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JAPAN
Dec 15, 2004

Tokyo, Washington sign missile-tech exchange agreement

Japan and the United States signed a pact Tuesday allowing "comprehensive cooperation" on transfers of technologies related to missile-defense systems.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 15, 2004

Zico calls up Nagata

Japan coach Zico has called up Kashiwa Reysol defender Mitsuru Nagata for Thursday's home friendly with Germany to fill the gap in his backline, the Japan Football Association said Tuesday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 15, 2004

2005 schedule reflects big changes in Japanese baseball

The 2005 Japan pro baseball schedule was released last week, and one look at the table gives you an idea there will be a whole new ball game next season. Three separate slates were unveiled, one for each of the Central and Pacific Leagues as usual, with Japan's first-ever interleague calendar tacked...
MORE SPORTS
Dec 15, 2004

JLPGA honors Fudo, Miyazato

Yuri Fudo, who won the money title for the fifth straight year, and teenage sensation Ai Miyazato shared the LPGA Award for outstanding performances on the women's tour, the Japan LPGA said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2004

Billions eyed for drilling near China

The government plans to spend some 23 billion yen in fiscal 2005 to prepare for exploratory gas drilling in Japan's exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea, government officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2004

BOJ to sell FBs to cool money mart

The Bank of Japan said Tuesday it will sell short-term financing bills Friday to siphon funds from the money market, the first such operation in four years and 10 months.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Dec 15, 2004

We mix you a Merry Christmas; stocking stuffers & party plans

"Drape the Messe in day-glo deco,
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2004

Bankruptcies fall for 23rd straight month

The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan fell 2.6 percent in November from a year earlier to 1,106 for the 23rd straight month of decline, a private-sector corporate credit research agency said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2004

Sony, Samsung bolster alliance, agree to share 24,000 patents

Sony Corp., the world's second-largest consumer electronics maker, and Samsung Electronics Co., the world's second-largest chip maker, said Tuesday they have agreed to share about 24,000 patents, fortifying an alliance between two of Asia's biggest technology companies.
Dec 15, 2004

Muraoka denies role in donation coverup

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka on Tuesday denied helping to cover up a 100 million yen donation made to the Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction by the Japan Dental Association in 2001.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2004

Mitsubishi Heavy faces defense ban

The Defense Agency said Tuesday it will bar Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. from bidding on agency contracts for two weeks starting Wednesday in connection with defects found in a prototype missile system.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 15, 2004

Servants of too many masters

The Tokyo National Theater is currently showing a three-hour bunraku performance drawn from the play "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami" (literally translated as: "Sugawara Certifies a Disowned Disciple to Perpetuate His Line of Calligraphy"), written by Takeda Izumo and collaborators in 1746.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2004

Set payouts urged for insurance failures

A governmental advisory panel recommended Tuesday that the insurance safety net system guarantee full claim payments to policyholders even when accidents occur three months after an insurer collapses.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2004

MMC won't release new rehab plan until next month to 'redefine strategy'

Struggling automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will postpone the release of its new rehabilitation plan until the end of January.
Japan Times
Dec 15, 2004

Don Quijote president to quit over fatal fire

Don Quijote Co. President Takao Yasuda said Tuesday he intends to step down to take responsibility for the three employees who died earlier in the day in one of two suspicious fires that struck its outlets in Saitama Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 15, 2004

Larger than life

Director and animator Sylvain Chomet had a different childhood (in Maison-Laffitte, in France) from the little boy in "Les Triplettes de Belleville," but the two had some things in common.
JAPAN / READERS' FUND
Dec 15, 2004

Aid helping to build schools in Cambodia

AMATAK, a Tokyo-based group headed by the Rev. Fumio Goto of the Catholic Kichijoji Church, and its sister group in Cambodia have been building elementary schools in poor villages in the Southeast Asian nation for about 10 years.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 15, 2004

Nagashima's son named adviser

The Yomiuri Giants said Tuesday they have named Kazushige Nagashima, son of former manager and star player Shigeo Nagashima, as a special adviser for the team.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2004

Toy maker Takara needs Christmas gift: renewed demand

It isn't likely to be a very merry Christmas for Keita Sato this year.
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 2004

Signs of an economy losing steam

Japan's economy last entered an expansionary phase in February 2002. Thirty-three months later, in October 2004, it was losing steam. It would not be surprising if the recovery ended that month, as upswings in Japan's business cycles since the end of World War II have lasted, on average, about the same...
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2004

2003 was bumper year for obscene, violent teachers

2003 saw a record number of public school teachers axed for obscene acts or unauthorized levels of corporal punishment, according to the government.
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2004

China aid up for review next year, Machimura says

Japan may examine its aid policy toward China as early as next year with an eye to gradually reducing the official development assistance and eventually ending it altogether, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura suggested Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2004

Doctor who treated Bikini Atoll H-test victims dead at 83

Toshiyuki Kumatori, a prominent figure in radiological sciences who treated radiation victims of the 1954 U.S. hydrogen-bomb test at Bikini Atoll in the Central Pacific, died Saturday from pneumonia at a hospital in Saitama Prefecture. He was 83.

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