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JAPAN
Apr 30, 2004

Mourners honor chickens killed in wake of bird-flu outbreak

Dressed in a black suit and tie, a man asked a roomful of mourners to bow their heads. For a minute, they all stood and faced the brightly lit altar in silence.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

Tax officials suspect Ebara hid 540 million yen

Plant engineering firm Ebara Corp. has been accused of hiding 540 million yen in income over three years through fiscal 2002, including roughly 300 million yen in suspected slush funds, it was learned Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

Key ministers admit ducking pension fees

Four more Cabinet ministers, including Chief Cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda, and opposition leader Naoto Kan said Wednesday they failed to pay mandatory premiums for the basic pension system.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

Rightist pleads guilty to spree of terror

The leader of an ultrarightist group pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he and members of his group conducted terror attacks against members of North Korean-related organizations and others in 2002 and 2003.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Apr 29, 2004

'Little blighters' that drive me barking mad

Two years ago, we transplanted 20 cherry saplings cloned from an ancient and historical tree (see Old Nic's Notebook; May, 1, 2003) here where I live in Kurohime, Nagano Prefecture. We then raised the saplings with loving care in our own little nursery for six years, before replanting them at the entranceway...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2004

Selling oneself short in the South

Sonny Rating: * * (out of 5) Director: Nicholas Cage Running time: 110 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] There was a time when one could relish seeing Nicholas Cage's name in a film's credits, a fertile period that encompassed 1991's "Wild at...
EDITORIALS
Apr 28, 2004

Back to the future in Indonesia

The first round of voting in Indonesia's electoral pageant has revealed a wave of nostalgia for the past. Golkar, the party of disgraced former leader Suharto, came out on top in national parliamentary elections in early April. Days after the results were announced, Golkar picked Mr. Wiranto, a former...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 28, 2004

Young stars filling shoes of those who left for major leagues

Proof positive Japanese baseball is not "doomed," as some critics have suggested with regard to star players leaving for the major leagues, is the emergence of young phenoms coming seemingly out of nowhere to take the places of Ichiro (Suzuki), Hideki and Kazuo Matsui, Hideo Nomo, Kazuhisa Ishii, Shingo...
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

New disaster steps eyed as Fuji shows signs of eruption

Mount Fuji, the graceful conical volcano that rises within view of the Tokyo metropolitan area, is slowly changing shape and could erupt over a wider area than previously predicted, researchers said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

State, mining firm ordered to pay sickened workers

The Supreme Court ended a 19-year legal battle Tuesday by endorsing a lower court decision ordering the state and a mining company to compensate former coal miners in Fukuoka Prefecture who contracted pneumoconiosis by inhaling mine dust.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

Hostage blames state for backlash

The harsh criticism that has been aimed at Japanese civilians taken hostage in Iraq stems from government resentment over their relatives' calls for Tokyo to withdraw its troops from the country, one of the hostages said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2004

Winning charm points with Mum and Kurosawa

The demands of stardom are not easily ignored: When Jude Law failed to show for a Tokyo press conference in early April with director Anthony Minghella and co-star Renee Zellweger, the disappointment was palpable -- not just among his many female fans, but also that of the film's distributor, who is...
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2004

Sharp reports record earnings for fiscal '03

Sharp Corp. on Tuesday reported record earnings for the year that ended on March 31, powered by strong sales of liquid crystal panel TVs and camera-equipped cell phone handsets.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2004

Between blue and gray, love finds a way

Cold Mountain Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Anthony Minghella Running time: 152 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Sixty-some years after Scarlett O'Hara clutched that handful of earth and swore she would never go hungry again, another...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 28, 2004

Afloat in Mount Koya's spiritual sea

Mention Mount Koya, a highland in the north-central part of the Kii Peninsula in Wakayama Prefecture, and most people think immediately of the priest Kukai (774-835). Also known as Kobo Daishi, Kukai was the founder of the Shingon sect of esoteric Buddhism, and Mount Koya became the new sect's headquarters....
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2004

Polls to change face of Asia

HONOLULU -- Winston Churchill once said "democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried." Recent elections in South Korea and Taiwan have already demonstrated that irony. This year contains a number of presidential and parliamentary elections that promise to...
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2004

Nippon Shinpan data may have been leaked

Nippon Shinpan Co. said Monday that personal data of up to 100,000 holders of its NICOS credit cards might have been leaked.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2004

Accused Softbank data extortionist says he just wanted a reply

A man accused of stealing client data and trying to extort money from Softbank BB Corp. denied in court Monday that he had intent to extort and said he only wanted the firm to respond to him.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2004

Panel proposes Japan Post be privatized by 2012

A key policy-setting panel on Monday finalized an interim report proposing that Japan Post be fully privatized in 2012 at the earliest and maintain its nationwide network of post offices.
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2004

Don't credit PM for recovery

The Japanese economy is recovering. Why? Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi can hardly take the credit.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 27, 2004

Car checks and new passport rules

Vehicle inspection Do you know of anyone who could give me information on the laws and procedure regarding car inspections? I need to obtain Japanese inspection and a registration number plate for a recently imported car.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2004

Officials agree on global observation framework

Senior officials from more than 40 countries agreed Sunday in Tokyo on the framework of a 10-year plan to integrate global observation systems in order to address environmental threats such as climate change and natural disasters.
JAPAN / TALKING SHOP
Apr 26, 2004

Diagrams help equity investment pro when words get jumbled

Where there is a diagram, there is a way.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2004

North Korea blast prompts Japan aid pledge

The government decided Sunday to provide emergency aid to North Korea following last week's massive train yard explosion.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 26, 2004

Commercialization of science comes at a cost

NEW YORK -- The 18th-century American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin declined to claim a patent on the stove he invented. His reason was simple: If whatever he devised made people a little more comfortable during the winter, he'd be content.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2004

'Quagmire' label doesn't apply to Iraq

Those who predict "quagmire" in Iraq see a parallel with the Vietnam War. That is misleading. America is going to stay the course in Iraq.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 25, 2004

Bob Dylan: "Live 1964: Concert at Philharmonic Hall"

The striking thing about the latest addition to the "Bootleg Series" is the realization that four years into his career Bob Dylan was still a callow youth. The concert took place Halloween night, 1964, a year after the Kennedy assassination, nine months after The Beatles conquered America, but a year...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 25, 2004

New Fuji TV series, "At-home Dad" and more

The new Fuji TV series, "At-home Dad" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), takes the usual housewife drama and reverses the genders to comic effect. Kazuyuki (Hiroshi Abe), a 37-year-old account executive at a leading advertising firm, is a victim of downsizing, thus forcing his wife to go out and work full-time.
Features / LIFE OR DEATH
Apr 25, 2004

Haunted by visions of a 'horrifying act'

It is the staircase of doom. Who knows what goes through a person's mind as they ascend those steps to the scaffold. Are they consumed with dread? Filled with thoughts of their loved ones? Or are they burdened with thoughts of their crime? No one knows because no one comes back down those stairs alive....

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes