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JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Suzuki tied to illegal payments to cover bureaucrat's meal bills

The office of indicted lawmaker Muneo Suzuki illegally paid the restaurant bills of a former Foreign Ministry bureaucrat -- who is also under arrest -- by disguising them as political activity expenses at Suzuki's political fund management organization, sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Mitsui execs take pay cut over scandal

Mitsui & Co. President Shinjiro Shimizu announced Wednesday that he and two other executives of the major trading house will take voluntary pay cuts of 20 percent for three months to assume responsibility for a scandal involving bids for a power plant project on Kunashiri Island, off Hokkaido.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Attacker burns woman with chemical

A 30-year-old woman suffered severe burns to her face and shoulder early Wednesday after a man poured a corrosive chemical on her in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, police said.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

59 SDF members killed themselves last year

Fifty-nine members of the Self-Defense Forces committed suicide in fiscal 2001, down 14 from the previous fiscal year, according to a Defense Agency report released this week.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

UFJ to spin off computer operations

UFJ Holdings Inc. plans to spin off the running of its computer system to a joint venture it will create with Hitachi Ltd. in the fall, UFJ officials said Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 25, 2002

'Other Saito' starting to make a name for himself with Giants

Players with the same name on the same team are no rarity in Japanese baseball. When one of these duplicates is an exceptionally good player, he is likely to be remembered as "THE" as opposed to "THE OTHER."
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

First-half trade surplus up 57%

Japan's trade surplus in the first half of 2002 jumped 56.8 percent from a year earlier to 4.99 trillion yen, marking its first rise in 3 1/2 years, according to a preliminary report released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Diet clears the way to redraw electoral districts

The Diet passed a bill Wednesday aimed at redrawing electoral districts in an effort to correct the imbalance in the value of votes cast in rural and urban areas.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Sato tapped as next chief of NPA

The government will announce the appointment of Hidehiko Sato as director general of the National Police Agency on Aug. 2 to succeed Setsuo Tanaka, who is retiring, government sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Nikkei average ends below 10,000 line

Tokyo stocks tumbled Wednesday amid lingering jitters over bearish U.S. equity markets, sending the benchmark Nikkei index to a sub-10,000 close for the first time in five months.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 25, 2002

Health insurance, pension cash claims and odd-job search

It's been quite surprising to receive so many "thank yous" from readers, but more surprising has been that they come not only from Japan but from all over the the world. It seems a lot of people who have lived in Japan in the past and moved on read the column at www.japantimes.co.jp to keep up on things...
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Department store sales down 1.7%

Department store sales slipped to 3.98 trillion yen in the January-June period, down 1.7 percent from the same period last year and underlining depressed consumer spending, the Japan Department Stores Association said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Market volatility could hamper recovery: Hayami

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Wednesday that declines in U.S. share prices and the appreciation of the yen could hamper Japan's tentative recovery.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Supermarkets snap 43-month streak

Sales at Japanese supermarkets rose 0.1 percent in June from a year earlier to 1.174 trillion yen on a same-store basis, marking a first increase in 43 months, an industry body said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

METI to OK excess energy sales by private power facilities

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to lift the ban on the retail supply of electricity generated at small private power facilities, METI officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 25, 2002

You never know what you might catch

The physician's report might have gone something like this: "The patient, H., was perhaps the most powerful man in the world and, as such, enjoyed the best medical care available. Despite this, in his late 30s he became irrational and insecure and developed tyrannical tendencies. H.'s illness may have...
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Bomb linked to Big Sight exhibition

A bomb exploded early Wednesday in a fire hose box on an elevated walkway in front of Kokusai-tenjijo Seimon Station on the Yurikamome Line in Koto Ward, Tokyo, police said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Tanaka denies state-salary scam

Former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Wednesday categorically denied allegations she misappropriated the state-paid salaries of her secretaries.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Firms team up to market new electronic map system

Electric Power Development Co. and two other firms plan to market a new type of geographic information system in which day-to-day changes in cityscapes and streets can be recorded, the company said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Chiyoda Ward kicks smokers' habits

With smoking now prohibited in a vast number of public spaces, the nation's sidewalks are viewed by some as the last refuge for those who want to light up.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 25, 2002

When the 'Big One' hits, help will be close at hand

Recently, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Howard Baker wrote to Mr. Minoru Mori, President of Mori Building Company to thank him, "on behalf of those in Japan for (his) kindness in providing a storage location for disaster relief supplies. . .and essential items such as bottled water,blankets, clothing...
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Jul 25, 2002

U.S. bubble hangover looks set to continue

Recent U.S. economic data do not seem bad enough to push down share prices this much, but the fall seems unstoppable.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Theme parks fail to buoy domestic leisure market

Japan's leisure market shrank 2.3 percent in 2001 to 83.07 trillion yen, the third consecutive year of contraction, a semipublic institute said Wednesday in an annual report.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2002

Watered-down postal services legislation becomes law

The Diet enacted into law Wednesday a legislative package that will turn the Postal Services Agency into a government-run corporation and allow private firms to enter the mail delivery market.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Jul 25, 2002

Expense no object at Meiji jewel in Kobe's crown

Though it's neither very large nor very old, Sorakuen Garden in Kobe is one of the best-designed pond-strolling gardens (kaiyushiki-sensui-teien) I know, with many interesting features and plants of exceptionally high quality.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes