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EDITORIALS
Jun 18, 2005

New era of bank card security

Bank deposit safety in Japan is threatened increasingly by people using forged or stolen cards to make illegal withdrawals. Now, members of the Diet are preparing to introduce a bill that would require all financial institutions -- including commercial banks, post offices and credit unions -- to compensate...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2005

NPO chief, cohorts held over investment swindle

Police arrested the former head of a Tokyo nonprofit organization Thursday on suspicion of swindling group members through an investment scheme.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2005

New regulation to help detoxify appliances

A new Environment Ministry regulation to take effect next year may virtually ban the use of lead, mercury and four other harmful substances in large home appliances and personal computers, according to ministry officials.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2005

NPA goes online to curb Net crime

The National Police Agency launched a Web site Thursday that will offer automatic answers to questions about Internet-related crimes, including online auction fraud, fraudulent online billing and so-called phishing.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2005

Ministry explains texts to end 'misunderstandings'

The Foreign Ministry has posted English information on its Web site on Japan's textbook screening process, hoping to clear up "misunderstandings" abroad, a ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2005

JAL jet landing at Haneda loses nose gear wheels

The two nose gear wheels on a Japan Airlines Corp. jetliner broke off during landing Wednesday at Tokyo's Haneda airport, the airline said.
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jun 16, 2005

Financial innovations should preserve market discipline and trust

The country's reforms in the financial sector have had mixed results so far, with progress on the domestic front lagging behind Japan's growing contribution to Asian financial stability, according to Charles Calomiris, a Columbia Business School professor.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2005

Solution to bank-card crimes eludes legislators

The ruling coalition's bill on bank-card crimes offers a quick and effective solution to what has become society's largest problem in recent years, according to Yoichiro Esaki, head of the Liberal Democratic Party subcommittee dealing with the issue.
Japan Times
Features
Jun 12, 2005

Traders take lead in local initiatives

On a recent showery Tuesday afternoon, about 15 people assembled in a shopping district near Waseda University in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. When the rain eased up, they armed themselves with working gloves, waste pickers and plastic bags. Then, together, they set off on their mission to clean up the neighborhood's...
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2005

Man to sue TV Asahi over report he smuggled guns

A Japanese man now serving a 15-month sentence in the United States will seek 5 million yen in damages from TV Asahi for defamation for airing a report that he was illegally selling guns.
COMMENTARY
Jun 11, 2005

Slots, cops, and deception

LAS VEGAS -- The Japanese have been kicking around the idea of building American-style casinos in Japan for four years now. The Parliament Committee on Casinos with 100 Diet members has been gathering information on casinos, and Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has been a major proponent of the idea. In...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2005

Indian growth must co-opt the bypassed

MANILA -- India is a paradox. The successes of a select group of sectors -- from information technology to industr and services -- are creating an urban elite showcased as the builders of a modern and vibrant country on the cusp of joining the major economic powers of the world.
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2005

New law to make firms report greenhouse gas emissions

The Diet passed a bill Friday to revise the current antiglobal-warming promotion law so that about 8,000 firms will have to report emissions of six greenhouse gases.
EDITORIALS
Jun 10, 2005

The real state of the economy

Japanese corporations, by and large, chalked up their biggest profit gains ever in the financial year ended March 31, breaking previous records for the third straight year. But numbers can be misleading. Earnings statistics indicate economic movements and trends but do not necessarily tell what these...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 9, 2005

Four-lined rat snake

* Japanese name: Shimahebi * Scientific name: Elaphe quadrivirgata * Description: Unfortunately, despite the name, this snake does not always have four lines running down its length. Often it has black lines running down a light-brown body (as in the photo), or sometimes lighter, dashed lines that...
EDITORIALS
Jun 9, 2005

Life support for the pension system

There is widespread concern among Japanese that the nation's pension system is in disarray. The biggest issue is the decline in the rate of premium payers. In fiscal 2003, as many as 36.6 percent of the people registered in the kokumin nenkin (people's pension) system, a plan intended mainly for self-employed...
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2005

IC 'gaijin' card shares personal info

All foreigners staying in Japan for more than 90 days may have to carry identification cards equipped with integrated circuit chips, members of the Liberal Democratic Party said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2005

Oki Data hopes tieup lifts China sales

Oki Data Corp. said Tuesday it has tied up with a Chinese firm in a bid to expand its sales of light-emitting diode color printers in China.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2005

Controversial Tokyo vice governor to quit

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on Tuesday endorsed the resignation of Vice Gov. Takeo Hamauzu, under fire from assembly members for controlling metropolitan government operations.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2005

Quarterly capital spending up 7.4% to four-year high

Capital spending by companies grew 7.4 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier to 13.697 trillion yen, the highest level in nearly four years, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 7, 2005

Have you heard the one about . . ?

'And then, when he saw the other side of the car, where his date had been sitting not 15 minutes earlier, on the door handle, hung . . . a bloody . . . HOOK!"
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 6, 2005

Income gap among Japanese expanding, but not by much

Traditionally, the income gap between the rich and the poor has been rather small in Japan, creating what has become known as the "all-Japanese-as-middle class" mentality.
EDITORIALS
Jun 5, 2005

Sex crime recidivism

In view of recent crime trends, measures to prevent the repetition of crimes have become an issue. What especially needs to be addressed is how to prevent the same people from repeating sex crimes. In November, the public was alarmed by the kidnapping and murder of a 7-year-old girl in the city of Nara....
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2005

'Dead Man Walking' author seeks to end control of the noose

The death penalty is part of the same societal paradigm as war, as both are used by the state to impose control through violence, according to Sister Helen Prejean.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2005

Hamauzu censured for false charge

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly adopted a motion Thursday to censure Vice Gov. Takeo Hamauzu for falsely accusing a metro vocational school of mismanagement.
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2005

Ruling bloc bill to put card theft onus on banks

The Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner New Komeito agreed Thursday to a bill that would require financial institutions to compensate depositors for losses incurred from stolen or forged cash cards unless the users are mainly at fault, officials from the two parties said.
EDITORIALS
Jun 2, 2005

Not out of the woods yet

Japan's major banking groups all achieved their fiscal 2004 target of halving their bad-loan ratios, which had been considered a stiff hurdle to their recovery of sound management. All of them expect to make a profit in the current fiscal year, ending in March 2006. The disposal of the legacy left by...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
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