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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2003

Mayor in desperate bid to keep job

The embattled mayor of Toyosato, Shiga Prefecture, visited the education ministry Thursday and asked the national government to designate a historical school building he recently tried to raze as a nationally important cultural property, ministry officials said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 24, 2003

Shilingol: From the Mongol steppes to Sugamo

A chill gale of change is gusting through the sumo world, all the way from Central Asia. The demise of the Takanohana era does not, of course, mean we will stop eating chanko nabe. However, in honor of the incipient arrival of the Asashoryu dynasty, we felt impelled to set off in search of Shilingol,...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jan 23, 2003

Affirmative action challenged

WASHINGTON -- As so many Republicans turned from the embarrassment caused by Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi and began to give the appearance of really caring about racial harmony and equity, the leader of the party, President George W. Bush, took several actions that threaten to cast new darkness on...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2003

New privacy bill unshackles media

A new version of a privacy-protection bill features an exemption clause for news media and professional writers and may thus ease concerns about restrictions on press freedom, according to a draft obtained Wednesday by Kyodo News.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2003

Yahoo takes on fraudulent auctioneers

Yahoo Japan Corp. started posting on its Web site Wednesday the family names and bank account numbers of people who have repeatedly engaged in fraudulent and other illicit transactions on its auction sites.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2003

Ministry panel may review crisis-management system

A Foreign Ministry advisory panel on ministry reforms agreed Wednesday to think about reviewing its crisis-management system, according to the head of the panel.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 23, 2003

Chips with everything makes for a hi-tech mess

If you think that your computer, being such a modern, hi-tech device, is -- or surely must be -- environmentally friendly, then think again.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2003

Diet leagues serving vested interests

There are 727 lawmakers in the Diet, with 480 in the House of Representatives and 247 in the House of Councilors. Yet the number of Diet groups -- not political parties -- is said to be more than 1,000 and growing.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2003

Resona to issue new shares if adequacy ratio falls

OSAKA -- Resona Holdings Inc., which includes Daiwa Bank and Asahi Bank, will boost its capital by issuing new shares if its capital adequacy ratio falls as a result of increased loan-loss charges, President Yasuhisa Katsuta said in a recent interview.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2003

Suzuki names new president, launches hybrid

Suzuki Motor Corp. made a number of announcements Wednesday, naming its new president, unveiling fiscal 2003 sales projections and launching what it says is the world's first commercially available hybrid minivehicle.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDEN PATHS
Jan 23, 2003

The bare essentials

This column is the first in a series of articles to take us strolling along some garden paths. Hopefully, along the way, we will come across some good ideas for our own patch of greenery, whether that is a garden, containers on a balcony, or just a few potted plants on the kitchen window.
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2003

Forge national consensus on taxes

One year ago the government published a five-year budget projection showing how it expected to make ends meet in fiscal 2002-06. Now, the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, chaired by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, has revised the plan -- downward. The basic picture is that the budget deficit...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2003

Landmark ruling in day-care case

The former president of a nationwide chain of day-care centers was sentenced Wednesday to a suspended one-year prison term for professional negligence resulting in the death of a 4-month-old boy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 23, 2003

Casting light on the aurora

"The sight filled the northern sky; the immensity of it was scarcely conceivable. As if from Heaven itself, great curtains of delicate light hung and trembled. Pale green and rose-pink, and as transparent as the most fragile fabric, and at the bottom edge a profound and fiery crimson like the fires of...
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2003

Restructure job stress levels

LONDON -- Stress seems to be the most common reason for absence from work. Stress at work is not a new phenomenon, but in the past it was often called something else, such as exhaustion. In the worst cases, it led to what was termed a nervous breakdown. Some of the tougher or macho bosses regarded such...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2003

Police believe Korean gang to blame for killing

The Metropolitan Police Department suspects that a gang of Koreans may be responsible for the killing of a company president during a house robbery in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward early Tuesday, according to investigative sources.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2003

Ex-wrestler loses assault suit appeal

The Tokyo High Court dismissed an appeal by former professional wrestler Akira Maeda on Wednesday and ordered him to pay damages for assaulting the owner of a rival combat-sport promotion company.
LIFE / Digital
Jan 23, 2003

Move over MP3; purists demand 'lossless'

There's a whole industry built around the MP3 data-compression format, but did you know that by using MP3s to burn music CDs, you lose part of the original recording as the data compressor does its work?
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2003

Pet cats in Okinawa to carry microchips

The Environment Ministry will begin implanting microchips in pet cats in northern Okinawa that will carry data about the animal and its owner.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2003

Burglars kill homeowner and make off with loot

Four men broke into an elderly couple's home in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, early Tuesday, killed the husband and made off with money and jewels, police said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 22, 2003

Leading the way

In 1995 Tomomi Nishimoto was regularly sneaking into an auditorium to watch an esteemed Bolshoi maestro rehearse. Seven years later, she was appointed the first Japanese chief conductor of Russia's state-run Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra Millennium.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jan 22, 2003

Klimperei: "Pimpant!"

"Pimpant!" contains 43 songs, a signal that the music within could be a little weird. Also, the name of the group, Klimperei, is German for "able to play the piano just a little bit." Add to that the admission "we are not very good musicians" from one of the band's two members, and you might become a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 22, 2003

On a personal journey with the koto

While visiting Tokyo recently, saxophonist and composer John Zorn praised Michiyo Yagi, saying, "She's an example of a new kind of musician that can play all different styles of music in her own personal way."
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2003

Koizumi cautious on inflation target

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed caution Tuesday about the Bank of Japan adopting an inflation target to fight deflation at a two-day policy meeting that began the same day.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 22, 2003

This 'Pilgrim' is hardly progress

After the bubble economy burst in 1991, disillusionment and emptiness were felt throughout Japan. When "Pilgrim" was first performed in 1989 by The Third Stage Theater Company, however, most people foresaw only continuing prosperity, fueled by rising stock and property prices and the strengthening yen....

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo