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BUSINESS
May 26, 2005

OIE rules not tough enough on BSE? Prove it: adviser

Japan will need to provide sound scientific evidence if it plans to have stricter regulations to combat mad cow disease than the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), according to an honorary adviser to the international body.
SOCCER / World cup
May 25, 2005

Injured Takahara doubtful for World Cup qualifying game

German-based striker Naohiro Takahara, who picked up a hamstring injury in a league game Saturday, is doubtful for Japan's upcoming World Cup qualifier away to Bahrain, national team officials said Tuesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 25, 2005

Agbayani leads the way as Marines hand Giants a thrashing

Benny Agbayani drove in a pair of runs Tuesday as the Pacific League-leading Chiba Lotte Marines pounded the Central League's last-place Yomiuri Giants 11-0.
OLYMPICS
May 25, 2005

Japan aiming for five medals in Turin Winter Olympics

The newly appointed head of Japan's delegation for next year's Winter Olympics, Kenichi Chizuka, said Tuesday that winning five medals is an attainable goal for the country's athletes at the Turin Games.
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2005

Stop the torture and abuse

The steady drip of revelations about the abuse of prisoners in the global war against terror is doing serious damage to the U.S. image and efforts to win that battle. Contrary to official claims, the instances of misbehavior are not episodic or exaggerated; they appear to be serious, widespread and systematic....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 25, 2005

Stage plays restore your faith in comedy

"Comedy is an escape, not from the truth but from despair; a narrow escape into faith," wrote the English playwright Christopher Fry in Time magazine in 1950. These days the moment you switch on television in Japan, you are likely to be assailed by gales of laughter as young comedians talk frantically,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 25, 2005

Designs to refresh the spirit

Some Westerners, when faced with Oriental creativity, have a tendency to gush. Instead of taking a calm, rational, inquisitive point of view, they tend to ascribe the aesthetic effect of what they see to some mysterious, spiritual force -- whether they call it Zen, Tao, yin and yang -- something they...
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

Seibu placed in hands of ex-Mizuho exec

Shareholders of Seibu Railway Co. agreed Tuesday to let Takashi Goto, a former executive of Mizuho Corporate Bank, head an empire rendered leaderless by a series of scandals ranging from falsified financial reports and charges of insider trading to the arrest of tycoon Yoshiaki Tsutsumi.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

Final moves to clear U.S. beef imports under way

The health and farm ministries on Tuesday asked the independent Food Safety Commission to discuss whether Japan should maintain the import ban on U.S. and Canadian beef because of mad cow disease.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

ATMs need to take foreign cards: critics

The inability of most automated teller machines at Japanese banks to accept foreign credit cards has long irritated tourists and short-term foreign residents in a country where cash still plays a key role in everyday life.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

MMC pinning hopes on new SUV

Struggling Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will launch a new sport utility vehicle in its Grandis minivan series.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

SMFG posts record group net loss

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. said Tuesday it posted a record 234.2 billion yen group net loss for the business year ended March 31, a sharp reversal from the 330.4 billion yen net profit it recorded a year earlier.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

Service industries up for sixth year

Service industries expanded for the sixth straight year in fiscal 2004, with the tertiary industry activity index posting the biggest growth in eight years, the government said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2005

Too soon to let computers replace university libraries

at Houston has announced that it is removing almost all the books from its undergraduate library to provide space for a digital learning center, where students can use computers to access a wide variety of information. University officials are proud to be leading a trend. It is good to see academia catching...
BASKETBALL
May 24, 2005

Basketball nomad Bryant's latest stop in Tokyo

Joe Bryant's career as a basketball player and coach has taken him all over the world. Now the father of Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant will add Japan to his list of far-flung destinations.
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2005

Breaking the legislative logjam

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's campaign to privatize the postal-services system has entered a crucial stage now that the Lower House has set up an ad hoc committee on government-sponsored privatization bills. The establishment of the panel attests to the prime minister's resolve to get the package...
COMMENTARY
May 24, 2005

Power politics ensnare reform

NEW DELHI — Sixty years after its establishment, the United Nations is at a crossroads, its future direction and authority uncertain, even as it struggles with the diminution of its role in world affairs. Reforms are essential to revitalize the U.N.'s role, shore up its legitimacy and make it politically...
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

Sukiya opposes relaxing BSE testing

The president of Zensho Co., operator of the Sukiya chain of restaurants, voiced opposition Monday to the government's plan to ease blanket testing of cattle for mad cow disease.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 24, 2005

Here comes the fear

Japan is following other developed countries in drafting antiterrorism laws.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

NTT Com to offer fragrances via Net

NTT Communications Corp. said Monday it has developed a way to offer fragrances via the Internet.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 24, 2005

Is Japan still working too hard?

Jair Moreno Public Servant, 23 No, it's not solved. All my overtime is unpaid. A friend is so busy that even on a Wednesday, which is "no overtime" day, she has to work but can't get paid.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

Mizuho profit up 54.2% on improved bad debts

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., the nation's biggest banking group by assets, said Monday its group net profit for the last business year rose 54.2 percent from a year earlier amid the economic recovery and strong corporate earnings.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

MMC suffers a 475 billion yen loss

Struggling Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Monday that its group net loss widened to a record 474.8 billion yen in fiscal 2004, from 215.4 billion yen posted a year earlier.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

More foreign aid cuts urged

An advisory panel to Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki drafted a proposal Monday urging more cuts in foreign aid in fiscal 2006, citing the nation's troubled finances.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

Fuji TV, Livedoor finalize deals

Fuji Television Network Inc. and Livedoor Co. said Monday they had completed two financial deals to officially end their battle for control of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 24, 2005

Vikings, traditional gear and theater

Viking Katya has what she calls a "random goofy question." She wants to know why it is that a buffet here is called "viking."
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

Insurers pay the price for last year's typhoons

Due to record natural disaster-related claims caused by the unprecedented number of typhoons last year, Japan's three largest nonlife insurers on Monday reported sharp drops in fiscal 2004 profits.

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