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JAPAN
Feb 22, 2006

New defense bid-rigging warrants served

Prosecutors served new arrest warrants Tuesday on a former and two current Defense Facilities Administration Agency officials who allegedly rigged bids for construction projects at U.S. bases in Yamaguchi and Nagasaki prefectures in fiscal 2003, sources said.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2006

Champion chef spreads Naples pizza culture here

Makoto Onishi, the winner of the title of best pizza maker at the annual Naples pizza festival in 2003, busied himself kneading dough and topping pizzas with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2006

Iran may get sanctions: Steinmeier

If Iran continues its nuclear designs, it may face U.N. Security Council economic sanctions, visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2006

Aso wants oversight of ODA entity

Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Tuesday the Foreign Ministry should have sole oversight of a planned entity that would integrate the three official development assistance operations -- grants, technical cooperation and yen loans.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2006

DPJ member leaves party over assault

Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yoshitake Kimata resigned Tuesday from the largest opposition party for assaulting and injuring a woman at a bar in Aichi Prefecture, but he said he will not give up his Diet seat.
OLYMPICS
Feb 22, 2006

Slump in Turin leaves many back home perplexed

The struggles of Japanese athletes at the Turin Olympic Games have bewildered many back in their country, particularly those who banked on rosy pre-Games medal predictions.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2006

Mitsubishi Electric shuffles leaders

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. will promote Vice President Setsuhiro Shimomura to president, replacing Tamotsu Nomakuchi, who will become chairman, company sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2006

Nakagawa seeks Japanese version of USDA report

Agriculture minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Tuesday that a Japanese translation of a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on the U.S. beef inspection process should be made available to Diet members and the general public.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2006

Japan Post Corp. names eight execs

The board of Japan Post Corp., the holding company formed in January to prepare for the privatization of the country's postal system, appointed its eight senior executives Tuesday, including Sakon Uda, principal at McKinsey & Co., and Akira Uno, former chairman of SMBC Consulting Co., company officials...
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2006

Transport minister urges end to JAL row

Transport minister Kazuo Kitagawa urged the Japan Airlines group Tuesday to end a row among its top managers, saying the infighting could undercut the safety of the carrier's operations.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2006

It's not right for the West and Israel to isolate Hamas, the Palestinians' best hope

NEW YORK -- As the son of a Lebanese pacifist, I am dismayed by the widening gap between Palestinians and Israelis that make a possible solution to the con- flict between them seem even more distant.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2006

Economy to get rosier assessment

A monthly report to be issued Wednesday will express greater optimism about the economic recovery, with the government upgrading its assessment for the first time in six months, sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2006

Livedoor shareholders to seek damages

Livedoor Co. shareholders plan to sue former President Takafumi Horie and other former top executives around September, their lawyers said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2006

U.S. partner to help ChuoAoyama

ChuoAoyama PricewaterhouseCoopers will receive an expert team from its U.S. partner to get advice on and update auditing knowhow, according to sources.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2006

Food safety fears heat up delivery services

As consumers become increasingly sensitive toward food safety issues, some food delivery service operators are getting brisk business by ensuring the quality of the produce they sell.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2006

BOJ's focus on CPI is only natural, Yosano says

Economic and fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano said Tuesday he understands the Bank of Japan's position of basing any policy shift on the consumer price index.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 22, 2006

S. Korean wetland faces doom

For those readers long ago numbed to the fraud, waste and environmental abuse that accompanies public works projects in Japan, here's one that might jump-start your ire: A project by the South Korean government to landfill and develop 40,100 hectares (almost 100,000 acres) of coastal waters and wetlands...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 22, 2006

Signal crayfish

* Japanese name: Uchida zarigani * Scientific name: Pacifastacus leniusculus * Description: Crayfish look like small lobsters. Despite their name, they are not fish, but freshwater crustaceans. They have a segmented body, up to 20-cm long, with 10 legs and a hard exoskeleton that they must molt as they...
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2006

Mr. Koizumi's running on empty

The Diet is in turmoil over a fresh scandal. At a session of the Lower House Budget Committee last Thursday, an opposition party member alleged that Mr. Takafumi Horie, the disgraced former chief executive of the Internet company Livedoor, had sent an internal e-mail to subordinates before the Sept....
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2006

NHK mulls sponsors for its exports

Vice Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Shogo Hayashi said Monday the ministry will consider accepting sponsorship from advertisers to fund programs that NHK airs abroad.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2006

Mergers reduce municipality count by a third since 1999

The number of cities, towns and villages fell below 2,000 Monday, compared with more than 3,200 in 1999, prior to the central government's push for municipal consolidation to streamline local administration, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell