincial governor after the arrival of democracy and is now a member of an emerging black elite. He is also being called the country's Donald Trump for his latest venture, as the future host of South Africa's version of The Apprentice. On each week's episode he will, Trump-style, "fire" another contestant vying for a big-money job with Sexwale's company, until a winner emerges.

SINGAPORE -- Just as the United States and China are trying to work together to solve the nuclear standoff with North Korea, another potential flash point in Asia is threatening to complicate diplomacy: Taiwan. China reacted angrily yesterday to a statement issued by the United States and Japan in which they defined Taiwan as one of their common security concerns. Washington and Tokyo had never before stated joint concern, and China lashed out in reply, calling the remarks "irresponsible" and "untenable."

I woke with a start about 5 a.m., my elbow knocking against a plastic wall as I turned over. Why, I wondered, was I sleeping in an MRI machine? I wasn't. I was in Capsule 2052, a lower, at Capsule Hotel Fontaine Akasaka in the western part of Tokyo. I had checked in the night before, eager - or at least determined - to have this uniquely Japanese experience. I was sweltering. My capsule had TV (Japanese only) and radio but no fan. Sitting up, careful not to bump my head, I scrunched down to the foot, raised the little blind and peered down a long row of double-decker capsules.

Palestinian leader Abbas appears at election rally JERICHO, West Bank -- Interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, the front-runner in upcoming presidential elections, received a loud ovation from thousands of supporters at his first public rally yesterday, generating some excitement for the low-key politician seeking to replace the late Yasser Arafat. The rally came as Palestinian election officials announced anti-fraud safeguards for the Jan. 9 vote, saying voters will be marked with indelible ink and ballot boxes will be sealed.

TOKYO - An aging politician's desire to visit his alma mater has turned into a diplomatic confrontation between Japan and China, adding one more irritant to an already strained relationship between Asia's biggest powers. Yesterday, Tokyo granted a 15-day tourist visa to former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, 81, who plans to arrive in Japan on Monday with his wife, daughter and granddaughter for what officials here describe as a private holiday. Lee was one of four Chinese students given a scholarship to attend Kyoto University during Japan's 1895-1945 occupation of Taiwan, and he is expected to visit the school during a vacation scheduled to last until Jan. 2. But Japan's decision to allow Taiwan's fiery former president into the country has angered Beijing.

TOKYO -- Stroll through a depachika, one of the sprawling basement food halls found in Japanese department stores, and you'll encounter a breathtaking display of ready-to-eat items: jewellike salads, tantalizing croquettes, tofu salads, grilled chicken on skewers and other offerings known collectively as sozai. For young working women with little inclination to cook elaborate meals, store-bought sozai is a time-saving grace. Traditionalists, though, say the commercial sozai boom is to blame for the vanishing art of home cooking in Japan.

TOKYO - A Tokyo court granted an appeal by UFJ Holdings yesterday that clears the way for the struggling Japanese bank to resume merger talks with its larger rival, the Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, in a deal that could create the world's largest bank. The Tokyo High Court reversed an injunction by a lower court that had banned UFJ from including its money-management unit in the merger negotiations because of a previous agreement to sell that business to another bank, the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

TOKYO - The nephew of alleged U.S. Army deserter Charles Robert Jenkins angrily accused the U.S. and Japanese governments yesterday of keeping his uncle in isolation in a Tokyo hospital while they try to orchestrate a plea bargain that would "wash their hands" of an awkward diplomatic problem. James Hyman, who is campaigning to exonerate his uncle on charges that he defected to North Korea nearly four decades ago, told reporters that the Japanese government had blocked his attempts to visit Jenkins in the past week.

TOKYO -- Steadied by a cane and his wife's grip, former Army Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins stepped off a plane and onto Japanese soil yesterday, placing himself in the legal line of fire from an American government that has vowed to prosecute him for allegedly defecting to North Korea almost 40 years ago. Japanese authorities immediately whisked the 64-year-old Jenkins to a Tokyo hospital, where he will undergo tests and possible treatment for an undisclosed...

TOKYO - An upbeat Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stared down critics calling for his resignation yesterday, declaring he would not be pushed from office nor blown off his reformist course by disappointing results in elections for Japan's Upper House. The 49 seats won by Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party fell short of the 51 he set as his target when the campaign began in June. Although the opposition Democratic Party of Japan gained 12 seats, the conservative-minded LDP and its junior party allies retained their working majority in the Upper House.