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BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2002

Agency seeks to boost rehab of failed ventures

The government should create an environment in which failed entrepreneurs are encouraged to stage a comeback, the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency said in its annual white paper released Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2002

CPI falls for fourth consecutive year

The nationwide consumer price index in fiscal 2001 fell a record 0.8 percent as the deflationary spiral showed no signs of abating, the government said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2002

Homeless join forces in relief-law march

Around 300 homeless people from Tokyo and Osaka marched to the Diet building Friday to press for quick passage of legislation aimed at easing the plight of an estimated 30,000 homeless people across the country.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2002

Koizumi determined to push four postal bills through Diet

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed his strong determination Friday to clear all four bills on postal services deregulation in the current Diet session, braving fierce opposition from both the ruling and opposition blocs.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2002

Two major brokerages sink deep into the red in fiscal '01

Two of the nation's three main brokerages on Friday said they sank deep into the red in the year that ended March 31, as sluggish share prices and competition from online and bank-affiliated brokers sent retail revenues plunging.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 27, 2002

Sizzling Arias helps Tigers maul Swallows

George Arias blasted a grand slam to highlight a nine-run second inning as the Hanshin Tigers scored a season-high 11 runs to defeat the Yakult Swallows 11-6 on Friday at Koshien Stadium.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2002

Troublemakers quit Foreign Ministry

Ambassador to the Netherlands Kazuhiko Togo and Ambassador to Kazakstan Toshimitsu Mori left the Foreign Ministry on Friday for their respective roles in inciting policy division within the Russian Affairs Bureau.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 27, 2002

Let's celebrate nature at Disneyland

Monday is Greenery Day, a national holiday. Let's hear it for plants! But the question on everyone's mind is: Do plants really need a day off? Let's find out with some roving in-the-pot interviews.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2002

Waseda project hatching entrepreneurs

Inside decades-old school buildings in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, that had been used by Waseda Jitsugyo High School until a year ago, university students and entrepreneurs work around the clock to realize their dream of launching successful startup businesses.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2002

Hitachi, Matsushita, Mitsubishi log huge losses

Hitachi Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. all posted record consolidated losses in fiscal 2001, according to earnings reports released Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2002

Household spending down for the fifth year in a row

The households of salaried workers in Japan spent less in fiscal 2001 than they did the previous year, a record fifth straight year of decline, a government survey showed Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2002

FTC gives JAL-JAS integration the green light

The Fair Trade Commission on Friday gave its final seal of approval to the planned integration between Japan Airlines Co. and Japan Air System Co.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 27, 2002

Harry Cheng

The inside cover of his book "Global Directory" gives a nutshell introduction to Harry Cheng. It reads, "Graduate of the LSE and Oxford University, co-founder of Global Projects, Harry has a passion for cooking, rose wine, photography, and meeting people around the world."
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2002

Watchdog to track abuse of Osaka immigration detainees

OSAKA -- About two dozen local residents representing five nongovernmental organizations have launched a watchdog group to track alleged human rights abuses at the West Japan Immigration Detention Center near Osaka.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2002

The truth can help set Afghanistan free

NEW YORK -- The coming meeting in June of a "loya jirga," or national council, that will name members of a transitional government to rule the country for the next 18 months, offers hope for a return to normalcy in beleagered Afghanistan. An essential component in this process should be the creation...
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2002

From hope to helplessness

How ephemeral a politician's popularity is. When he made his debut just a year ago, on April 26, 2001, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was basking in an unprecedented degree of public support. Now his ratings have hit a record low. What are we to make of this?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 27, 2002

When a contract contracts, and what comes after

Visitors to Hakone last autumn are most probably still talking about it. How they were in a cable car and saw a Japanese man in another car, traveling in the opposite direction, standing on his head and swiveling his hips 180 degrees with legs splayed open.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 27, 2002

Trey bien! Hanshin hurler Moore off to hot start

Don't be fooled by the menacing fu-manchu and the pitcher's glare. Hanshin Tigers left-hander Trey Moore is actually a friendly, down-to-earth family man from Texas, but don't tell opposing hitters that.
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2002

The Yasukuni dilemma again

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's surprise visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Sunday once again brought to the fore a dilemma that emerges every time a Japanese prime minister visits the shrine, which is dedicated to the spirits of 2.5 million war dead as well as those of Class A war criminals. The dilemma,...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2002

Revulsion grows toward Vajpayee's party

NEW DELHI -- India's secularism is in flames. The western Indian state of Gujarat, perhaps the most economically prosperous region in the entire country, has been in the midst of communal carnage for many weeks now. The majority Hindu population there has been systematically butchering members of the...
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 26, 2002

J. League put on hold as Nabisco Cup starts

Following last weekend's action the J. League Division One has just started a three-month break for the World Cup but the players will be busy with another tournament -- the Nabisco Cup.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 26, 2002

Arias rips three HRs, drives in eight

George Arias hammered three home runs -- racked up four hits all together -- and collected eight RBIs to help lift the Hanshin Tigers over the Hiroshima Carp 10-5 at Muscat Stadium in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture on Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Apr 26, 2002

Le Pen's success is no shock

BRUSSELS -- Last Sunday's results from France saw Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the extreme-right Front National, finish just behind French President Jacques Chirac, eliminating Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin from the May 5 second round of voting and prompting him to retire from politics. Yet...
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2002

Prosecutors hit in Snow probe

OSAKA -- Prosecutors last year made an inappropriate decision when they declined to indict two former executives of Snow Brand Milk Products Co. in connection with a mass food-poisoning outbreak, the No. 1 Osaka Inquest of Prosecution has ruled, it was learned Thursday.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Apr 26, 2002

Market subdued amid conflicting signals

With stocks locked in a crosscurrent between rosy expectations and bearish sentiment, activity has been subdued on the Tokyo stock market in recent weeks.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2002

Ex-LTCB exec must pay RCC 100 million yen

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered a former vice president of the failed Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan to pay 100 million yen in compensation to the Resolution and Collection Corp. for approving irrecoverable loans to a resort developer in 1992.

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