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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 31, 2004

Playtime pioneer

On a cloudy morning a couple of weeks ago, 26 noisy 3-year-olds at the Kamimeguro Nursery in Tokyo's Meguro Ward were cheerfully throwing themselves into their exercise class in the hall. One after another, the little boys and girls challenged themselves to leap a vaulting horse, jump a rubber rope,...
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2004

Kanebo tabs spinoff head for president

Struggling textile maker Kanebo Ltd. has decided to name Takehiko Ogi, an outside board director of Kanebo Cosmetics Inc., a firm spun off from Kanebo in May, as its president, sources close to the reshuffle said Saturday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 31, 2004

Daylight robbery -- and we accept it

Last February, the Tokyo municipal government adopted a policy to discourage key money reikin and lease renewal fees koshinryo in rental agreements. The policy is long overdue since key money and renewal fees are tenant-gouging practices sanctioned by nothing more than habit.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2004

Murderer now faces death penalty

The Tokyo High Court sentenced a 38-year-old man to death Friday for kidnapping and murdering a 16-year-old girl and pocketing 230,000 yen in ransom, overturning the life sentence imposed by a lower court.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2004

Embassy audit reveals Laos embezzlement, other scams

A local employee of the Japanese Embassy in Laos has allegedly embezzled some 6.7 million yen, according to the government's Board of Audit.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2004

Opposition parties fail to rattle Koizumi

Attempts by opposition parties to rattle Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during the ongoing Diet session in connection with political funding reports have proved fruitless.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 30, 2004

Michael Holmes

It's a long way from being a cub reporter on a local newspaper to becoming anchorman for CNN International, but it didn't take Michael Holmes long to cover the distance. Being good at his work was essential for his progress. Undoubtedly his cheerfulness and buoyancy helped him to forge ahead, along with...
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2004

State aims to boost sales of soccer lottery tickets by lowering the odds

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry will try to boost sales of soccer lottery tickets by increasing the chances of winning and selling tickets on the Internet, beginning April 2006.
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2004

Kanebo may hit execs who cooked books

Kanebo Ltd. might file a criminal complaint against its former management for allegedly window-dressing its financial statements for fiscal 2001 and 2002, President Akiyoshi Nakajima said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2004

Parents of lonely hearts join own group

Tadashi Saito imagines his son leaving the office after a long day at work and trudging home to a lonely bachelor's apartment with all the lights out and no hot food on the table.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2004

Bleak outlook for Myanmar democracy

After days of speculation over the fate of Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt, the country's official media announced that he was permitted to retire for health reasons. The reasons given were usual for someone who had been removed from the inner circle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 27, 2004

Artistic encounters of the oriental kind

LONDON -- Three figures sit round a clover-shape table: a bearded and slippered Chinese sage, a periwigged European, and a Japanese aristocrat whose kimono bears his ancient family crest. The sage, arms crossed, gazes impassively into space; the samurai is cuddled up close to the Westerner, casting a...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2004

U.S. has no reason to fear that ICC will abuse rights

NEW YORK -- After the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1998, laying out the foundations for the International Criminal Court, many believed that this organ of justice would never materialize. There were already indications that the United States would not support such a court in all its aspects. Rejection...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 25, 2004

Lions force decider

NAGOYA -- Daisuke Matsuzaka came through with another huge win.
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2004

New bank notes could draw underground cash into the light

When the Bank of Japan puts new bank notes into circulation next month, it could draw out cash hoarded away in the country's underground economy and into investments like gold and real estate.
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2004

Japan's drive for efficiency takes sting out of fuel prices

Dotted with energy-efficient factories and fuel-saving cars, Japan has been less affected by surging oil prices than most wealthy countries.
COMMENTARY
Oct 25, 2004

ODA looks wasted on China

This year Japan marks the 50th anniversary of the official development assistance program it launched after getting out of the postwar economic chaos. The Foreign Ministry's 2004 white paper on ODA boasts that Japan, now one of the world's largest ODA providers, has made major contributions to the economic...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2004

An alternative for Alzheimer's sufferers

When Ray Smith learned in 1991 that his wife was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, the former British art dealer took her on a world trip.
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2004

Japan OKs imports of Chinese nori

Japan will allow imports of Chinese nori beginning next fiscal year, Yoshinobu Shimamura, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2004

Atomic commission votes to continue policy of reprocessing spent nuke fuel

The Atomic Energy Commission's draft for a new nuclear policy plan advocates maintaining the current policy of reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2004

Scramble for Daiei outlets could intensify amid IRCJ involvement

Daiei Inc.'s decision to seek help from the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan is widely believed to have intensified a scramble for the retailer's outlets and may result in a major change in power relations in the supermarket industry.
BUSINESS
Oct 22, 2004

JAL, ANA consider airfare hike

Japan Airlines Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co. are considering raising airfares on domestic flights, possibly from the beginning of next year, due to soaring crude oil prices, airline officials said Thursday.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 22, 2004

Typical war of words ahead of Premiership showdown

LONDON -- It is likely to become very nasty and personal with no punches pulled -- and that is just the war of words between Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger as the build-up to Sunday's Old Trafford showdown reaches boiling point.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Oct 21, 2004

New life patterns for a new age

The end of the high-growth period and of the go-go bubble years has brought both new opportunities and great uncertainty as the old social system based on lifetime employment crumbles and even the outlines of its successor system remain hazy. Such uncertainty no doubt played a role in propelling novelist...
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2004

Frustrations in Beijing

Russian President Vladimir Putin has just completed a three-day visit to China, his third as president and the first of his second term. The meetings were cordial and productive, marked by the usual rhetoric with which the former allies, who were once estranged but now eye each other anxiously, are so...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami