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JAPAN
Feb 16, 2006

Soga did brief tutoring in North: Jenkins

SADO, Niigata Pref. (Kyodo) Ex-U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins, who spent four decades in North Korea and now lives in Japan, said Wednesday his wife, freed Pyongyang abductee Hitomi Soga, only had to coach six men and women, including army officers, in Japanese on three occasions in the North between...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2006

Japan regrets Iran's nuclear step

The Foreign Ministry expressed regret Wednesday over Tehran's nuclear defiance.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2006

At least no new wars began

The Davos-based World Economic Forum has just published the third annual report of its Global Governance Initiative. The past year was rated slightly less dangerous than 2004 but still a long way from being safe and secure. The United Nation's 60th Anniversary World Summit in September, a once-in-a-generation...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2006

'Manga' industry worried cyberspace bootleggers may spread

Comic book artists and industry officials expressed concern Tuesday about the potential for illegal distribution on the Internet, pointing to cheap and simple technologies that could spawn homemade bootleg factories.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2006

Most U.S. beef processors safe: LDP team

Most U.S. beef processing facilities looking to export beef to Japan are taking sufficient measures to satisfy the criteria agreed upon between the United States and Japan, an inspection team of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2006

E-mail alleges Livedoor told unit to make false purchases

Livedoor Co. asked an online marriage information company suspected of playing a part in its alleged accounting fraud to provide a fictitious profit of 120 million yen to a Livedoor group company in 2004, a Livedoor e-mail message obtained Tuesday by Kyodo News showed.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2006

LDP to study keeping male-line succession

A panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will study a wide range of issues related to revising the Imperial House Law, including ways to preserve the male line of Imperial succession, LDP policy chief Hidenao Nakagawa said.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2006

Komeito puts kibosh on defense ministry

The government may give up on submitting a bill to upgrade the Defense Agency into a ministry during the current Diet session, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated Monday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 12, 2006

Hosting is ghosting in as respectable profession

The reported improvement in the ratio of jobs to job seekers is good news for the nation's leaders, and not just because it indicates better economic health.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 11, 2006

Mourinho's constant moaning comes at a cost for Chelsea

LONDON -- Dear Jose (if I can call you that as opposed to Senior Mourinho),
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2006

Egypt ambassador counsels caution on cartoons

Attacks like the ones on the Danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon last weekend could take place in Japan if the media here insult Muslims by reprinting cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, Egyptian Ambassador to Japan Hisham Badr warned Friday.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2006

JBIC at cross-purposes?

The head of the state-funded Japan Bank for International Cooperation told the government recently that it can finance countries that are denied state loans for political reasons, naming Iran and China as examples, Kyodo News learned Thursday.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 10, 2006

Knicks may have more moves in store

NEW YORK -- While the rest of you are either congratulating or condemning the Knicks' masterminds for taking on Jalen Rose and his money for Antonio Davis and his honey (and you thought the Mets were the only area team who took pride in rerouting the bride) I'm convinced there must be another move or...
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2006

Fukui upbeat, cautious on recovery

Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui voiced stronger confidence Thursday in the ongoing recovery, but said the central bank needs to confirm the economy's strength against various external risks.
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2006

Law aims to boost recourse cross-border

The government plans to introduce legislation in the current Diet session that would revise a century-old legal framework to strengthen consumer and employee protections in cross-border disputes.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2006

Politics loom at Kansai business meet

KYOTO -- The 44th annual Kansai Economic Seminar began in Kyoto Thursday, but in the opening speeches and plenary sessions, social and political concerns instead of economic issues received the lion's share of attention.
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2006

2009 pivotal year for sales tax: Ishi

The issue of whether to raise the consumption tax will come to a head in fiscal 2009, although the margin and timing of any increase will be a political decision, the government's Tax Commission Chairman Hiromitsu Ishi said in a recent interview with Kyodo News.
SUMO
Feb 9, 2006

Most fans support ban on women

A majority of Japanese sumo fans support a tradition that bans women from stepping on the ancient sport's raised dirt wrestling mound, according to a survey commissioned by the Japan Sumo Association and released Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2006

Schieffer asks Iwakuni voters to consider the big picture

OSAKA — The U.S. ambassador to Japan on Wednesday urged voters in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, opposed to the realignment of the U.S. forces to put national and regional needs ahead of local concerns.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2006

Ex-envoy admits secret pact on Okinawa

A former senior Foreign Ministry official admitted Wednesday that Japan secretly shouldered $4 million in costs for Okinawa's reversion from U.S. control in 1972.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2006

Fukuoka design firm also faked structural data

Faked earthquake-resistance data were used to construct at least three condominium complexes in Fukuoka Prefecture built by Kimura Construction Co. but not designed by disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha, the land ministry and the Fukuoka Municipal Government said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Toyota records 34% jump in third-quarter net profit

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday its group net profit for the fiscal third quarter jumped 34.1 percent from the previous year to a record 397.5 billion yen thanks to thriving overseas sales and the yen's depreciation against the dollar.
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2006

China swaps historical facts for fiction

HONG KONG -- At a time when Beijing is upbraiding Tokyo for its depiction in history textbooks of the invasion and occupation of China in the 1930s and 1940s -- and used it as a reason for excluding Japan from the United Nations Security Council -- it has exposed its own politicization of history by...

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