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BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2003

JGB rally grinds to a halt as ministry cuts coupon rate

A Japanese government bond rally ground to a halt Tuesday after the Finance Ministry lowered the coupon rate for 10-year bonds to an all-time low of 0.8 percent.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2003

Docs find flu drug dearth hard to swallow

Pediatrician Jiro Tsukada says that being stingy has become part of his job.
EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 2003

'A bad day' for us all

We have felt this before. Watching the fiery remains of space shuttle Columbia streak across the blue Texas sky Saturday was like being forced to relive the past. Didn't we experience the same disbelief, sadness and horror when a flash fire killed three Apollo astronauts during a launch pad test in 1967?...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2003

Bush shifts Pyongyang to the back burner

HONOLULU -- In a subtle but unmistakable signal, U.S. President George W. Bush has shoved the American confrontation with North Korea well down the list of Washington's priorities.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2003

Japan weighs disaster's impact on Tokyo's own space program

Japan expressed shock Sunday at the loss of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia as officials scrambled to assess the impact on Tokyo's own space program, jointly conducted with the United States.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 2, 2003

Analyst urges Russia to look West

THE END OF EURASIA: Russia on the Border Between Geopolitics and Globalization, by Dmitri Trenin. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2002, 351 pp., $24.95 (paper) If nations were people, then Russia would have post-traumatic stress syndrome. Over the past decade, the former...
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2003

Onward and upward

Just last month, in this space, we noted the 20th anniversary of the birth of the Internet. Twenty is still young, we observed, but for something barely out of its teens, the Internet has wrought an impressive transformation in the way tens of millions of people live and work. Last week a minor news...
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Panel to discuss how to shift funds

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Friday that the Finance Ministry and a key policy-setting council will establish a joint panel tasked with promoting a shift of funds from the public to the private sector.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Key consumer-prices gauge slides for third consecutive year

The key gauge of consumer prices fell a record 0.9 percent in 2002 for the third straight year of decline, the government said Friday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Mizuho told to boost loans to small firms

The Financial Services Agency on Friday ordered Mizuho Holdings Inc., the world's largest banking group in terms of assets, to increase loans to smaller companies and submit guidelines for doing so by the end of this month.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

Hiroshima island may host night drills

The government may shift noisy night-flying drills by U.S. Navy warplanes to an uninhabited island in Hiroshima Prefecture and away from the Atsugi air base in Kanagawa Prefecture, defense sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

Court strikes down Ishihara's bank tax

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday supported a lower court decision invalidating a controversial tax imposed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on major banks, ordering Tokyo to return 162.87 billion yen collected from 17 banks in fiscal 2000 and 2001.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 31, 2003

Matsui's agent warns of 'pressure cooker'

Matsui's agent warns of 'pressure cooker'
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 30, 2003

Warriors marching merrily toward mediocrity

NEW YORK -- If you toss aside the triviality that accompanies the Superbowl -- and the Raiders participation in it -- only one thing should be on the minds of Oaktown: What in the name of Jack London is going on with the Warriors? Basketball's bottom feeders for the better part of the past 10 years,...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2003

Ship conveyed 1974 assassination order

A North Korean ship that makes irregular visits to Japan may have been used to convey orders from Pyongyang for the attempted assassination in 1974 of then South Korean President Park Chung Hee in Seoul, sources close to police investigations said Wednesday.
Japan Times
SUMO
Jan 30, 2003

Asashoryu gets yokozuna rank

Mongolia's Asashoryu was promoted Wednesday to the highest rank in Japan's ancient sport of sumo, becoming the first from his country and only the third foreign-born wrestler ever to achieve that lofty status.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 29, 2003

Nori, Buffs work out contract

OSAKA -- The Kintetsu Buffaloes signed slugging infielder Norihiro Nakamura to a four-year deal Monday after working out the details of the free-agent contract they agreed to earlier this month. Kintetsu officials hinted the agreement will see Nakamura earn an estimated annual salary of 500 million yen...
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2003

FSA set to take second look at bank loan ledgers

Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka said Tuesday the Financial Services Agency will soon begin its second round of special inspections on 12 major banks to urge them to strictly assess their loan assets.
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2003

Oshima says EU farm stance 'deserves discussion'

A European Union proposal on farm trade liberalization talks "deserves discussion," farm minister Tadamori Oshima said Tuesday, suggesting Japan's willingness to work in concert with the EU.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2003

Teachers snub new guidelines

More than half the elementary and junior high school teachers responding to a poll disfavor new guidelines introduced last April by the education ministry, saying the reduced curriculum is lowering children's academic abilities, according to a survey by Kyodo News.
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2003

Sony executive Ohga decides to retire

Norio Ohga, Sony Corp.'s chairman of the board, said Tuesday he will step down for health reasons.
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2003

Skymark aims to profit from shuffle

Skymark Airlines Co. said Tuesday that President Takashi Ide has been replaced by Masayuki Inoue, formerly of British Airways, as part of a shakeup at the executive level.
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2003

Can we trust 'Davos man'?

The rich, the powerful and the famous last week descended once again on the Swiss village of Davos for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). This year, the assembled luminaries pondered the loss of "trust" that has sapped institutions worldwide. The question is a vital one. Of the many...
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2003

Okuda pushes yield cuts by insurers

Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), said Monday he may tolerate a cut in the guaranteed yields offered by life insurers to their policyholders.
COMMENTARY
Jan 27, 2003

The war dead deserve better

I was stunned by news reports that Junichiro Koizumi recently made his third visit as prime minister to Yasukuni Shrine. After his two previous visits drew strong protests from China and South Korea, and after he struggled to justify the visits, officials in both countries must be amazed and angered....

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