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Jan 11, 2004

Akakura downs Aguirre to snare belt

Japanese-based Thai boxer Eagle Akakura beat Mexican champion Jose Aguirre in an unanimous decision Saturday to become the new World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight champion. Three American judges counted it 117-110, 120-107 and 119-108, all in favor of the challenger. It was the 25-year-old Akakura's,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 11, 2004

Ba Cissoko: "Sabolan"

The infectious and joyous debut release from Ba Cissoko, four young Guinean exiles living in Marseille, connects the intensity of Salif Keita with the fun of Guinean dance bands. The keynote of their sound is the distinctive and elegant kora (21-string African harp). Instead of burying the kora's intricate...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 11, 2004

A step back to the way life was

Everyone knows -- especially the organizers of home stays and house visits -- that you can learn a lot about a society from observing the way its people live. But how about taking a trip back in time, to a home of times past, to gain a better understanding of the cultural roots of today's society?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 11, 2004

More than transformation to a photo critic's eye

THE HISTORY OF JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHY, edited and translated by John Junkerman. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003, 404 pp. $65 (cloth). The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, deserves kudos for sponsoring this superb slab of a book. This is certainly an impressively organized, thoughtful and comprehensive...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2004

Comparison underscores stark contrasts

HONOLULU -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld likes to point to the American occupation of Japan after World War II to assert that America is moving faster to rebuild and reform Iraq than the Americans did in seven years of remaking Japan, starting in 1945. Therefore, he says, Americans and critics...
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2004

Japan bids for additional China train deal

China is considering acquiring foreign high-speed train technology to improve railway services on its existing lines, in addition to a planned high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai, sources close to the project said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2004

SARS fears lead to rush for flu shots

About one-quarter of Japan's residents, some 30 million people, have had flu vaccinations this winter due to fears about SARS and concerns that the vaccine might run out, health ministry officials said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 11, 2004

Home sweet (old) homes

To buy a dream home is an aim shared by many, and in this respect Satoshi and Yumiko Takano were no different from millions the world over.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 11, 2004

Japan's 'Seabiscuit' shows losers can be winners too

There are few cliches as dubious as "Everybody loves a winner." Does everybody love a winner? The fans of the Hanshin Tigers certainly don't love the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2004

Lay judges may be jailed for leaking private data

The government is studying the feasibility of imprisoning lay judges if they leak information pertaining to the privacy of people involved in trials, according to government sources.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2004

Slump spells trouble for sister-city ties

In November, Ehime Prefecture and the state of Hawaii agreed to become sister "municipalities" -- a symbolic move aimed at overcoming the February 2001 Ehime Maru tragedy.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2004

Nozzle hole blamed for H-IIA failure

A booster-nozzle hole was to blame for the failed launch of an H-IIA rocket in November, the nation's space agency said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2004

No subsidies, no projects: Ishihara

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will suspend public works projects planned with subsidies from the central government if the state cuts off the funding, Gov. Shintaro Ishihara told a news conference Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2004

GSDF advance unit given Iraq marching orders

Japan on Friday took another step closer to deploying troops in Iraq, with Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba issuing an order for the dispatch of an advance team of Ground Self-Defense Force personnel.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2004

Aso hints at retaliatory Takeshima stamp

Posts minister Taro Aso said Friday that Tokyo should retaliate to Seoul's plans to release stamps bearing the image of a disputed island in the Sea of Japan by creating stamps of its own featuring the same territory.
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2004

Postcards from the red planet

We Earthlings have been to Mars before, of course. Dozens of times we've visited it in our imaginations, giving it special status as a far-off symbol of our own lust for war and the focus of all our fears and fantasies of extraterrestrial invasion -- Mars as the original red menace.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2004

Picture for July election gets clearer

At least 199 people are preparing to run in the House of Councilors election slated for July, around 40 fewer than at the corresponding stage ahead of the 2001 Upper House poll, according to a Kyodo News survey.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2004

Media urged to show restraint in reporting on SDF mission specifics

Citing security concerns, the Defense Agency called on the Japanese media Friday to exercise more restraint in their coverage of the deployment of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2004

Matsushita hopes digital focus ups profit margin

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Friday it aims to lift its profit margin to at least 5 percent in the next three years on sales of 8.2 trillion yen by meeting rising demand for digital consumer electronics products such as DVD recorders and flat TVs.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2004

U.S. eyes termination of beef ban; Japan seeks assurances on safety

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) Japan on Thursday called on the United States to introduce comprehensive measures to ensure the safety of its beef and beef products, while the U.S. asked Japan to lift a beef import ban as soon as possible and for cooperation to combat mad cow disease, Japan's trade minister said....
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2004

Foreign-exchange reserves at all-time high

Japan's foreign-exchange reserves hit a record high of $673.53 billion in December, rising by the biggest margin in a single year due to heavy yen-selling intervention in the currency market, the Finance Ministry said Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 10, 2004

Ogi inducted into Hall

Akira Ogi, who led both the Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix BlueWave to the Pacific League pennant, was inducted into the Japanese Hall of Fame on Friday along with the late former Taiyo Whales (now Yokohama BayStars) pitcher Noboru Akiyama.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2004

Yomiuri's Watanabe assumes chair

Tsuneo Watanabe, president of Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, became chairman of the newspaper company Friday, taking over from Kenya Mizukami following shareholder approval, the company said.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 10, 2004

Rosemary Wright

In following half a dozen different careers, Rosemary Wright succeeds in being outstanding in each one of them. Her range is wide and deep, from international scholarship to interdisciplinary art. She is equally a college administrator and gallery director, with a strong cross-cultural background in...
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2004

Key economic gauge stays above boom line

The government said Friday that its key gauge for the current state of the economy remained above the boom-or-bust line of 50 percent in November for the seventh straight month, supporting sentiment that the economy is on course for recovery.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2004

Oracle Japan sees second-half profit

Oracle Corp. Japan said Friday that its parent net profit rose 21.1 percent in the fiscal first half that ended Nov. 30 from a year earlier to 7.36 billion yen, thanks to increased sales of its mainstay database software.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past