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JAPAN
Apr 6, 2005

Disclaimer on government textbook screenings

The way Japan's wartime past is described in history textbooks officially approved Tuesday does not necessarily reflect Japanese policy, according to Akira Chiba, assistant press secretary at the Foreign Ministry.
BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2005

Business leader raps environment tax

A senior Japanese business leader urged the government Tuesday to drop an idea to levy a new tax on fossil fuels like oil, warning it could adversely affect people's livelihood.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2005

Cabinet OKs compromise postal plan

After compromising with the Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet adopted a watered-down plan Monday to privatize the state-run postal services by 2017.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 5, 2005

Made in Japan

The Nintendo
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2005

Ex-Defense Agency engineer suspected of leaking sub info

Police have questioned a former senior Defense Agency engineering officer and searched his home on suspicion he gave copies of confidential submarine documents to an acquaintance who may have leaked the information to China, according to informed sources.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2005

Atomic bomb survivors mourn pope's passing

People in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Sunday mourned the death of Pope John Paul II, who visited the atomic-bombed cities in 1981 to appeal for world peace.
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2005

Unstable bond unraveling

South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun's March 23 statement denouncing Japan for its colonial past is bound to seriously damage Tokyo-Seoul relations that have been improving in recent years. The statement reverses positive diplomacy Seoul has pursued on the basis of a 2003 agreement between Roh and Prime...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 3, 2005

Ryu Murakami: Straight-talking wordsmith wields his pen like a sword

For nearly three decades since his seismic debut with "Almost Transparent Blue," which delved into the sex- and drug-fueled lives of Japanese youths in a town hosting a huge U.S. military base, author Ryu Murakami has often used his trademark explicit, offensive and guiltlessly cheerful language to dig...
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2005

U.S. military aircraft crash site roles spelled out

Japan and the United States agreed Friday on what roles authorities of the two countries would play if an accident involving U.S. military aircraft occurred in Japan.
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2005

Metro government's new lender to small firms starts up

ShinGinko Tokyo began operations Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2005

Tokyo wants safety assurances for soccer team

Japan said Thursday it wants Japanese soccer players and fans to have their safety guaranteed when the national team plays a World Cup qualifier against North Korea in Pyongyang on June 8.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2005

Livedoor seeks Fuji TV equity tie

Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie said Thursday that an equity alliance with Fuji Television Network Inc. is necessary for the continued expansion of his company's business.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 27, 2005

Free tickets for Diamondbacks Day on April 17 at Tokyo Dome

The Pacific League Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters will continue their tradition of holding Arizona Diamondbacks Day at one of their home-away-from-home games at Tokyo Dome.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 26, 2005

Iwakuma determined to help Eagles soar in Sendai

Hisashi Iwakuma started playing baseball as an elementary school first grader at the age of 6, by throwing a ball against a wall in a game of catch with himself and dreaming of becoming a professional. Now, at age 24, he is arguably the best pitcher in Japanese pro baseball.
BUSINESS
Mar 26, 2005

Seibu Railway aims to be relisted in a few years

Seibu Railway Co. hopes to go public again as early as 2008, according a final report by the scandal-tainted group's reform panel released Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 26, 2005

Fuji TV to continue talks with Livedoor

Fuji Television Network Inc. will continue talks with Livedoor Co. "at the executive level" on a possible tieup with the Internet service provider, Fuji TV President Koichi Murakami said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 26, 2005

Dr. Tutu & Tame Iti project paints cultural theft

When Lisa Salmon was introduced to Jeff Root by an old high school friend in California, they found they had Japan in common. Jeff taught here in the early 1990s, and was then head-hunted out of Chicago in 2001; Lisa came initially on the JET program in 1996.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 25, 2005

Chummy in the Chome

Shinjuku Ni-chome is still alive and thriving as the headquarters for Tokyo's gay bar scene. Unlike other party centers in Tokyo, I wouldn't say much has changed of late in the Chome, as the area is usually called by those who frequent it. No one ever calls it Shinjuku Ni-chome because that would be...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2005

Toyota takes the wraps off two new SUV hybrids

Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday released two sport utility vehicles featuring hybrid engines, expanding its hybrid lineup to appeal to a wider range of customers.
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2005

Spat over disputed isles slowing FTA talks: Machimura

Negotiations on a free-trade agreement between Japan and South Korea, already behind schedule, have been further stalled by the territorial dispute over a set of islets in the Sea of Japan, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 22, 2005

Iraq's Parliament convenes

Two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and two and a half months after that country's historic elections, Iraq's Parliament held its inaugural session last week. Although the legislative session was more symbolic than substantive, the symbolism was important nonetheless. The convening of the...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 22, 2005

The U.N.'s 'underachievers'

Carol Bellamy, the outgoing head of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), has bemoaned the lack of women in top U.N. posts. The organization that preaches gender equality to national governments needs some "affirmative action" to put women in senior positions, she said, adding that other organizations such...
EDITORIALS
Mar 20, 2005

A flock of Emiews

I t must say something about the times when a news release heralding yet another piece of cutting-edge Japanese technology makes us scratch our heads and think how quaint and last-century it sounds. That happened last week when we read about Hitachi Ltd.'s rollout of a wheeled humanoid robot that it...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 20, 2005

Training men in sex education is the key to unlock women-only cars

On the same day that now former Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Kazuyoshi Nakanishi was arrested for indecent assault in Roppongi there was a similarly themed news story buried in the back of the dailies that put his misdemeanor in perspective. Officials of JR East Japan announced that they are planning...
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 19, 2005

Strained hamstring hampers Giants' Uehara

Koji Uehara is suffering from a strained right hamstring and has been told by doctors to refrain from pitching for a week, the Yomiuri Giants right-hander said on his official Web site Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2005

Nakagawa seeks action on oil prices

Shoichi Nakagawa, minister of economy, trade and industry, indicated Friday that oil-consuming nations should discuss ways to deal with increases in crude oil prices at a ministerial meeting of the International Energy Agency slated for May.

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