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BUSINESS
Nov 21, 2003

Ministry blasts business opposition to carbon tax

A top Environment Ministry official lashed out Thursday at opposition by the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) to a ministry plan to introduce an environmental tax in 2005.
BUSINESS
Nov 21, 2003

Rakuten to add online brokerage to its portfolio

Rakuten Inc. officially announced Thursday it will acquire an online brokerage, DLJdirect SFG Securities Inc., marking the latest shopping spree by the nation's largest Internet shopping mall operator.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2003

Tsujimoto admits to defrauding state out of cash for nonexistent secretaries

Former House of Representatives member Kiyomi Tsujimoto pleaded guilty Thursday to defrauding the state out of nearly 19 million yen in government-paid salaries for her policy secretaries.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2003

Koizumi wins Diet approval to stay on as prime minister

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was re-elected Wednesday for a second term following the Nov. 9 House of Representatives general election that returned his coalition to power.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2003

SDF will go to Iraq despite recent security incidents, Fukuda asserts

Japan will not back down from its plan to dispatch Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2003

Panel to urge taxation on rich elderly

A key tax panel decided Tuesday to urge the government to toughen taxation on the well-to-do elderly and scale down the tax break for mortgages in its fiscal 2004 tax reforms.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2003

Turn the screws on North Korea: Ishiba

Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba told visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly on Tuesday that pressure should be used when trying to ensure peace with North Korea.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2003

NPSC chief admits more donations from rightist

The head of the agency that oversees the nation's police forces has admitted to receiving 1 million yen from a construction company whose chairman is a senior rightist.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2003

Japan will ink ASEAN peace pact

Bowing to strong overtures from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan has decided to sign a regional nonaggression treaty, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2003

Journalists to countersue lender

Five journalists said Tuesday they will countersue the leading consumer lender Takefuji Corp., which launched libel litigation against them earlier this year over their reports on the scandal-tainted firm's alleged misdeeds.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2003

Japan asked to aid Falun Gong devotee held in China

The government is being asked to pressure China over an arrest it made last year in connection with the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2003

LDP, NCP ink absorption agreement

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and New Conservative Party leader Toshihiro Nikai signed an agreement Monday stating that all seven of the NCP's Diet members will be absorbed by the Liberal Democratic Party.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 18, 2003

Lions' Matsui ready to jump to big leagues

Seibu Lions infielder Kazuo Matsui, who declared free agency last month after 10 years in Japanese pro baseball, said Monday he wants to play in the major leagues.
COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 2003

Japan's milestone election

Japan took a major step toward a two-party system when the opposition Democratic Party of Japan made big gains in the Nov. 9 Lower House election. The poll will be remembered as a milestone in Japanese political history for this reason and because it was the first Japanese election to be fought over...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2003

SDP hands Fukushima huge task as new leader

Diet members of the minor opposition Social Democratic Party chose Mizuho Fukushima as their new president on Saturday, handing her the task of rebuilding a party that suffered a crushing defeat in the Nov. 9 general election.
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2003

No grounds for a McLawsuit

It has been a disheartening couple of weeks for hamburger juggernaut McDonald's. First came the news that McDonald's Japan, once on a seemingly unstoppable upward trajectory, will post a net loss this year for the second year in a row. Still, that was a regional headache, for which company officials...
COMMENTARY
Nov 15, 2003

Prospects for six-party talks

HONOLULU -- U.S. President George W. Bush's recent offer to provide Pyongyang with written assurances that the United States does not intend to attack North Korea and the North's willingness "to consider" this offer provide the basis, however tentative and contentious, for a negotiated solution to the...
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2003

Resona forecasts huge full-year loss

Bailed-out banking group Resona Holdings Inc. said Friday it expects a group net loss of 1.71 trillion yen for the year to March 31, reversing its June estimate of a 63.5 billion yen profit.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2003

Ishihara eyes bank purchase

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is in talks with Paribas International SA over the purchase of the French financial group's Japanese trust bank, Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Economy grew 0.6% in second quarter

Japan's economy grew a real 0.6 percent in the July-September period, logging a seventh straight quarterly expansion, backed by strong exports and corporate capital investment, the government said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Japan wants North Korea talks moved to new dates

Japan has asked China to avoid holding the next round of six-way talks on North Korea from Dec. 10 through Dec. 13 as it would clash with another summit, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2003

Koizumi makes choice on Japan Highway chief

The government decided informally Thursday to appoint a House of Councilors member and former businessman as president of Japan Highway Public Corp.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2003

Doi throws in towel as SDP president

Takako Doi said Thursday she will resign as president of the Social Democratic Party to take responsibility for the SDP's crushing defeat in the general election.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

Fukuda says SDF will head to Iraq before end of year

Japan will send Self-Defense Forces units to Iraq before the end of the year, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday, the first clear public statement from the government regarding the timing of the controversial dispatch.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan