Japan play down medals hopes for Beijing
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When Japan's top women wrestlers greeted the new year by plunging into the icy depths of Tokyo Bay, shivering onlookers chuckled in disbelief.
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Japan revived memories of their glorious  gymnastics past when they upstaged favorites China and United  States to snatch the Olympic men's team gold for the first time  in 28 years Monday.
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Japan has said it will hold its first joint history study with China next week and called for both sides to be open-minded so they can improve ties strained over the past.
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OSAKA, Japan  - Bernard Lagat, Jeremy Wariner and Allyson Felix will look to add gloss to successful world championships with more gold medals on the final day of competition on Sunday.
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Japan revived memories of their glorious  gymnastics past when they upstaged favorites China and the  United States to snatch the Olympic men's team gold for the  first time in 28 years on Monday.
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Reliving its glory days as a gymnastics power, Japan captured the men&#39;s team gold medal at the Athens Olympics on Monday.
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ATHENS  Four-time judo world champion Noriko Anno broke her Olympic jinx by winning gold in the women&#39;s 78-kilogram event Thursday at the Athens Games but defending Olympic champion Kosei Inoue was dealt shock defeats to miss out on a medal in the ...
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Japanese financial officials tried to play down worries Friday that a planned revision in calculating growth may show the economy shrank instead of grew slightly in the quarter ended Sept. 30.
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The International Olympic Committee  (IOC) said on Friday preparations for the 2008 Games in Beijing  were on track and played down suggestions that China's emphasis  on frugality would compromise events venues.
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Another notch on the Canadian medal chart of expectations ended with the least likely of fourth place finishes at the Olympic Games.
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Japanese officials, arriving in Washington on Thursday for a historic meeting between the Group of Seven (G7) nations and China, distanced themselves from US demands for a review of China&#39;s currency policy.
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ATHENS -- Hardened by grueling hill work in the Swiss mountains and undeterred by the punishing Athens heat, Mizuki Noguchi seized a second straight gold medal for Japan in the women's Olympic marathon yesterday.
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U.S. officials yesterday played down the chances of a breakthrough on North Korean disarmament talks, which  will start this weekend in Beijing after a 13-month hiatus, but said they will press for tangible signs of progress.
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Japan and China should try to resolve their differences calmly, China's ambassador to Japan said Saturday, a day after Tokyo filed a protest with Beijing over the intrusion of a Chinese nuclear submarine.
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Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda played a friendly game of catch on his visit to China on Saturday, a symbol of warming ties between the North Asian rivals despite an intractable row over gas resources in disputed waters.
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Executions are dropping as China's notorious capital punishment system gets an overhaul in the runup to the Beijing Games
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Japan&#39;s central bank offered a bleaker assessment of the country&#39;s economy Friday for the first time in more than a year and a half, citing weaker industrial production and slowing export growth.