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BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2002

Seibu may shut five bleeding stores

Seibu Department Stores Ltd. is considering closing down about five loss-making outlets in rural areas over the next three years, company sources said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jan 24, 2002

A case for campaign finance reform

WASHINGTON -- Controversy is raging about the Enron collapse. Is it a political story? Is it a criminal story? Is it a business story? Is it a story about personalities? The Enron story is all three. The real question is which category is the most important. and that all depends on your perspective....
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2002

Alleged crime boss gets new warrant

A man believed to be the leader of the largest Chinese crime syndicate in Japan has been served a fresh arrest warrant on suspicion of entering false information on a government document, police said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2002

Swift decision eyed on state-backed financial firms

Nobuteru Ishihara, state minister in charge of administrative reform, told business leaders Wednesday he wants to reach a conclusion on the reform of government-backed financial institutions as quickly as possible.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2002

Iranian foreign minister denies arms-smuggling allegations

Visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on Wednesday denied Israeli allegations his country tried to smuggle arms on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2002

Japan preparing to salvage ship sunk in shootout

Japan is preparing to salvage the mystery ship that sank last month in a battle with coast guard vessels in the East China Sea, Chikage Ogi said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2002

Koizumi eyes deflation with extra budget

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated Tuesday his resolve to avoid a deflationary spiral by compiling a second supplementary budget for fiscal 2001.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2002

Japan should salvage the mystery vessel

Many Japanese might have rejoiced while watching television footage showing the recent sinking of an unidentified ship following an exchange of gunfire with Japanese Coast Guard cutters, but I was dismayed by Japan's fragile national defense system that was exposed by the incident in the East China Sea....
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2002

Foreigners play host at new home stays

A citizens' group working to promote mutual understanding between Japanese and foreigners living in Japan announced Monday that it will hold a one-day home stay program in which participants spend a night at the homes of non-Japanese residents in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
SOCCER / World cup
Jan 22, 2002

Applications welcomed

The Japanese World Cup Organizing Committee will receive applications for World Cup ticket holders to change the names on their tickets from Monday through Feb. 15 -- but only for those who have valid reasons.
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 2002

Activating the Kyoto treaty

The international agreement on climate change, better known as the Kyoto Protocol, is expected to take effect later this year, perhaps in September. But the United States, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is conspicuously absent from the ratification process. The U.S. boycott is certainly a serious...
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2002

Understanding new forex risks key to coping with expanding volatility

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States reminded the world that a new type of risk can hit the global economy in the new century. Risk factors multiplied beyond economic fundamentals, adding greater volatility to markets.
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 21, 2002

Dutch double act reunited at Urawa

SAITAMA -- Former Japan and Jubilo Iwata manager Hans Ooft and former Celtic and Sanfrecce Hiroshima manager Wim Jansen have formed a coaching tag team at the Urawa Reds in an attempt to rebuild the struggling J. League Division One club into a successful outfit.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2002

DPJ's Hatoyama vows to challenge Koizumi

Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, underlined Saturday his newfound resolve to challenge Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reform drive.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 20, 2002

Discussing the humane execution of the law

As far as I know, no one has tried to figure out why two of the most popular theatrical releases of 2000 in Japan were "The Green Mile" and "Dancer in the Dark," movies whose dramatic core involved capital punishment and whose moral compass pointed toward the opinion that noncombat state-sanctioned killing...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jan 20, 2002

A heavenly match made in Tsukishima

Ajisen strikes you as special before you even walk in the door. Great care has been taken in creating the entrance itself -- a good sign of the good things to come.
BUSINESS
Jan 19, 2002

End of deflation expected in '03

Japan will see the end of deflation and achieve slight positive growth in fiscal 2003, when the government's structural reform programs and the Bank of Japan's credit-easing steps begin to take effect, a key government panel said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2002

Shunto's role being tested

Japan's largest labor and management groups have kicked off their annual round of negotiations, with each side releasing a position paper. Basically the two sides agree that under present circumstances protecting jobs is more important than raising wages. That sounds reasonable enough, given that the...
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2002

Current account surplus climbed 19.4% in November

The current account surplus rose 19.4 percent in November from a year earlier to 1.125 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report Thursday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 18, 2002

Great diving beetle

* Japanese name: Gengorou * Scientific name: Cybister japonicus * Description: This is a large, streamlined water beetle, highly adapted to an aquatic life. It is a powerful swimmer, with hind legs flattened like oars and fringed with long hairs. The body is green or black, with yellow-white bands...
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2002

Dire economic assessment unchanged in latest report

The Bank of Japan left its assessment of the nation's economy unchanged in its January economic and financial report, saying it continues to worsen.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2002

Beijing's political reflexes still at war with modernity

HONG KONG -- In the 23 years since Deng Xiaoping opened China to the outside world, it has become one of the world's great trading nations. Now the further onrush of foreign trade is to be used as a forcible stimulant to hasten China's economic reform and to enhance modernization. So Dec. 11, the day...
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2002

Gloomy economic assessment left unchanged by government

The government left its bleak assessment of the economy unchanged in a monthly report issued Wednesday but said the decline in exports may be bottoming out.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2002

Tax Commission to examine ID code plan for taxpayers

The government's Tax Commission is to begin today studying ways of introducing a controversial system that would assign identification codes to taxpayers, commission sources said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 17, 2002

Magic elfin adventures of Jak & Daxter land in Japan

Back in August, The Japan Times ran a feature about a company called Naughty Dog that specializes in 3-D adventure games.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2002

Experts push government to protect intellectual property

A group of experts has called on the government to adopt a set of 100 drastic reform steps to protect intellectual property rights as part of efforts to make Japan a world leader in the knowledge-oriented economy by 2010.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jan 16, 2002

If at first you don't succeed

Teen idol Ami Suzuki is apparently on the verge of making a comeback after disappearing from the J-pop radar more than a year ago.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2002

Mobile phone shipments down again

Domestic shipments of mobile phones and personal handy-phone handsets dropped 24.2 percent in November from a year ago to 3,229,000 units, marking a sixth consecutive month of decline, an industry group said Tuesday.

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