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JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Population increases despite record-low births

Japan's population was 126,284,805 as of March 31, up 213,500, or 0.17 percent, from a year earlier, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

KSD gets 100 million yen from LDP

The Liberal Democratic Party has provided 100 million yen on "moral grounds" to support scandal-hit KSD, a mutual-aid foundation for small firms, LDP Secretary General Taku Yamasaki said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Foreign teenagers leave following month exchange

Ten teenage students left Japan for their home countries earlier this week following a monthlong fact-finding tour in which they communicated with Japanese youths and among themselves in Japanese.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Reform of state-linked firms encounters stiff resistance

A government proposal to drastically overhaul government-backed corporations is facing resistance from the ministries and agencies that control them, according to a government report released Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 11, 2001

Playing chicken with telecommunication big boys

To some he is a hero. To others an anathema. For this writer, who lives in trepidation of meeting with Japanese CEOs because (sorry guys) they tend to be so predictable, Sachio Semmoto is a breath of fresh air.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Workers' views on economy worsen

A monthly survey of workers close to the man on the street shows that views on the current and future states of the economy are at their lowest since the survey was launched in January 2000, the Cabinet Office said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

War historian cuts past flag-waving gloss

Historian Tadatoshi Fujii has one main worry about today's Japanese: their ignorance of the basic facts about the Imperial armed forces and the nature of the wars they waged.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 11, 2001

Matsui leads Giants 7-1 over Yakult

Hideki Matsui of the Yomiuri Giants drove in five runs including a pair of two-run homers on Friday night, carrying the Giants to a 7-1 victory over the Yakult Swallows at the Tokyo Dome.
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2001

Koizumi's easy days are over

With Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's major victory in the Upper House election on July 29, Japanese politics has entered into a new phase.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

School absenteeism hits record high

The number of students absent from elementary and junior high schools for a prolonged period during fiscal 2000 increased by about 4,000, or 3.1 percent, from fiscal 1999, to hit a record 134,282, the education ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Economy deteriorating further

The government believes the economy is "further deteriorating" due chiefly to larger falls in exports and output plus a dip in investment.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

New top diplomat faces hurdles here and abroad

Taking bold steps to rebuild the Foreign Ministry after a series of scandals involving diplomats is the top priority for the new head of the bureaucracy, Vice Foreign Minister Yoshiji Nogami.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Japan to host global energy forum

Japan will host an international energy forum in Osaka next year to promote dialogue between oil-producing and oil-consuming countries, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

McDonald's unit sees profits fall

Nearly two weeks after its initial public offering, fast-food chain operator McDonald's Co. (Japan) Ltd. announced Friday that it posted 12.61 billion yen in pretax profits for the first half of this year, down 9.6 percent from a year earlier.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Koizumi re-elected as president of LDP

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was unanimously re-elected Friday afternoon as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, securing a full two-year term as head of the LDP.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Ex-UNEP official pushes business solutions to environment problems

Despite a sign of global economic recession, the private sector can help solve environmental issues by creating new business and stimulating the economy, according to Noel Brown, former director of the North American regional office of the United Nations Environmental Program.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

More relaxed vehicle inspections sought

A review of guidelines for automobile safety inspections saw a proposal Friday to lengthen the interval between mandatory checkups and scrap inspection items deemed nonessential or obsolete because of technological advances.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

MMC selects lucky early retirees

Ailing automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has selected 1,382 employees aged 52 or older to participate in an early retirement program.
SOCCER / World cup
Aug 11, 2001

Troussier opts for Nakamura

Yokohama F. Marinos midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura has been recalled to the Japan national fold but Jubilo Iwata midfielder Hiroshi Nanami has been excluded from the squad for next Wednesday's AFC/OFC Challenge Cup match against Oceania champion Australia at Ecopa Stadium in Shizuoka, Japan manager Philippe...
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Sony, Honda work on useful, entertaining robots

Ever since Sony Corp. and Honda Motor Co. unveiled prototypes of humanoid robots last year, expectations have been growing that they can be developed to carry out household chores and used for entertainment.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Study on advanced safety cars to focus on human error

The transport ministry will launch a study as early as next month on measures to prevent accidents involving advanced safety vehicles stemming from overconfident users, ministry officials said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Group proposes safety-net programs

The Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) on Friday proposed the government set aside 1.5 trillion yen to expand safety-net programs supporting the unemployed.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Brewers' shipments down in July

Combined shipments of beer and "happoshu," a low-malt, beer-like liquor, fell 17.4 percent to 667,646 kiloliters in July from a year earlier, according to data released Friday by the nation's five major brewers.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 11, 2001

Martin L.M. Smith

It is startling to see a man in a wheelchair high up the mast of a sailing ship.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Tobacco lobby keeps lid on state health plans

Staff writerSusumu Motojima, head of Japan Tobacco Inc.'s Kyoto branch, recently said smoking is a "pastime or habit an adult has the right to choose."
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Tanaka to lose month's pay over two ministry scandals

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Friday she will return one month's ministerial salary to the state's coffers as a self-imposed punishment over two financial scandals involving ministry officials.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Group takes credit for incendiary attack

A group calling itself a revolutionary army claimed responsibility Friday for Tuesday's fire in a lot adjacent to the office of a group that authored a controversial history textbook.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic