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BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2002

FSA establishes settlement stability team

The Financial Services Agency said Thursday it has set up a team under the Financial System Council to draft measures to ensure financial settlement stability before the April 1 imposition of a 10 million yen refund cap on all demand deposits.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Aug 9, 2002

Asian appliance firms seek cracks in Japanese market

Customers shopping for TVs, refrigerators, microwave ovens and other electrical appliances are increasingly likely to come across brand names Galanz, Haier, LG and Samsung, which feature stylish designs and low prices that undercut those of their Japanese rivals.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2002

Treatment of depression eyed to stem suicide tide

With the nation's annual suicide toll exceeding 30,000, the government is considering ways to combat the runaway malaise by focusing on preventing and treating depression.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2002

View of economy watchers grim

The average view of the economy among those with jobs sensitive to consumer sentiment worsened in July for the third straight month as household spending took a beating from falling summer bonuses, a government survey showed Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
Aug 9, 2002

New diet for sports club chains: yen supplements

Japan's major sports club chains have been flexing their muscle in recent years, expanding their businesses through aggressive mergers and acquisitions as well as by opening new outlets.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2002

Wholesale prices fall 1.2% as deflation persists

Domestic wholesale prices in July fell 1.2 percent from a year earlier, marking a 22nd straight month of decline, the Bank of Japan said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2002

National servants looking at 2.03% reduction in wages

The National Personnel Authority recommended Thursday that the Diet and Cabinet introduce a 2.03 percent cut in monthly wages for national government employees for the current fiscal year.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2002

Mitsubishi Heavy to get H-IIA rocket technology

The government will hand over the manufacturing technology of the nation's domestically developed main rocket, the H-IIA, to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. in October, official sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2002

'Eco-city' title elusive in Japan

KYOTO -- Nagoya may have taken the No. 1 spot in a recent contest ranking the nation's municipalities on their environmental initiatives, but its overall score illustrates that many hurdles remain before any Japanese city can truly be called eco-friendly.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 9, 2002

Chestnut tiger

* Japanese name: Asagi madara * Scientific name: Parantica sita * Description: Chestnut tigers are large butterflies, with a 43-65 mm wingspan and a striking blue-green marbled pattern on the wings. The body is black with white spots. Butterflies from this family (Danaidae) are also distinctive because...
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2002

Bank lending sees 55th month of decline

Lending by Japanese banks fell 4.6 percent in July from a year before, declining for the 55th month in a row, the Bank of Japan said Thursday.
SOCCER / J. League
Aug 9, 2002

Reysol fires Perryman after losing streak

KASHIWA, Chiba Pref. -- Kashiwa Reysol on Thursday dismissed its English manager Steve Perryman after a string of poor results in the first stage of the J. League Division One.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2002

Asahi Breweries lowers group earnings outlook

Asahi Breweries Ltd. said Thursday its group fiscal 2002 midterm net profit soared due to smaller extraordinary losses, but a decline in sales has prompted it to lower consolidated earnings projections.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Aug 9, 2002

Tuning in to another culture

Seoul native Kim Ji Sook, host of Fukuoka's Love FM Thursday night Inter Wave radio program, brings the sounds and the spirit of Korea to fans throughout northern Kyushu.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2002

State upgrades assessment of machinery orders

The government on Thursday slightly upgraded its assessment of core private-sector machinery orders after these orders rose a seasonally adjusted 2.9 percent in June from May and grew 7.1 percent in the April-June period from the previous quarter.
EDITORIALS
Aug 8, 2002

China's military buildup

Two annual reports released last month -- one from the U.S. Department of Defense and the other from the U.S.-China Security Review Commission, a congressional panel -- express serious concern about China's military buildup and economic development. Such a perception does not sit well with the Japanese...
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2002

Kim's last chance to shine?

MANILA -- Politically, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's time is running out, and the alleged corruptive practices of his sons have accelerated the erosion of his authority tremendously. The recent thaw in inter-Korean relations may well be Kim's last chance to improve his tarnished image.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2002

Aum grows again, guru still revered

Several of its senior members have been convicted of heinous crimes, including two deadly nerve gas attacks. It has been placed under tight surveillance and wherever its members try to settle, local residents and municipalities turn out to keep them away.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2002

Cities waging a new kind of bidding war

With Japan's public works projects having long been tainted by bid-rigging and bribery, the city of Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture is taking an aggressive approach toward curbing such corruption.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 8, 2002

Cabrera nails Nos. 31, 32 as Lions whip Buffaloes

Alex Cabrera nailed his 31st and 32nd homers of the year and Kazuhiro Wada also cracked two dingers as the Seibu Lions downed defending Pacific League champions the Kintetsu Buffaloes 12-4 at the Osaka Dome on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2002

Koizumi to avoid Aug. 15 shrine visit

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will not visit Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, the 57th anniversary of the end of World War II, to pay his respects to the nation's war dead, the top government spokesman said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2002

Moriguchi first to screw up with new ID numbers

OSAKA -- The city of Moriguchi, Osaka Prefecture, sent the 11-digit resident identification numbers of 364 households to the wrong addresses, the city said Wednesday.

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