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BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2003

Narita airport takes step to privatization

The Diet enacted legislation Friday "privatizing" New Tokyo International Airport, initially putting the airport in Narita into the hands of a 100 percent government-owned company, which will be turned into a private concern in 2007.
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2003

Japan still holds out hope for new Russian pipeline

Japan and Russia have agreed to discuss ways to finance the construction of a pipeline and development of an oil field in eastern Siberia, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2003

Koizumi says Nikkei has hit bottom

The stock market appears to have bottomed out and will probably continue to demonstrate a firm trend in the foreseeable future, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 12, 2003

Business Japanese using Braille method

I have learned business Japanese through trial and error, which is very similar to the Braille method of learning to parallel park your car.
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2003

SARS grounded 100 JAL attendants

The Japan Airlines group had asked about 100 flight attendants to stay at home during the SARS epidemic this year after they served on flights that carried passengers suspected of infection, it was learned Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2003

East Asian FTA? Dream on!

LONDON -- At their summit meeting in Beijing last week, Presidents Roh Moo Hyun of South Korea and Hu Jintao of China agreed to push for a summit declaration on the establishment of a free trade area (FTA) among South Korea, China and Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 12, 2003

All's fair in love and sumo

Here's how my mind works . . .
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2003

Saitama governor's daughter held

Saitama Gov. Yoshihiko Tsuchiya's eldest daughter was arrested Thursday evening on suspicion of hiding 113 million yen in donations paid to her father's political fund management body over five years.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2003

Koizumi, Malaysian envoy meet

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi agreed Thursday to continue pressuring Myanmar to release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2003

Nov. 9 election nearly a certainty: Yamasaki aide

A Nov. 9 general election is a near certainty as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to dissolve the House of Representatives to meet that schedule, a close aide to LDP Secretary General Taku Yamasaki said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2003

Australia takes on role as sheriff of the South Seas

SYDNEY -- South Pacific island states, led by Australia and New Zealand, are gearing up for an historic intervention in the internal affairs of one their distressed members, Solomon Islands. An armed "invasion" should land within weeks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2003

Narita looks to privatization, more profits, lower landing fees

With legislation for privatizing Narita airport set to win Diet approval Friday, the head of the operating authority pledged to do his utmost to make Japan's main gateway more profitable so it can go public in a few years after becoming a wholly state-owned joint stock corporation.
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2003

New Toshiba gadget firm to open

Toshiba Corp. said Thursday it will establish a new engineering company in Kawasaki to provide advanced engineering support for discrete devices.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2003

Human rights lawyer to give talks on Middle East

An award-winning human rights lawyer from the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip will visit Japan to speak about the situation there and how global society can help the region move toward peace.
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2003

Telecoms to sue government over NTT's fee hike

Top officials of five telecom carriers agreed Thursday to take on the government in a bid to nullify its approval of an increase in the interconnection fees the firms must pay when accessing NTT Corp. lines.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 11, 2003

It's time for Mac to get his act together

Hopefully, Mac Suzuki has turned over a new leaf.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2003

Forgers target prepaid Quo Cards

Quo Card Co., a Tokyo-based issuer of prepaid cash cards, has been hit by a large number of forged cards that the company says have been used to purchase some 60 million yen in goods and services.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2003

University reform bills clear Diet

A set of bills to turn national universities into independent administrative institutions next April made it out of the Diet on Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2003

Homeless shelters' presence, profits irk neighbors

After learning that about 20 homeless people had moved into a dormlike shelter in their neighborhood, a large group of residents in the Higashi-Nippori district of Tokyo's Arakawa Ward demanded that the local assembly close the facility and relocate its occupants.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 10, 2003

Know what you eat

Trying to understand the debate over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) is a bit like trying to pick up mercury. It seems solid enough, but try to grasp it and it slips away. Critics of GMOs might draw another parallel as well. Considering how pervasive GMOs are and yet how little we know about them,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 10, 2003

Let's all open a window and see what happens

I'm depressed. And hyperventilating. This is because I just came back from visiting my cousin and his wife in their new Tokyo manshon (condo) that boasts among other things, a fully automatic kuchoki (air adjustor) that comes with a year's free supply of shinsenna sanso (fresh oxygen).
EDITORIALS
Jul 10, 2003

Wrong light at the end of the tunnel

Stock prices and long-term interest rates in Japan have climbed rapidly of late. On Monday, the Nikkei index hit a 10-month high of 9,795 points while yields on 10-year benchmark government bonds topped 1 percent, more than double the level of a month earlier. That is good news if it signals an upturn...
BUSINESS
Jul 10, 2003

Shiokawa, Fukui unworried by interest-rate hike

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa and Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui have agreed not to worry over the recent rise in long-term interest rates.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers