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BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2002

Electric toothbrush sales increase as prices decay

Sales of electric toothbrushes are booming in Japan following a significant decline in product prices.
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2002

NEC, Toshiba join on MRAM chip development

NEC Corp. and Toshiba Corp. have begun developing next-generation memory chips that promise to slash power consumption in personal computers and other portable electronic devices.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Sep 17, 2002

Reds fans need to be patient

In a post-match press conference at the Sept. 8 J. League game between the Urawa Reds and Vegalta Sendai at Saitama Stadium 2002, a seemingly irritated local reporter voiced an opinion to Reds manager Hans Ooft.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2002

Pyongyang visit to last more than 11 hours

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will spend more than 11 hours in Pyongyang on Tuesday to hold landmark talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, a Foreign Ministry official said Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2002

Blind lawyer founds network to fight disability prejudice

KYOTO -- Blind lawyer Yoshiki Takeshita has spearheaded the creation of a legal network that aims to eliminate discrimination and human rights abuses against disabled people.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 17, 2002

Scientists lobby, governments demur, on Kurils international peace park

Ever since transboundary biosphere reserves were first launched, scientists in East Asia have dreamed of setting up border-straddling nature sanctuaries in both the Korean demilitarized zone and in the Kuril Islands, which encompass the long-contested Northern Territories occupied by Russia but claimed...
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2002

Perched on a slippery slope

As U.S. President George W. Bush made his case for action against Iraq, Russian President Vladimir Putin provided ample proof of the danger of acting unilaterally. Last week, Mr. Putin laid out Russia's complaints about Georgia's failure to take action against militants fighting Moscow and asserted Russia's...
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2002

Bookkeeping reforms lead to surge in number of aspiring accountants

An increasing number of people are aspiring to become licensed public accountants as demand for accounting experts rises in line with ongoing reforms in accounting and bookkeeping rules.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 17, 2002

Breaking down the barriers

SEOUL -- A merican presidents, soccer stars, paying tourists and the occasional squad of Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders airlifted in to boost U.S. troop morale regularly bus through select checkpoints in the Korean demilitarized zone, but otherwise this 246-km-long, 4 km-wide strip of land is one desolate...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 17, 2002

Tired Greene ends sprint season on a low in Yokohama

YOKOHAMA -- After a 12-hour flight from Paris, Maurice Greene couldn't get to sleep until the early hours of Monday morning. And during warmups for the 100-meter race at the Super Track and Field Meet 2002 on Monday, the body of the world's second fastest man didn't react quite like normal.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2002

'70 Expo Osaka museum relocation stirs forum to mull site's future use

OSAKA -- The planned relocation to central Osaka of the National Museum of Art from the Expo '70 Commemoration Park in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, has drawn no public protest, but for some people it stirs deep emotions about one of their most memorable events in decades.
SUMO
Sep 16, 2002

Taka, Asashoryu roll on

Grand champion Takanohana put on another performance Sunday as he labored to a sixth win by muscling out sekiwake Wakanosato on the eighth day of the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2002

Koizumi seeks new ideas on disposal of bad loans

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with key Cabinet ministers Sunday afternoon to discuss the possibility of formulating new measures to boost the disposal of nonperforming loans held by financial institutions.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2002

Ajinomoto being sued over aspartame patent

A former worker at Ajinomoto Co. has filed a suit against the food maker over the patented production method for the artificial sweetener aspartame, his lawyers said Sunday.
BUSINESS / ANOTHER LOOK
Sep 16, 2002

Outsourcing offers Japan Inc. a viable, new cost-cutting option

Regardless of the size of a company's operations, one of the most pressing issues for management is reduction of costs. With very low economic growth likely to continue for some time and deflation placing pressure on prices in many different industry sectors, management is being called upon to make more...
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2002

Talks' success hinges on 'abductions': Yamasaki

A Japanese official stated Sunday that progress on the issue of the Japanese nationals allegedly abducted by North Korean agents is necessary to the success of this week's North Korea-Japan summit.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2002

A step forward for Japanese diplomacy

Frustrated with attempts to re-engage with the Bush administration, North Korea has reached out to alternative sources of support, sidestepping the United States for the moment by turning to Tokyo. Like a good boxer who knows how to bob and weave to elude his opponents and then land a telling blow, Pyongyang's...
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2002

Plants aim for objectivity following Tepco fiasco

Six of nine nuclear power plant operators said they will strive for greater objectivity in reporting, according to a Kyodo News survey released Sunday.
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2002

Mortgage-lending confab aims to fire up European market

The movers and shakers of Europe's mortgage-lending industry are to attend an unprecedented conference that starts in Madrid on Sept. 22 in an effort to find solutions in light of globalization and ensuing difficulties they currently face -- including dilution within the financial services industry and...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2002

Dealing with Kim Jong Il

SEOUL -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on Tuesday represents the biggest step in relations between the two countries since the end of World War II in 1945. Koizumi, though, must keep a cool head in the face of any strategic ploy that...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2002

At last, the rise of people power in China

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Bits of the jigsaw are beginning to fall into place. Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao, the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping's preferred candidate to take over from President Jiang Zemin, is beginning to show the confidence that suggests his position as the new party secretary...
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 16, 2002

Akahoshi the hero as Tigers stage late comeback

Norihiro Akahoshi hit a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning Sunday to lift the Hanshin Tigers past the front-running Yomiuri Giants 3-2 in the Central League.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight