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JAPAN
Apr 16, 2003

H-IIA launch provided MSDF with 'attack' drill

A Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer equipped with the Aegis air-defense system tracked an H-IIA rocket after launch last month to practice for a North Korean ballistic missile, MSDF sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2003

Yahoo to heed personal data ruling

Yahoo Japan Corp. will not appeal a court ruling ordering it to identify a person who posted an allegedly slanderous message on a Yahoo Internet bulletin board, company sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 12, 2003

Official recognition planned for in vitro births

Children born via in vitro fertilization using sperm or eggs from third parties should be recognized as the offspring of a married couple, but births by a surrogate mother using the sperm and egg of a married couple should not be sanctioned, according to a health ministry panel.
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2003

Aozora Bank slapped with reprimand

Aozora Bank has been reprimanded by the Financial Services Agency for giving information on its customers to its major shareholder, Cerberus Group, a U.S. investment fund bidding for greater control of the bank, FSA officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2003

Racket in public places is fraying nerves

Sounds abound in Tokyo, from the blaring advertisements in busy shopping areas like Shinjuku to the stream of announcements on trains.
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2003

Spy satellites for peaceful use

Japan last week put its first Earth-circling spy satellites in orbit, acquiring its own capability to gather intelligence information from space about conditions in other countries. There is little doubt, considering recent developments in and around North Korea, that these two satellites are designed...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 31, 2003

Modesty marked this great man of letters

NEW YORK -- Herbert Passin, whom I had the honor of knowing, died on Feb. 26. Like kabuki expert Faubion Bowers, whom I also knew, Passin was a top graduate of the Military Intelligence Service Language School, which was established in 1941 in preparation for the coming war with Japan. Both did wonderful...
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2003

Health insurance plan for elderly approved

The government approved a new blueprint Friday for reforming the medical system, highlighted by a plan to require people 75 and older to pay for their own health insurance.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2003

Five Wal-Mart execs join Seiyu's board

Struggling supermarket chain Seiyu Ltd. said Wednesday that five representatives of Wal-Mart Store Inc. have joined its board of directors, formalizing the U.S. retail giant's involvement in Seiyu's management.
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
Mar 27, 2003

Heading off spam at the pass

It's been just over a year since my personal e-mail account started getting upwards of 20 junk mails a day and I ditched it for a new, spam-free one. I created another -- simple enough when you have your own domain -- but found in mere months that I was right back where I started. Even taking great care...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 23, 2003

Japan's dumb leaders fail to exercise tongues

In the weeks leading up to the invasion of Iraq, it was common for reporters throughout the world to sample public opinion about it. As journalism, man-on-the-street interviews are more or less a sideshow, since, depending on the country, they offer little of substance in terms of information. Americans,...
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2003

Firms in Middle East gird for war

Japanese companies in the Middle East stepped up emergency plans Tuesday after U.S. President George W. Bush told Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave the country within 48 hours or face war.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2003

Kin of cancer drug victim may sue firm

The father of a woman who died from acute side effects of the controversial cancer drug Iressa is considering filing a compensation suit against its importer for failing to swiftly alert medical institutions to the drug's dangers.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Decontrols to bring in more foreign doctors

Life in Japan as a foreigner is not always easy, especially if you become sick and don't speak the same language as your doctor.
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Mar 15, 2003

Pork, potatoes, pottery Kagoshima's mainstays

Kagoshima Yurakukan, a local-specialities complex taking up three floors of a building in Tokyo's Yurakucho district, has been attracting health-conscious consumers with its products from Kagoshima Prefecture.
COMMENTARY
Mar 15, 2003

What drives the warmongers?

At last count we had been given six different reasons for invading Iraq, some of them false and the rest contradictory. The current favorite -- seeking to change an obnoxious regime -- might carry weight if it was not contrary to international law and if in the past both the United States and Britain...
LIFE / Digital / TANGLED WEBS
Mar 13, 2003

Poorly laid plans go astray

Let's admit it -- we made a mistake. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but we screwed up. It's time to make things right and repeal the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 2003

Recruit trial ends in anticlimax

The guilty verdict handed down by the Tokyo District Court to Hiromasa Ezoe, the central figure in the Recruit scandal, is a reminder that money holds potent power in politics. The scandal, which came to light in 1988, exposed a series of lucrative but shady stock deals involving influential politicians,...
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Japan 'helpless' against missiles

Japan has no effective means of protecting its citizens in the event of a ballistic missile attack by North Korea, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2003

Air control breakdown causes flight problems nationwide

At least 175 flights were canceled and many others were delayed Saturday at airports across Japan after the nation's main air control system broke down, government officials said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Mar 1, 2003

Kumamoto citrus in Ginza air

Shoppers on Sotobori Street, in Tokyo's fashionable Ginza shopping district, may have been surprised by a sweet scent of citrus hanging in the air.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN WITH THE NEW
Feb 28, 2003

Ex-BOJ man hopes to wield LDP clout as reformer

A glance at his Web site can tell you quite a lot about his position.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2003

Abe wins 4 million yen in libel case

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday ordered a journalist to pay 4 million yen in damages to Takeshi Abe, a former vice president of Teikyo University and a hemophilia expert, over a defamation case linked to a scandal involving HIV-tainted blood products.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Gates courts LDP leadership over 'e-Japan' deal

In an unprecedented attempt to encourage the Japanese government to adopt Windows for a planned electronic government project, Microsoft Corp. founder and Chairman Bill Gates said Tuesday that he will reveal Microsoft's most tightly guarded secret -- the operating system's source code.
COMMUNITY / LIFELINES
Feb 25, 2003

Shipping news, foreign movies and medical bills

Shipping On the subject of shipping goods from the U.S.A. to Japan as unaccompanied baggage, reader Carol says that if you fly on United Airlines, they can provide you with the unaccompanied baggage forms.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2003

Foreigners seek same rights as seal

YOKOHAMA -- A group of foreign residents and their supporters demonstrated in Yokohama's Nishi Ward on Saturday, demanding the same rights as a stray seal known as Tama-chan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 23, 2003

A little space can go a long way

If you are renting a small apartment, your clothes, books, magazines and CDs -- things that are supposed to enrich your life -- can also be a burden as they gradually erode your limited space.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?