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JAPAN
Jun 18, 2003

Steep hike eyed for consumption tax

With demographic change affecting Japan's finances more every day, the government's tax panel proposed Tuesday the scaling back of tax breaks for the elderly and doubling the consumption tax to pay for rising pension and medical care costs.
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2003

Subsidies to localities face cuts totaling 3.6 trillion yen

The national government is set to cut its subsidies to local governments by at least 3.6 trillion yen a year by fiscal 2006 as part of its reforms of tax and fiscal systems, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 18, 2003

MC Honky: "I Am the Messiah"

Over the course of five albums with The Eels, singer-songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, known professionally by the initial E, has done as much as J.D. Salinger to make mental illness a fit subject for entertainment. If E's tongue-in-cheek songs about manic-depression are "edgy" (his description), it's...
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2003

North Korea vessels not up to scratch

Most of the North Korean freighters that underwent inspections this year after entering Japanese ports failed to meet the standards set by an international maritime safety pact, transport minister Chikage Ogi said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2003

North Korea vessels not up to scratch

Most of the North Korean freighters that underwent inspections this year after entering Japanese ports failed to meet the standards set by an international maritime safety pact, transport minister Chikage Ogi said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2003

Ministers fail to settle row over funding allocations

Cabinet ministers failed Tuesday to bridge their differences over the best way to revamp the allocation of funds between the central and local governments, agreeing only to discuss the issue again Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 18, 2003

The Go-Betweens, take two

In pop music, what usually works the best is the thing that sounds as if it took the least effort. Twenty-five years after Grant McLennan and Robert Forster joined forces in Brisbane, Australia, and called themselves The Go-Betweens, and three years into a reunion gambit that follows a decade working...
EDITORIALS
Jun 18, 2003

The pension system in peril

Japan's protracted economic slump, combined with the accelerated aging of the population, is putting increasing strains on the public pension system. The government-managed corporate-sector pension program, which now has 30 million subscribers, registered a large deficit in fiscal 2001. For the first...
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2003

North Korea vessels not up to scratch

Most of the North Korean freighters that underwent inspections this year after entering Japanese ports failed to meet the standards set by an international maritime safety pact, transport minister Chikage Ogi said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2003

9-11 suspect visited Japan on training mission in '87

A key figure behind the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, came to Japan around 1987 as a company trainee, Japanese security sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2003

9-11 suspect visited Japan on training mission in '87

A key figure behind the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, came to Japan around 1987 as a company trainee, Japanese security sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2003

Researchers start using global climate simulator

Researchers have begun operating a new global climate model for a supercomputer system they claim can accurately re-create climate changes on Earth.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 17, 2003

McClain homers twice as Lions fry Nippon Ham

Scott McClain hit a pair of two-run homers in consecutive at-bats and Daisuke Matsuzaka kept batters off-balance with a nasty heater to post his league-high ninth win as the Seibu Lions won their fourth straight with a 5-1 victory over the Nippon Ham Fighters in the Pacific League on Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2003

9-11 suspect visited Japan on training mission in '87

A key figure behind the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, came to Japan around 1987 as a company trainee, Japanese security sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2003

Universities boost aid to financially strapped students

Private universities have expanded financial-assistance options for students, many of whom have seen their parents suffer pay- and job-cuts amid the economic downturn.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2003

Execs get taste of democratic approach to harmony

Can a corporation perform well with just the workers pulling together in a democratic manner and no top managers around to call the shots? One school of thought says yes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 17, 2003

Lost in translation

A few summers ago, while on an obligatory trip back to my homeland, I found myself at the center of the attention of a small crowd of curious Canadians.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2003

Obituary: Shumputei Ryusho

Popular "rakugo" storyteller Shumputei Ryusho died Monday of stomach cancer at a Tokyo hospital. He was 82.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2003

Man held for selling lists of heavy debtors to loan sharks

The president of a data services firm was arrested Monday in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, for allegedly leaking lists of multiple debtors to loan sharks.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 17, 2003

Pensions, immigration and health

Hello again from Baghdad. It is definitely hot -- apparently 33 C the other day. Things here are settling down and the city is beginning to work again. What do you say about a 7,000-year-old-city? It just slowly gets on its way.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Jun 17, 2003

Kao cashes in on the golden elixir of weight loss

How can a soap-and-cosmetics maker succeed in selling a cooking oil at twice the price of its competitors in this time of economic belt-tightening?
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2003

Obituary: Shumputei Ryusho

Popular "rakugo" storyteller Shumputei Ryusho died Monday of stomach cancer at a Tokyo hospital. He was 82.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2003

'Worn out' Fukuda hints at fall Cabinet reshuffle

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may reshuffle his Cabinet in the fall if he is re-elected LDP president in September, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda indicated Monday.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers