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BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2002

Daiei to get 460 billion yen to restructure

Daiei Inc. will receive a total of 460 billion yen in financial assistance from three major creditor banks, up 40 billion yen from an initial plan, to promote a new three-year restructuring program, according to the final draft of the plan made available Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2002

Tokyo mulls donation to WTO trust fund

Japan may contribute 1.5 million Swiss francs -- about 117 million yen -- to a new trust fund established within the World Trade Organization to increase trade-related technical assistance for developing countries, government sources said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 23, 2002

Jaw-Shen and Yoshiko Tsai

The husband in this team is a research fellow at the NEC Fundamental Research Laboratories, Tsukuba. He is also head of the Riken Macroscopic Quantum Coherence Laboratory, Wako. He keeps the title of professor from his guest positions at institutes and universities, which include the University of Tokyo....
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2002

'Mafia' group in Taiwan responsible for counterfeit bills, suspect claims

OSAKA -- A man from Taiwan suspected of being involved in a major counterfeiting scam told police that fake 10,000 yen notes were delivered to him in Tokyo via courier by a "mafia" group in Taiwan, police said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2002

Former Kato aide brokered 50 million yen golf deal

A former aide to senior Liberal Democratic Party member Koichi Kato received some 50 million yen in cash in 1999 as a commission for brokering a golf course development project in Chiba Prefecture, informed sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2002

Prince Takamado may go to Seoul for World Cup

Prince Takamado, honorary president of the Japan Football Association, will probably attend the opening ceremony of the World Cup finals in Seoul, according to government sources.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2002

Wire making firms promise unions to avoid staff cuts

The management of Furukawa Electric Co., Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. and four other leading electric wire makers promised in recent negotiations with their labor unions that they would make "utmost efforts" to avoid job cuts, union officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2002

Chino cements image as ADB's best chief ever

MANILA It was the most important night of the year. As "Show 2001" got off to a start, the hall was packed to standing room only, and talented employees -- mostly Filipinos -- strutted their stuff in aid of local charities.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2002

Cooking oil producers set to merge

A joint holding company to be formed April 1 by Honen Corp. and Ajinomoto Oil Mills Co. will merge with another cooking oil producer, Yoshihara Oil Mill Ltd., to create the largest domestic entity in the field, according to the three firms.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2002

Ex-Ishioka mayor, aide hit with fresh bribe charges

Prosecutors on Tuesday brought fresh charges against a former mayor of Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture, and a former aide to a lawmaker over a 2 million yen bribe allegedly made during bid-rigging for a public waterworks project.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2002

Woman calls British ex-POWs to Japan

LONDON -- Keiko Holmes had expected hostility, but when she attended the annual conference of the British Far East Prisoners of War Association in London in 1991, the bitterness harbored by the more than 1,000 veterans and their families present nearly erupted into violence.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2002

Obituary: Takekazu Ogura

Takekazu Ogura, a former vice farm minister who once headed the government's Tax Commission and the Rice Price Council, died Thursday of a heart attack. He was 91.
Events
Feb 19, 2002

Hard times spark rare, fiery debate at annual Kansai Economic Summit

OSAKA -- For the past four decades, the Kansai region's business leaders have gathered annually in February to discuss a variety of local economic issues.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Top ruling party officials should join Cabinet: panel

Top officials of the nation's reigning political party should join the Cabinet to put more policymaking power into the hands of the prime minister, a Liberal Democratic Party panel said in a proposal revealed Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002

Taiwan, mainland jockey for influence

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- What is going on across the Taiwan Strait and within Taiwan becomes more of a puzzle with each passing day.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Elementary schools snub Snow Brand

OSAKA -- Forty-two percent of some 14,000 municipally run elementary schools throughout Japan are boycotting products made by scandal-tainted Snow Brand Milk Products Co. and its group companies, according to the results of a poll released Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2002

North Korea through different prisms

SEOUL -- In his State of the Union address, U.S. President George W. Bush has managed to disappoint South Korea and enrage North Korea at the same time by lumping the latter with the likes of Iraq and Iran. As the president begins a Northeast Asian rain-check sojourn with stops in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2002

Anthropologist uses food for cross-cultural communication

SUITA, Osaka Pref. -- Both as an explorer and an anthropologist, Naomichi Ishige has visited more than 100 countries since his days as a Kyoto University student.
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2002

Only way to restore confidence

The Foreign Ministry, its public image badly tarnished by scandals, has launched a comprehensive effort to put its house in order. A reform package unveiled by Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on Tuesday, less than two weeks after she took up the post, conveys a sense of urgency. It is aptly titled...
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2002

Enron's pain will lead to future gain

WASHINGTON -- With the rubble still smoldering from Enron's bankruptcy, the U.S. Congress is attempting to score points by interrogating the international energy company's managers. Former CEO Jeffrey Skilling faced rough going before a congressional hearing; only by invoking the Fifth Amendment did...
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Feb 15, 2002

Lifting weights and building character

When Feng Ming received the official letter inviting him to come to Japan, he was prepared to say no. It was 1999 and China, the undisputed powerhouse in the weightlifting world, was preparing for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. As a coach at Nanking Athletic University, Ming was training some of the country's...
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2002

Prosecutors seek death for Aum's sarin maker

Prosecutors demanded the death sentence Tuesday for a former senior member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult charged with murder, including the deaths resulting from the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2002

Ozaki sought Kano's help for candidate

Michihiko Kano, former vice president of the Democratic Party of Japan who quit the party over his ties to a scandal-hit firm, was asked by an executive of the company to support a rookie candidate in the mayoral election in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, in fall 2000, sources close to the case said Saturday....
COMMUNITY
Feb 10, 2002

The street beat goes on -- but for how long?

Come 8 p.m., the nationalist black vans blaring polemics around Hachiko square outside JR Shibuya Station give way to an equally noisy, but far more friendly soundtrack.
COMMUNITY
Feb 9, 2002

Chef's Table event to aid street children projects

Karen Lewis is wary of placing herself in the spotlight. She is part of a team -- a committee -- so finds it embarrassing to be singled out. There again, she recognizes that publicity is good for the cause she serves: protecting and caring for street children in seven facilities in the Philippines, Vietnam,...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji