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JAPAN
Oct 1, 2003

Airlines gird for battle over Tokyo-Osaka route

With the JR Tokaido Shinkansen Line now stopping at Shinagawa, airlines are bracing for cutthroat competition with the speedy rail service between Tokyo and Osaka.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2003

New Cabinet avoids tough issues on first outing

Making its debut Monday at a Diet debate, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's new Cabinet faced tough questions on postal privatization and Japan's future role in rebuilding Iraq.
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2003

DBJ to give ailing airlines more cash

In light of revenue losses triggered by the SARS outbreak, the state-run Development Bank of Japan has loaned 70 billion yen to Japan Airlines System Corp. and is planning to lend about 15 billion yen to All Nippon Airways Co., government officials said Monday.
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2003

Toyota launches minivan in bid for new customers

Toyota Motor Corp., hoping to carve a bigger share out of the expanding minivan market, on Monday released the new Sienta minivan in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 30, 2003

Should foreigners be allowed to participate in national sporting events?

Nick KwanAccountant, 28 Sport is based on skill and competition, not race. It should be an international forum where people of all races can compete together. If you want to be homogenous and one-eyed, then you won't improve.
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2003

Unimat Holding further diversifies

Unimat Holding said Monday it will purchase a 77.41 percent stake in midsize brokerage Yamamaru Securities Co. from the brokerage's biggest shareholder.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 28, 2003

Kawabata's Yomiura City

A short story by Yasunari Kawabata; translated by Burritt Sabin
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2003

Aso goes postal over Koizumi's plan

Posts minister Taro Aso on Friday lambasted postal privatization plans submitted last year by an advisory group to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 27, 2003

Martin Cameron

FOLKESTONE, England -- This seaport and resort in Kent on England's southeast coast bears many features of historic interest. Facing the continent across the English Channel at its narrowest expanse, from earliest times Kent has attracted invasion and settlement. It is said that Folkestone was originally...
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2003

Advantest sees first-half profit jump

Advantest Corp., one of the world's largest makers of semiconductor testers, said Friday its group net profit for the first half of its business year will probably be more than six-fold above its original forecast.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2003

New environment minister seeking to boost PR efforts

The Environment Ministry needs to work on making better presentations to the public if it hopes to create greater awareness of environmental issues, according to newly appointed Environment Minister Yuriko Koike.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 26, 2003

Banks told to tighten screws on debtors

Banks seeking to help turn around borrower companies should not merely extend life support to businesses doomed to fail, reappointed Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 26, 2003

IRCJ not only interested in 'small potatoes': Kaneko

New industrial revival minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko shrugged off accusations that the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan has a "small potatoes" approach to rescuing ailing firms.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Sep 25, 2003

Blazers struggling to get roster in shape

NEW YORK -- The best thing about the NFL season is the NBA season is just around the gully, so over the ridge to Grandpa Stern's house we go.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 25, 2003

Aso questions Koizumi's timetable to privatize postal services entity

New home affairs minister Taro Aso expressed skepticism Wednesday over the timetable put forward by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to privatize the postal services entity.
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2003

A veiled but strong G7 message

China maintains a de facto fixed exchange rate for the yuan. Japan has continued to intervene aggressively to prevent a sharp rise in the yen. In a veiled criticism of both countries' currency policies, a communique issued last weekend by Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers called for...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2003

Peacenik taps art world to parody war

Tetsuya Ozaki is trying to wage peace in a unique theater of war -- the theater of the absurd.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2003

Mr. Koizumi gets down to business

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reshuffled his Cabinet Monday after his victory in Saturday's Liberal Democratic Party presidential election. The new Cabinet demonstrates the prime minister's determination to push his mandate without being swayed by forces that oppose his policy line.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2003

Takenaka to keep pushing banks on loans

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's controversial reappointment Monday of Heizo Takenaka as financial services minister means banks will still be under pressure to clean up their bad loans.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 23, 2003

Confessions of a foreign correspondent

These are not happy times for people who make a living writing about Japan. With the country apparently having become, as one magazine put it, the "Switzerland of Asia," i.e., rich but boring, foreign newspapers are shuttering their Tokyo bureaus as fast as they can move their correspondents to cover...
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2003

Sweden sends a message to Europe

Sweden has voted to reject the euro. European governments may be inclined to see the results as an expression of Swedish exceptionalism. That would be a mistake. Despite an emotionally charged campaign, the outcome reflects a careful consideration of the country's national interests. European leaders...
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2003

Group-use discounts for expressways to be stopped

Japan Highway Public Corp. will abolish toll discounts extended to group users of expressways in a bid to ensure fairness, transport minister Chikage Ogi said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 20, 2003

The crash in Cancun

The gap between rich and poor nations proved too wide to bridge, and negotiations broke off amid finger-pointing and concern that the failure to reach agreement could unravel the global trade order. In place of one system, it is feared that governments will embrace bilateral and regional deals.
SUMO
Sep 20, 2003

Tochiazuma bundles Asashoryu out for second straight loss

Yokozuna Asashoryu was handed his second straight loss on Friday when he was overpowered by ozeki Tochiazuma on the 13th day of the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament.
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2003

Liberal ideals gain ground in the Asia-Pacific region

MANILA -- In past decades, liberal democracy and economic freedom have made great advances in all parts of the world. This general trend also applies to Asia, as is documented in the annual "Freedom in the World" surveys published by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation and the "Economic Freedom...
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2003

Colony Capital leads Daiei bidding

U.S. investment firm Colony Capital LLC has offered a higher bid for struggling retailer Daiei Inc.'s businesses in Fukuoka than that of a U.S. rival, informed sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2003

Panel calls for reinterpretation of the antiwar Constitution

In light of the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, the government should alter its interpretation of the Constitution and allow Japan to exercise the right of collective defense, according to a report compiled Thursday by an advisory panel to Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 19, 2003

Secret treasures of southern Sonoma

The sensual impact of a vacation in the wine country is hard to beat. Hot days, cold nights, good food and meandering drives under blue skies between vineyards and wineries that range from the manicured to the seemingly long-ago abandoned.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past