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ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 23, 2005

China's growth sums just don't add up for the planet

China's 1.3 billion (and counting) citizens are poised to transform the global landscape dramatically, both economically and ecologically.
JAPAN / A GENERATION CLOCKS OUT
Jun 23, 2005

Airlines face crunch as old pilots pull chocks

Japan's airline industry is facing a serious pilot shortage with scores of veteran captains expected to retire between 2007 and 2009 along with all the other baby boomers.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

Japan plans to drop bid to host ITER

Japan plans to give up its bid to have the world's first nuclear fusion reactor built in Aomori Prefecture, paving the way for the multibillion dollar project to go to the European Union, government sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2005

Sony shareholders give nod to Stringer's team

Shareholders of Sony Corp. on Wednesday approved a new management team led by Howard Stringer, who pledged to turn around the company's struggling consumer electronics business.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

AIDS stigma a dangerous failing of Japan: activist

Japan and other parts of Asia should make efforts to curb prejudices against people with HIV and AIDS and reflect their needs in government policy, the founder of an HIV/AIDS advocacy group said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2005

Diet passes amendment to SEC law

The Diet passed a bill Wednesday to fine companies for giving false information in their financial statements and to tighten rules on large-lot off-hours stock trading.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

Death, disease not linked to smoking: high court

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by former smokers, some now deceased, who were each demanding 10 million yen in compensation from Japan Tobacco Inc. and the government for tobacco-induced illnesses.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2005

Trade surplus shrank 68.3% in May

Japan's customs-cleared trade surplus shrank 68.3 percent in May from a year earlier to 297.0 billion yen for the second monthly decline in a row, as record high oil prices inflated the value of imports while exports to China slowed, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2005

DVD makers refuse to bury hatchet in format war

The two corporate sides headed by Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. remain bogged down in a battle over a unified standard for next-generation DVDs, with no sign of yielding.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

Osaka 'curfew' plan rife with problems

OSAKA — It's a Saturday evening in early 2006, and four Osaka-area 15-year-old friends, Kenji, Taro, Yoko and Yuka, show up at a theater to see the latest movie. The time is 6:45 p.m., 15 minutes before the movie starts.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

Boy held for killing parents, blowing up home

A 15-year-old youth was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murdering his parents at their home in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, this week, police said.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

Tokyo reformatory escapee, 18, recaptured in Chiba

An 18-year-old inmate was found Wednesday afternoon in Chiba Prefecture four hours after escaping from a reformatory in Fuchu, western Tokyo, the Justice Ministry said.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

Morioka again slams war tribunal

The parliamentary secretary for health, labor and welfare Wednesday criticized the Tokyo tribunal held after World War II, saying it was wrong to consider the victors right and the losers wrong.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2005

Toshiba exec voted TSE chairman

The Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday officially elected Toshiba Corp. Chairman Taizo Nishimuro as its first chairman, following a shareholders' meeting.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

New war memorial is old idea back in the spotlight

The concept of a new national memorial for the war dead, on ice for years for political reasons, has returned to the spotlight as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi finds himself in a regional diplomatic deadlock.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

Chile eyes FTA talks in November '06

Chile hopes to start negotiations in November 2006 for a free-trade agreement with Japan, Chilean Ambassador to Japan Daniel Carvallo said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

Musashino cops fingerprinting homeless

Police in the western Tokyo suburb of Musashino have been fingerprinting and photographing homeless people and gathering other personal data on them on a voluntary basis, police officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2005

Diet passes bill to curb geriatric care

The Diet passed a bill Wednesday to curb government spending on geriatric nursing care by promoting preventive care for the elderly.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2005

Credit card data thieves ring up 110 million yen

Data on about 46,000 Visa card holders have been stolen and so far, more than 110 million yen in illicit purchases have been reported, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Wednesday.
LIFE / Language
Jun 23, 2005

Seminars help teachers survive tough times

There are an estimated 30,000 people teaching English in Japan, including those on the government's widely recognized JET program. But with the craze for language learning fading fast, the English conversation industry is facing a crisis and many teachers, fearing for their livelihoods, are taking courses...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 22, 2005

Horry's big shot took heat off Duncan

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Rasheed Wallace was more than a bit lucky the referees refused to acknowledge his appeal for a non-existent timeout after Tim Duncan's missed tip at the end of regulation in Game 5.
EDITORIALS
Jun 22, 2005

Agreement at a 'minuscule level'

It was extraordinary to see two national leaders having a hard time putting a face on a two-hour-long summit meeting that apparently did not produce any substantive agreement. At an internationally televised press conference following the summit in Seoul on Monday, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 22, 2005

Breathing the life into the dance

"I had a hard time finding the title," Pina Bausch tells me during an interview about her most recent work, "Nefes." The Turkish for "Breath" is the title of the latest in a series of works which the choreographer, who will turn 65 in July this year, has created in collaboration with theaters around...
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2005

JAL chief resigns as industry head

Japan Airlines President Toshiyuki Shimmachi will resign as head of the Scheduled Airlines Association of Japan before his two-year term expires, sources said Tuesday.

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