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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 2, 2004

A battle for 'the fate of the world'

At approximately 6:20 p.m. on May 7, 1954, the shooting had stopped everywhere but at one last outpost, called strongpoint Lily, where a handful of Moroccan soldiers under a French major, Jean Nicolas, still held out.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2004

CPI off a sixth year in '03 but deflation pace easing

The key gauge of consumer prices in Japan dropped 0.2 percent in fiscal 2003, down for a sixth straight year, the government said Friday.
JAPAN
May 1, 2004

Listed companies replacing regular staff with part-timers

Listed firms cut the number of employees on their regular payrolls by an annual 3.4 percent on average during the three-year period through fiscal 2003, according to a Cabinet Office survey.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 30, 2004

Abramovich learning that money can't buy the Premiership

LONDON -- In the year of the comeback it should be no surprise if Chelsea manages to overturn the 3-1 first-leg deficit when it meets Monaco in the Champions League semifinal, second-leg match at Stamford Bridge next week.
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.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2004

Ministry upgrades regional economies

The Finance Ministry on Wednesday upgraded its quarterly assessment of the nation's regional economies for the third straight quarter, noting brighter signs were evident in personal consumption.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2004

Fashionable marriage

Best known in Japan as a fashion photographer and music-video director, Kazuaki Kiriya has made his feature-film debut with "Casshern," the Japanese film industry's most extravagant marriage yet between live action and 3-D animation.
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 Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Apr 28, 2004

Kanashii is a many-colored thing

For the longest time, my inner dictionary of prosaic Japanese simply tagged the word kanashii with "sad." But no more. In classical Japanese, I have discovered, kanashii has the dual meaning of both sorrow and tenderness, and can be written with the Chinese characters for either sadness or love.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2004

Nissan saw profit reach record level in fiscal '03

Nissan Motor Co. said Monday it posted a record group operating profit of 825 billion yen for fiscal 2003, up 11.9 percent from the previous year.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2004

Toray set to make base fiber in U.S.

Textile maker Toray Industries Inc. plans to begin manufacturing the base ingredient of carbon fiber for use in aircraft components in the United States in response to growing demand, company officials said Monday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 25, 2004

Agent orange: a weapon of untold destruction

AGENT ORANGE: Collateral Damage in Viet Nam, by Philip Jones Griffiths. London: Trolley Ltd., 2003, 176 pp., £24.95 (cloth). Philip Jones Griffiths' haunting images will sear a space in that part of your memory bank reserved for nightmares and denial. They are powerful and gruesome reminders of what...
EDITORIALS
Apr 24, 2004

Observing the Earth as it is

As the human world is embroiled in seemingly endless conflict, the global environment that supports our continued existence -- the Earth system -- apparently continues to deteriorate. To sustain the system, we must first understand it better. And understanding is promoted through observation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 21, 2004

A balancing act of inspiration

"Othello" director Gregory Doran, 45, has been hailed by London critics as "the redeemer of the RSC." He joined the company in 1987 as an actor, but soon turned to directing and often works in collaboration with his partner, Antony Sher. Last year he received Britain's top theater honor, an Olivier...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2004

Cost, language barrier still keeping tourists away

Independent tourists pride themselves on being able to plot out and partake in adventures of their own design -- rising to challenges known and unknown.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 18, 2004

Beijing Ripper goes chop-chop; New York whodunit has a rap

CHINESE WHISPERS, by Peter May. London: Coronet Books, 2004, 402 pp., £6.99 (paper). MURDER IN CHINA RED, by Dean Barrett. New York: Village East Books, 2003, 260 pp., $11.95 (paper). Honolulu Detective Charlie Chan made his literary debut in Earl Derr Biggers' 1925 novel "The House Without a Key."...
COMMENTARY
Apr 18, 2004

Death of Deng's triangular relationship

HONG KONG -- One certainty emerges amid the democratic turmoil in Taiwan and Hong Kong and amid the authoritarian turmoil in the higher reaches of the Chinese Communist Party, which is skilled at concealing its innate factionalism: The triangular relationship between China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as envisaged...
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2004

Postal privatization might hurt Japanese government bonds: economists

Privatize post offices and you may risk damaging the most trusted financial vehicle in Japan: the government bond.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2004

Journalists mull Asia integration outside the EU box

FUKUOKA -- It was Mahatma Gandhi who said friendship that insists upon agreement on all matters is not worth the name.
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 15, 2004

Jubilo stays perfect by defeating Reysol

Leader Jubilo Iwata brushed aside 10-man Kashiwa Reysol 3-1 in Kashiwa on Wednesday to make it five wins out of five and maintain pole position in the standings in the J. League first division.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2004

Koizumi swipe at 'terrorists' downplayed

Government officials tried to play down allegations Wednesday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has prolonged the crisis over three Japanese being held hostage in Iraq by calling their captors "terrorists."
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2004

Nonresidents buy stocks at record level

Nonresident investors were net buyers of Japanese stocks in fiscal 2003, with purchases exceeding sales by a record 14.041 trillion yen.
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2004

Communities vie to be site of new Tokyo Tower

Local governments in the Tokyo area are vying to host the world's tallest broadcasting tower in hopes of attracting tourist revenues.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 11, 2004

The struggle to find a collective identity

JAPAN UNBOUND: A Volatile Nation's Quest for Pride and Purpose, by John Nathan. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2004, 271 pp., $25 (cloth). In this engaging book, largely based on extensive interviews, John Nathan probes the pathologies, contradictions and search for identity in contemporary Japan. He ranges...
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2004

Research group foresees better year for market

The current fiscal year is expected to see the stock market in Japan supported not only by improving economic activity but also by dwindling pressure from the two main culprits behind stock weakness the previous year, according to a recent estimate by a private-sector think tank.
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2004

Yoshinoya sees profit slide 34%

Yoshinoya D&C Co. said Friday its sales and profits fell in the year that ended Feb. 29 and it anticipates even steeper declines for the current business year due to the ongoing ban on U.S. beef imports.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past