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JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

Pickpockets mace station; 27 hurt

Tokyo commuters had a flashback to the March 1995 sarin attack on the subway system Thursday when four suspected pickpockets released what appeared to be mace at a railway station while trying to flee police, injuring 27 people.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

Diet to grill air carriers' leaders over safety ills

The House of Representatives transport committee will summon the presidents of Japan Airlines Corp. and Skymark Airlines Co. to a hearing Tuesday to testify on maintenance errors and blunders found recently at the two carriers, panel sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

Ozawa looks popular ahead of DPJ vote

Ichiro Ozawa appeared to be leading Naoto Kan in popularity among the Democratic Party of Japan's rank and file Thursday, the day before members will elect one of them to be their next president.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

Europe's reconciliation model hard sell in land of anemic civil society

OSAKA -- The public should take a page out of the Europeans' book and do more to push political leaders to reconcile Japan's relations with East Asia over historical issues, an expert on European historical reconciliation said at a seminar here earlier this week.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

NPA seeks 20% cuts in road deaths

The National Police Agency will focus on cyclists and elderly people to achieve a national goal of reducing traffic deaths and injuries by 20 percent a year over the next five years, according to an action program unveiled Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2006

CPA body plans registry for auditors

An industry body governing certified public accountants said Thursday it will start a registration system next April to help it weed out accounting firms or auditors found to have violated accounting rules.
EDITORIALS
Apr 7, 2006

Nuclear safety called into question

A court ruling issued in late March concerning a power reactor in Ishikawa Prefecture has proved both rare and astounding. Saying that there is a problem with the earthquake-resistance design of the reactor, the court ordered a halt to the operation of the nuclear-power station -- the first ruling ordering...
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2006

Boom-bust gauge stayed over 50% in February

A key gauge of the current state of the economy stood above the boom-or-bust threshold of 50 percent in February for the seventh-straight month, spurred mainly by improvement in employment conditions, the government said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

Train-car crash kills one in Setagaya

A Keio Line commuter train hit a car Wednesday on a grade crossing in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, killing the car's driver and leaving four others slightly injured, police and firefighters said.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

Foreign students' goal of career proves elusive

In line with the government's campaign launched in 1983 to boost the number of foreign students in Japan to the 100,000 mark, the figure came to some 117,000 in 2004.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

Defense lawyers feel discovery limits their trial options, time

Many defense lawyers are complaining that the "pretrial clarification procedures" that took effect last Nov. 1 in an effort to speed up criminal trials is leaving them with insufficient time to prepare and foreclosing on chances to introduce new evidence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 7, 2006

Girl at the (cutting) edge

"Me and You and Everyone We Know" is an exercise in subdued radicality: writer/director Miranda July delivers some incredible scenes involving sex between minors, self-inflicted violence, an unsupervised 7-year-old assuaging the sexual frustrations of an adult woman online. But the whole thing is delicately...
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2006

Japan, Gulf states to negotiate FTA

Japan and Saudi Arabia agreed Thursday to begin negotiations on a free-trade agreement between Japan and the Gulf Cooperation Council, which consists of six major Middle East oil exporters, including Saudi Arabia.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

DPJ freshmen call for unity, credibility in leadership contest

The 13 freshman members of the Democratic Party of Japan elected for the first time in September's Lower House election issued a joint statement Thursday asking the party's presidential candidates to create party unity.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

Elite bidding to be abolished: ministry

As a measure to eliminate bid-rigging, the infrastructure ministry plans to abolish an elite bidding system for public works projects that was only open to nominated firms, ministry officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Apr 7, 2006

Getting animated in Suginami

Suginami Ward may be known as a bed town, but the residents are restless. Butting up against Musashino and Mitaka cities and sharing a "west wing" location with Setagaya Ward to the south and Nerima Ward to the north, what appears to be a quiet residential area has always been a hotbed of activism.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2006

Cell phones for crime-wary kids see brisk sales

With the cell phone market saturated with 90 million contracts, handset makers and phone companies are moving to create new demand by focusing on children and safety.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2006

Sony eyes Cho as outside director

Sony Corp. is planning to hire Toyota Motor Corp. Vice Chairman Fujio Cho as an outside director to take advantage of his advice for reinvigorating its electronics business, company sources said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 7, 2006

Bring on the backlash say Arctic Monkeys

It must be difficult to carry the weight of the rock world's expectations on your shoulders, but Sheffield, England's Arctic Monkey's held up well Tuesday night at Studio Coast in eastern Tokyo. Giving Japan a quick preview tour in advance of their headline performances this summer at Summer Sonic, the...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 7, 2006

Lost in the K-hole

Bernard Sumner of U.K. dance-pop group New Order credits the late, great Ian Curtis with introducing Joy Division -- later to become New Order after Curtis' suicide in 1980 -- to the then-revolutionary synthesizer sounds of Kraftwerk.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 7, 2006

Karin "Bright"

"I first started listening to music when I was about 7 or 8. Then, when I was 10, I started performing, just like all the other kids -- standing in front of my mirror using the TV remote control as a microphone singing 'Bad' and 'Thriller' by Michael Jackson. But that wasn't good enough for me. I always...
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 Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 7, 2006

Ryuan, Kaikaiya: izakaya mood swings

We were in the mood for eating Japanese -- nothing too fancy, but somewhere modern, with a sense of style, to match the elevated state engendered by strolling under the Meguro-gawa blossoms. We couldn't get into our favorite watering holes alongside the river. So we decided to try our luck at Ryuan [formerly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 7, 2006

Turntable takedown

In junior high, when Kentaro Okamoto first encountered DJing on a televised DJ battle, he could never have suspected that he would end up winning the 2002 DMC World Final Championship for his talent on the turntables, or spinning alongside hip-hop royalty like The Roots and Pharcyde.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 7, 2006

Craig David

Arguably the most popular artist to emerge from the short-lived garage/2-step scene in Britain, Craig David arrived fully formed as a producer, since he was DJing both on radio and in clubs in his hometown of Southampton before hooking up with garage maven Artful Dodger. Together, they produced a number...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 7, 2006

Flamenco dances with betrayal

Aida Gomez, the young and brilliant new star of flamenco, returns to Japan with her latest self-choreographed production of Georges Bizet's "Carmen" as well as her famed "Salome." Her run of performances starts April 14 in Tokyo.

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