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JAPAN
May 29, 2002

Cadmium study may be released

The government may release information on a study conducted from 1997 to 1998 on cadmium levels in domestic rice products, farm minister Tsutomu Takebe said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 29, 2002

Day-care centers' online cameras keep tots in view

Sakura Kindergarten in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, is one of a growing number of day-care centers hoping to use the Internet and other information technology to keep parents happy and worry-free.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2002

Japan Telecom posts net losses of 66 billion yen

Struggling with ongoing restructuring efforts, Japan Telecom Co. on Tuesday reported net losses of 66 billion yen for the business year that ended in March. It was Japan Telecom's first net loss as a publicly traded company.
JAPAN
May 28, 2002

Hacker hits Kommy customer files

Beauty treatment firm Kommy Corp. said Monday that personal information on more than 37,000 customers who have used its Web site has been leaked.
BUSINESS
May 28, 2002

Kumagai Gumi reports first profit in nine years

Kumagai Gumi Co. on Monday said it posted a net profit of 2.55 billion yen for the 2001 business year, the first time in nine years that black ink flowed onto its books.
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2002

A mature investor-creditor nation

The history of modern Japan's manufacturing is emblematic of the nation's industrial growth since 1868 when it opened its doors to the West. The long-term goal was to catch up with the world's industrialized powers. Achieving that aim required that resources-poor Japan earn precious foreign exchange...
BUSINESS
May 27, 2002

Northwest ties fortunes to Japan

MINNEAPOLIS -- Northwest Airlines Inc. remains committed to Japan despite the prolonged recession and the fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and is busy expanding operations at Narita airport, executives of the airline said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
May 26, 2002

Romancing the sake rice

With wine, it's all about the grape, and this leads to boundless potential for conversation and enjoyment above and beyond flavors and aromas.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
May 25, 2002

Museum offers its visitors hands-on experience for drumming up a storm

On the fourth floor of a small building near the Sumida River in old-town Tokyo, people are making a racket in Megumi Ochi's museum.
JAPAN
May 24, 2002

Pesticide found in spinach at Jonathan's restaurants

Illegally high levels of pesticide residue have been found in frozen spinach imported from China and used by the Jonathan's restaurant chain, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2002

April trade surplus climbs on exports to Asia

Japan's customs-cleared trade surplus was 836.7 billion yen in April, up 26.6 percent from a year earlier and marking its second consecutive month of growth, due primarily to brisk exports to other parts of Asia, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report released Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2002

Gas prices rise on steeper crude

The average retail gasoline price was 100 yen per liter as of May 10, up 2 yen from a month earlier, according to a survey released Thursday by the Oil Information Center.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 24, 2002

We dig chimp culture

Most of what we know about ancient cultures comes from what they've left behind. Archaeology tells us, for example, about daily life in England before the Romans came and put an end to bad sanitation, and about intellectual life in Europe before the Dark Ages put an end to learning. We even know that...
JAPAN
May 23, 2002

Kids at 'broadband schools' get PCs

A consortium has been set up by 18 computer- and education-related companies to provide schools with personal laptop computers that students can use anywhere at school as part of efforts to raise their skills.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2002

Tokyo government inspects Mizuho over ATM fiasco

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government started on-site emergency inspections Tuesday at Mizuho Bank's headquarters in Chiyoda Ward, four key branches and the bank's civil service business center to look into the computer fiasco that occurred with their April 1 launch under Mizuho Holdings Inc.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2002

Nissan, Toyota gear up to win lion's share of minivan market

Nissan Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. are gearing up for keener competition in the minivan market, auto industry officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Furukawa Electric blames IT slump for group net loss

Furukawa Electric Co. said Monday it registered group net losses last business year, blaming sluggish sales of information technology-related and electronics products, and increased depreciation costs for capital spending.
COMMENTARY
May 20, 2002

Too early to fete a new day for Myanmar

HONG KONG -- On May 7, Vietnam inadvertently hindered 50 million Myanmarese from learning that "at last Aung Sang Suu Kyi is no longer under house arrest." The Myanmar government's authoritarian habits prevailed at the very moment when hopes of future democracy were reborn.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
May 20, 2002

Parochialism produces few world leaders

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Following the appearance of one of the recent articles in this series on Japan in the global era, a colleague of mine, Dominique Turpin, who has been doing research on Japanese industry for some 20 years, came into my office and said, "Jean-Pierre, when are you going to start...
JAPAN / WHALE WATCHING
May 19, 2002

IWC talks crucial, U.S. official says

The international whaling meeting that opens Monday is the most important in 15 years, and its outcome is as hard to predict as it is significant, according to the head of the U.S. delegation.
SOCCER / World cup / COHOSTING
May 18, 2002

Beyond the limits of normalcy

Can Japan and South Korea work together to put on the 2002 World Cup?
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2002

Koizumi overplays his hand in Shenyang

BEIJING -- There is a sharp contrast between Japan and China on how they have handled the incident of North Korean asylum-seekers in Japan's Shenyang consulate general. While Beijing has taken a low-key approach, Tokyo has blown the whole matter into crisis proportion, creating a nationwide sensation...
BUSINESS
May 18, 2002

Yamaha group net balance in red

Yamaha Corp. said Friday its group net balance fell into the red in fiscal 2001 due chiefly to appraisal losses on its securities holdings.
JAPAN
May 18, 2002

Cows born in spring '96 face inspection

The farm ministry will inspect all cows born between March and April 1996 for symptoms of mad cow disease, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2002

Foreign companies slightly optimistic, survey shows

Most foreign companies in Japan expect business confidence to remain flat over the next six months, although there are signs of improvement on the horizon, according to a joint survey recently released by foreign chambers of commerce.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2002

Corporate failures rack up 1.48 trillion yen in liabilities

Liabilities left in the wake of corporate failures surged to 1.48 trillion yen in April, marking a year-on-year rise of 21.8 percent, credit research institute Teikoku Databank said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2002

Current account surplus continued decline in 2001

Japan's current account surplus fell for the third consecutive year in fiscal 2001.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2002

Trading house Mitsubishi logs 34.6% profit drop

Trading house Mitsubishi Corp. said Wednesday its group net profits in fiscal 2001 plunged 34.6 percent, primarily due to a 51.5 billion yen fall in securities sales.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2002

Nikon, six others tie up on chip-making gear

Nikon Corp. and six other firms in the semiconductor sector plan to collaborate on the development of next-generation steppers, Nikon officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2002

Dentsu reports profit drop for 2001

Dentsu Inc. on Wednesday blamed sluggish advertising revenues amid the stagnant economy for a 15.6 percent drop in operating profits in the 2001 business year.

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