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JAPAN
Nov 26, 2002

New Harry Potter film enjoys record-breaking weekend

The second film in the Harry Potter series drew some 1.6 million moviegoers and grossed 2.05 billion yen in its opening weekend in Japan, Warner Bros. Pictures, distributor of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," said Monday.
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2002

Kumagai Gumi, Hazama report plunges in profits

Midsize general contractors Kumagai Gumi Corp. and Hazama Corp. on Monday reported sharp declines in sales and profits for the first half to Sept. 30, blaming a shrinking construction market and mounting debts.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2002

Hatoyama may quit as DPJ leader

Yukio Hatoyama is considering his future as leader of the Democratic Party of Japan amid mounting DPJ dissent over the party's dismal performance in recent by-elections, a senior party member said Monday.
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2002

FSA to allow life insurers to cut yields

To ward off bankruptcy amid the deteriorating investment climate, the Financial Services Agency will allow life insurance companies to reduce the investment returns they have promised to policyholders, sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2002

Police car doing U-turn hits car

OSAKA -- A police squad car collided with a car at an intersection in Osaka's Konohana Ward early Sunday, but no one was injured in the incident, Osaka police said.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2002

Mizuho restructuring program to include 10% wage cut

The Mizuho Financial Group has worked out a restructuring program, which includes an average salary cut of more than 10 percent from fiscal 2003, sources close to the program said Sunday.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 25, 2002

'Asianization' and 'Wimbledonization' can avert final collapse

An economy is like a balloon. Pump hot air into it and it will soar up into the heavens. If it soars too high for too long, it eventually gets worn or torn, or both, and starts to collapse.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2002

Joblessness could push 7% in '07

Projections obtained Sunday from the health ministry show that Japan's unemployment rate could rise to almost 7 percent in 2007.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2002

Bank monitor to be established in campaign to cull bad loans

A new task force to monitor banks' progress in disposing of their sour loans will be set up within the Financial Services Agency by the end of March, it was learned Sunday.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 25, 2002

Dettori doubles down in Japan Cup

FUNABASHI, Chiba Pref. -- Minutes stretched into what seemed like hours as the two horses circled waiting for the decision, both jockeys certain they had won. When the numbers flashed on the infield board, it was Falbrav by a nose and what Frankie Dettori later described as one of his greatest moments....
MORE SPORTS
Nov 25, 2002

Tanaka clinches Kodokan Cup title

Hidemasa Tanaka overpowered heavily favored Masahiro Takamatsu in the men's 73-kg final to capture his first title at the Kodokan Cup men's weight-category national championships on Saturday.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2002

Diplomat in China likely reaching out to North Korea

A top Japanese official has traveled to Beijing in an apparent effort to resume stalled normalization talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang, it was learned Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 25, 2002

Birth of a new NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was reborn last week. The alliance has added seven new members, all former Eastern bloc countries, extending NATO's territory to Russia's borders in the Baltic and to the Black Sea. Yet unlike the last round, this time Moscow accepted the expansion without protest....
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2002

47th Readers' Fund charity drive kicks off

The Japan Times today launches its 47th yearend charity fundraising campaign, which lasts through Dec. 31. The money raised will be used to help people in need in Asia.
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 25, 2002

FC Tokyo edges Reds

FC Tokyo forward Kenji Fukuda struck in the 119th minute to help the home team edge the Urawa Reds 1-0 in extra time on Sunday at Tokyo Stadium.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 25, 2002

Gilded Age of excess returns to America

NEW YORK -- During a recent talk in this city on his lifelong subject, the Iwakura Embassy, businessman-scholar Saburo Izumi reminded those gathered that the Japanese group visited the United States during the Gilded Age. This appellation comes, of course, from American writer Mark Twain (and C.D. Warner)...
MORE SPORTS
Nov 25, 2002

Obata crushes error-prone Asagoe

Second-seed Saori Obata swept aside top seed Shinobu Asagoe in straight sets to win the women's title at the national championships on Saturday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 25, 2002

Saito, Dodgers talk

The agent of pitcher Takashi Saito on Saturday held talks with officials of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the second major league club to talk with him following the Braves.
COMMENTARY
Nov 25, 2002

Get serious about Zimbabwe

LONDON -- The miserable Zimbabwe saga now seems to be moving to a moment of catharsis. Opposition leader Morgan Tsangvirai has sent a desperate appeal to the United Nations, almost like the last cry of a free country about to be obliterated, warning of imminent descent into civil strife that will threaten...
COMMENTARY
Nov 25, 2002

Flawed civil service proposal

To carry out the first major reform of the national civil service system in 50 years, the government plans to introduce legislation in the Diet next year to revise the national public service law. Under present plans, the new law would be implemented beginning in fiscal 2006. A task force of the Cabinet...
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2002

HIV contracted in hospital

The wife of a man with the human immunodeficiency virus contracted the virus through artificial insemination at a university hospital in western Japan several years ago, a hematologist at a Tokyo hospital said Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2002

Students bid farewell to school that saw horror

OSAKA -- Hundreds of present and former students of an elementary school where seven pupils were fatally stabbed in June 2001 bid a fond farewell to the school buildings Sunday.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear