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JAPAN
Aug 25, 2005

JAXA optical test satellites reach orbit from Kazakstan

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully launched an optical communications test satellite and a piggyback satellite from a launch site in Kazakstan early Wednesday Japan time.
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2005

China and Russia: brothers in arms?

Last week, China and Russia began their first ever joint military exercises. The drills have some armchair strategists warning of a new entente between Beijing and Moscow that could pose a threat to the existing regional security order. The truth about the exercises is considerably less exciting. For...
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2005

New Takaratomy expects good sales

Takara Co. and Tomy Co. said Wednesday their new company to be created through a merger in March will book 200 billion yen in group sales in fiscal 2008.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2005

Teen indicted for parents' murders

Prosecutors charged a 16-year-old boy Wednesday with killing his parents and blowing up their apartment in Tokyo's Itabashi Ward in June.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2005

Translations of disputed texts on Web

Chinese and Korean translations of parts of eight Japanese junior high school history textbooks dealing with modern history appeared on the Foreign Ministry's Web site Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2005

Sumitomo unit ups output of mosquito nets for Africa

Sumitomo Chemical Co. has been cranking up production of mosquito nets in response to soaring demand in Africa, where Japan's traditional sleeping screens with a modern twist have gained recognition as an effective weapon against malaria.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2005

LDP rebels must leave or be expelled: Takebe

Liberal Democratic Party members who voted against postal privatization last month will probably be expelled if they hold onto their party memberships while running in the Sept. 11 Lower House election, LDP Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2005

Murakami's OSE stake can't top 20%

The Financial Services Agency announced Wednesday it has rejected financier Yoshiaki Murakami's application to acquire a more than 20 percent stake in Osaka Securities Exchange Co.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2005

Keidanren to officially back Koizumi

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) will officially back the Liberal Democratic Party in the Sept. 11 Lower House election as a show of support for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reforms, sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2005

'Cool Biz' helps department store sales heat up 1%

Sales at department stores rose 1.1 percent on a same-store basis in July from the prior year to 764.5 billion yen for the second straight month of growth, an industry group said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2005

Know when not to apologize

LONDON -- Here is a telling statistic about Japan's foreign policy that is little known in the West, and may not be widely known even in Japan itself.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2005

U.S beef faces further study, bureaucratic steps

More study on the risk of imported U.S. beef being infected with mad cow disease is needed before reopening the Japanese market, a food safety panel said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2005

Kanebo Cosmetics performs well

Kanebo Cosmetics Inc., undergoing state-backed rehabilitation, reported Wednesday better-than-expected earnings for the January-June period.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 25, 2005

Illuminating responses to 'Glimmers of hope . . . '

One of the most entertaining things about being a columnist is getting feedback from readers.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 25, 2005

River grasshopper

* Japanese name: Kawarabatta * Scientific name: Eusphingonotus japonicus * Description: This is a grasshopper with a mottled, stone-gray or brown body that is very difficult to spot. Males are between 25-30 mm long, females between 40-43 mm. The large hind legs (femurs) have a herring-bone pattern,...
LIFE / Language
Aug 25, 2005

How to avoid strife when writing essays

It is a classic dilemma for any Japanese student of English: with a deadline fast approaching, how to go about writing an essay when the target language is not the student's native tongue? Many assume it is easier to write an essay in their native language and then to translate it into English. In fact,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLL SHOWDOWN
Aug 24, 2005

New parties to team up against LDP: Watanuki

Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party) will cooperate with another new party in the Sept. 11 general election and oppose Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal privatization drive, leader Tamisuke Watanuki said.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Court nixes policy payout to family of journalist slain in Iraq

The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday rejected a demand by the wife and son of a freelance photojournalist assassinated in Iraq to receive insurance benefits over his death.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Population may begin decline in '05

2005 may see Japan's population shrink for the first time, according to health ministry figures released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Two new parties announce candidates

Two small parties inaugurated earlier this month released Tuesday their lists of candidates for the Sept. 11 election.
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2005

Salary reform for public servants

has recommended that the government reduce the annual salary of central government workers for fiscal 2005 by 0.1 percent, or 4,000 yen from the previous fiscal year's level, to bring it into closer alignment with the annual salary level for private-sector workers. More importantly, it has called for...
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2005

Pet health, liability policy market finds insurers wagging their tails

Medical and liability insurance for pets is something most owners never consider, but the industry aims to change that.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2005

Vote on Koizumi's record, not postal reform, scholar says

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may want to make his postal privatization quest the focal point of the Sept. 11 election, but economics professor Masaru Kaneko argues voters should instead cast their ballots based on how he has steered the economy and society.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Suit denying pair's wartime beheading spree fails

The Tokyo District Court dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday filed by the relatives of two executed Japanese soldiers against two newspapers and a journalist over publications that said the two competed to be the first to behead 100 Chinese in 1937 during the advance on Nanjing.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Medical expenses rose to all-time high in 2003

Medical expenses paid to medical institutions hit an all-time high of 31.538 trillion yen in the fiscal year ended in March 2004, the Health, Labor and Welfare 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