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JAPAN
Aug 28, 2001

70 billion yen sought to launch spy satellites

The government is seeking 70.7 billion yen from the fiscal 2002 state budget to launch its first spy satellites, government officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2001

METI to launch 'smart house' pilot project

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to launch a project in the next fiscal year linking about 50 households to a high-speed data network that will improve their security systems and monitor their occupants' health, ministry officials said Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2001

Publisher with rightwing ties draws probe

Police plan to provide information to the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau on a publishing house connected to the chairman of a rightwing group for not declaring more than 300 million yen in book sales to the Defense Agency, state-run universities and other clients, police sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2001

Misfortunes in tough times spur new breed of insurance plans

In May, Yamagata University disclosed that it had bungled its entrance exam grading, irretrievably altering the course of applicants' lives.
Events
Aug 21, 2001

Electronics firms wage battle of the rays

KYOTO -- Kyoto-based Rohm Corp., one of Japan's largest makers of electronic components, is locked in a legal wrangle with Nichia Corp. of Anan, Tokushima Prefecture, over patents related to blue light-emitting diodes and blue lasers.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2001

Fujitsu to cut 16,400 jobs worldwide

Fujitsu Ltd. announced Monday it will cut its global workforce by 9 percent, or 16,400 jobs, by the end of the fiscal year amid a global slump in the semiconductor market.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 19, 2001

The little brewery that wouldn't die

Since time immemorial sake has been brewed only in the winter. But in the last 40 years or so a handful of the nation's breweries pioneered shiki jozo (year-round brewing), cranking out sake in large, climate-controlled factories. For various reasons, only the largest breweries can pull this off. The...
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2001

Agency to radically modify structure, equipment of SDF

The Defense Agency has decided to radically modify the structure of the Self-Defense Forces and their equipment to be prepared for recent changes in the global security environment and the rapid progress of information technology, agency officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2001

Virus scare downs ministry computer

The education ministry says it temporarily shut down a computer system Thursday due to fear that it may have been hit by the fast-spreading computer virus Code Red 2, which has caused damage mainly in the United States.
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2001

The first step toward reform

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's economic reform program is taking shape now that the government has set a spending framework for the fiscal 2002 budget. Policy-based general spending, not including debt servicing costs and revenue transfers to local governments, is pegged at 47.8 trillion yen, down...
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2001

Odakyu worker fired over data leak

An employee of a Tokyo department store has been fired for divulging information on some 382,000 customers, the store operator said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2001

Nikko launches Web site offering M&A marketplace

Nikko Securities Co. has set up a Web site to provide free information on mergers and acquisitions to undercapitalized companies.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2001

Volunteers to be sought for disaster info network

The Cabinet Office is considering establishing a disaster preparedness program and soliciting volunteers to work for local governments as coordinators and contact points for victims, government sources said Monday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 5, 2001

'It's a complicated story,' pleads a battered press

The press has taken quite a beating over its coverage of the murders at Ikeda Elementary School. Even before the funerals, letters to the editor columns were filled with missives from enraged readers lam basting the media's lack of either common decency or common sense. Most complaints concerned interviews...
BUSINESS
Aug 1, 2001

Unemployment hovers at 4.9%

The nation's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent in June from the previous month, matching the record for the third time this year, the government said Tuesday in a preliminary report.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 29, 2001

Talking about the weather is no longer so boring

We tend to take weather forecasts with a grain of salt. Some people leave their umbrellas at home unless the probability of precipitation is over, say, 40 percent, while others keep a collapsible in their bag at all times because they don't know what to believe. We know it's raining because we are getting...
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 25, 2001

All the world's Miyagi's 'logos & pathos' stage

In the world of Japanese contemporary theater, the Ku Na'uka company is famed for its unique "logos & pathos" method, in which each role on stage is performed by one narrator/speaker (in the "logos" role) and one performer/mover (in the "pathos" role).
MORE SPORTS
Jul 21, 2001

Heritage Resort offers foreign golfers a chance to break par, not the bank

The Heritage Resort in Saitama Prefecture has recently announced a membership scheme for foreign residents in Japan.
EDITORIALS
Jul 16, 2001

Aid and ethics must go hand in hand

The man who was called Peru's Rasputin is back behind bars. Mr. Vladimiro Montesinos, who backstopped former President Alberto Fujimori during his decade in office, has been caught in Venezuela after 10 months on the run and whisked to Lima. His life in exile was much like his years as Mr. Fujimori's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 15, 2001

Master of a dying art

In order to stay true to his art, James Wright prefers to keep a low profile; to blend in with his surroundings. But in his adopted Matsubushi, a rural town in Saitama Prefecture, the fair-haired, 180-cm Scot would seem to be fighting a losing battle. That he also works for the local butcher merely adds...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2001

Is the world prepared to deal with the global economic downturn?

Economic policymakers must stand ready to take timely and decisive actions when incoming information suggests that the economy is most likely to significantly deviate from the targeted course for a sustained period. And in the uncertain world in which we live, they have to deal with both upside and downside...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 7, 2001

Sharing corporate vision of women and money

Whoever said women were the weaker sex has not met Kaori Sasaki. Not only is she president of UNICUL International Inc. and president and CEO of eWoman Inc., a new Web site for women. She is the brains behind the 6th International Conference for Women in Business, to be held at the Daiba Hotel Nikko...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 5, 2001

Humans, evolve you must

Us lot, contemporary humans in a postindustrial society, we've got a welfare system, social security and even, in some countries, free health care. Premature babies survive, the wounded get better, the hungry get fed. We're shielded from the blind hand of natural selection, aren't we?
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2001

Intrigue made to measure

The Tailor of Panama Rating: * * * * Director: John Boorman Running time: 109 minutes Language: English Opens July 7 at Cine Saison in Shibuya "The Tailor of Panama" is a genuine spy movie, but just a shade away from being "Saturday Night Live." One gentle push and it'd be a slapsticky comedy with...
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 2, 2001

Yanagisawa fires Japan past Paraguay

SAPPORO -- Atsushi Yanagisawa banged in a couple of fine goals to steer a confident Japan team to a 2-0 win over Paraguay in the Kirin Cup at the newly opened Sapporo Dome on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2001

India aiming to increase literacy rate

An Indian government official charged with improving the nation's literacy is confident the country's current goal of achieving a 75 percent literacy rate by 2005 is within reach.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2001

Foreign firms have hard time finding help

Foreign companies operating in Japan face greater difficulties recruiting people, procuring funds and resolving civil disputes outside court than in the United States and three European countries, according to a report released Wednesday by the Japan External Trade Organization.
Events
Jun 26, 2001

Recession hits Osaka-based yakuza

OSAKA — The number of Osaka-based gangsters formally affiliated with Yamaguchi-gumi has fallen to almost half what it was a decade ago. But this may not necessarily be good news for law enforcement officials.

Longform

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