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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.
BUSINESS
Apr 20, 2004

45% of engineers feeling less motivated: poll

Forty-five percent of engineers who responded to a survey said they feel less motivated in their work than three years ago.
COMMENTARY
Apr 20, 2004

Campaigns fail education role

MANILA -- Ideally, an electoral campaign in a democracy offers the voter the chance to study the available alternatives before deciding which options are most compatible with his or her individual preferences. In this sense, electoral campaigns should be exercises in political education.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 20, 2004

Turning attention to summer

Gearing up It seems that some of you are turning your minds to the great outdoors and getting in shape for summertime.
JAPAN / TALKING SHOP
Apr 19, 2004

Samsung exec taps Japan insights to cut through the verbiage

Kim Jong Shin learned Japanese while hauling fish to market part time, stewing in hot springs and touring 350 historical sites in all 47 prefectures.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2004

Pair's release takes the heat off Koizumi

Foreign Ministry officials in Tokyo were pleasantly surprised Saturday by the news that two Japanese hostages were abruptly freed by their captors in Baghdad.
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 2004

Hostage release no peace gesture

The three Japanese taken hostage in Iraq have been set free. The joy felt at their release has been tempered by news that two other Japanese have been seized, the savage murder of an Italian security guard by his kidnappers and the knowledge that nearly 20 other foreigners are still being held in Iraq....
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2004

No need for U.S. restraint, Koizumi says

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday that Japan need not ask the United States to show restraint in dealing with the Sunni Muslim insurgents to help win the release of three Japanese hostages in Iraq.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2004

Links between Italian, Japanese crises probed

The government is looking into a possible connection between kidnappings of Japanese and Italian civilians in Iraq, government sources said Wednesday.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Apr 15, 2004

When foreign children run afoul of the law

My kids generally don't mind it when I write about them in this column, although on occasion my older son has accused me of exploiting him for professional gain. It happened again when he heard the topic for today's column. "You're writing about foreign kids who get in trouble with the police?" He rolled...

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