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CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 4, 2004

"News Station" becomes "Hodo Station" on TV Asahi and more

On March 26, TV Asahi's nightly news program, "News Station," ended after 18 1/2 years and 4,795 programs. Host Hiroshi Kume wrapped up the record run with a toast.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Crackdown has publishers running scared

Yasunori Okadome last month suspended publication of his profitable monthly gossip magazine Uwasa-no-shinso (The Truth Behind Rumors), due to fears that a lawsuit could put him out of business for good.
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2004

Nurturing the sprouts of recovery

Japan's economic recovery, supported chiefly by large, export-oriented manufacturers, is spreading to other sectors, according to the Bank of Japan's quarterly survey on business sentiment. However, it is premature to conclude that the economy is headed for a self-sustaining recovery led by domestic...
BUSINESS
Apr 3, 2004

Chinese firm tells IRCJ of Kanebo purchase plan

Chinese drugmaker Sanjiu Enterprise Group has informed the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan of its plans to buy the pharmaceutical business of Kanebo Ltd., an official of the Chinese firm's Japan unit said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Drug offender to serve rest of term in U.K.

Japan will for the first time allow a foreign prisoner to serve the remainder of a sentence in the inmate's home country, Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 3, 2004

John Berg

This month a respected and well-loved Englishman leaves Japan. Known for his humor, humanity and quick wit, the Rev. John Berg is retiring from Yokohama Christ Church, where he has been rector since 1968. Three years ago, he retired from Yokohama's Mission to Seamen, where he was concurrently chaplain....
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2004

BOJ 'tankan' shows recovery widening

Business confidence at major manufacturers has risen to its highest level since June 1997, according to a key business survey released Thursday.
OLYMPICS
Apr 2, 2004

JOC angered over domestic row

responded negatively Thursday to sending taekwondo fighter Yoriko Okamoto to the Athens Olympics after rival domestic bodies administering the sport failed to form an umbrella organization by the deadline. Last month, the JOC said it will allow the participation of no athletes in taekwondo at this summer's...
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2004

Koizumi critic to head doctor lobby

The Japan Medical Association, a key support group for the Liberal Democratic Party, on Thursday elected Haruo Uematsu, an Osaka doctor who has criticized Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's medical-reform drive, as its new president.
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2004

U.S. seeks outside view on beef import impasse

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman has proposed that the United States and Japan jointly ask the Paris-based Organization for Animal Health to issue a judgment on Tokyo's ban on American beef imports, a senior Japanese farm ministry official said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 2, 2004

Lessons from the Okamoto case

The Tokyo High Court earlier this week rejected a U.S. request to extradite a medical researcher to face charges of industrial espionage in the United States. The court ruled that Mr. Takashi Okamoto, a former employee of the Japanese government-affiliated Institute of Physical and Chemical Research,...
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2004

Government appeals ruling on slave-labor compensation

The government on Wednesday appealed a landmark ruling last week that ordered it and a harbor transport company to jointly pay 88 million yen in compensation to Chinese who served as slave-laborers in Japan during World War II.
JAPAN / SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
Apr 1, 2004

Private universities feel heat from company-run upstarts

Already struggling to keep student numbers up amid an ever-shrinking pool of high school graduates, private universities now face a new threat -- stock exchange-listed companies entering the fray of running institutions of higher learning.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2004

Parents angry at education board over anthem directive

Parents of children who attend public schools in Tokyo urged the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education on Wednesday to retract its punishment of teachers who refused to stand up and sing "Kimigayo" at graduation ceremonies.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2004

Temporary magazine sales ban threatens freedom of expression

The Tokyo District Court's temporary injunction banning the sale of the weekly Shukan Bunshun over an article about the private life of a Diet lawmaker's daughter triggered debate over the issue of privacy vs. freedom of expression.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Apr 1, 2004

Ways of weathering winter

I had to attend a college graduation ceremony and an Environment Ministry meeting in Tokyo; otherwise I could easily have made it in a day from Okinawa to northern Nagano Prefecture where I live. As it was, the trip from that balmy Pacific isle to my home amid the snows of Kurohime took me until nearly...
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2004

Iranian family faces deportation as justice minister wins court reversal

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling that nullified a deportation order for a visaless Iranian family, effectively putting the family back on the deportation track.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2004

Nation gears up for tax-inclusive pricing

On Wednesday night, clerks at convenience and department stores nationwide will be busy ripping the price tags off their products and introducing new ones.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2004

China aid to be based on ties, growth

Japan will consider bilateral ties as well as China's economic development in its policy on future economic aid to Beijing, the Foreign Ministry said in an annual white paper on official development assistance.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2004

Kids to learn about North Korea abductions, Sept. 11 attacks

The abduction of Japanese nationals to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States have been included for the first time in elementary school textbooks.
Japan Times
JAPAN / SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
Mar 30, 2004

Universities face brave new world of autonomy, competition

The academic year that begins Thursday will mark a new era for national universities, which will be cut loose from the fetters of the education ministry and gain independent administrative institution status.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2004

GSDF inaugurates undercover antiterrorist squad

A special operations unit debuted Monday in the Ground Self-Defense Force in response to growing fears of terrorism and guerrilla attacks on Japan.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 30, 2004

Downloadable discrimination

There has been a lot of press recently not just on foreign crime (again), but on unethical methods of collecting data on foreigners.
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLITICS IN FOCUS
Mar 30, 2004

Opposition reconsiders anti-LDP tactics

Majority rule is a basic feature of democracy. This principle, however, has often gone through violent contortions when it comes to voting in the Diet, a phenomenon rarely if ever observed in other advanced democracies.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / A GAIJIN'S TALE
Mar 30, 2004

ATM anxiety

As a Chinese-American, I'm like a foreigner incognito in Japan. This time 'round, however, it was pretty hard to disguise my identity as a foreigner.

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