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JAPAN
Jan 28, 2005

Musicians to perform in aid of tsunami survivors

02-9999 or access Internet Web sites operated by Ticket Pia (http://t.pia.co.jp) and E+ (http://eee.eplus.co.jp). For more information about the event itself, call the association at (03) 5449-4711.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jan 28, 2005

2004: Year of the bounce; Serious Sirius

Calamitous. The world was a bouncin' in 2004.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 28, 2005

Otherworldly Okinawan capital

Automatic doors open, you step through and the sleek monorail whisks you from the spanking-new air terminal to the profuse lights of the dense urban center. Except for having exchanged wintry weather for the almost-perpetual balmy summer of Okinawa, arrival in Naha at night can seem mightily like the...
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 27, 2005

Koji Nakata cleared by club to join Marseille

Japan international midfielder Koji Nakata said Wednesday he will transfer to French club Marseille after a breakthrough in talks the same day with Kashima Antlers president Hiroshi Ushijima.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 27, 2005

Faltering Funaki left off squad

Nineteen-year-old Daiki Ito and Noriaki Kasai were among the five skiers named to the national team for the Nordic Skiing World Championships, but struggling Nagano Olympic gold-medalist Kazuyoshi Funaki was left off the list, the Ski Association of Japan said Wednesday.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 27, 2005

Wilkens debacle means honeymoon over for Isiah in New York

NEW YORK -- Paying off or buying out predecessors' blunders -- coaches, players and front office personnel -- is acceptable standard operating procedure for newly hired sports executives.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 27, 2005

Three-day sumo tourney set for Las Vegas

The Japan Sumo Association will stage a three-day tournament in Las Vegas in October to help celebrate the city's 100th anniversary.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jan 27, 2005

Golden Eagles' home opener set for April 1

The newly formed Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles will host the Seibu Lions in a night game in their home opener April 1, the Pacific League said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2005

Trimming a lifetime perquisite

The Japanese public has expressed anger over the fact that members of the Diet are entitled to such fat pensions. In response, a parliamentary panel has recommended that there be at least a 70-percent increase in premiums and a 30-percent cut in payouts. These proposals probably will take effect in fiscal...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2005

Promotion just for Japanese: supreme court

principle of national sovereignty and in view of the fact that the people should in the end be responsible for how the central and local governments govern, (the Constitution) should be viewed as presuming that Japanese nationals in principle will assume local civil service positions" that require the...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2005

English teachers safe after tsunami: schools

Major English-language schools and local governments said Wednesday that all of their non-Japanese teachers who had been unaccounted for in the wake of last month's massive tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean are now safely back at work.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2005

Execs face charges in revolving door death

Police on Wednesday handed prosecutors their case against six executives in connection with the death of a 6-year-old boy who was crushed in an automatic revolving door at Tokyo's Roppongi Hills commercial complex in March.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2005

China now Japan's top trade partner

trade," said Yukari Sato, chief economist at Credit Suisse First Boston Securities (Japan) Ltd. Economists and government officials predict that Japan's trade with China will grow further, given lower tariffs and an improving investment climate spurred by China's entry into the World Trade Organization...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2005

Police bust 10 billion yen phone fraud ring

Police arrested more than 10 people Wednesday, including mobsters, former loan sharks and youths, on suspicion of perpetrating a series of remittance frauds nationwide.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2005

Koizumi vows rural postal services will be maintained

postal delivery services, the (privatized) entity (in charge) will be legally obliged to continue to provide them," Koizumi said, indicating this entity would receive preferential treatment over actual private-sector firms seeking to enter the mail delivery fray. Under the government's privatization...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2005

High court refuses to acknowledge police negligence led to fatal stalking

The parents of a woman who was murdered in 1999 by a group of men linked to her ex-boyfriend failed Wednesday to win recognition that the negligence by Saitama police who failed to act on her complaint of stalking and harassment led to her slaying.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 27, 2005

Wonderfully easy on the eyes

Sony launched its new PlayStation Portable in Japan in December. According to Sony, it is slated to launch in the United States by the end of March. Who knows about Europe.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2005

MMC's loss nearly doubles forecast, tops 400 billion yen

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is expected to mark a record consolidated net loss of more than 400 billion yen for fiscal 2004, which ends in March, after being battered by sluggish sales in North America, according to sources.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2005

Foggy North Korean shuffle

BRUSSELS -- Recent events in North Korea have been interpreted in various ways and, generally, the wish has been father to the thought. The truth is difficult to discern, but indications are that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has placed himself firmly behind a reform program that may finally bring...
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2005

Finance Ministry maintains gradual recovery assessment

The Finance Ministry on Wednesday left its overall assessment of the economy unchanged for the November-January period for the fourth straight quarter, saying the economy was making a gradual recovery despite the appearance of weak movements.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2005

MTFG to up capital in merger runup

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. plans to issue 250 billion yen in preferred shares by the end of March to expand its capital base ahead of its planned merger with UFJ Holdings Inc. in October, MTFG officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 27, 2005

Bull-headed shrike

* Japanese name: Mozu * Scientific name: Lanius bucephalus * Description: At first glance, bull-headed shrikes look like large (20-cm-long) house sparrows, albeit they have thick, hooked, black bills and are more strongly colored, with black and white feathers in their wings, rust flanks, gray-brown...
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2005

Seibu Railway panel to seek four bank execs

A Seibu Railway group reform panel will ask four banks to dispatch representatives to the board of directors of a new company to lead the scandal-tainted group, panel sources said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2005

Yamaichi Securities creditors hold last gathering

Creditors of Yamaichi Securities Co. held their last meeting Wednesday, completing bankruptcy procedures for the major brokerage whose collapse in 1997 nearly set off a nationwide financial crisis.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2005

Loan shark handed five-year term but court stiffs victims for damages

The Tokyo District Court sentenced a senior member of a loan-sharking ring to five years in prison Wednesday and fined him 20 million yen for money laundering.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 27, 2005

'Sobering study' spells out the global crisis

After more than 30 years of work in national and international environmental policymaking, James Gustave Speth has written an extraordinary book. Even better, it's now out in Japanese, published by Chuohoki.

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