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BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2004

Ultraeasy monetary stance kept as is

The Bank of Japan's policy-setting panel kept its ultraeasy monetary stance unchanged Friday to help sustain the country's strongest economic recovery in a decade.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jun 26, 2004

Internet revolutionizing American politics

WASHINGTON -- The campaign of 2004 is different from any that came before. The reason is the Internet. For the first time, we have Meetup, MoveOn, Right March, Bloggers, E-Voting and political Spam. Good, bad or indifferent, the Internet is proving to be a major player in the prosecution of the presidential...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jun 25, 2004

Rooney's performance could spell trouble for Everton

LONDON -- The suspicion is that it will all end in tears.
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2004

MMC secures 165 billion yen corporate aid

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Thursday it has received 165 billion yen in financial aid from 12 companies.
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2004

Parties stake out their positions

Campaigning for the July 11 Upper House election, set to start Thursday, has already been under way for all practical purposes, as key members of the ruling and opposition parties hit the hustings across the country. On Monday, at a joint debate session at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, party...
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2004

KDDI to offload PHS business

KDDI Corp., the nation's No. 2 mobile carrier, officially announced Monday that it has agreed to sell its PHS business to the Carlyle Group, a U.S. private equity fund, for 220 billion yen.
BUSINESS
Jun 19, 2004

Tanigaki talks down interest rates

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said Friday that sharp rises in long-term interest rates are detrimental to the overall economy, a comment apparently designed to stem a further rise in rates that have risen to near four-year highs.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2004

DoCoMo to release smart cell phones

NTT DoCoMo Inc. announced Wednesday it will release next month smart cell phones with debit card, membership card and train ticket functions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2004

A fresh start in the West Sea

SEOUL -- Although the recent agreement between North and South Korea to set up a hotline, a shared radio frequency and a mutually recognizable naval signaling system to avoid future West Sea clashes -- which claimed scores of lives in 1999 and 2002 -- is certainly good news, it treats the symptoms and...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 16, 2004

Hawks notch eighth straight

Pedro Valdes drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh inning for the eventual game winner as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks overcame a late scare to edge the Kintetsu Buffaloes 6-5 on Tuesday at Tokyo Dome.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 15, 2004

Casualty of war

"I do understand why that girl could do such a brutal thing, because I myself treated people cruelly during World War II, without any hesitation," says 82-year-old Masaichi Nishiguchi, a former military policeman (MP) in the Japanese Army.
Features
Jun 13, 2004

Signs of life

Divorce is up; population growth is down. Spitting on the street: in; holding the door: out. Politicians waver back and forth on policy, their party platforms neither here nor there.
Japan Times
Features
Jun 13, 2004

Sea changes on sex crime

Tokyo office worker Kyoko Igarashi, in her 20s and living alone, noticed that a man who'd been hanging around her neighborhood had started to loiter outside the door of her second-floor apartment -- just beyond the peep-hole.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2004

European Parliament signals right turn

LONDON -- This weekend the European Union faces its five-year parliamentary makeover as voters across an enlarged union go to the polls. Results will be shaped by three impulses:
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 13, 2004

Murakami's job guide for teens lights the pipe of dreams

In mid-May, NHK's nightly news feature "Closeup Gendai" looked at the current post-university recruitment situation from the viewpoint of the recruit. For the past decade, the main story with regard to this issue has been the difficulty of finding work as more and more companies restructured along nontraditional...
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2004

Ashikaga Bank plans to cut 15% of workforce

Ashikaga Bank, now under temporary state control, said Friday it will eliminate 15 percent of its workforce by the end of fiscal 2006 as part of its new business improvement program.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2004

Government still upbeat about economy: Takenaka

Economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka indicated Friday that the government will maintain its upbeat assessment of the economy in its monthly report for June, due out next week.
EDITORIALS
Jun 11, 2004

Saying goodbye to Mr. Reagan

Friday, at a solemn state funeral in Washington, D.C., the United States formally bids farewell to Mr. Ronald Reagan, one of the most eminent, influential and widely liked U.S. presidents of the postwar era. Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone will be there to convey this nation's sincere condolences...
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2004

Simmons to offer upmarket sofas

Furniture importer Simmons Co. announced Wednesday that the firm will start selling sofas and reclining chairs made by two Northern European furniture makers in August.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 10, 2004

Kicking up a storm over climate change

For those who cannot decide whether to see "The Day After Tomorrow," I sympathize. This recent Hollywood thriller that offers an apocalyptic portrayal of global climate change has me at odds with myself. I am torn between the desire to wallow in mindless hyperbole, and the fear of seeing an audience...
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2004

Put pension reform above politics

The ruling parties early Saturday morning rammed much-maligned pension bills through the House of Councilors. However, their resorting to physical violence at a committee session and a tricky procedure at a plenary session badly tarnished the House of Councilors as the "chamber of common sense." The...
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2004

Toyota, Daihatsu team up on compact

Vying for a bigger share of the increasingly competitive market of compact cars and minivehicles, Toyota Motor Corp. and its subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co. on Monday launched a jointly developed compact car.
EDITORIALS
Jun 7, 2004

What was the girl thinking?

Many people must have been lost for words last week when they heard that a sixth-grade elementary school girl in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, had been slashed in the neck and killed by a female classmate. The incident took place during lunch break in a study room at the school -- the last place one would...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 7, 2004

Putin looks back to the future

MOSCOW -- A new catchphrase is making the rounds in Moscow: "We have already seen that." Summing up the results of the first four-year term of President Vladimir Putin, the expression is a far cry from flattery, as it refers not to the reforms of Peter the Great but to the return of the cult of personality...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jun 7, 2004

Frustrating times for left and right alike

WASHINGTON -- It is frustrating being a fan of one of the two main contenders for U.S. president. I find the level of disgruntlement at an all-time high among both Republicans and Democrats.
SOCCER / J. League
Jun 5, 2004

Surgery for Inamoto

Kyodo News Japan international Junichi Inamoto, who suffered a broken ankle in the national team's 1-1 draw away to England in midweek, will undergo surgery in the next few days, the Japan Football Association said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2004

Ishihara attacks government's reform blueprint

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara on Friday said the new government blueprint for economic management and structural reform places a burden on local governments.
BUSINESS
Jun 4, 2004

Nikkei crumbles over fears of China rate hike

Tokyo stocks ended lower practically across the board on Thursday following a volatile session, with fears over a possible interest rate increase in China spurring selling in the afternoon.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?