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BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 2, 2005

Matsuzaka shelves big league plans

Seibu Lions ace right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka has given up on his plan to pursue a career in the major leagues and will remain with Seibu next season, baseball sources said Monday.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 2, 2005

Takahashi invited to Tokyo marathon

Naoko Takahashi will be out to avenge her loss to Ethiopia's Elfenesh Alemu when she runs in her first competitive full marathon in two years at this month's Tokyo International Women's Marathon.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 2, 2005

Super Aguri team applies to join F1

Former Formula One driver Aguri Suzuki, the first Japanese to score a podium finish in a world championship round, said Tuesday a new Honda-backed team has applied to join Formula One from next year.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2005

Legal revision to speed hand of justice

Japan has long been notorious for extremely drawn out trials that seem to take forever to reach a verdict.
EDITORIALS
Nov 2, 2005

Little time to do so much

The lineup of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's new Cabinet, formed Monday, shows his determination to put finishing touches on his reforms in the rather short time left for him. He has made clear that he will step down in September 2006. Mr. Koizumi included in his new Cabinet three politicians from...
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2005

Conservatives fight secular war memorial

A nonpartisan group of 233 conservative lawmakers adopted a resolution Tuesday against establishing a secular memorial for the war dead.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2005

Koizumi warns ministers following gaffe by Sugiura

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi already has some words of caution for his new Cabinet -- they must be careful what they say.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2005

Nikkei embezzlement nets three years

Two former executives of a Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. affiliate were sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for causing 3.18 billion yen in damages to the company through illegitimate issuance of promissory notes and embezzling 335 million yen in corporate funds in 2001.
BUSINESS
Nov 2, 2005

Sales of new vehicles fall to 34-year low

Domestic sales of new vehicles, excluding minivehicles, dropped 3.4 percent in October from the year before to 281,452 units, a 34-year low for the month and the fourth consecutive monthly fall, an industry body said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2005

Abe deflects politicians' responsibility on judging Yasukuni war criminals

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe argued Tuesday that only historians -- and not contemporary politicians -- will eventually make the correct call on how Japanese Class-A war criminals should be judged.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2005

Suzuki gets manual, mocks ministry 'secrets'

House of Representatives member Muneo Suzuki said Tuesday he has received a copy of the so-called Muneo manual drafted by the Foreign Ministry to instruct its officials on how to deal with the lawmaker who once wielded enormous influence with the ministry.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Nov 2, 2005

New defense chief promises less local burden from U.S. bases

The government will reduce the burden on communities with U.S. military bases by facilitating cooperation between the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military, Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2005

System glitch shuts down TSE for hours

For the first time in its history, the Tokyo Stock Exchange was forced to suspend all morning trading Tuesday due to what officials said was a computer system malfunction stemming from a trading capacity expansion implemented last month.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2005

Bird flu detected at Osaka duck farm

Authorities found that 10 ducks in Osaka Prefecture suspected of bird flu had a less harmful type of the virus, but they were still conducting tests on another 47 birds that also showed signs of infection, officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 2, 2005

Mitsubishi Electric sells satellite

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Tuesday it received a communications satellite order from Tokyo-based Space Communications Corp., a deal making Mitsubishi the first domestic company to get an order for a commercial satellite to be operated by a Japanese firm.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Nov 2, 2005

Tanigaki considers how to win over public on raising taxes

For Sadakazu Tanigaki, newly reappointed as finance minister, the crucial question is not whether to raise the consumption tax, but when.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Nov 2, 2005

Recalling fond memories of eiders

It's getting to that time of year when I air out my down-filled sleeping bag. No big field trips are planned for this year, but I do like to spend a few nights in the woods, a campfire going, with no phones (no, not even a cell phone), no television and no mosquitoes.
BUSINESS
Nov 2, 2005

Analysts expect new economic team to take on budget deficit

Economists on Tuesday generally welcomed the economic ministers in Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's new Cabinet, saying they expect the lineup to puncture the country's ballooning budget deficits by slashing wasteful spending.
COMMENTARY
Nov 2, 2005

No changing colors in China

HONG KONG -- Two weeks ago, China issued a 23,000-word white paper on democracy, the first time the Communist government had ever done so. However, instead of being a blueprint for the development of representative government, the white paper turned out to be a defense of the perpetuation of the monopoly...

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