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Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 27, 2006

The revenge of the Red Demon

Playwright, actor and director Hideki Noda has been the undisputed leader of the Japanese contemporary theater world for 30 years. In that time he has written, directed and often acted in more than 60 plays in Japan -- all of them hits or superhits among his mushrooming fanbase. In fact, Noda has been...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

Obituary: Koichi Yaguchi

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Koichi Yaguchi died of throat cancer Tuesday at a hospital in Tokyo, his family said. He was 86.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2006

Matsushita profit up 7% on flat TVs

Profit at electronics giant Matsushita, maker of the Panasonic brand, rose 7 percent in the April-June quarter on higher sales of digital audiovisual products and aggressive cost-cutting, the company said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

Online trading was hobby of Nikkei ad man

A Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. employee fired Tuesday after his arrest on suspicion of insider trading has told investigators that stock trading was his hobby and that he placed Internet orders from home and work -- sometimes at a rate of 100 or more per day -- sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2006

Honda quarterly profit up 30%

Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday its profit jumped 29.6 percent in the April-June quarter as the nation's No. 3 automaker expanded overseas production to keep up with booming demand.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

Ethanol latest bid to boost Okinawa

OSAKA -- In May, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga and trade minister Toshihiro Nikai to discuss Okinawa's future.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2006

NHK short-wave radio programs to be pared

NHK said Tuesday it plans to cut its radio programs in Italian, German, Swedish and Malay and shift its emphasis to television programs for its international services.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 26, 2006

Tanigaki suggests Yasukuni should separate war criminals

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki suggested Tuesday the 14 Class-A war criminals enshrined in Yasukuni Shrine should be separated from the war dead honored there, but he also said the shrine must decide this matter.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2006

Nikkei staffer held for illicit trades

Prosecutors arrested an employee of Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. on Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of insider trading, investigative sources said.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2006

Bamiyan dig yields mythical image

The image of a mythical creature has been found on a seventh century Buddhist mural in a cave at the Bamiyan ruins in central Afghanistan, a team of Japanese researchers said Tuesday, having successfully removed soot from the work.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2006

Abe defends Japan's denial of entry to North Korean group

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe on Tuesday defended Japan's rejection of requests by five North Koreans to enter the country, saying the action was appropriate in view of stricter regulations imposed following Pyongyang's July 5 missile launches.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2006

All GSDF troops safely home from historic mission to Iraq

The last batch of Ground Self-Defense Force troops touched down on Japanese soil Tuesday, wrapping up the country's humanitarian mission in Iraq, its biggest and most dangerous overseas deployment since World War II.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2006

University admission woes worsen

A record-high 222 private universities failed to reach their admissions targets this year, according to a recent survey by an educational lobby group.
EDITORIALS
Jul 26, 2006

Words carrying weight

Last week's discovery of a memorandum recording the words of the Emperor Showa explaining why he stopped visiting Yasukuni Shrine will exert considerable influence on the debate over Japanese publicly remembering Japan's war dead, while praying for peace, in a manner acceptable both to Japanese and to...
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2006

Life spans decrease for first time in six years; women still top world

ranking due to the special factor (of influenza), but the long-term trend of Japanese people's average life span has not changed," a ministry official said. In 2004, life expectancy was 85.59 years for Japanese women and 78.64 years for men -- both record highs.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2006

NEC to tie with Matsushita unit on cell phones

NEC Corp. and Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., a subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., aim to form a 50-50 joint venture this autumn to develop new cell phone handsets, company officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2006

Sharp's quarterly profit up 23%

Sharp Corp.'s net profit jumped 23.1 percent in the first fiscal quarter on growing sales of flat panel TVs and mobile phones, the electronics maker said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2006

TSE may hit Hokuetsu for lack of disclosure

Tokyo Stock Exchange President Taizo Nishimuro indicated Tuesday the bourse will consider punishing Hokuetsu Paper Mills Ltd. for insufficient information disclosure.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2006

Tropical forests under siege: Yokohama body

for agriculture," said Hana Rubin, ITTO communications assistant. "But how such benefits can be realized remains a stumbling block." According to the group's latest study on tropical forest management, released in May, about 12 million hectares of tropical forest are cleared each year to make way for...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 26, 2006

Will commons sense dawn again in time?

These days we can be forgiven for wondering if Homo sapiens have gone completely mad. From just a glance at the headlines, it is easy to conclude that humans are hellbent on destroying themselves and their environment, with little concern for which goes first.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2006

Adolescent suicide: a serious problem in every country

NEW YORK -- It happens every day, and with alarming frequency. Adolescent suicide is a serious problem in every country, and Japan is no exception. An estimated 30,000 Japanese of all ages kill themselves each year.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2006

Health ministry rapped over poor quarantine plans

The health ministry's preventive measures to handle outbreaks of serious infectious diseases are inadequate and require major improvements, the internal affairs ministry said Tuesday.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight