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JAPAN
Aug 3, 2006

Japanese pops lag at quality time with kids

Japanese fathers spend an average of 3.1 hours per weekday with their children, placing second from the bottom in a six-country international comparison, according to a report by the National Women's Education Center.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2006

Tohoku sees end of long rain season

The rainy season apparently ended Wednesday in the Tohoku region, bringing to an end this year's longer-than-usual wet season, according to the Meteorological Agency.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2006

Manufacturers to up spending 21.8%

Major Japanese manufacturers plan to spend 21.8 percent more on capital investment than they did in fiscal 2005, stretching the double-digit uptrend to a fourth consecutive year, the Development Bank of Japan said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 3, 2006

Transience in art and life

One reason the Sistine Chapel in Rome is so venerated is that it represents one of the occasions when art did not lose out to religion when the two came together. Though religious constraints sometimes force artists to rise to the occasion -- as with Islamic art in which rich Arabesque patterns replace...
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2006

Japan lauds UNSC resolution on Iran

Japan on Tuesday welcomed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Tehran to suspend all uranium enrichment-related and reprocessing activities by Aug. 31 and showed determination not to compromise on its stance against nuclear proliferation because of its economic stake in Iran.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2006

DPJ leaders go fishing to help Miyake

Top Democratic Party of Japan officials visited Miyake Island on Tuesday to help promote the island's tourism industry, which has been severely damaged in the wake of the volcanic eruptions that started in September 2000.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2006

METI tells Paloma to resubmit heater report

The government demanded Tuesday that Paloma Industries Ltd. resubmit a report within a week on its probe into deadly carbon monoxide poisonings caused by defects in its gas water heaters.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 2, 2006

Suzuki to miss judo worlds

Athens Olympics over-100 kg gold medalist Keiji Suzuki will sit out the World Cup team championships in Paris on Sept. 16-17 due to a left shoulder injury, the All Japan Judo Federation said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2006

Licensing rights to players' images belong to baseball teams, court rules

The Tokyo District Court ruled Tuesday that the right to license the names and likenesses of professional baseball players belongs to their ballclubs.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2006

Paper hits North's missiles, China buildup

nuclear (arms) issue, are a destabilizing factor for the entire international community," the report reads. "The range of North Korean missiles is expected to be extended (farther), including possible derivatives of Taepodong-2 missiles," the paper, released Tuesday, says in reference to Pyongyang's...
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 2, 2006

Taiwanese to sue Yasukuni to have relatives' names struck

Ten relatives of Taiwanese who served in the wartime Imperial Japanese forces and are honored among the war dead at Yasukuni Shrine will file a lawsuit demanding that their kin be struck from the roster, their legal agents in Japan said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2006

Sumitomo Light Metal dinged for 250 million yen in back taxes

Tax authorities have determined Sumitomo Light Metal Industries Ltd. gave more than 1 billion yen in undeclared donations to deficit-ridden subsidiaries over a four-year period through March 31, 2005, sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2006

Tobacco tax revenues rose 26% in June

Tobacco tax revenue rose 26.4 percent in June from the same month a year ago to 82.33 billion yen on higher demand for imported brands ahead of the July 1 tobacco tax increase, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2006

New ODA sections for Asia set up

The Foreign Ministry established two new departments Tuesday, one of which aims to improve planning for official development assistance in Southeast and Southwest Asia.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2006

Obituary: Kazuko Tsurumi

Sociologist Kazuko Tsurumi died Monday, her family said. She was 88.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2006

Orix buys QB Net barbershop chain

Leasing firm Orix Corp. said Tuesday it has purchased a 73.9 percent stake in QB Net Co., which runs the barbershop chain QB House, and sent two directors to the QB Net board.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2006

U.S. beef terms stand: Nakagawa

Farm minister Shoichi Nakagawa indicated Tuesday that Japan will not accept a request from the United States to meet in the fall to discuss easing its restrictions on U.S. beef imports.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2006

Land prices log first rise in 14 years

The average price of land along selected key thoroughfares nationwide rose for the first time in 14 years, standing at 114,000 yen per sq. meter as of Jan. 1, up 0.9 percent, or 1,000 yen, over a year earlier, the National Tax Agency said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2006

Perfect storm brewing in Horn of Africa

LONDON -- It has the makings of a perfect storm extending right across the Horn of Africa. The 15-year war of all against all in Somalia is threatening to morph into an international war bringing chaos and disaster to the rest of the region, and the al-Qaida-obsessed "securocrats" in Washington are the...
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2006

Koizumi vows to restart trade talks

Expressing concern that the breakdown of the World Trade Organization's Doha round of trade talks could hurt the growth of the world economy, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged Tuesday that Japan will "provide its utmost effort" to restart the moribund negotiations.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2006

NTT Data has 87% jump in profit

NTT Data Corp. said Tuesday its group net profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2006 increased 86.8 percent over the previous year to 11.02 billion yen.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2006

Retail gasoline prices nearing record high

Nippon Oil Corp. and other major oil companies raised wholesale prices of gasoline and other petroleum products Tuesday by 4 yen to 10 yen per liter from last month, primarily because of higher costs of crude oil.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Aug 2, 2006

Cider and Spots in my haunts of old

It was my first month of living in Tokyo, and I had just about gained enough courage to go into a little restaurant and order all by myself. I had come to Japan to study karate, and had just finished a hard training session at the Kodokan. I was thirsty, and so was delighted to see that not only did...

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