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JAPAN
Dec 21, 2005

ODA outlay marks 3.4% fall

The Finance Ministry on Tuesday allocated 759 billion yen for official development assistance for fiscal 2006, down 3.4 percent from the previous year.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2005

3.16% cut planned for medical fees

The government and the ruling coalition agreed Sunday to slash the medical services tariff -- which sets the fees paid by public health insurance to doctors and pharmacists -- by a record 3.16 percent in fiscal 2006.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 18, 2005

Robotic journalists do their 'job' covering tragic deaths of girls

In a period of less than three weeks, three elementary school-age girls were recently murdered in different areas of Japan. The nature of the crimes guaranteed extensive coverage, but their occurrence in quick succession stretched the resources of the news media beyond its normal capabilities.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2005

Record 5 million ambulance calls cast doubt on disaster preparedness

The government Friday called for establishing an effective emergency rescue system as the number of ambulance dispatches topped 5 million for the first time in 2004, exposing potential problems for the swift transfer of the sick and injured during major disasters.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2005

Joint missile development to cost Japan $1.2 billion

Japan will shoulder up to $1.2 billion of the cost to jointly develop a next-generation interceptor missile with the United States, the Defense Agency told the Security Council of Japan on Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2005

'Tankan' finds broad improvement in business confidence

Companies turned more optimistic in December amid improved exports and firm domestic consumption, demonstrating that the economy is continuing its gradual upswing, according to the Bank of Japan's "tankan" quarterly business survey released Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 2005

Small government vs. welfare

The government is striving to downsize itself. With debts owed by the central and local governments amounting to 800 trillion yen, it stands to reason that, where possible, much of the work presently being carried out by government should be delegated to the private sector. But to uniformly pursue "small...
Features
Dec 11, 2005

Discordant history mars neighbors' friendship overtures

Japanese actress Yoshino Kimura was the lone main guest at the Chuo Kokaido Hall in Osaka in October. She appeared without her Korean counterpart in the opening ceremony to celebrate this year's 40th anniversary of the 1965 Japan-South Korean Treaty that normalized Tokyo-Seoul relations.
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2005

Road tax revenue to be freed up

The government and the ruling parties agreed Friday to devise ways to widen the uses for auto-related tax revenue away from only road construction.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2005

Civil servants' get modest increase in bonus this year

Employees of the central and local governments received Friday slightly larger winter bonuses than last year.
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2005

Second quarter GDP downgraded

Japan downgraded its real GDP growth figure Friday for the July-September quarter to 0.2 percent from the previously reported 0.4 percent.
EDITORIALS
Dec 9, 2005

Dutiful extension in Iraq

The government has extended by another year the deployment of Self-Defense Force (SDF) troops in Iraq. The extension, decided at Thursday's Cabinet meeting, came about by changing the basic plan under an ad hoc law that allows SDF soldiers to engage in noncombat activities in Iraq. The decision follows...
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2005

SDF mission in Iraq extended; June exit planned

The government formally endorsed a revised plan Thursday to extend the Ground Self-Defense Force's humanitarian mission in Samawah, southern Iraq, for another year while at the same time signaling the troops' withdrawal by next summer.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2005

Did Koizumi court DPJ on reformist alliance?

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi contacted Democratic Party of Japan President Seiji Maehara via a close aide in late September to sound him out on forming a grand coalition, sources claimed Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2005

Over decade after accident, Monju may be reborn

channel 9 and through 26 public address towers set up inside the city limits," said Fumiyoshi Kato, an official in the municipal nuclear power safety section. The evacuation areas are mostly elementary schools and public halls. However, Kato said they do not contain much in the way of emergency supplies....
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2005

Machinery orders rebound to 4.8%

Core private-sector machinery orders grew a seasonally adjusted 4.8 percent in October from the previous month, rebounding from the 10 percent drop in September but failing to meet the market's forecast of a 5.9 percent gain, the government said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2005

Time not ripe for BOJ policy shift: Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday that the time is not yet ripe for the Bank of Japan to lift its super-easy monetary policy.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2005

Panel OKs SDF's Iraq extension

A key policy panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party approved on Wednesday a one-year extension for the Ground Self-Defense Force's mission in Iraq.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2005

Tokyo plans to pull GSDF from Iraq by Aug. 31

Tokyo told Washington in November that it will begin withdrawing the Ground Self-Defense Force from Iraq in June and finish by the end of August, government and ruling coalition sources revealed Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2005

Japan ready for pain at WTO: Nikai

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai said Tuesday that Japan is ready to accept a painful outcome from the difficult market-opening negotiations taking place in the World Trade Organization's Doha Round, hinting that Tokyo may make concessions in its heavily protected agricultural sector....
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2005

8 billion yen outlay eyed to repair shoddy condo fiasco

and land minister Kazuo Kitagawa, addresses a government meeting Tuesday on aid for condominium owners in the shoddy building scandal.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2005

Asbestos payout set at 3 million yen

The government on Tuesday accepted a ruling coalition proposal to give 3 million yen in condolence money and funeral fees to people who lost family members to asbestos-linked diseases, 200,000 yen more than the government's initial proposal.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2005

LDP, New Komeito agree to create Defense Ministry

The secretaries general and policy chiefs of New Komeito and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party officially agreed Monday to draft a bill to turn the Defense Agency into a ministry.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2005

Abe suggests income tax breaks may stay in place

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe voiced support Monday for a proposal to delay the cancellation of income tax cuts if it would harm the economy.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2005

Koizumi plans tour of Middle East

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Israel, the Palestinian territories and Turkey in early January, the government announced Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2005

New Komeito to go along with Defense Ministry

New Komeito, the junior coalition partner of the Liberal Democratic Party, will conditionally accept a proposal by the LDP to upgrade the Defense Agency as a ministry, party sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2005

Panel to ponder overseer to handle foreign aid loans

The government on Friday appointed former Prosecutor General Akio Harada as head of an advisory panel tasked with discussing which entity should handle foreign-aid loans, a pending issue in the process of consolidating state-run financial institutions.
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2005

Weak yen OK, reflects state of economy, Tanigaki figures

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki signaled Friday that a weak yen is acceptable because it is a true reflection of the state of Japan's economy.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past