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COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2006

What's next, militarization of the Andes?

BUENOS AIRES -- While the world's attention is riveted on Iraq, the Colombia Plan, developed by the United States to fight drugs and leftwing guerrillas in Colombia, may soon be applied as a general strategy across the nations of the Andes, if not all of Latin America. Colombia, it seems, is only mentioned...
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2006

HIV toll rising in Japan

In the 23 years since the HIV virus was discovered, AIDS has become recognized as a "disease of the poor," one that is "incurable" but "100 percent preventable," in the words of its co-discoverer, Professor Luc Montagnier, president of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention. While over...
MORE SPORTS
May 15, 2006

Dance in the Mood back in form

It was a long time coming, but Dance in the Mood finally found her feet again, capturing the Mother's Day inaugural Victoria Mile at Tokyo Sunday by a length and a quarter over Air Messiah.
MORE SPORTS
May 11, 2006

JSF plans to accuse ex-president for embezzlement

The Japan Skating Federation plans to file civil and criminal charges against its former president for suspected embezzlement, acting federation president Yasuakira Hayashi said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 11, 2006

Transsexuals gain freedoms but still face barriers

To most people, Takafumi Fujio -- with cropped hair, thick arms and deep voice -- is a typical, middle-aged salaryman. But until four years ago, when the food company worker started on a range of hormonal treatments, he was a woman, a housewife and mother of two.
JAPAN
May 11, 2006

Posts service remittance fraud soars

Incidents of remittance fraud committed through postal services, including registered mail, rose by 2 1/2 times last year to 482, up from 189 incidents in 2004, according to the National Police Agency.
JAPAN
May 11, 2006

Horie to plead not guilty, lawyers say

Former Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie will plead not guilty to securities law violations, his lawyers told the Tokyo District Court during pretrial proceedings Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2006

Readiness to enforce peace

Warring factions in Sudan's Darfur region last week concluded a peace agreement that is designed to end three years of vicious fighting. The deal is not perfect. Several of the warring factions are not signatories, and only concerted intervention by outside powers, including the African Union, the Arab...
JAPAN
May 2, 2006

Female, elderly entrepreneurs on the rise as society grays

The number of women and elderly people preparing to start new businesses has been rising amid the aging of the population and consequent decrease in the number of small and midsize companies as their owners retire, a recent government report says.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2006

Core CPI shows first growth in eight years

Japan's core consumer price index rose 0.1 percent in fiscal 2005 from the previous year for the first increase in eight years, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2006

Imported crude oil may hit $100

Imported crude oil prices in Japan may reach $100 per barrel in 2030, up from the current level of around $60 per barrel, driven higher by rising demand in Asia, according to a report by the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2006

Top court looks to reject posthumous in vitro paternity

The Supreme Court has recently made a move that suggests it may change a 2004 high court decision acknowledging a woman's dead husband as the father of their son, who was born via in vitro fertilization after the father died, using frozen sperm.
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 2006

Abduction issue not resolved

The Japanese government has announced DNA analysis results that indicate that the daughter of Ms. Megumi Yokota, a Japanese abducted by North Korean agents in 1977, was very likely fathered by a South Korean man also abducted by the Pyongyang regime in the 1970s, a Mr. Kim Young Nam. There is now a strong...
BUSINESS
Apr 15, 2006

Copyright revision helps one-coin DVDs become hit with movie collectors

It happens all the time: You run down to the video store to rent your favorite movie classic, only to find someone else has beaten you to it. But what if you could buy your very own DVD of the film for the same price as renting it?
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 11, 2006

Sick, desperate Japanese turn to booming Chinese organ trade

When Kenichiro Hokamura's kidneys failed, he spent four years on dialysis before going online to check out rumors of organs for sale.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2006

Yasuda Warehouse gets DBJ's first low-rate loan

The Development Bank of Japan on Thursday extended its first low-interest rate loan for firms with good disaster plans to Yasuda Warehouse Co., the government-controlled bank said.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2006

China slammed over cryptographer honey trap suicide

The government Friday condemned China for blackmailing a Japanese diplomat in Shanghai two years ago for intelligence, driving him to commit suicide.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2006

Daiichi Sankyo to acquire Zepharma

Daiichi Sankyo Co. will buy Zepharma Inc., Astellas Pharma Inc.'s nonprescription drug unit, for 23.5 billion yen on April 13, Daiichi Sankyo and Astellas said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2006

Muraoka acquitted of hiding JDA check

The Tokyo District Court found former Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Kanezo Muraoka not guilty Thursday of concealing a 100 million yen donation from the nation's dental lobby in July 2001 to the then top LDP faction.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 30, 2006

Hawks hoping to get over playoff hump

CHIBA LOTTE MARINES -- Manager Bobby Valentine's club won it all last season and will no doubt be a contender for the Pacific League again. The lineup is solid with veterans Kazuya Fukuura (6 home runs, 72 RBIs, .300 average in 2005) at first base and Koichi Hori (7, 46, .305) at second, National Team...
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2006

Accounting firm's undoing: Livedoor

The Yokohama-based accounting firm that audited the books of indicted Internet firm Livedoor Co. is planning to disband in late June, company officials said Tuesday.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji