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BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2006

Award created to boost robot development

The government has established awards for robots that promise to be market leaders to encourage more research and development, and to increase demand for the machines, the industry ministry said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2006

Wrong way to improve education

I n Japan, teaching licenses remain valid permanently, but this system is heading for change. The Central Council for Education has proposed making it mandatory that teaching licenses be renewed every 10 years. The proposed change would affect not only future teachers but also the nation's 1.1 million...
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2006

Current account surplus increased 7.8% in first half of 2006

The current account surplus grew 7.8 percent to 9.44 trillion yen in the first half of 2006 compared with a year earlier as the income account surplus surged, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2006

Sailor in travel probe found hanged aboard ship

A second Maritime Self-Defense Force sailor suspected of wrongdoing was found hanged in the warehouse of the destroyer Asayuki at Sasebo base in Nagasaki Prefecture early Thursday morning, the Maritime Staff Office said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 11, 2006

Earth Celebration 2006

When & where: Aug. 18-20 at venues in and around the Ogi district of Niigata Prefecture's Sado Island. Pre-events start Aug. 13.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 11, 2006

Pitch Black "Halfway From Ape To Angel"

Some musical recipes are so obvious that you can't help wonder why no one hadn't thought of them earlier. Take New Zealand's Pitch Black, an electronic outfit who came up with the idea of fusing the endless echoes of dub with the propulsive, four-to-the-floor rhythms of trance. Equal parts cyber-Jamaican...
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2006

Advanced star projector is life's work for creator

head from the Southern Hemisphere. You can't see it that high up in Japan," he said. At the time, Ohira never dreamed he would re-create that spectacle with his own high-tech projector, but that's what happened. Soon after starting college, he began making star projectors and his enthusiasm for his hobby...
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2006

BOJ gets leeway as Fed pauses interest rate hikes: economist

The U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to pause rather than end its drive to raise interest rates has taken some of the pressure off the Bank of Japan, which is planning rate hikes of its own, according to analysts.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 10, 2006

Miyazato to make Japan appearance

U.S. LPGA tour rookie Ai Miyazato will make her first appearance on home soil at the Japan LPGA Championship Konica Minolta Cup in early September, the Ladies Professional Golfers' Association of Japan said Wednesday.
SOCCER / World cup
Aug 10, 2006

Boys in Blue give Osim first win as new coach

Ivica Osim's reign as coach of Japan got off to a winning start as Alex Santos scored both goals in a 2-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday evening.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

Typhoon Maria losing steam but Saomai near Naha

Typhoon Maria was moving northeast over the Pacific Ocean off the Kanto region Wednesday, losing strength but still disrupting rail and air traffic.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

Volunteer group's play tells refugee's harrowing tale

A Tokyo-based group working to raise awareness of the plight of people seeking asylum in Japan is performing a play that depicts the struggle of a refugee who lives under constant fear of deportation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

Abe tries to establish economic credentials

SAITAMA -- Yukinori Takahashi, 51, waited nervously with five other entrepreneurs in a spacious room at the business startup support center in Saitama Prefecture.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 10, 2006

Record holder Mori dies at age 26

Chinatsu Mori, the holder of Japanese women's shot put record, died at a Tokyo hospital Wednesday morning, the Japan Association of Athletics Federations said.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

CPAs in Kanebo fraud avoid prison

The Tokyo District Court handed suspended prison terms Wednesday to three certified public accountants for conspiring to falsify Kanebo Ltd.'s earnings in fiscal 2001 and 2002 to cover up a 160 billion yen capital deficit.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

Paternity leave takers fewer

Only 0.5 percent of male private-sector company workers took paternity leave in fiscal 2004, down from 0.56 percent the year before, a health ministry survey said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

Ozawa return done deal

Ichiro Ozawa, president of the Democratic Party of Japan, will probably be reinstalled in September without a challenger to merit an election, sources at the largest opposition party said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

Abe gets boost as factions look set to back him

Factional politics once again have come to the forefront of the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election with reports Wednesday that Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe has secured the support of two faction leaders and is a virtual shoo-in.
EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2006

Nagano bids maverick goodbye

Nagano voters on Sunday chose a steady and stable style of politics over maverick leadership often characterized by theatrics, confrontation and confusion. Gov. Yasuo Tanaka, a reform-minded ex-novelist, sought a third term but was defeated by Mr. Jin Murai, a former state minister for national disaster...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2006

Facing the past, embracing the future

To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future. We thus owe it to the youthful generations of the 21st century to communicate the hatred of war, the commitment to peace, that was engraved in so many lives on Aug. 15, 1945.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 10, 2006

A loving tribute at the Watari-um for a close friend

"Bye-Bye, Nam June Paik," the current exhibition at the Watari-Um Museum of Contemporary Art, is a loving tribute to an artist who has always been close to that Aoyama art space's heart.

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