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JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

Japan to send boat, jet to Southeast Asia to fight piracy

The Japan Coast Guard is sending a a patrol boat and a jet aircraft to help combat piracy in waters off Southeast Asia.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

LDP backs down, endorses redistricting bill

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party endorsed a government bill Tuesday designed to help correct imbalances in the House of Representatives electoral system in terms of the weight of individual ballots.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

Tokyo police set to create special antiterror section

Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department will set up an antiterrorism section in October, police officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

Teikyo University loses grants over donations scam

Education chief Atsuko Toyama said Tuesday her ministry will withhold government grants earmarked for Teikyo University for the current fiscal year and ask the private school to refund part of the grants it received over the last five years.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

Kawaguchi ruffles Foreign Ministry feathers

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi is facing a new challenge to her reform efforts as the ministry's bureaucrats are rebelling against her decision to look to a rival ministry to fill a foreign aid commission.
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2002

Japan prepared to intervene again in money market

The nation's currency policy remains unchanged, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday, indicating Japan is prepared to intervene in the foreign-exchange markets to stem the rapid gains by the yen.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 17, 2002

MLB crisis: What can the market bear?

Man, Major League Baseball is really in a mess now. Following the All-Star tie-game fiasco last week in Milwaukee, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was quoted as saying one big-league club may not be able to meet its payroll this week, and another team is sick with Tennessee Ernie Ford disease: "Another day...
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2002

DBJ looks to help firms restructure

The Development Bank of Japan said Tuesday it has launched a special lending mechanism to help midsize companies implement drastic operational reforms as part of the government's policy to reinvigorate the economy.
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2002

Department store sales fall 3%

Sales at department stores in Tokyo's 23 wards fell to 1 trillion yen in the January-June period, down 3 percent from a year earlier and the first decline in two years on a first-half year basis, the Japan Department Stores Association said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

Ministry aims to develop eco-freighter

The transport ministry expressed its resolve to develop an environmentally friendly vessel and deregulate the domestic shipping industry in its annual report on maritime affairs released Monday.
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2002

Protection eyed for ailing liquor stores

The tripartite ruling coalition crafted a bill Tuesday that would give economic protections to existing liquor shops, coalition officials said.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

Accused train gropers hope to clear names

Thirteen men who have been accused of acts of molestation on trains have formed a self-help group in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Jul 17, 2002

Dollar southbound as U.S. bubble bursts

The dollar will remain under strong selling pressure, as if in line with bearish U.S. stocks. Although macroeconomic indicators are still firm, the market tends to trade on stock prices.
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2002

IYBank to link ATMs to clients' cell phones

IYBank said Tuesday that it is planning to introduce a mobile cash card service that will allow clients to access its automated teller machines with their cell phones.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

Rules adopted to limit influence of lawmakers

The government established a set of rules Tuesday that outline proper relationships between politicians and bureaucrats, hoping to prevent lawmakers from exerting undue influence on policymaking matters.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2002

It takes a village . . .

The feat of building a community takes vision, commitment and lots of time. But once every year, a massive village materializes on a mountainside in Niigata Prefecture in late July, only to vanish into thin air less than a week later.
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2002

Taisho discontinues development of asthma drug

Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. said Tuesday it will discontinue the development of a new oral drug for chronic asthma because unwanted side effects occurred in U.S. clinical tests.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jul 17, 2002

Taking a balanced view of life and death

Kristian Haggblom has some quirky ideas. Like the notion that an estimated 29,000 Lego building blocks are currently floating on the oceans of the world. I don't know where the Australian artist dug up this weird statistic, but he mentioned it twice in the course of our conversation last week. Haggblom...
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

Man goes berserk over TV 'insult'

A knife-wielding man was arrested Tuesday 10 minutes after he allegedly threatened employees of Fuji Television Network Inc. at the broadcaster's headquarters in Minato Ward, Tokyo, according to police.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 17, 2002

The magic of Disney creates a jungle on ice

SAPPORO -- Disney may not be everybody's dreamland. For some, especially children, Disney's movies and theme parks are a fantasy world; for others, though, they seem more like slick merchandising opportunities.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

Ministry wants city folk to be 'working tourists'

The agriculture ministry will seek to obtain funds in the fiscal 2003 budget to promote hands-on tourism activities at villages whose economies rely heavily on the farming, forestry or fishing industries, ministry officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2002

LDP figures seek to preserve full deposit refund guarantee

Two senior LDP politicians agreed Tuesday that the government's full-refund guarantee for demand deposits at failed banks should be extended beyond the scheduled expiration date of March 31, 2003 "for an unspecified span of time," an LDP legislator said.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

Chinese bamboo encroaching on Japan's forests

Mount Udo, straddling the cities of Shimizu and Shizuoka in central Shizuoka Prefecture, is known for its beautiful views of Mount Fuji. But it is also being "polluted" by bamboo thickets.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2002

On with the shows

Fuji Rock Festival '02July 26-28, 11 a.m. Naeba Ski Resort, Niigata Prefecture 14,500 yen (one day), 29,000 yen (two days), 38,000 yen (three days) July 26: Prodigy, George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic, The Parkinsons, Television, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Audio Active, Patti Smith and more July...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 17, 2002

Holt shuts out powerful Giants

Midseason acquisition Chris Holt scattered three hits over the distance and lifted the lowly Yokohama BayStars over the Central League-leading Yomiuri Giants 3-0 at the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2002

Growers seek rice-stockpiling organization

The nation's biggest rice farmers' lobby plans to propose that a government-backed rice-stockpile entity be created to buy surplus rice using both government subsidies and annual contributions from all growers, according to officials of the group.

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