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EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2002

Fears of an Orwellian government

The government launched a nationwide resident registry network Monday, with several municipalities refusing to join it. The controversial system, known as Juki Net, has many people wondering whether it is designed to promote convenience for residents or to tighten the government's grip on basic personal...
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 10, 2002

Giants show no mercy to Carp

Hideki Matsui extended his lead in the Central League home run race with his 29th and 30th homers of the season as the Yomiuri Giants overwhelmed the Hiroshima Carp 15-1 Friday night at the Tokyo Dome.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Mie towns join national registry after holding out

Two Mie Prefecture towns that had vowed not to join the national resident registry network made an about-face Friday morning and connected to the system.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Aug 10, 2002

Japanese firms fight back against Chinese copies

A Panasonic CD player, Sony headphones, Toshiba batteries. An extensive array of well-known, Japanese-made products is displayed at an office in Beijing, giving the impression that they are designed to promote imports.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Ministry targets improved home security measures

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry is seeking to promote better home security, including stronger locks to deter break-ins and lights and alarms aimed at making neighborhoods safer.
COMMENTARY
Aug 10, 2002

No cause to gloat over U.S.

LONDON -- Some Japanese company presidents and board chairmen have probably been laughing quietly to themselves over the scandals that have engulfed some large American companies from Enron to Xerox and WorldCom. After all the lectures they have heard from Americans about the superiority of American...
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2002

Record 7 million lost their jobs in 2001

About 7.01 million workers lost their jobs in 2001, marking the largest exodus ever, according to an annual report on employment released recently by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, which started compiling relevant figures in 1991.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2002

Japan Telecom to sell off part of engineering unit

Japan Telecom Holdings Co. said Friday it has agreed to sell off part of an engineering subsidiary to Australian-based construction and real estate company Bovis Lend Lease Corp. in an effort to concentrate on its core telecommunications business.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Nakano to vie for leadership of DPJ

Kansei Nakano, a top-ranking member of the Democratic Party of Japan, officially announced Friday that he will run for head of the main opposition party next month, the eighth person to join the race.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Cops search USJ; exec admits error

OSAKA -- Osaka police searched two Universal Studios Japan offices Friday in connection with the unauthorized use and storage of explosives at the Hollywood theme park.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2002

Bridgestone recovers from tire-recall debacle

Bridgestone Corp. said Friday it posted a consolidated net profit of 24.48 billion yen in the January-June period, marking a turnaround from the 30.57 billion yen loss it logged a year earlier.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Nippon Food Inc. Osaka unit raided

OSAKA -- Farm ministry officials on Friday searched Nippon Food Inc.'s Osaka unit, which was implicated in the defrauding of a state-run beef buyback program, ministry officials said.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2002

Business confidence surges as exports, production rise

Business confidence showed a dramatic quarter-on-quarter improvement in the April-June period due to a pickup in exports and production, according to a government report released Friday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 10, 2002

The danger of good intentions

HONOLULU -- After a year and a half of gradual improvement, relations between the United States and China appear to be taking a turn for the worse. Two recent U.S. reports sharply criticize U.S. policy toward China and have earned equally sharp criticism from Beijing in return. While we shouldn't overestimate...
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Man with 70 million yen stabbed; cash untouched

A man who almost daily withdrew cash from a bank for a pachinko parlor was beaten and stabbed by four men Friday morning after he took out almost 70 million yen, but his assailants fled without the cash, police said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2002

For country, for Coca-Cola, for cool companies

Jud Taylor is not only George Taylor, but George P. Taylor IX. His father was a psychologist, his grandfather a doctor and (according to family lore) the generations stretch back to a blacksmith who signed the American Declaration of Independence, for Pennsylvania, in 1776.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Record numbers avoiding school

A record 138,696 elementary and junior high school students were absent from school for at least 30 days without good reason during the school year that ended in March, according to the results of an education ministry survey released Friday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 9, 2002

A setback in fiscal reform

Earlier in his administration, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi projected an image of aggressive leadership as he called for "no pain, no gain" structural reform. His bold plans included streamlining the bloated government budget. With the economy still struggling to recover, however, he seems to have...
COMMENTARY
Aug 9, 2002

Surprise ups Taiwan's risks

HONOLULU -- "No surprises." This was one of the pledges Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian made to Washington, both at the time of his inauguration and again after his Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, made a better-than-expected showing in the December 2001 parliamentary elections and formed a virtual...
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2002

Cell phone shipments fall 6.5%, continuing slide

Domestic shipments of mobile phones and personal handy-phone system handsets fell 6.5 percent in June from a year earlier to 4.086 million units, down for the 13th consecutive month, an industry association said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2002

Market chaos poses danger to economy, Cabinet warns

The government on Thursday warned that downside risks are increasing for the Japanese economy due to volatility in global financial markets, but that the uptrend in Japan remains intact.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2002

Accused killer of eight accepts competency claim

OSAKA -- The man accused of massacring eight children last summer at an Osaka elementary school said in court Thursday he does not plan to contest the prosecution's claim that he is mentally competent to be held accountable for the crimes.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2002

Shiokawa wary of corporate tax cut

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Thursday it would be "extremely difficult" to carry out permanent tax cuts as part of proposed reductions of more than 1 trillion yen for fiscal 2003.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Aug 9, 2002

Asian appliance firms seek cracks in Japanese market

Customers shopping for TVs, refrigerators, microwave ovens and other electrical appliances are increasingly likely to come across brand names Galanz, Haier, LG and Samsung, which feature stylish designs and low prices that undercut those of their Japanese rivals.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2002

Treatment of depression eyed to stem suicide tide

With the nation's annual suicide toll exceeding 30,000, the government is considering ways to combat the runaway malaise by focusing on preventing and treating depression.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear