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BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2004

Kumagai Gumi, Tobishima scrap planned merger

Struggling second-tier construction companies Kumagai Gumi Co. and Tobishima Corp. will scrap their planned April 1 merger, the two companies announced Monday.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 15, 2004

The importance of questioning fearlessly and answering honestly

"Any damn fool can answer a question. The important thing is to ask one."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 14, 2004

LDP crew want credit where credit isn't due

It's easy to believe that once a person becomes a politician, he tends to lose touch with everyday reality as it's lived by the majority of citizens since he's usually too busy looking after his own interests. Nevertheless, a recent remark by Tsutomu Takebe, the secretary general of the Liberal Democratic...
EDITORIALS
Nov 14, 2004

Robots and us

Personal robots have been a long time coming. After R2-D2 and C-3PO whirred and clicked their way into the limelight in the first "Star Wars" movie 27 years ago, the mass entertainment world blossomed with their mechanical descendants. "Droids" and "bots," some humanoid, some not, became as familiar...
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2004

Tokyo to help with Miyake costs

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will provide up to 1.5 million yen to each household on Miyake Island to help rebuild homes damaged by a volcanic eruption, metro government officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2004

Woman says sumo chief choked her

A 28-year-old woman who works at a Tokyo restaurant has reported to police that Japan Sumo Association Chairman Kitanoumi assaulted and sexually harassed her, police sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2004

Delegates meet Yokota's spouse in North

Japanese negotiators in North Korea met Friday with the apparent husband of a Japanese citizen who was kidnapped by Pyongyang's agents in 1977 and, according to the North, died in the reclusive state, a Japanese official said.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2004

Aum monitoring should continue: justice minister

The law allowing surveillance of Aum Shinrikyo, the cult responsible for the deadly 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system and other heinous crimes, should be extended, Justice Minister Chieko Noono said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 13, 2004

How mum juggles racing, soccer, K1, Portugal

Last Tuesday, Sonia Ito is busy with household chores in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture. Early evening she leaves husband Yuta with 2-year old daughter Julia and catches the train for Tokyo. By 7:30 p.m. she's seated on a purple "zabuton" in Fuji TV's headquarters at O-Daiba, recording the soccer program...
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2004

North 'reluctant' to hold six-party talks before year's end

North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan has poured cold water on the idea of holding the next round of six-way talks on his country's nuclear threat by year's end, Senior Vice Foreign Minister Shuzen Tanigawa said Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2004

Opposition bill aims to get SDF out of Iraq

In a bid to have the Ground Self-Defense Force troops withdrawn from Iraq, opposition parties jointly submitted a bill Thursday to the Diet to scrap the special law allowing the deployment in the war-torn country.
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2004

Digital camera makers slash full-year forecasts

One after the other, Japan's major digital camera makers, have slashed their full-year sales forecasts due to fiercer-than-expected competition at home.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 10, 2004

Ishii, Otsuka do their best to fill shoes of Japan's biggest stars

The organizers of the Major League Baseball All-Star show currently touring Japan were not able to convince Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners or Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees to play in this year's Nichibei yakyu, but the appearance of Japanese pitchers Kazuhisa Ishii and Akinori Otsuka has...
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2004

Koizumi says troops in Iraq are still in a 'noncombat zone'

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday he still considers the southern Iraqi region around the city of Samawah a "noncombat zone," despite the Iraqi government declaring a state of emergency for most of the nation.
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2004

MMC posts record first-half loss

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Monday its first-half net loss widened to a record 146.2 billion yen.
JAPAN / History
Nov 8, 2004

U.S. mulled using emperor in wartime propaganda

U.S. psychological warfare experts intended to use the emperor as a "symbol of peace" in propaganda warfare in June 1942 -- six months after Japan bombed Hawaii and triggered the war with the United States -- to baffle Japan's military authorities, according to declassified documents obtained by Kyodo...
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2004

Obituary: Kenzaburo Hara

Former House of Representatives Speaker Kenzaburo Hara died Saturday at a Tokyo hospital, his family said. He was 97.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2004

Nippon TV corrects shareholding info

Nippon Television Network Corp. has announced a correction in its financial statements, saying shares that had been reported as held by Tsuneo Watanabe, chairman of Yomiuri Shimbun Group Honsha, actually belong to the group's holding company.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2004

Suzuki fined, handed two-year term

The Tokyo District Court on Friday sentenced former House of Representatives lawmaker Muneo Suzuki to two years in prison and fined him 11 million yen for accepting bribes, falsifying a political funds report and perjury.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 6, 2004

MLB players top local talent

Atlanta Braves outfielder Vernon Wells hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the sixth inning and the major league team rallied to crush the Japan All-Star team 7-2 in the first game of an exhibition series on Friday.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2004

China's energy thirst lifts Mitsubishi profit 48%

Mitsubishi Corp. said Friday its first-half net profit jumped 48 percent to 89.4 billion yen, buoyed by robust demand for energy and natural resources amid China's rapid economic growth.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2004

Ministry proposes 2,400 yen per ton carbon tax plan

The Environment Ministry unveiled a carbon tax Friday to discourage use of fossil fuels and promote the use of energy-saving appliances so Japan can meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2004

Training costs cut McDonald's profit

McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) said Friday its third-quarter operating profit fell 19 percent to 1.73 billion yen because it spent more on training workers.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2004

U.S. pressure on North may sideline abductee resolution

U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to increase pressure on North Korea over the Pyongyang nuclear threat in his second term -- something Japan does not want, experts say.

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