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JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

New charge looms in 'phishing' fraud

Police have served another warrant on a 25-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of a "phishing" fraud, in which he allegedly stole and used personal information from Yahoo Japan's Internet auction service users, the Metropolitan Police Department said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

Pregnancy to affect debate over female monarch

Experts and commentators reacted with various opinions Tuesday to the news of Princess Kiko's pregnancy but all agreed it will likely affect public opinion and delay discussions on whether females and their descendants should be allowed to ascend the throne.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

Rise in elderly offenders graying prisons

There are still plenty of metal bars and handcuffs. But prisons these days have some new features -- like wheelchair-friendly stair ramps, handrails in the bathrooms and nurses trained to spoon-feed inmates.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

Media restraint urged on Muhammad cartoons

The Foreign Ministry has recommended that Japan's media organizations not reprint contentious caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, after angry demonstrators torched the Danish embassies in Lebanon and Syria over the weekend and other violence has erupted.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

More teenage girls citing date violence

An increasing number of teenage girls are experiencing physical violence in dating relationships, prompting experts to hold seminars on violence prevention, according to officials of a citizens' group.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

Pressure prizing open door for refugees

Last year, Japan's contribution to the United Nations refugee agency was second only to the United States.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Suntory revives nostalgic blend for retiring baby boomers

For businesses from banks to high-end stereo makers, the expected mass retirement of the baby boomer generation beginning next year represents the birth of a huge consumer base with relatively deep pockets and a lot of free time.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Toshiba touts fastest, densest chip

Toshiba Corp. said Tuesday it has developed a new chip that features the world's fastest operating speed and highest density.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

Heo appeals conviction to top court

Businessman Heo Young Joong filed an appeal Tuesday with the Supreme Court against a high court ruling that found him guilty of defrauding an oil wholesaler of nearly 18 billion yen.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

Koizumi skips disputed-isle rally

An annual rally calling on Moscow to return the islands it seized off Hokkaido at the end of World War II was held Tuesday in Tokyo with government officials, lawmakers and former islanders in attendance.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Forex reserves soar to record $851.7 billion

Japan's foreign-exchange reserves rose $4.80 billion in January to a record high $851.67 billion, helped in large part by a stronger euro, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

Teachers' win in Kure must stand: court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court decision that ordered the city of Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, to pay damages to a teachers union that was not allowed to use a school as a site for an educational seminar because of possible harassment from rightwing groups.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

JAL shareholder calls for president's ouster

Former lawmaker Eitaro Itoyama, the biggest individual shareholder in Japan Airlines Corp., is calling for the resignation of JAL President Toshiyuki Shinmachi, given the carrier's poor business performance, it was learned Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Toyota records 34% jump in third-quarter net profit

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday its group net profit for the fiscal third quarter jumped 34.1 percent from the previous year to a record 397.5 billion yen thanks to thriving overseas sales and the yen's depreciation against the dollar.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Oki cuts voice-chip production time

Oki Electric Industry Co. said Tuesday it has launched a voice-synthesizing microchip that can be produced in one-third the time required for the previous version.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Kobe Steel to up welding material

Kobe Steel Ltd. will double its annual production of welding material to 600,000 tons by around 2010 from the current 300,000 tons in a bid to meet growing demand from shipbuilders and car manufacturers in East Asia, a company spokesman said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Toray profit up 4.6% on strong sales

Toray Industries Inc. said Tuesday its group net profit in the April-December period rose 4.6 percent to 28.0 billion yen on sales of products that include textiles, plastics, chemicals and carbon fiber composite material.
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2006

China swaps historical facts for fiction

HONG KONG -- At a time when Beijing is upbraiding Tokyo for its depiction in history textbooks of the invasion and occupation of China in the 1930s and 1940s -- and used it as a reason for excluding Japan from the United Nations Security Council -- it has exposed its own politicization of history by...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

Tokyo to hit Huser with condo sanctions

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to impose sanctions against property developer Huser Ltd. for allegedly selling condominiums it knew to be structurally defective, sources said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2006

Sri Lanka has so much, and stands to lose it all

LOS ANGELES -- If there is one country in Asia that can serve as a metaphor for all the good and the evil in the world, it may well be little Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 8, 2006

Mud shrimp

* Japanese name: Ana-jako * Scientific name: Upogebia major * Description: Mud shrimps are 10-cm-long decapod crustaceans, which means they have 10 legs and a hard outer shell. They also have two pairs of antennae, of which one pair is very long. The animal is whitish in color, with large dark-brown...

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes