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Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2008

Stations, refineries brace for impact of lower pump prices

With higher gas taxes set to expire, Kazuo Yaginuma, spokesman for a gasoline station business, has been fielding a lot of phone calls lately from reporters asking what the impact might be.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2008

Under fire, ruling bloc passes the '08 budget

Ignoring a rejection by the opposition-controlled House of Councilors, the Diet Friday evening passed an ¥83 trillion state budget for fiscal 2008, which starts Tuesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 29, 2008

Ishikawa, Tanaka spark Swallows

As expected, there was a lot of offense on display on Opening Night at Jingu Stadium. Most of it, however, came from an unexpected source.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2008

Panel calls for direct producer contracts for Defense Ministry

A Defense Ministry internal panel considering procurement system reforms issued a report Friday urging that middlemen be bypassed and encouraging direct contracts with equipment manufacturers.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2008

Mitsubishi Heavy to proceed with regional jet development

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. announced Friday it will enter the global market for regional jetliners, in the process becoming the first Japanese company to launch its own passenger jets.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2008

Sapporo shareholders vote to keep Steel Partners at bay

By a two-thirds margin, Sapporo Holdings Ltd. shareholders voted Friday to back the brewer in its ongoing struggle to avert a takeover by its largest shareholder, Steel Partners, a U.S.-based activist hedge fund.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 29, 2008

Eco designs and the power of beans

Anand Mehta, who lives four stops out of Kamakura on the Enoden Line, quotes his hero when called to ask when we might meet: "Gandhi said, 'What can be done tomorrow can be done today. What can be done today can be done right now.' So, jump on the train."
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2008

Markets laud Fukuda offer to untie taxes

Sensing the will for reform, financial markets have responded generally favorably to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's proposal to free up road-related taxes for other purposes in fiscal 2009, but rural economies already suffering from cuts in public spending risk further damage, analysts say.
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2008

Taiwan takes a new approach

The election of Mr. Ma Ying-Jeou, the Nationalist (KMT) candidate, in Taiwan's presidential campaign last weekend could herald a diminution of tensions in the Taiwan Strait, one of the remaining legacies of the Cold War and a potential nuclear flash point. Mr. Ma has called for closer relations with...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 29, 2008

Welcome to Milkland

There is something Bovinian in the air. I am in Hokkaido and I can see farms all around, but no animals. As a matter of fact, you'd think all these farmers were farming snow, because that is all you can see — deep, deep snow behind the fences.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 29, 2008

Research on some research

Most of my Stateside friends and family have knowledge of Japan only as deep as what they see on TV. Which means they think I live my life in a "dizzified" world of ninja, yakuza and robots.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2008

End cross-shareholding, up dividends: TCI to J-Power

A senior executive of the Children's Investment Fund Management LLP (TCI), a British investment fund and the largest shareholder of Electric Power Development Co., urged the utility Friday to stop cross-shareholding and increase investment in fast-growing emerging economies.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 28, 2008

Rival point guards locked in battle for bj-league assist title

They may not speak about it day after day, but there's a spirited competition taking place for the bj-league's assist title this season between Oita Heat Devils point guard Tsubasa Yonamine and his counterpart from the Ryukyu Golden Kings, Naoto Takushi.
COMMENTARY
Mar 28, 2008

Bridge just got started across the strait

HONG KONG — The triumph of Ma Ying-jeou, the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, candidate in the presidential election in Taiwan brings to an end eight years of rule by the pro-independent Democratic Progressive Party, whose candidate, Frank Hsieh, managed to garner only 41 percent of the vote to 58...
COMMENTARY
Mar 28, 2008

Bringing in China and India

The rise of China and India is a frequent topic of discussion in the international community. In pondering the global repercussions of this rise and how the world might cope with it, it is instructive to examine how the international community dealt with Japan, and how Japan adapted to the international...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2008

Hashimoto's cost-cutting plans under fire

OSAKA — If Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto has his way, employees now working on international human rights issues may become school security guards and a popular women's center will be sold off.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear