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JAPAN
Oct 17, 2003

Cops targeted loan sharks in September crackdown

Authorities across the nation handled 125 cases of loan-sharking in September, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2003

Emperor faces further cancer concerns: doctor

Recent blood tests suggest there is a "slight" possibility that Emperor Akihito may still have some cancerous tissue, despite having undergone prostate cancer surgery in January, his chief health official said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2003

Bankruptcies decline as firms go on life support

The number of corporate bankruptcies fell 14.2 percent on a year-on-year basis to 8,183 cases in the six months through September, Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2003

Nasiriya, Samawa cities eyed for troop dispatch

Japan is considering deploying troops to two cities in southern Iraq with relatively stable security as part of its assistance in the reconstruction effort, government sources said Sunday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 12, 2003

Andean attractions

When you're tired from trekking around Quito's Old Town, there are plenty of distractions to be found just a short drive from the Ecuadorean capital. Here are five of the best:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 12, 2003

His finger on the pulse of life on Earth

The Philip Glass Ensemble has been performing the music to the film "Koyaanisqatsi," live with screenings of the film, since the year after the film's release in 1982. This was later complemented by the performance of music from the film's 1987 followup "Powaqqatsi." So far, these cinema concerts have...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 11, 2003

Dogs in Japan bow-wow before masters

Stray cats can be seen all over Japan: under parked cars, in alleyways, or in the parks being fed rice by "o-baa-chans." But you never see stray dogs. Why not? Is it the fault of Viagra? Cats are getting it but not dogs?
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2003

War-displaced struggle to live in Japan

After serving as president of a public athletics college in China for decades, Bunji Tanaka resettled in Japan in 1988 at age 47 and found work at a liquor wholesale warehouse in Yokohama.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2003

Antiterrorism law extension OK'd

A House of Councilors committee endorsed a bill Thursday for extending a special law to allow the continued deployment of Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels to the Indian Ocean until 2005 to support the U.S.-led antiterrorism operations.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 9, 2003

Aggregating anemone

* Japanese name: Yoroiisoginchaku * Scientific name:Anthopleura japonica * Description: Anemones are marine invertebrates, cylindrical animals with rings of tentacles on the upper surface. They are related to jellyfish and corals. Aggregating anemones grow up to 3 cm in diameter and can have a brilliant...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2003

LDP oldsters to be odd men out come poll time?

The seniority-based ethos in the Liberal Democratic Party is under threat, with the party leaders putting an upper age limit on the selection of some candidates for the next House of Representatives election.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2003

Ishiba: Iraq dispatch not due to U.S.

Japan is not dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq because it was requested to do so by the United States, but because Japan's interests are involved, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2003

Lead units of SDF to be sent to Iraq as early as December

Japan will dispatch an advance unit of Ground Self-Defense Force troops to Iraq as early as December under a special law to support the rehabilitation of the country, government sources said Saturday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 5, 2003

Role of victims in court needs careful monitoring

In the past, the press was often accused of bearing down too hard on victims of crimes and their families. In the most extreme cases, the media would camp outside the homes of victims who didn't want to talk to them (the family of the Kobe boy who was beheaded by another boy in 1995) or imply that a...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2003

Fertility experts urge health insurance help

In response to the increasingly serious problem of Japan's falling birthrate, patients and medical professionals involved in fertility treatment are calling for the cost of treatment to be covered by national health insurance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Oct 4, 2003

Dad(o) hands down a family tradition

Frederic Holyszewski (aka Dado, Deedrah) was raised in the countryside of Fontainebleau, south of Paris. His parents handed down strong family traditions that grew out of a humble background. It was a charmed setting in which to grow up -- Fontainebleau even has a castle. And music was a pillar of his...
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2003

LDP moves to revise electoral law

Candidates running for political office in the near future will likely be allowed to distribute detailed pamphlets of their policies while campaigning.
EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2003

Saving a Japanese monument

Japan still has an entry on the World Monuments Fund's biennial "watch list" of the planet's 100 most endangered cultural sites, according to the 2004 update released last week. It is time to ensure that the historic port town of Tomonoura, which was first included in the 2002 list, is not on it two...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2003

Ishihara lauds new rules to curb emissions from trucks and buses

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara hailed Wednesday's enforcement of new regulations to curb emissions from diesel-powered trucks and buses.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2003

Two HIV-positive moms give birth to uninfected boys

Two women with HIV have given birth to healthy baby boys after undergoing special drug therapy to prevent the infection from being passed on, their doctors said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2003

Top diplomatic adviser off to Iraq

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's top diplomatic adviser, Yukio Okamoto, left Narita airport Wednesday for Iraq to lay the groundwork for a dispatch of Japanese ground troops to the country.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2003

New law requires recycling of PCs at consumers' expense

Starting Wednesday, new legislation takes effect that compels personal computer manufacturers to collect used PCs from households and recycle their parts, with consumers footing the bill. The following are basic facts about the recycling process:
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2003

Nissan Diesel restructuring plan calls for bailout worth 106 billion yen

Struggling truck maker Nissan Diesel Motor Co. announced Tuesday a new restructuring plan that calls on Nissan Motor Co. and its three main banks to provide a 106 billion yen bailout.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2003

New rules target metropolis' diesel exhaust

Tokyo and its neighboring prefectures will debut regulations Wednesday to curb emissions from diesel-powered trucks and buses to clear up the region's air pollution problem -- the nation's worst.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2003

Kan wants some specifics from Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy speech to the Diet on Friday was full of wishful goals but lacking specifics, the head of the largest opposition party said.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2003

Diet session, poll each other's hostage?

The Diet will convene an extraordinary session Friday to decide whether to extend the antiterrorism law by two years, but this may not go off without a hitch: Lawmakers appear to have already shifted their attention away from this issue to the House of Representatives election expected for November....

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years