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BUSINESS
May 27, 2006

Land mines, not funds rift, delaying Azadegan: Nikai

Government-linked oil developer Inpex Corp. has not been informed of a possible termination in September of a contract to develop a major oil field in Iran between the firm and its Iranian partners, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai said Friday.
JAPAN
May 26, 2006

South Korean again brave on railway

, I was able to summon much more strength than usual." Shin's bravery was widely reported in the South Korean media Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 26, 2006

Canon exits film cameras amid digital dominance

Following in the footsteps of camera giants Nikon Corp. and Konika Minolta Holdings Inc., Canon Inc. will stop developing new film-based camera products because of the shrinking analogue market and dramatically growing digital demand, the company's president said Thursday.
JAPAN
May 25, 2006

Abe looks to enter LDP race after G8

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe hinted Wednesday he will officially announce his candidacy to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after the mid-July summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in St. Petersburg, Russia.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2006

ANA to resume Narita-O'Hare service in the fall

All Nippon Airways Co. said Wednesday that it will resume flights between Tokyo and Chicago's O'Hare airport in October as part of its overseas expansion plan in the coming years.
JAPAN
May 24, 2006

Danish director films 'most soothing' robot

A Danish director is making a documentary on Japan's therapeutic Paro robot, which looks like a baby harp seal, to show how "the world's most soothing robot" helps patients.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
May 23, 2006

Hanabi light, Kai series of pots and kettles, 60VISION bags, Sharp cordless phones

Anyone who follows this column regularly might accuse me of being a slave to all that is white -- and with a name like "Snow," that criticism does seem justified. So in order to get it all out of my system (at least for a few months), this month I'm covering all things white. There is a zen-like satisfaction...
CULTURE / Books
May 21, 2006

The search for a legendary sword

MISHIMA'S SWORD: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend, by Christopher Ross. London: Fourth Estate-HarperCollins, 262 pp., £14.99 (cloth). On Nov. 25, 1970, Yukio Mishima committed seppuku or, to employ the term he preferred, hara-kiri. He did so with a great deal of fanfare (he had hoped to have the...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 21, 2006

See how Japan's TV entertainment evolved in Fuji TV's drama "The Hit Parade" and more

The model for the modern Japanese talent agency or "production company," which dominates all aspects of show business in Japan, was created by the late Shin Watanabe and his wife, Misa, in 1955. This Friday and Saturday Fuji TV will present a special two-part drama, "The Hit Parade" (9 p.m. each night),...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 21, 2006

Ishihara flies over the hurdles toward his own 2016 Olympic gold

Politicians often get elected because of promises they make. In his one term as governor of Tokyo, comedian Yukio Aoshima didn't accomplish anything noteworthy, but he did keep the one promise that got him elected: He canceled the World City Exposition that many constituents thought would be a waste...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 21, 2006

Vision from the other side

It's not every day that you walk into a room to find yourself standing face-to-face with a skinned cadaver. It's the kind of thing that can change your whole day . . . or your whole life.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2006

Steady as she goes at BOJ on interest rates

The Bank of Japan opted Friday not to do anything with interest rates, after the central bank determined that economic activity and price developments had little changed.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2006

Is Europe turning toward a strong euro?

PALO ALTO, California -- European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet made news at the press conference following the May meeting of the ECB Governing Council not by what he said, but by what he did not say.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2006

Economy defies dip in consumption and pulls off 0.5% rise

The economy grew by a real 0.5 percent in the January to March quarter, marking its fifth consecutive quarter of growth despite a slowdown in private consumption, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2006

Beef safety audit passes muster

The U.S. has resolved most of Japan's concerns about U.S. beef processors, Japanese government officials said Friday, clearing the way for Japan to lift its import ban on U.S. beef.
JAPAN
May 19, 2006

Annan warns NPT is in danger of crumbling

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed grave concern Thursday over the future of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, saying it is facing a crisis and could collapse.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2006

Russian flirtation with the fascist threat

MOSCOW -- Today's Kremlin thinks that democracy was being built too quickly in Russia. The government does not say that it is against democracy, only that it is untimely and needs to be delayed -- a logic that manifests itself in most official decisions. Thus, at the beginning of the current decade,...
BUSINESS
May 19, 2006

Softbank, Vodafone set up firm

Softbank Corp. and Britain's Vodafone Group PLC, which recently sold its Japanese subsidiary to Softbank, announced Thursday that they are setting up a joint venture to develop and procure mobile phone handsets, software and digital content.
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2006

Futenma relocation agreement

Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine's tense expression while shaking hands with Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga and Prime Minister Junichiro Koiziumi last week told a lot about an agreement between him and the central government on the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. The Okinawa governor...
BUSINESS
May 18, 2006

Bilateral beef talks resume

Japan and the United States started two days of talks Wednesday in Tokyo to discuss terms for resuming imports of U.S. beef.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2006

Honda to build three new plants

Honda Motor Co. announced business expansion plans Wednesday that include construction of a new factory in Japan and two more in North America by 2010 to meet increasing demand for its vehicles.
JAPAN
May 17, 2006

Aso says change needed in war-dead system

Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Tuesday he sees problems in the current method of honoring the war dead at Yasukuni Shrine and suggested that having a single religious institution in charge of the system needs changing.
JAPAN
May 17, 2006

Egypt says thanks for new yen loan

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on Tuesday thanked Prime Minister Koizumi for Japan's agreement to provide yen loans up to 34.8 billion yen for a new museum project, a Foreign Ministry official said.
JAPAN
May 17, 2006

Bid to address Congress has Yasukuni proviso

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's contentious visits to Yasukuni Shrine are a matter of religious freedom, the government said Tuesday, rejecting criticism leveled by a powerful U.S. congressman.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2006

Aiful reports 13% fall in profit for '05

Troubled Aiful Corp. reported Tuesday that its net profit for fiscal 2005 dropped 13.1 percent to 65.827 billion yen on a consolidated basis due to a rise in customer demands that excess interest on loans be returned.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years