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BUSINESS
May 14, 2005

Jobs pick up for high school grads

The job placement rate for high school graduates hit a seven-year high this spring, due to a fall in the number of graduates and a pick-up in the economy, the education ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2005

Resona pays 100 million yen to 130 victims of fraud

Resona Holdings Inc., the parent of Resona Bank and Saitama Resona Bank, has refunded 100 million yen to 130 victims of swindling.
COMMUNITY
May 14, 2005

Extraordinary Ainu strut their stuff in Scotland

Val Aldridge is the researcher of the exhibition "The Extraordinary: A People Called Ainu," which opened at Scotland's Perth Museum and Art Gallery in April and will run through to the end of the year. It is hoped that it will generate some interest in July when the Group of Eight summit takes place...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 14, 2005

Takashi Kikuchi

The College Women's Association of Japan is already preparing for its 50th anniversary print show in October. Proceeds from this show each year are allocated to CWAJ's scholarship and education fund. Most beneficiaries are female graduates of different nationalities planning advanced studies in Japan...
COMMENTARY
May 14, 2005

How the U.S. courts a diplomatic fiasco

LOS ANGELES -- The government of North Korea is difficult to deal with, no matter who you are. Just ask China's leaders. After all, they are Pyongyang's closest ally and yet they probably find dealing with leader Kim Jong Il not a whole lot more fun than their testy cross-strait exchanges with Taiwan's...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 14, 2005

The true scoop behind Japan's baseball superheroes

Another spring and another baseball season for the sports-numb nation of Japan. And once again the TV-viewing public is being regaled with starry-eyed tales of wonder regarding its established heroes: Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui and, this year -- perhaps due to the shortage of heroic clay here in Japan...
BUSINESS
May 14, 2005

Machinery orders grew 6.5% in '04

Core private-sector machinery orders grew 6.5 percent in fiscal 2004 from the previous year, marking a second straight yearly rise, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2005

Nifco set to build new Thai plant

Industrial plastic parts manufacturer Nifco Inc. said Friday it will build a new plant in Thailand to meet growing orders from Japanese automakers.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2005

Asia's growing role in global economy

WASHINGTON -- The recently concluded spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund focused on several key questions of concern to the international community: the prospects for sustaining global economic growth, reducing vulnerabilities in the international financial system, reducing poverty in...
BUSINESS
May 14, 2005

Sankyo president defends price of acquiring Daiichi

Brushing aside shareholder opposition, Sankyo Co. President Takashi Shoda on Friday defended his firm's decision to acquire Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2005

'Indoor dogs' on rise as small pets become part of the family

"Beware of Dog" signs are becoming increasingly rare as a growing number of people choose to keep their pets inside with them and not outside to guard the house.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2005

Card-crime victims scrutinized

Victims should be held partly responsible if they lose money due to behavior that leads to lost or stolen bank cards, a Financial Services Agency panel studying bank card-related crimes said in an interim report Friday.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2005

Takara, Tomy agree to merge in 2006

Takara Co., Japan's No. 2 toy maker, and Tomy Co., the third-largest, said Friday they have agreed to merge March 1 next year.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 13, 2005

Tsutsumi used culture to amass, retain iron grip on power

"If you want Sundays off, don't be a manager in my company."
SUMO
May 13, 2005

Asashoryu topples Roho to stay perfect

Grand champion Asashoryu showed little sign of letting up Thursday when he overwhelmed Russia's Roho to stay undefeated and tied for the lead at the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.
EDITORIALS
May 13, 2005

Revitalizing the startup spirit

Small businesses play an important role in creating jobs and invigorating markets. Since the mid-1990s, however, the number of small-business startups has declined, according to this year's white paper on small and medium-size enterprises. The question is how to reverse the trend. The report calls for...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
May 13, 2005

To cut a long bottle short . . . Champagne gets it, samurai style

There is no sound more synonymous with celebration than the sharp pop of a Champagne cork. Professionals, of course, recommend easing the cork out slowly enough so that only a slight gasp is heard, which one waggish sommelier likened to "the sound of a contented woman."
BUSINESS
May 13, 2005

METI seeks measures to promote robot use in aging society

An industry ministry study group Thursday called for government measures to help promote the use of robots to deal with the rapidly aging workforce.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2005

Vocal U.S. lobbyist enjoys being 'underestimated'

Many people may have underestimated Thomas Donohue when he assumed the position of president and chief executive of the United States Chamber of Commerce in 1997.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2005

TSE to delist Kanebo over accounting scandal

The Tokyo Stock Exchange announced Thursday that it has decided to delist Kanebo Ltd. on June 13 over a massive case of accounting fraud.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 13, 2005

A Tokyo hotline to Bangkok

Hyakunincho, Tokyo's most polyglot district, is only a two-minute train ride from the heart of Shinjuku, but it almost feels like leaving the country. In the 1980s, when Southeast Asian food was still a novelty in other parts of town, this was where we came to forage, lured by the exotic perfume of lemongrass,...
BUSINESS
May 13, 2005

Steelmakers make hay as demand keeps rising

Strong global demand offset rising materials prices in fiscal 2004, allowing Japan's major steelmakers to log record earnings, according to earnings reports released through Thursday.
COMMENTARY
May 13, 2005

China cracks rights window

HONG KONG -- Last month, China issued a white paper that purported to show progress it had made on the human-rights front in 2004. It was immediately dismissed by human-rights organizations as little more than propaganda. While this may well be true, there are signs of significant progress on human rights....
BUSINESS
May 13, 2005

Sompo Japan to ask ex-staff to cover baby leave

Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. will use former employees to cover the jobs of incumbent employees on child care leave from July, company officials said Thursday.

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