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Features
May 16, 2004

A guide by any other name

We don't know when she was born, or when she died -- was it April 9, 1812, at age 25, or perhaps Dec. 20, 1884, aged nearly 100? We don't even know her real name, but the Shoshone woman who accompanied Lewis, Clark and the Corps of Discovery has a fair claim to being the most celebrated woman of color...
Features
May 16, 2004

On the trail of manifest destiny

Two hundred years ago this week, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their Corps of Discovery set out to explore the American West. Sunday TIMEOUT asks what the expedition, its leaders and the Shoshone woman who was their guide still mean to us today
JAPAN
May 15, 2004

Relatives of missing demand results from Pyongyang trip

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi must achieve concrete results when he meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on May 22 in Pyonygang, relatives of Japanese abducted to North Korea, and others working on their behalf, demanded Friday.
JAPAN
May 14, 2004

COMJAN 'abduction' list grows -- despite lack of evidence

OSAKA -- On the afternoon of Feb. 1, 2003, 42-year-old Naruki Okita, operator of a small marine transport company in Taisho Ward here, showed up near the docks of Izumi Kita with his luggage in tow.
JAPAN
May 14, 2004

COMJAN 'abduction' list grows -- despite lack of evidence

OSAKA -- On the afternoon of Feb. 1, 2003, 42-year-old Naruki Okita, operator of a small marine transport company in Taisho Ward here, showed up near the docks of Izumi Kita with his luggage in tow.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2004

Daiei, while still ailing, now deemed 'out of intensive care unit'

Once a month, bank officials in charge of struggling Daiei Inc.'s financial affairs hold a meeting to assess how well the leading supermarket chain is rebuilding.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2004

Daiei links up with other businesses to target niche customers

Daiei Inc. is collaborating with other businesses for the sake of its survival after nearly collapsing three years ago.
JAPAN
May 12, 2004

Municipalities promoting own bonds

With national financial support decreasing and competition in the municipal bonds market intensifying, local governments are trying to enhance their creditworthiness.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 11, 2004

Insurance, pension cash and divorce

Health Insurance I have been in Japan for almost 6 years and I have paid into the social health insurance system during my 3 years on the JET Program. After I had finished JET, I dropped out of the system and have not enrolled in the national health insurance system.
JAPAN
May 11, 2004

Group against Koizumi trip to North

A support group for people kidnapped to North Korea and their families protested on Monday a possible visit to Pyongyang by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to pick up five former abductees' relatives there.
JAPAN
May 11, 2004

U.S. Embassy receives bomb threat

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has received a threat via the Internet about a possible bomb attack this week, although it has yet to determine its credibility, the embassy said in an e-mail message sent Monday to American citizens living in Japan.
JAPAN
May 11, 2004

Group against Koizumi trip to North

A support group for people kidnapped to North Korea and their families protested on Monday a possible visit to Pyongyang by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to pick up five former abductees' relatives there.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2004

Softbank sinks deeper into red

Softbank Corp. said Monday its net loss widened in fiscal 2003 for the third consecutive year in the red due to heavy spending to attract subscribers to its high-speed Internet connection service.
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2004

Casualty of pension politics

The political battle over pension reform has taken an unexpected -- and ironic -- twist. Accepting responsibility for failing to make mandatory payments to the national pension program, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda resigned abruptly Friday. With national elections two months away, his departure...
Features
May 9, 2004

Lost in translation on Japanese screens

Unlike the countries that tend to dub foreign movies, Japan has been mainly using subtitles for more than 70 years. No one knows exactly why, but some say the Japanese simply enjoy hearing the original voices of the actors and the sounds in the background. Most now take it for granted that going to the...
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

Changes eyed for vehicle-recall system

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry has unveiled measures to fundamentally revise the existing vehicle-recall system.
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:

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight