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BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2006

ANA's sales and operating profit soar; net profit falls

All Nippon Airways Co. reported Friday record-high consolidated pretax profit, operating profit and sales for fiscal 2005, thanks to strong demand for domestic air travel, which more than offset the impact of higher fuel prices.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2006

Jobless rate at seven-year low of 4.3%

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate averaged 4.3 percent in fiscal 2005, down 0.3 percentage point from fiscal 2004 and the lowest in seven years, the government said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 29, 2006

Purification process is painful

I'm pretty sure Shiraishi Island was once inhabited by giants. When you look at all the boulders perched in precarious spots around the island, and piled up in certain formations, you would swear someone was saving them for ammunition.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2006

Koizumi issues official Minamata apology

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday issued the first formal apology by a prime minister for the state's failure to deal properly with Minamata disease, one of the worst pollution-caused maladies and one that erupted during the nation's speedy economic growth of the 1950s.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2006

Ex-World Bank head, Nicklaus spring honorees

The government said Friday it will release a list of 4,096 recipients of the spring decorations, including former World Bank chief James Wolfensohn and U.S. golf legend Jack Nicklaus.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 29, 2006

Nisei bears witness to 'looking like the enemy'

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald was 17 when her life fell to pieces, shattered by the U.S. policy of interning Japanese-Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 29, 2006

Elizabeth Oliver

"In June this year, 10 ARK dogs will go to find new homes through the famous Battersea Dogs Home in London. Although in the past ARK has sent individual dogs abroad for rehousing, this is the first time so many Japanese dogs have been sent from a shelter in Japan to find homes in another country. Why...
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2006

Brisk demand for gadgets helps boost industrial output 1.6%

National industrial production rose an unadjusted 1.6 percent in fiscal 2005 for the fourth consecutive year of growth, supported by brisk demand for electronic devices and transportation equipment, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a preliminary report Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2006

Howa Bank eyes public funds to boost capital

Howa Bank, a second-tier regional bank based in Oita Prefecture, said Friday it is considering applying to the Financial Services Agency for an injection of public funds to strengthen its depleted capital.
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 28, 2006

Zico dismisses link with South Africa

Japan coach Zico slammed a newspaper report linking him with the South African national team job, but said he is still weighing up a coaching career in Europe.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 28, 2006

Lefty Yamakita moves to Yokohama in 1-for-2 trade

Lotte Marines lefty Shigetoshi Yamakita will move to the Yokohama BayStars in a 1-for-2 trade for right-hander Ryotaro Doi and outfielder Ryusuke Minami, officials of both clubs said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2006

Oasis of stability in Britain

LONDON -- The British are currently in one of those moods of self-congratulation and self-esteem that seizes them from time to time.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2006

MMC operating profit may signal end to dark days

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. reported Thursday it had an operating profit of 6.8 billion yen in fiscal 2005, its first profit in three years and a sign the firm may finally be coming out from under the weight of its defect coverup debacle.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2006

SMBC to be suspended from derivatives selling

Financial regulators said Thursday they will slap Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. with a six-month ban from May 15 on selling financial derivatives.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2006

1.13 billion yen to crime victims in '05

The government paid about 1.13 billion yen in benefits to 394 crime victims and their relatives during fiscal 2005, down 114 million yen and 54 people from the previous year, the National Police Agency said in a report released Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2006

Earnings solid at JFE, Kobe Steel

Major steelmakers JFE Holdings Co. and Kobe Steel Ltd. both reported strong earnings Thursday for fiscal 2005 to March 31, thanks to robust domestic and overseas demand.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2006

Kinki Osaka chief to helm Resona

Resona Holdings Inc. will appoint Hiroyuki Mizuta, president of its affiliate, Kinki Osaka Bank, as the holding company's new president, sources close to the group said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 28, 2006

An unprecedented payment

Japan and the United States have reached an agreement on how they will share the cost of relocating 8,000 U.S. Marines plus some 9,000 dependents from Okinawa to Guam. Japan will shoulder 59 percent or $6.09 billion (710 billion yen) of the total $10.27 billion (1.2 trillion yen) cost.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 28, 2006

Here be the land of the gods

You get them in research institutes, tucked away in small caves, perched atop spanking-new urban developments. Clamber up Mount Fuji and one is waiting there at the summit. Aside from desperately keen Shintoi aficionados, few people would complain that Japan suffers any dearth of shrines. While Shinto...
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2006

TVs twist electronics earnings

Sales of flat-screen TVs proved pivotal to the fortunes of major consumer electronics makers Sony Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. in 2005, according to their annual reports released Thursday.

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