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JAPAN
Dec 28, 2003

DBJ to tie loans to environment efforts

The governmental Development Bank of Japan will from next April offer a new loan with interest rates linked to recipient companies' commitments on environmental measures, DBJ officials said Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 28, 2003

The Lonesome Organist/Bobby Conn

The influential American indie label Thrill Jockey has a reputation for eclecticism, but it's mainly known as the home of Tortoise, Brokeback and all the other groups that make up the postrock Chicago Underground. Jeremy Jacobsen, aka The Lonesome Organist, sort of fits the mold, but as his moniker suggests...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 28, 2003

Fear of modern terrorism

THE NEW TERRORISM: Anatomy, Trends and Counterstrategies, edited by Andrew Tan and Kumar Ramakrishna. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, Regional Security Studies, 2002, 254 pp. (paper). If the contributors to this excellent survey of "the new terrorism" are correct, then the world needs to be prepared...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 28, 2003

Satanicpornocultshop: "Anorexia Gas Balloon"

Osaka's Satanicpornocultshop has been described as a hip-hop band due to their cut-and-paste aesthetic, but one wonders if even that famously elastic genre has enough room to accommodate the absolutely gleeful musical abandon that surfaces on their sixth album, "Anorexia Gas Balloon."
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2003

Behind the veil in France

Sometimes when we read about a political decision being taken in another country, the response seems both easy and obvious. Chechen independence, an Iraqi trial for toppled leader Saddam Hussein, approval of the Kyoto treaty to slow global warming, disapproval of the Israelis' land-gobbling border fence:...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2003

A firmer Japan in the tussle with China

SINGAPORE -- The ASEAN-Japan Summit in Tokyo on Sept. 11-12 came at a crucial moment in ties between Tokyo and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with the ASEAN heads of state just as Japan is bottoming out from a decade of economic doldrums....
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2003

U.N. voice for 'civil society'

In his opening address in Beijing to the U.N. conference on the question of Palestine on Dec. 16, China's Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo paid particular at- tention to the role of civil society -- academic and business communities, nongovernmental organizations and others -- in appealing for peace...
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2003

Making U.S. voters happier, not safer

WASHINGTON -- "The capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer," declared Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, and denunciations have rained down upon him. But Dean obviously was correct: "The capture of Saddam does not end" the coalition's difficulties in Iraq.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Homegrown embryonic stem cells in offing

Beginning next month, a national institute will start providing domestically produced human embryonic stem cells -- a move likely to accelerate Japanese research into the production of tissue and organs for medical use.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Prefectures' satellite shops let Tokyoites tour Japan for lunch

Prefectural governments are offering busy Tokyoites a chance to experience their local products and cuisine -- if only for an hour or so -- and hope to encourage tourism in the process.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Jikei med school fires three doctors standing trial for malpractice death

Jikei University School of Medicine sacked three doctors Friday in connection with a botched prostate cancer operation in November 2002 that claimed the life of the 60-year-old male patient.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Stalled Tokyo-Pyongyang talks frustrate abductees

The five Japanese abductees who returned from North Korea in October 2002 are about to usher in their second year since their repatriation in a state of anguish, hoping their loved ones who were not allowed to leave North Korea will be able to join them soon.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Ministry urges overseas travelers to get insurance

The Foreign Ministry is urging Japanese planning trips overseas, including ministry bureaucrats, to take out travel insurance to cover damage they may incur as well as inflict.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Cloudy skies expected to greet 2004

With cloudy weather expected in many places across Japan at the year's end and at the outset of 2004, the chances of watching the sun come up on New Year's Day are slim, the Japan Meteorological Agency said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Mori calls for caution over Taiwan referendum

Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori urged Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian to exercise caution on a proposed referendum on Chinese missiles in order to avoid exacerbating tensions between Taiwan and China, according to Japanese members of his entourage.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Prosecutors appeal Yasuda ruling

Tokyo prosecutors on Friday appealed a lower court ruling that found the chief defense attorney for Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara not guilty of obstructing the compulsory seizure of rental income used by a client as collateral in the 1990s.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

Mail delivery in the red in most parts of Japan

Mail delivery services were profitable in only two of the 12 mail service regions in Japan during the three-year period between the start of fiscal 2000 and the end of fiscal 2002, according to government sources citing an estimate by the postal ministry.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 27, 2003

Road to Athens

Japan's Under-22 side will face Iran in a friendly next February in its buildup for the final qualification tournament for the 2004 Athens Olympics, the Japan Football Association said Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

NEC staff to get 550,000 yen for baby

NEC Corp. said Friday it will give workers one-time allowances of 550,000 yen for newborn children starting next July.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

November tax revenues shrink 1%

Japan's tax revenues in November fell 1 percent from a year earlier to 6.491 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Diet craze poses health risks for thin women

Fifty-four percent of Japanese women are dieting to lose weight, while 41 percent of teenage girls categorized as being underweight are trying to get thinner, according to a health ministry survey.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 27, 2003

2004 is the year for monkeying around

The year 2004 is the year of the monkey. If you're someone who doesn't believe that all the people born in the same year have the same personalities, destiny and propensity for success, then phooey on you! You'll have no fun in Asia, where much of life is believed to be ruled by factors that are, quite...
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

Consumer prices declined for a fifth year in 2003

Japan's consumer prices fell for the fifth straight year in 2003, led by declines in prices for housing, laptop computers and durable home appliances, the government said Friday.

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