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BASKETBALL
Jul 5, 2006

Japan now set to take on Lebanon

Japan's opponent in a tuneup for the men's world basketball championship getting under way in August has been changed to Lebanon from Puerto Rico, the Japan Basketball Association said Tuesday.
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 5, 2006

France counting on Zidane factor

DORTMUND, Germany -- France's chances of reaching the World Cup final depend on which Zizou turns up in Munich on Wednesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 5, 2006

Asakura goes distance in win

Kenta Asakura pitched his first complete-game shutout in four years with a five-hitter and Hirokazu Ibata and Tyrone Woods went deep as the Central League-leading Chunichi Dragons blanked the Yomiuri Giants 4-0 on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2006

Diplomat in traffic-accident flap

Police on Tuesday turned over to prosecutors their case on a South Korean diplomat in connection with a Tokyo auto accident.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2006

UV-absorbing chemical faces ban

Japan will ban the manufacture and import of a widely used ultraviolet ray absorber because it has been found to accumulate in the body and is toxic to the liver, officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2006

Dominican Republic emigrants to get apology

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will express regret to emigrants to the Dominican Republic in the 1950s and the government will pay about 1,300 people several million yen for the hardships they suffered under the program that sent them there, government officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2006

Kajima faces taxes on contract rebates

Kajima Corp. and other companies paid a combined 900 million yen in rebates to construction firms linked to a former executive of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. for contracts to build a pharmaceutical plant in Hikari, Yamaguchi Prefecture, according to a tax audit obtained Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2006

Co-op recalls body-fat scale that can't measure anything

A consumer cooperative union has begun recalling an instant body-fat scale imported from China because the instrument was found to have no fat-measuring functions, union officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2006

GSDF not affected by reported Samawah blasts: Nukaga

Troops from the Ground Self-Defense Force preparing to pull out of the southern Iraq city of Samawah were not affected by explosions reported in the city, Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2006

The Hashimoto legacy

Fortune did not smile on Mr. Ryutaro Hashimoto when he sought the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party, and the premiership, for a second time in April 2001. He was badly defeated by Mr. Junichiro Koizumi. But Mr. Hashimoto, prime minister from January 1996 to July 1998, who died over the weekend...
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2006

Schindler: People stuck in lifts 320 times in '04

Schindler Elevator K.K., the domestic subsidiary of the Swiss-based global elevator and escalator maker, said Tuesday that people in Japan were trapped inside its elevators 320 times in 2004.
SUMO
Jul 5, 2006

The competition finally arrives

In 1958, then yokozuna Wakanohana, uncle of the Wakanohana and Takanohana brothers of the 90s won the first July tournament in the modern era with a 13-2 record.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 5, 2006

Mao to take on Meissner in GP opener

Mao Asada, the 15-year-old skating sensation who won last year's Grand Prix Final but was too young to compete in the Turin Olympics, will begin her Grand Prix campaign this season along with older sister Mai, and Miki Ando, at Skate America in October, according to an entry list posted on the Web site...
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2006

Explanations only deepen suspicion

A South Korean man believed to have been kidnapped by North Korea 28 years ago was allowed to meet his mother and sister last week at Mount Kumgang in North Korea. Mr. Kim Young Nam (also known as Kim Chol Jun) is thought to be the man who married Ms. Megumi Yokota of Niigata, who was kidnapped by North...
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2006

Cabinet split over interest rates

Cabinet ministers appeared split Tuesday over the direction of the Bank of Japan's monetary stance, with the central bank coming closer to ending its "zero-interest-rate" policy next week.
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2006

LDP wants 140 trillion yen selloff of government assets

The Liberal Democratic Party's General Council has agreed the government should sell off about 140 trillion yen in assets by the end of fiscal 2015 as a part of its fiscal reform program, party officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2006

Big life insurers apologize to policyholders

Major life insurance companies, reeling from a series of misdeeds, held their annual meetings of policyholders' representatives Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2006

Western geopolitics suffering from an infantile disorder

PRAGUE -- Recent statements from some American leaders and North Atlantic Treaty Organization representatives give the impression that not only Islamic and other radicals, but also quite civilized figures, are losing their grasp of reality and have begun acting irrationally. The world is becoming an...
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2006

Nissan, Renault are ready to launch alliance talks with GM

Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA have approved opening talks with U.S. auto giant General Motors Corp. on a possible alliance, according to the Japanese and French automakers.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 5, 2006

Fond memories will bloom forever

When I was a young lad in South Wales I used to collect, press and catalog wild flowers. Then I reached the age of 12 and went to an all-boys school in England, where my seniors soon taught me that flowers were for sissies. So I kept this love to myself.

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