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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
Apr 30, 2004

Women edge men in Japanese fun gauge

Japan may still be a man's world, but women are -- finally -- starting to have more fun.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2004

Monitors on buoys planned to gauge oceans' CO2 role

The science ministry will create a global-monitoring system to check how much carbon dioxide is absorbed and emitted by the sea, government officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2004

Ramen makers go upmarket in search of fresh clientele

Customers with Prada handbags and Gucci sunglasses sometimes stand in line for hours and hungrily wait outside the restaurant door, feasting their eyes on the delicacy that awaits inside: a bowl of ramen.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 30, 2004

Get away from it all without going so far

HINASE, Okayama Pref. -- Most people, if asked to name their favorite islands in Japan, might plump for the southernmost and most exotic ones which together comprise Okinawa Prefecture. Others, less enamored of balmy climes, might prefer Niigata Prefecture's Sado Island in the Sea of Japan; while some...
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

U.S. seeks reconstruction aid from SDF in Afghanistan

OSAKA -- With the security situation in Afghanistan worsening, the U.S. State Department's coordinator for the country voiced hope for increased Japanese participation, including military assistance for reconstruction efforts at the local level.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

Airports plan to start shoe X-rays before Golden Week

Japan will start X-raying travelers' shoes at airports before the Golden Week holidays begin in late April as part of an antiterror drive, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Nobuteru Ishihara said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2004

Polls to change face of Asia

HONOLULU -- Winston Churchill once said "democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried." Recent elections in South Korea and Taiwan have already demonstrated that irony. This year contains a number of presidential and parliamentary elections that promise to...
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2004

Government orders former hostages to pay up

The government has demanded that three Japanese civilians previously held hostage in Iraq pay a combined 2.37 million yen to the state to cover expenses it incurred after their release, an official representing a Foreign Ministry affiliate said Monday.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2004

Most carmakers saw output rise in March

Most of Japan's major automakers on Monday reported increased global production in March due to rising demand, but troubled Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced a decline in last month's output.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2004

China, consolidation end steel industry slump

After years of being in a slump, Japan's steelmakers are again enjoying strong demand, buoyed by China's red-hot hunger for everything used to make buildings, bridges and other social infrastructure.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 27, 2004

Car checks and new passport rules

Vehicle inspection Do you know of anyone who could give me information on the laws and procedure regarding car inspections? I need to obtain Japanese inspection and a registration number plate for a recently imported car.
JAPAN / TALKING SHOP
Apr 26, 2004

Diagrams help equity investment pro when words get jumbled

Where there is a diagram, there is a way.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 26, 2004

Commercialization of science comes at a cost

NEW YORK -- The 18th-century American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin declined to claim a patent on the stove he invented. His reason was simple: If whatever he devised made people a little more comfortable during the winter, he'd be content.
COMMENTARY
Apr 26, 2004

A laudable Yasukuni ruling

In a landmark ruling April 7, the Fukuoka District Court ruled that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine, the memorial to Japan's war dead, contravened the constitutional principle of keeping state and religion separate. The court, however, dismissed the plaintiffs' demand for...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 26, 2004

Antimonopoly Law must be reformed to fit 21st century

The Fair Trade Commission is contemplating making a revision to the Antimonopoly Law in hopes of being able to submit a bill to the Diet, which is now in session. However, the contents of the revision are still up in the air.
EDITORIALS
Apr 25, 2004

'A long fuse has been lighted'

With the earlier-than-usual arrival of warm weather, the influenza season in Japan is almost over, and the number of patients reported to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is down 40 percent from last year. However, the danger of the bird flu virus mutating and a new type of influenza breaking...
Japan Times
Features / LIFE OR DEATH
Apr 25, 2004

Only the noose can ease victims' pain

More than four years have passed since his 2-year-old granddaughter was murdered, yet never a day goes by without Tsuneo Matsumura mournfully remembering little Haruna, or having images of her flash through his mind whenever he sees a girl about the same age as she would be.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 24, 2004

The Catch in publishing posters, cards, calendars

Meeting Frances Koston in May 2003 after a gap of years, she presented me with a clutch of postcards bearing beautifully printed images of early hand-tinted Japanese photographs. Just last month she came up with a collection of greeting cards of century-old textile prints, again originating in Japan....
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2004

Bank bill seen unlikely to stabilize financial system

A government-sponsored bill to prop up struggling financial institutions with public funds is apparently designed to boost investor confidence.
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2004

Investment companies to form tieup

Softbank Investment Corp. and Hong Kong investment company SW Kingsway Capital Holdings Ltd. will set up joint ventures in Japan and Hong Kong in mid-May to help Japanese and Chinese firms advance into Japanese and Hong Kong markets, Softbank Investment said Friday.

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