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BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2003

Nippon Life in deal to sell insurance to Chinese

Nippon Life Insurance Co. will soon become the first Japanese life insurance company to market policies in China on a full-scale basis, Nippon Life officials said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 12, 2003

Shopping queen shelves host 'illusion'

Popular writer Usagi Nakamura is known to many Japanese as "Shoppingu no Joo (The Queen of Shopping)," which is also the title of her popular column in the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun. Nakamura, 44, who describes herself as "shop dependent," writes frankly about how she impulsively purchases luxury...
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2003

Parents fret over children's studies

More parents are putting extra emphasis on their children's academic abilities and thus feel a growing need to send them to cram schools, a survey revealed Saturday.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2003

DoCoMo to link FOMA with PCs via videophone

NTT DoCoMo Inc. will begin a trial service as early as February to allow subscribers to its FOMA third-generation mobile phone system to communicate with personal computer users on videophones, sources close to the company said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 12, 2003

Art that arose from the ashes of World War II

JAPANESE PRINTS DURING THE ALLIED OCCUPATION: 1945-1952, by Lawrence Smith. London: The British Museum Press, 2002, 128 pp., 40 color and 75 black-and-white illustrations, £35 (cloth) At the end of the Pacific portion of World War II, Japan was occupied by the wartime Allies, and Gen. Douglas MacArthur,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 12, 2003

Facing economic facts, even if it hurts

STRADDLING ECONOMICS AND POLITICS: Cross-Cutting Issues in Asia, the United States, and the Global Economy, by Charles Wolf Jr. Santa Monica, CA.: Rand, 2002, 210 pp., $20 (paper) You have to give Charles Wolf credit. It takes courage to reprint articles when some of the predictions included are flat-out...
MORE SPORTS
Jan 12, 2003

Waseda downs Kanto Gakuin, claims first university championship since 1989

A clear blue sky, a field in immaculate condition bathed in sunshine, a band entertaining the crowd before the game, 50,000 passionate rugby fans and two teams, playing vastly different styles, giving it their all for 85 minutes -- it could easily have been England vs. France at the Park de France in...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 12, 2003

A price on their heads

Help wanted: Able-bodied, handsome men required to wine and dine as many women as their schedules permit; some extracurricular cosseting may be called for. Educational requirements: None. Salary: Enough to make a salaryman gag.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 12, 2003

It's no joke scripting a sitcom in Japan

When the six cast members of the hit American comedy series "Friends" recently agreed to a 10th season, no one was really surprised, even though the six had implied that the present season would be their last.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 11, 2003

Hawks want to trade Terry before he bolts; Isiah appologizes

NEW YORK -- Two weeks after replacing coach Lon Kruger with assistant Terry Stotts, the Hawks are trying to arrange a trade involving restricted free agent-to-be Jason Terry. According to sources, the Blazers and Heat are ardently interested in acquiring Atlanta's assist leader (7.4 per game) and its...
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2003

Group reveals additional 40 suspected abduction victims

An influential citizens' group investigating the abduction of Japanese citizens to North Korea released Friday a list of 40 more cases that it wants the government to look into.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2003

New road to run under Tokyo

The national government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have agreed to build a controversial expressway project in Tokyo under ground to avoid costly land purchases, transport minister Chikage Ogi said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 11, 2003

Get ready for Japanese inside and out

People often ask me what they should expect before coming to Japan. It's hard to say, but if you don't speak Japanese, at first you'll be limited to communicating with Japanese people who can speak English. Be ready to meet these people:
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2003

Jobless fear for future, survive on savings

When Mamoru Kawasaki, 45, was forced to leave a well-known information technology company in March, he had heavy housing debts and a family of five to support, but also enough savings to live on for the time being.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 11, 2003

The 'risutora' blues: Music that won't go away

I have been "restored."
BUSINESS
Jan 11, 2003

Economic gauge indicates a state of contraction

The key gauge of the current state of the economy dipped below the boom-or-bust line of 50 percent in November for the first time in 10 months due chiefly to a decline in industrial output, the government said Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 10, 2003

Buffs open vault for Nakamura

OSAKA -- Norihiro Nakamura signed a free-agent deal with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes on Wednesday, becoming the highest-paid Japanese baseball player with an estimated annual salary of 500 million yen for 2003 plus incentives.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

Abduction suspect gathered military info

A Korean resident in Japan suspected of having been involved in the abduction of a Japanese national in 1977 is also believed to have gathered military information for North Korea, investigative sources said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2003

A shot in the arm or in the foot?

The economic package unveiled by U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday, coming on top of a huge tax cut announced last summer, is proof that the Bush administration is determined to revive the U.S. economy, which is still ailing from the collapse of a stock-market bubble. The stimulus plan is also...
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

Tone-deaf creator didn't cash in but ain't singin' the blues

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Pref. -- Back when Daisuke Inoue was a youngster banging drums with a local lounge band, he didn't think his invention for singalong soundtracks and a portable microphone would amount to much.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

Probe into Takefuji expanded

OSAKA -- The labor ministry on Thursday expanded its investigation into consumer finance company Takefuji Corp. on suspicion it forced staff to work overtime and failed to pay wage premiums, according to ministry officials.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2003

Asahi Mutual may abandon tieup plans

Struggling Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. may scrap plans to team up with nonlife insurer Millea Holdings Inc. in 2004, Asahi officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

Deadly drug reached 296 before approval

OSAKA -- A cancer drug blamed for more than 120 deaths in Japan was administered to 296 patients before the health ministry approved it last July, with one dying of side effects in May, pharmaceutical company officials said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2003

Toshiba to roll out smaller chips

Toshiba Corp. plans to start mass-producing semiconductors with circuit widths of 90 nanometers, the narrowest in the world, this spring, company officials said Thursday.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person