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BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2003

Sony forms e-publishing joint venture

Fifteen companies, including Sony Corp., have established a joint venture to provide paid electronic publishing services to member customers, Sony and four other major partners said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2003

Pretax profits at major firms up 14%

The combined pretax profits of 434 major Japanese companies rose 14.2 percent in the six months to Sept. 30 from a year earlier to 6.82 trillion yen due to greater cost-cutting efforts, the Shinko Research Institute said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2003

Mitsubishi profit soars in first half

Mitsubishi Corp., the nation's largest trading house, said Thursday its first-half net profit jumped 39 percent to 60.56 billion yen, thanks to brisk auto trade in Asia.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2003

European business group makes pitch for robust deregulation

The European Business Community in Japan called Thursday for an improved investment climate through drastic deregulation to achieve Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's pledge to double foreign direct investment by 2008.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2003

Koizumi makes choice on Japan Highway chief

The government decided informally Thursday to appoint a House of Councilors member and former businessman as president of Japan Highway Public Corp.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2003

Corporate pension plans on the verge of collapse

Faced with huge investment losses brought on by depressed stock prices and the prospect of baby boomers nearing retirement, corporate pension funds are on the verge of collapse.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2003

Beerlike drink shipments may fall

Shipments of "happoshu," the low-malt cousin of beer, are expected to post their first year-on-year fall in 2003, according to industry data released Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2003

Doi throws in towel as SDP president

Takako Doi said Thursday she will resign as president of the Social Democratic Party to take responsibility for the SDP's crushing defeat in the general election.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 13, 2003

Tokyo best place for NBA games

It was great to see the NBA back in Japan, after a four-year absence, a couple of weeks ago.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

Journalists warned about Taliban

The Japanese government Wednesday warned journalists working in Afghanistan that they could become targeted for kidnapping by members of the Taliban.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

China submarine spotted on surface near Kagoshima

A Maritime Self-Defense Force plane on Wednesday sighted a surfaced Chinese submarine off Kagoshima Prefecture, MSDF officials said.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

Fukuda says SDF will head to Iraq before end of year

Japan will send Self-Defense Forces units to Iraq before the end of the year, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday, the first clear public statement from the government regarding the timing of the controversial dispatch.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

Earthquake shakes eastern Japan

An earthquake Wednesday with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 in the Richter scale hit Tokyo and other areas of eastern Japan, but there were no reports of casualties or damage. The Meteorological Agency said there would be no tidal waves from the 5:27 p.m. quake, which shook buildings in the capital....
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

Kono to be appointed house speaker

Yohei Kono, former president of the Liberal Democratic Party, will be appointed as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

Refugee status denial puts family in limbo

Khin Maung Latt of Myanmar, his Filipino wife, Maria Hope Jamili, and their two daughters have no place to call home but Japan, and they are on shaky ground.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2003

Aozora poaches executive from Sumitomo Trust

In a departure from Japanese banking practice, Aozora Bank announced Wednesday its next president is coming from rival Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2003

JR Tokai posts record sales, profit

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) on Wednesday reported record group sales and pretax profit for the first half.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2003

Eco-friendly cars to take big bite out of tax revenue

Revenue prefectures get from car taxes will plunge 18.4 billion yen next fiscal year because of a tax break for low-emission vehicles, the home affairs ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

Bilateral talks must include abductions: Fukuda

Bilateral talks over compensating North Korea for Japan's colonial rule of the peninsula must also include the abduction issue, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

Expert seeks tougher attitude on parental murder-suicide

South Koreans and Japanese need a tougher attitude when it comes to parents who take the lives of their children when they commit suicide, a South Korean expert on suicide prevention says.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2003

Skynet plans a flight with all-male crew

Skynet Asia Airways Co. will operate a flight Saturday with an all-male flight crew that it says is not just for female passengers.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

LDP makes the most out of votes cast

The Liberal Democratic Party captured only 43.9 percent of the valid votes in Sunday's election for the House of Representatives but emerged with 56 percent of the 300 single-seat district seats, according to an analysis of the results.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2003

Special-zone schools to start in April

The nation's first universities run by private stock incorporated companies will probably be established in April, education ministry officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2003

Brokerage houses prepare for perceived benefits of law revision

Brokerage houses in Japan are gearing up for the scheduled enforcement next spring of the revised Securities and Exchange Law that they hope will bring about a sharp increase in individual customers.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 13, 2003

A black hole on our doorstep

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. It's 2,600 meters above sea level and receives almost no rainfall. Visitors, when they are not tending to dry skin and nosebleeds caused by the altitude, often compare the terrain to the barren red rocks that cover...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 13, 2003

Sea slug

* Japanese name: Amakesaamefurashi * Scientific name: Aplysia juliana * Description: Sea slugs are marine mollusks, without gills or a shell -- just like most other mollusks. Often a dark olive-green color, at first glance a sea slug resembles nothing more than a stray piece of seaweed, but with a...

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