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BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2003

Real growth seen at 1.8% in fiscal 2004

Japan's economy is expected to expand 1.8 percent in real terms and 0.5 percent in nominal terms in fiscal 2004, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2003

Delay investment trust sales by Japan Post, Aso suggests

Posts minister Taro Aso said Friday his ministry should not submit a bill for allowing Japan Post to sell investment trusts before the government compiles a final report on the entity's privatization next fall.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

Laboratories get warning on handling SARS samples

With a new SARS case reported in Taiwan, the health ministry has issued an alert to research institutes and local governments to be extremely careful when handling samples of the virus for research purposes.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

Average surface temperature falls to five-year low

Bucking the recent warming trend, the average surface temperature in Japan this year was the lowest since 1997, according to the Meteorological Agency.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

One in three abused kids turn to teachers

Roughly one in three sexually abused children in Japan choose to seek help from their schoolteachers, and more than half of all cases come to light when the victims decide to disclose their ordeals, according to a recent study.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

Officials debate details of Futenma move

National and local government officials met Thursday to discuss industrial development and other issues surrounding the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corp's Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

Japan balks at cooperating with China in orgy probe

The top government spokesman indicated Thursday it will be difficult for Japan to accept China's call to cooperate in an investigation into an orgy at a south China hotel in September involving hundreds of Japanese businessmen and Chinese prostitutes.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

Savings for 82.1 trillion yen budget eyed

Cabinet ministers agreed Thursday on key spending cuts for the next fiscal year, paving the way for the Finance Ministry to release its blueprint for the fiscal 2004 budget.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

Smaller yearend shrine turnout expected

Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples are expected to draw fewer visitors during the upcoming New Year's holidays than they did in 2003, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

Koizumi OKs SDF deployment plan

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday approved a deployment plan for Ground Self-Defense Force troops bound for Iraq.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2003

Ministry to boost intervention funds

The Finance Ministry is set to boost its war chest for currency market intervention in fiscal 2004 by 40 trillion yen, a move that would bring the total for such use to 140 trillion yen, ministry sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2003

Schools to see Windows source code

Microsoft Co. said Thursday it will make the source code for its Windows operating systems open to researchers involved in an Internet project involving six Japanese universities.
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2003

Juggling act obscures real threat

The two ruling parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, earlier this week agreed on plans to shore up the faltering pension system for private-sector employees. The package calls for painful adjustments beginning in fiscal 2004: higher premium rates and lower benefit levels. What is missing...
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2003

Sky Perfect to acquire Plat One

Sky Perfect Communications Inc., operator of the Sky PerfecTV digital satellite broadcasting service, said Thursday it will acquire smaller rival Plat One Corp. through a share swap on March 1.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

Dominican Republic emigrant aid eyed

Senior Vice Foreign Minister Masatoshi Abe indicated Thursday that the government may need to provide assistance for Japanese who emigrated to the Dominican Republic in the 1950s under a government program.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

Emergency call-capable IP phones eyed

The National Police Agency has begun researching technology that will enable people to make emergency calls by dialing 110 on Internet protocol telephones, NPA officials said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2003

December's assessment of economy echoes November's

The government left its assessment of the economy in December unchanged from November, with rises in exports and falls in bankruptcies offset by a deterioration in the employment situation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

High court backs elevated Odakyu line

Tokyo residents seeking to block Odakyu Electric Railway Co.'s construction of a 6.5-km elevated section of track saw the Tokyo High Court on Thursday overturn a lower court ruling that sided with them.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 19, 2003

F.A. ruling on Ferdinand certain to make some unhappy

LONDON -- Eric Cantona's record ban of eight months is unlikely to be beaten, but sometime Friday a Football Association disciplinary commission will decide whether Rio Ferdinand is guilty of "the failure or refusal to submit to drug testing as required by a competent official."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 19, 2003

Candy firms jump on CD bandwagon

Giveaways attached to packets of candies and chocolate are nothing new in Japan. Recently these omake have commonly taken the form of wonderfully detailed little toys and figurines in themed, collectable sets such as animals, anime characters, dinosaurs, birds, cars or motorbikes.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

63% of pollees fear terrorists will target Japan

Sixty-three percent of Japanese are afraid of terrorism at home and 80 percent believe the chances of a terrorist attack are increasing, according to a National Police Agency poll released Thursday.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 19, 2003

In praise of a 'brilliant idea'

Even a cursory check of convenience store shelves these days shows how the omake giveaways that makers once offered as lures to buy certain candies have now become the main selling points themselves. After all, how many people would pay 300 yen just for the two almond chocolates in a packet of "Time...
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2003

Toyota aiming to sell 7 million vehicles

The Toyota group aims to sell a total of 7.08 million vehicles in calendar 2004, up 4 percent over projected sales of 6.78 million units for this year.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

Arms exports to U.S. to get nod

Japan is considering a partial lifting of its ban on arms exports so it can sell weapons parts to the United States as it prepares for joint development of a missile-defense system, government officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2003

Eel importer sentenced in ODA scam

The former president of an eel importer was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison Thursday for swindling a government-affiliated aid body out of 1 billion yen in official development assistance funds for an eel-raising project in China.

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