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JAPAN
Jun 16, 2005

Huge Fuso recall involves defects found months ago

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. said Wednesday it is recalling a total of about 42,000 trucks and buses due to five defects, two of which were found much earlier.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jun 16, 2005

Owaraji

Dear Alice,
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jun 16, 2005

Financial innovations should preserve market discipline and trust

The country's reforms in the financial sector have had mixed results so far, with progress on the domestic front lagging behind Japan's growing contribution to Asian financial stability, according to Charles Calomiris, a Columbia Business School professor.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jun 16, 2005

Ancient China never looked so good

Buyers of "Jade Empire" are greeted with laughable cover art and silly character names like "Furious Ming." At first glance, the mythological theme appears to be a mockery of ancient Chinese culture. But beneath the regrettable packaging lies an honest and fun game that engulfs players in an awe-inspiring...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 16, 2005

Worlds of nature are just a click away

Although I've only just packed away my skiing gear (the remnant snowfields have crept too close to the peaks to make the physical cost of carrying heavy boots and skis so far uphill worth the downhill benefits), and though mountain cherry blossoms have only recently begun to shed their petals here in...
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2005

Bridge bid-rigging rings charged

Prosecutors indicted 26 companies and eight senior employees Wednesday on suspicion of rigging bids for steel bridge projects.
EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2005

Shantytown outrage in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe continues its slide toward destruction. In the most recent outrage, President Robert Mugabe has evicted tens of thousands of traders from their shacks and razed their houses. It is hardly a coincidence that this "cleanup campaign" targets supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic...
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2005

Authorities given power to close abusive pet shops

The Diet passed a bill Wednesday allowing authorities to close down pet shops that mistreat their animals.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2005

Solution to bank-card crimes eludes legislators

The ruling coalition's bill on bank-card crimes offers a quick and effective solution to what has become society's largest problem in recent years, according to Yoichiro Esaki, head of the Liberal Democratic Party subcommittee dealing with the issue.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 15, 2005

Kobayashi leads charge as Marines march past Swallows

Hiroyuki Kobayashi stretched his personal winning streak to seven games in a complete-game effort Tuesday as the Lotte Marines secured at least a share of first place in interleague play with an 8-2 win over the Yakult Swallows.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jun 15, 2005

The art that rocks the boat of war in Iraq

If you don't like U.S. President George W. Bush -- particularly if you don't support his war in Iraq -- then there is a new gallery exhibition in Tokyo that you will relish.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2005

Fuso has to recall another 424,600 vehicles

Scandal-tainted Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. said Tuesday it will recall 424,600 large vehicles to repair minor defects overlooked during last year's probe into past cases of vehicle problems — even though one of the defects was reported in the late 1980s.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2005

Lower House passes missile defense bill

The House of Representatives approved a bill Tuesday to revise the Self-Defense Forces Law to enable the Defense Agency chief, in an emergency, to order a missile interception without waiting for approval from the prime minister and the Cabinet.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2005

Mandom pulls the plug on racist TV commercial

Cosmetics maker Mandom Corp. announced Tuesday it has stopped airing a TV commercial that compares black people and monkeys.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 15, 2005

A new cherry for a new theater

Theatre Cocoon in Shibuya is renowned for staging some of the best contemporary drama in Japan, whether from established masters such as Yukio Ninagawa and Hideki Noda, or young blades like Suzuki Matsuo.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2005

Debts left by failed firms soar 73%

Failed companies left combined debts worth 584.43 billion yen in May, up 72.9 percent from the previous month, credit research agency Teikoku Databank said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2005

Japan, France to study superfast passenger jet to replace Concorde

Japanese and French aerospace industry groups signed an accord Tuesday in France to study a next-generation supersonic passenger aircraft that would succeed the Concorde, which was taken out of service in 2003, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2005

Koizumi, Roh to meet Monday with aim of easing tensions

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will meet with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun in Seoul on Monday in a bid to mend soured bilateral ties, the Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2005

ADB chief urges China anew to ease rigid currency regime -- gradually

Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda repeated his call Tuesday for Beijing to adopt a less rigid currency regime at an early date because it would benefit China and the rest of the world.
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2005

Speaking with one voice

Resolution of the North Korean nuclear crisis depends to a large degree on the ability of the other five countries in the six-party talks -- the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia -- to speak with one voice. It is vitally important that Washington and Seoul, in particular, closely coordinate...
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2005

Yahoo Japan, DeNA to draft voluntary antipiracy rules

Yahoo Japan Corp. and DeNA Co. said Tuesday they have begun compiling voluntary regulations on the trading of illegally copied brand-name goods and counterfeit software.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2005

People taking shorter domestic trips

Japanese travelers spent fewer than two nights on domestic trips on average last year, according to an annual government report on tourism released Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2005

Regional banks turn profit, cut bad-loan ratios

Regional banks swung back to the black in fiscal 2004 as a whole for the first time since fiscal 1999 with a combined net profit of 800 billion yen, the Financial Services Agency said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2005

Shareholders' meetings poised for takeover debates

The season for general shareholders' meetings is just around the corner, and a growing number of companies plan to use them to propose measures against hostile takeovers.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2005

Did Nakayama apologize over sex-slave gaffe?

Education minister Nariaki Nakayama apologized Tuesday for "causing trouble" to the government with his recent remark hailing the removal of references to wartime sex slaves for Japanese troops from revised history textbooks, top government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda said.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2005

Government eyes policing of Internet

The government may go after what it regards as harmful information on the Internet following last week's bombing of a Yamaguchi Prefecture classroom by a youth who claimed he learned how to make explosives from a Web site, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda 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