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JAPAN
Dec 23, 2005

Population already contracting

Japan's population has started shrinking for the first time this year, health ministry data showed Thursday, presenting the government with pressing challenges on the social and economic front, including ensuring provision of social security services and securing the labor force.
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2005

Japan to speed up patent exams

Japan will speed up patent examinations by increasing the number of examiners, promoting outsourcing and urging industries to be more selective in filing application cases, the Japan Patent Office said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 23, 2005

Echoes of Egoyan's mind

With "Where the Truth Lies," his 10th film, Canada's leading art-house director Atom Egoyan had reason to believe this would be his crossover hit. With Hollywood stars in his cast and a script based on a gleefully seedy novel by Rupert Holmes (once a singer who scored big with "The Pina Colada Song"),...
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2005

Banks allowed to sell more insurance products

Banks will be allowed to sell more insurance products over the counter, the government announced Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2005

State allocates 50 billion yen in 2006 budget

The government announced Thursday how to spend an as-yet-unallocated 50 billion yen in the 79.69 trillion yen fiscal 2006 budget.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2005

Cold weather fuels even higher kerosene prices

An increased demand for kerosene due to recent unusually cold weather has pushed retail prices of the heating oil to record highs.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 23, 2005

New Year's Eve Jazz

On New Year's Eve, Tokyo's jazz shrines -- the many clubs, small and large, that cover the city -- offer great stops for a musical pilgrimage. Starting around 7 p.m. and ending at dawn, jazz musicians and fans pack in to play and hear their last -- and first -- notes of the year. "Auld Lang Syne" never...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 23, 2005

Marunouchi illuminations

The 7th annual Tokyo Millenario will be held Dec. 24-Jan. 1. The Millenario Christmas Lights Show will light up Naka-dori, the main street in Marunouchi. The Marunouchi Exit of JR Tokyo Station and the area around Tokyo International Forum in Yurakucho will also be illuminated.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 23, 2005

Kafka on the . . . wall

Scottish artist Jack McLean's exhibition of drawings "Kafka on the...," which runs through Dec. 31 at Artist Residency Tokyo (A.R.T.) Gallery in Tokyo, focuses on two Johnnie Walkers.
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2005

U.S. expects sluggish beef exports in '06

U.S. beef exported to Japan is estimated to total about 100,000 tons in 2006, one-third the level prior to the ban imposed in December 2003, the president and CEO of the U.S. Meat Export Federation said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2005

FSA gives Mizuho Securities improvement order for error

The Financial Services Agency on Thursday ordered Mizuho Securities Co. to improve its operations after the company placed large, erroneous sell orders due to a typing error earlier this month that led to huge losses and shocked the stock market.
SUMO
Dec 22, 2005

Kotooshu ready for ozeki debut

Bulgarian giant Kotooshu shoved grand champion Asashoryu's pre-tournament comments back down his throat when he pulled of a revenge victory over the feisty Mongolian at the Fukuoka Grand Sumo Tournament last month.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 22, 2005

Japan begins buildup with camp

Japan will begin the World Cup year with a weeklong training camp in Miyazaki next month ahead of two friendlies against the United States and Finland.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Dec 22, 2005

Lotte's Kosaka traded to Yomiuri

The Yomiuri Giants have acquired infielder Makoto Kosaka from the Chiba Lotte Marines in a cash trade, the Central League club said Wednesday.
OLYMPICS
Dec 22, 2005

Igaya focused on 2016 bid

International Olympic Committee vice president Chiharu Igaya said there is a good chance for Japan to host the 2016 Games.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

Tokyo, Pyongyang to talk on weekend

Japan and North Korea have agreed to resume working-level government talks Saturday and Sunday in Beijing, and Tokyo again will demand the abduction issue be resolved, the top government spokesman said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

Abductees' multinational kin unite

People from Thailand, Lebanon, South Korea and Japan whose kin were allegedly abducted to North Korea vowed Wednesday to join hands to seek the return of their loved-ones.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

SDF ranks face regular urine tests

The Defense Agency will regularly conduct urine tests of Self-Defense Forces personnel in the light of a series of illegal drug use cases involving Maritime Self-Defense Force members, agency officials said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2005

Perception of safe beef

The government lifted a ban on imports of U.S. and Canadian beef last week. The ban had been in force for Canadian beef since the discovery in May 2003 of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), popularly known as mad cow disease, in that country. The ban on U.S. beef followed in December of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 22, 2005

Completely useless objects

It's 6 p.m., it's the end of the work day at a busy Kanda office block. OLs have been furiously tapping away at their keyboards, and connections have been made in the meeting rooms. Power players in their suits have been clinching make-or-break, win-win deals. Suddenly, the doors of the elevator open...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

Aneha, four subcontractors face charges

In addition to pressing charges against disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha, police will go after four firms that subcontracted the structural designs of four properties to him in connection with the quake-resistance data fabrication scandal, sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

No seat at Koizumi table for factions

Junior Diet members should avoid jealousy -- this was the advice Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had Wednesday for 30 new Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers who weren't invited to a party dinner he hosted the previous evening, apparently because they had joined LDP factions.

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