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BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2004

Jobless rate declines to 45-month low of 4.6%

Japan's unemployment rate hit a 45-month low of 4.6 percent in May, down 0.1 percentage point from April, with the largest margin of improvement in the jobless number on record, the government said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2004

Can Koizumi expect a rally?

Security is the key word for the July 11 Upper House election, which focuses on two major issues: pension reform and Self-Defense Force participation in a multinational force in Iraq. At stake are Japan's social security system (including pensions, health care and nursing services for the elderly) and...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2004

Stay-at-home sales agents cash in on Internet revolution

Housewife Tomoko Kobayashi puts on her Web businesswoman's hat at 9 a.m., after all her morning chores are out of the way.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2004

Fishing net supplier attracting investors after conversion to investment banking

What was once a major Tokyo-based seller of fishing nets has recently been attracting the attention of foreign and domestic investors, both individual and institutional, thanks to a unique business strategy and an astonishingly fast pace of growth.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2004

Internet, TV shopping shift firms' focus toward mail-order market

A growing number of retail corporations that once sold mostly over the counter are concentrating more on the mail-order market, made popular by the Internet and television shopping programs.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 24, 2004

By the way, how do I look with this raw fish?

There's sushi, and then there's SUSHI. There's the kind you eat in a noisy, friendly atmosphere with all the prices written out in big black characters and taped to the walls. If you feel the act of reading and choosing is too much, just ask for any one of the various sushi setto (sets), depicted in...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 23, 2004

Many questions remain over merger of Buffaloes, BlueWave

July 7 is the date for the big meeting in Japanese baseball. Owners of the 12 Central and Pacific League teams are to get together to decide what will happen with regard to the proposed merger of two PL clubs, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix BlueWave.
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2004

Reconciliation under house arrest

Defying international opinion, Myanmar's military government continues to rule the country with an iron hand. It is hard to understand why the ruling generals, despite their increasing isolation at home and abroad, maintain such a hardline stance. They should know that genuine democratic reform is the...
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2004

Monetary policy to stay intact: BOJ

The Bank of Japan's policy-setting panel left its monetary policy unchanged Tuesday, dismissing speculation that its ultraeasy monetary grip might be coming to an end amid recent economic recovery signs.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 15, 2004

Free guides, counseling and a bet

Howzat! Graham, Operations Manager at the YC&AC (Yokohama Country & Athletic Club) located in Naka-ku, Yokohama, follows up an enquiry about cricket from Jake on June 1.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2004

Ashikaga Bank plans to cut 15% of workforce

Ashikaga Bank, now under temporary state control, said Friday it will eliminate 15 percent of its workforce by the end of fiscal 2006 as part of its new business improvement program.
EDITORIALS
Jun 6, 2004

When slow is beautiful

A new book on an old theme, published last month, is slowly beginning to garner attention in the American and British media, although it has not yet made the best-seller lists. But that is probably just fine with the author, Carl Honore, a Canadian journalist based in London, because taking time is precisely...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 6, 2004

Shinya Tasaki: Sommelier supreme

Shinya Tasaki was a teenager when he made his first solo trip to France in 1977. Even back then, he was so eager to learn about French food and wine that he visited as many wineries as he could -- only to be turned away from most. But his determination kept him from giving up -- and now nobody will turn...
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2004

Employee ranks grew 0.4% in April

The number of workers on regular payrolls rose 0.4 percent in April from a year earlier to 42.86 million, marking the first increase in six years, the government said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2004

China increasingly viewed as market

Manufacturers are considering boosting business in China, viewing the world's most populous country more as a market and not just as a production base, according to a government report released Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 29, 2004

Koizumi employment record in 1970s called into question

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has effectively admitted that he was only nominally employed at a Yokohama-based real estate company in the early 1970s -- even though he was registered as a member of a public pension system designed to serve full-time corporate employees.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2004

Kamei wary of beef-safety changes

Yoshiyuki Kamei, agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister, expressed reservations Friday about changing Japanese safety standards on beef and beef products in connection with mad cow disease.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 28, 2004

Officials explore technology in effort to win gold in Athens

With the Athens Olympic Games looming, Japanese sports officials are exploring a variety of scientific devices and methods to secure as many gold medals for Japan as possible.
JAPAN
May 28, 2004

Sakaguchi did not pay premiums for two years

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi told a Diet committee Thursday that he did not participate in the national pension scheme in 1984 and 1985.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 28, 2004

Officials explore technology in effort to win gold in Athens

With the Athens Olympic Games looming, Japanese sports officials are exploring a variety of scientific devices and methods to secure as many gold medals for Japan as possible.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2004

New democracy masters coalition-building

HONG KONG -- Ironically, at a time when the United States is trying to bring instant democracy to the Middle East, Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, is undergoing a complex, three-tiered democratic election virtually unnoticed.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 27, 2004

Picking the brains of teenagers shows how we 'mature'

What an age we live in. Science is progressing in ever greater leaps and bounds. The way things are going, we might one day even understand that most enigmatic and mysterious of natural phenomena, the teenager.
JAPAN
May 26, 2004

Ministry releases work-related illness data

A total of 312 people became eligible for workers' compensation due to brain and heart illnesses induced by excessive work in fiscal 2003, according to labor ministry statistics released Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
May 26, 2004

A good start for Mr. Chen

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has passed the first test of his new administration. His inauguration speech was conciliatory in tone, reaching out to the millions of Taiwanese who voted against him and to the mainland by pledging not to take action that would increase tensions between the governments...
JAPAN
May 26, 2004

80% of single mothers have trouble making ends meet

The average household income for families with single mothers is about 40 percent that of households with two parents and eight out of 10 single mothers say they have trouble making ends meet, according to a government report released Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2004

Aozora Bank's net profit expanded 39.3% in fiscal 2003

Aozora Bank said Tuesday it posted a net profit of 31.9 billion yen in fiscal 2003, up 39.3 percent from the previous year.
JAPAN
May 26, 2004

Ministry releases work-related illness data

A total of 312 people became eligible for workers' compensation due to brain and heart illnesses induced by excessive work in fiscal 2003, according to labor ministry statistics released Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 26, 2004

Lawyers, welfare experts to open private shelter for troubled youths

Lawyers and child welfare experts will open a private temporary shelter for about five teenagers on June 1 in Tokyo -- the first facility of its kind in Japan.
JAPAN
May 26, 2004

80% of single mothers have trouble making ends meet

The average household income for families with single mothers is about 40 percent that of households with two parents and eight out of 10 single mothers say they have trouble making ends meet, according to a government report released Tuesday.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years