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JAPAN
Jan 31, 2002

Crown Prince leaves for Dutch nuptial

Crown Prince Naruhito left for the Netherlands on Wednesday to attend the wedding of Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

MHI, Comex announce alliance

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Wednesday it has agreed to cooperate with Comex Nucleaire of France in offering postoperational services to French nuclear power facilities.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Minami finally throws in the towel

Minami Corp., a cash-strapped sporting goods retailer, filed for court protection from creditors Wednesday with liabilities of 28.9 billion yen, the company said.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Electronics production posts record fall for '01

The combined value of domestic electronics equipment production in 2001 is estimated to have fallen 15.3 percent from the previous year to 22.16 trillion yen, marking a record year-on-year decline, the Japan Electronics & Information Technology Industries Association said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2002

Former regional tax chief indicted

A former chief of the Sapporo Regional National Tax Administration Bureau was indicted Wednesday on a charge of evading roughly 250 million yen in taxes by concealing about 730 million yen in income for four years to 2000.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Public funds won't help banks, Mizuho exec says

A fresh injection of public funds would hamper, not help, Japan's banks, a banking official tapped to be the next president of the Mizuho Holdings Inc. banking group said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 31, 2002

Taking a look at animals' 'me' and 'you'

We take for granted our ability to easily recognize the people we interact with regularly. We also take it as a given that we can distinguish between the many thousands of other people we meet superficially during our lives, perhaps never learning who they are, yet knowing each one of them as a different...
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 31, 2002

Learning their ways makes sharks much safer

During the blistering heat of last summer, which was accompanied by unusually warm waters to the east of the Philippines and the Nansei Islands, a juvenile hammerhead shark wandered into the Sea of Japan. After being sighted off Shimane Prefecture it was hunted ruthlessly -- but apparently never caught....
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Crisis fears grow as crunch time for banks nears

A recent nationwide flurry of collapsing credit unions and "shinkin" credit associations was accompanied by a total lack of panic.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2002

Kansai Kogin lied in recapitalization drive

OSAKA -- Failed credit union Kansai Kogin raised more than 15 billion yen in additional capital in 1999 and early 2000 without telling potential investors that it was facing financial difficulties, sources close to the credit union said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Firms' demand for funds on the decline, BOJ says

Demand for funds from companies has weakened over the past three months, reflecting the economic recession, a Bank of Japan survey on banks showed Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 31, 2002

Nautical 'kombat' game is a wash

Role-playing games, probably the most popular genre in Japan, have a moderate following in the United States. Americans prefer action-packed, top-down view style RPGs like "Baldur's Gate" and "Diablo" to traditional "Final Fantasy" RPGs.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Life, nonlife insurers scrap tieup

Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. have decided to scrap their plans to integrate under a single holding company by March 2003 due to the cautious stance of the nonlife insurer, sources from the two companies said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Analysts release ethical standards draft

The Security Analysts Association of Japan has unveiled a draft on professional ethical standards that calls for analysts to be banned from investing in securities that they recommend to investors.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 31, 2002

The virgin birth of stem cells

Parthenogenesis -- when eggs develop into embryos without being fertilized by sperm -- occurs in some insects and reptiles. There is a persistent report that a virgin birth once took place in humans, but this should be regarded as mythical.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

World Economic Forum likely to focus on Japanese recovery

Business leader Yotaro Kobayashi, who will cochair the World Economic Forum of global business leaders, politicians and academics beginning Friday in New York, said all eyes at the five-day gathering could come to rest on the Japanese economy.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Matsushita to close U.S. compressor unit

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Wednesday it will discontinue production of refrigerator compressors at its U.S. unit on March 28.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Sumitomo, Mitsui announce tieup of construction arms

General contractors Sumitomo Construction Co. and Mitsui Construction Co. formally announced on Wednesday their plan to integrate their management but said the timing of the move and numerical business targets are still under discussion.
EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2002

Yet more political corruption

The issue of political corruption is again coming to a head. This time around, a former secretary to Mr. Koichi Kato, one-time secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, is suspected of tax evasion, while an ex-aide to Mr. Michihiko Kano, deputy chief of the Democratic Party of Japan, is charged...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2002

Snow Brand admits units in Kanto also in on scams

Snow Brand Food Co. acknowledged Tuesday that two of its Kanto-based meat units also misstated imported beef as domestic meat in early November in an attempt to reduce inventories and win government subsidies related to the outbreak of mad cow disease in mid-September.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2002

Police hand over case of gut-checking professor

Police on Tuesday turned over to prosecutors their case against a former university professor in Tokyo who in December allegedly stabbed a student from another university with a sword to find out if the victim was serious about studying Middle East affairs.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2002

Ministries working on food safety agency

The farm ministry and the health ministry are negotiating the establishment of a food safety agency in fiscal 2002, ministry officials said.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2002

Electronic customs fees to plunge

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday that fees for an electronic customs system for cargo ships making port calls will will drop drastically beginning in April.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2002

Jobless rate in December rises to new high of 5.6%

Japan's unemployment rate climbed to a record-high 5.6 percent in December, pushing the average jobless rate for 2001 to a new high of 5 percent, the government revealed Tuesday in a preliminary report.
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2002

Chinese, when convenient

HONG KONG -- In an unusual move, China in recent weeks twice denied visa applications by a group of South Korean lawmakers. Relations between China and South Korea have been good in recent years, so it is strange that Korean legislators who wish to visit China should be denied the chance to do so.

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