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JAPAN
May 8, 2004

Exit seen as pre-election damage control

While Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda's resignation came as a surprise to many, Nagata-cho watchers described it as damage control in the leadup to the House of Councilors election in July.
JAPAN
May 8, 2004

Fukuda resigns from Cabinet

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda shocked the political arena Friday by stepping down for mishandling the issue of public pension premiums that some Cabinet members -- including himself -- failed to pay.
EDITORIALS
May 7, 2004

Oil for favors at the U.N.?

Allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the oil-for-food program administered by the United Nations in Iraq during the 1990s are not new. The attention that is being devoted to them today is. The scrutiny is long overdue. The world needs to know how Saddam Hussein manipulated this humanitarian...
EDITORIALS
May 5, 2004

Political show for re-election?

The U.S. commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks last week interviewed U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The three-hour, closed-door meeting, held at the White House, proceeded without a hitch, according to both sides. It is disappointing, though, that,...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 4, 2004

Transit visas, flowers and massage

U.S. transit visa A cautionary tale from Omar, who several weeks ago went to Narita to take a flight back to Mexico City via the U.S. Having spent most of his remaining yen, he was told he could not leave without a transit visa under the Visa Waiver Program from the U.S. Embassy.
EDITORIALS
May 2, 2004

A passion for punctuation

What's the biggest and most inspiring British export since the latest volume of "Harry Potter"? Not embattled football star David Beckham. Not a young prince, dutifully inspecting misery in the Third World. Not even another eloquent apologia for the fiasco in Iraq by Prime Minister Tony Blair. No, the...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 2, 2004

More than a name in the game

THE MEANING OF ICHIRO: The New Wave From Japan and the Transformation of Our National Pastime, by Robert Whiting. New York: Warner Books, 2004, 318 pp., $25.95 (cloth). "The Meaning of Ichiro" is gathering deserved acclaim as a great book on baseball, but it would be a pity if it was not also appreciated...
BUSINESS
May 1, 2004

Listed firms' combined profit soaring

The combined group pretax profit of all firms listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange is likely to have set a record for the year to March 31 by eclipsing 20 trillion yen, a research institute said Friday.
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2004

Shelve NYSE derivative plan

LOS ANGELES -- Deliberately injecting a new dollop of uncertainty into the already-shaky international financial system has got to be the white-collar dysfunctional equivalent of dropping a pair of terrorism car bombs on the steps of some nation's central bank.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Apr 30, 2004

When your kids are cooperating, but the weather isn't

Special to The Japan Times You're ready to spend some quality time with the kids. It's raining cats and dogs. Here are 10 places to drag the little ones to when the weather isn't cooperating:
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2004

Hitachi net profit plunges 43%

Hitachi Ltd. said Wednesday its net profit for fiscal 2003 plunged 43 percent to 15.88 billion yen due to heavier tax payments.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2004

Small firms said creating new business

Small and midsize companies have contributed to the creation of new businesses, particularly in the services sector, despite the economic doldrums of recent years, the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency said in an annual white paper released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2004

State to check on overtime workers

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to have inspectors make unannounced nighttime visits to companies to clamp down on unpaid overtime and prevent deaths from overwork, ministry sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2004

Officials agree on global observation framework

Senior officials from more than 40 countries agreed Sunday in Tokyo on the framework of a 10-year plan to integrate global observation systems in order to address environmental threats such as climate change and natural disasters.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2004

Drivers recount Iraq hostage-taking to terror squad

Terrorism experts dispatched by Tokyo to deal with the Japanese hostage crisis in Iraq obtained full witness accounts from two taxi drivers regarding the abduction of three Japanese civilians on April 11, the fourth day after their captivity was reported, police sources said Saturday.
Features / LIFE OR DEATH
Apr 25, 2004

'I became an accessory to legal murder'

'The death penalty is legal murder, and as someone who has stood by and watched it being carried out, I am an accessory to murder."
Japan Times
Features / LIFE OR DEATH
Apr 25, 2004

Only the noose can ease victims' pain

More than four years have passed since his 2-year-old granddaughter was murdered, yet never a day goes by without Tsuneo Matsumura mournfully remembering little Haruna, or having images of her flash through his mind whenever he sees a girl about the same age as she would be.
Japan Times
Features
Apr 25, 2004

Reluctantly putting the hanging case

Despite official data showing public support for capital punishment running at around 80 percent, few Japanese are willing to openly defend the death penalty.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2004

Fear and loathing of the private sector

GUATEMALA CITY -- Citing Microsoft's dominance in the personal-computer industry, European Union regulators imposed tough sanctions, including a record fine of 497 million euros (about $596 million). Following the arguments of this ruling, South Korean authorities have taken their own actions. Meanwhile,...
Japan Times
Features / LIFE OR DEATH
Apr 25, 2004

Back from the brink after living 28 years on death row

He heard the footsteps approaching down the hall outside. He sat still, barely breathing. The other cells lay equally silent. None of the other condemned prisoners moved. No one spoke. Those footsteps meant only one thing: there was going to be a hanging.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 25, 2004

Shame lies with government and media over Iraq hostage crisis

Last week, the Asahi Shimbun ran an opinion piece by writer Genichiro Takahashi that was in the form of an advice column. The anonymous advice-seeker professed to having suffered the same fate as the three Japanese hostages who returned from Iraq to a chorus of derision. After all I went through, said...
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2004

Individual traders boost earnings of online brokerages

Online brokerages' earnings surged in fiscal 2003 due to active trading by individual investors during the recent stock market rally.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2004

Guilt-by-association to keep Kumagai off ballot

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday barred Hiroshi Kumagai, former leader of the now-defunct New Conservative Party, from running for a House of Representatives seat from his Shizuoka No. 7 constituency for five years because an aide was found guilty of buying votes in the November general election.
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2004

Yahoo Japan's net profit more than doubled in '03

Yahoo Japan Corp. said Wednesday its net profit more than doubled to 24.83 billion yen for the year through March, powered by robust growth in ad revenue.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2004

First female ANA executive acts as liaison

As the first female executive officer of All Nippon Airways Co., Junko Yamauchi believes her mission is to improve communication between management and flight attendants.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2004

Domestic shipments of electronics climbed 11.6% in March

Domestic shipments of consumer electronics goods in Japan grew 11.6 percent in March from a year earlier to 221.6 billion yen, marking a fourth consecutive monthly rise.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2004

Chiefs of staff hold joint news conference

In what the Defense Agency says is the first time in the 50-year history of the Self-Defense Forces, the chiefs of staff of the three branches of Japan's military organization appeared together before reporters on Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2004

Industry wants reactor-check intervals extended

The power utility industry will urge the government to extend the interval between regular checkups of nuclear reactors by up to five months to raise their operation rates and competitiveness against low-cost new suppliers, industry sources said Monday.

Longform

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What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji