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SUMO
May 21, 2002

Musashimaru, Chiyotaikai stay undefeated as ozeki fall

Yokozuna Musashimaru had little trouble toppling rank-and-filer Akinoshima to remain undefeated Monday but Musoyama, Tochiazuma and Kaio all fell on a day of bad luck and shoddy sumo for ozeki at the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
May 21, 2002

Fans getting feisty at World Cup ticket no show

With the World Cup getting ever closer, soccer fans are getting increasingly worried about the whereabouts of their tickets.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
May 21, 2002

High-flying Tigers pitch for orphans

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Pref. -- With the Hanshin Tigers having their best start in years this season, the pride of the Kansai area has been the center of public and media attention.
JAPAN
May 21, 2002

Titanium dioxide plus sunlight spells clean

The exterior walls of the Toto Research Institute in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, look like patchwork; some square areas are dark with stains while others are spotless.
BUSINESS / TAKING STOCK
May 21, 2002

Stock rebound brings hope of stability

The recent rebound on Wall Street could presage a more stable market in the near term.
JAPAN
May 21, 2002

Pair plead guilty to killing groom

OSAKA -- Two men pleaded guilty Monday to the fatal beating of a 26-year-old prospective groom from Fukuoka Prefecture who had come here in April last year to attend a ceremony marking the exchange of engagement gifts.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Nonlife insurers hit hard by Sept. 11, stock losses

Hit by hefty share price losses and insurance payouts following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, four of the nation's nine largest nonlife insurers on Monday reported net losses for the 2001 business year.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Asahi Glass posts first group loss

Asahi Glass Co. said Monday it posted a group net loss of 12.61 billion yen for fiscal 2001, marking its first bottom-line loss since going public in 1950.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Mazda fetes first model in 1 1/2 years

Mazda Motor Corp. on Monday began marketing its first new offering in 18 months -- a midsize car called the Atenza.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 21, 2002

College's cartoon exhibition roasts once-popular Koizumi

KYOTO -- It has been months since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's public support rating stood above the 50 percent line and his rapid slide is now the stuff of cartoons.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Controversial food-aid fund study gets under way

Officials from six international organizations are rolling up their sleeves and getting to work on a low-profile -- but nevertheless significant -- mission that could affect the course of future farm trade liberalization negotiations.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Nippon Mitsubishi inks China deal

Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corp. will export heavy oil to China under a one-year contract beginning in June, making it the first Japanese oil company to export oil products to China under a term contract, a company official said Monday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 21, 2002

The hermit opens up to visitors

PYONGYANG -- It's not difficult to find your way around Pyongyang. The city has few tall buildings and wherever you go, the imposing monolith of the Tower of the Juche Idea -- topped by a red "flame" that glows at night -- enables visitors to get their bearings.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Furukawa Electric blames IT slump for group net loss

Furukawa Electric Co. said Monday it registered group net losses last business year, blaming sluggish sales of information technology-related and electronics products, and increased depreciation costs for capital spending.
COMMENTARY
May 21, 2002

Overhaul the foreign service

The police intrusion into the Japanese Consulate General in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang on May 8 has revealed, both here and abroad, the sorry state of Japanese diplomacy.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 21, 2002

Rhodes, Iwakuma clip Hawks' wings

Tuffy Rhodes homered twice and Hisashi Iwakuma pitched a six-hitter Monday to lead the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes to an 8-1 rout of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the Pacific League.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Top three automakers post record profits

Despite the sluggish global economy, the nation's top three automakers ran up record-high profits while No. 4 and No. 5 returned to profitability with better-than-expected performances in 2001, according to business results announced as of Monday.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Koizumi may send observers to private German postal firm

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday proposed sending a team to a German postal firm to observe privatized postal services.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2002

Time to put Sino-Japanese rivalry aside

Observing the prolonged negotiations over the fate of five North Korean asylum seekers seized by Chinese police from the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang and the widespread criticism in Japan over the way that Japanese diplomats handled the matter, it seems vital to decouple the humanitarian issue...
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Outlook stressful for steelmakers: S&P

The credit quality of Japanese steelmakers will remain pressured by poor business conditions in the industry, with few prospects for sustained improvement in domestic demand, Standard & Poor's Corp. said Monday.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Court approves Shokusan Jutaku's rehabilitation plan

The Tokyo District Court said Monday it has approved a rehabilitation plan submitted by Shokusan Jutaku Sogo Co., a failed builder of custom-made houses.

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