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BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2003

Big business groups expect Cabinet to produce

Leaders of the nation's three major business groups on Monday welcomed the new Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, expressing their hope for accelerating structural reforms.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Sep 23, 2003

Retailers look to make a bundle on use of electronic money

More and more retailers are providing consumers with the option of using electronic money, essentially in the form of prepaid cards, instead of cash when purchasing goods.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2003

Asia exports boost trade surplus 23.1%

Japan's trade surplus in August grew 23.1 percent from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive monthly rise, the Finance Ministry said Monday in a preliminary report.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 22, 2003

Lopsided scores dominate first round of Top League

The new Top League was put on hold on Sunday for six weeks to allow Japan's best (not to mention a number of Samoans, Tongans and Fijians plying their trade in Japan) time off to compete in the Rugby World Cup.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2003

U.S. hails prime minister's victory

The United States welcomed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's landslide victory Saturday in the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election, calling for continuing close cooperation between the two countries.
COMMUNITY
Sep 21, 2003

I don't like cricket, oh no . . . I love it

It is often said that the future of a nation lies with its youth. If that is also true of sport, then Gunma could soon end up being the Barbados of Asia, producing cricketers on a par with the great Caribbean production line.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2003

Group-use discounts for expressways to be stopped

Japan Highway Public Corp. will abolish toll discounts extended to group users of expressways in a bid to ensure fairness, transport minister Chikage Ogi said Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2003

Low-quality beans allegedly used in UCC Kona 100%

A Hawaiian affiliate of UCC Ueshima Coffee Co. is suspected of mixing premium Kona coffee beans with cheaper beans and selling the mixture as Kona 100%, according to an accusation document obtained by Kyodo News.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 20, 2003

Robin Bell

KEELE, England -- The university here occupies the estate that used to belong to the aristocratic Sneyd family, in earlier centuries landowners who in the 19th century became industrialists. A magnificent hall, dating from 1580 and still in use, shares its setting nowadays with square university buildings...
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2003

Job woes to be tackled via letter

The Cabinet Office and three ministries said Friday they will jointly send a letter to 384 business organizations asking them to work harder to create jobs for young people.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2003

Hiranuma eyes new agency for trade discussions

Trade minister Takeo Hiranuma on Friday advocated the creation of a government agency that would be modeled after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2003

DPJ promises to slash wasteful state spending

The Democratic Party of Japan on Thursday unveiled a detailed cost-cutting manifesto for the next House of Representatives election, expected to be held in November.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2003

Interest rates have stopped rising: BOJ

Members of the Bank of Japan Policy Board agreed during a meeting on Aug. 7 and 8 that long-term interest rates in Japan had stopped rising, according to minutes released Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 19, 2003

Quartet skirts tough questions

As the campaign for the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election draws to a close, all four candidates, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, continue to avoid tough questions about economic policy issues. In offering "carrots" but no "sticks," they are projecting, wittingly or not, a populist...
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2003

10% of public school students eligible for welfare

The prolonged economic slump has extended into the nation's classrooms, with around 1.15 million public elementary and junior high school students qualifying for financial aid in fiscal 2002.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2003

Soga talks of family she left behind

MANO, Niigata Pref. -- Hitomi Soga, who returned to Japan last year for the first time since being abducted to North Korea in 1978, said Tuesday she is filled with the pain of being separated from her husband and children.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2003

Koizumi hints at October election

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi suggested Tuesday he may dissolve the House of Representatives next month because holding simultaneous Lower and Upper House elections in summer "is not a good idea."
Events
Sep 14, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Demonstration of flower arranging set for Kyoto: The Kyoto chapter of Ikebana International will hold a demonstration of the art of Japanese flower arranging from 1 p.m. on Tuesday at the Brighton Hotel Kyoto, in the city's Kamigyo Ward.
COMMUNITY
Sep 14, 2003

Plenty of ways to escape debtors' hell

Lenders loathe him, and Hiroyuki Yagi, Buddhist monk-in-training and president of consultancy Central Research Institute, Inc., loves this reputation.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 14, 2003

Uncovering lost worlds of Japanese film

RECALLING THE TREASURES OF JAPANESE CINEMA: Japanese Film History Studies, edited by Friends of Silent Film Association, supervised by Matsuda Film Productions, preface by Tadao Sato. Tokyo: Urban Connections, 2003, 200 pp., with photos, 1,800 yen (cloth). With movies so ubiquitous it is easy to forget...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 14, 2003

Poetry: a language without borders

KIYOKO'S SKY: The Haiku of Kiyoko Tokutomi, translations by Patricia J. Machmiller & Fay Aoyagi. Illinois: Brookes Books, Decatur, 2002, 128 pp., $16 (paper). SELECTED HAIKU, by Takaha Shugyo, translations by Hoshino Tsunehiko & Adrian Pinnington. Tokyo: Furansudo, 2003, 108 pp., $16 (paper). These two...
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2003

Iraq mission to determine Japanese assistance

Japan will send a fact-finding mission to Iraq as early as next week to determine where Self-Defense Forces can operate and what kind of humanitarian assistance Tokyo can offer, government officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2003

Defector describes childhood of pain

A North Korean who was once detained in the notorious Yodeok concentration camp called on South Korea, Japan and other nations to join hands to pressure the Kim Jong Il regime.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2003

Yokosuka navy base plays key missile role, think tank says

YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa Pref. -- A disarmament think tank on Friday suggested that Yokosuka is a pivotal U.S. base for Tomahawk cruise missiles, backing its claim with documents showing that a U.S. destroyer received and transferred hundreds of the high-tech missiles here between 1991 and 1997.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2003

LDP poll committee baffled by some yahoo

The Liberal Democratic Party has learned that the totally unexpected can sometimes happen in the high-tech age.

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