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LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Aug 19, 2004

City kids bring diversity to countryside schools

I was a little nervous when we went to pick up my son, who was returning from an extended stay in the Japanese countryside. He's 13, an age when kids go through tremendous physical and emotional changes. There have been days when he was a different person at dinner than he was at breakfast. And when...
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2004

UFJ may tap Toyota to aid Misawa

UFJ Bank is poised to ask Toyota Motor Corp. for assistance in rebuilding ailing borrower Misawa Homes Holdings Inc. by investing in the company's core unit, Misawa Homes Co., sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2004

Think tanks turn positive forecasting GDP growth

Three private economic research institutes revised upward their forecasts of Japan's economic growth for fiscal 2004 due to a strong recovery in the corporate sector.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2004

Isles visit would create problems: Russia envoy

Russia's envoy to Japan said Wednesday that a reported plan by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to visit Russian-held islands claimed by Japan would not solve pending disputes but rather create new problems and would be "unproductive" for bilateral relations.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2004

Counselors now target Japanese overseas

The growing number of Japanese nationals residing abroad -- expected to surpass 1 million by 2006 -- is being matched by the need for specialist counseling agencies that help with the stress of living in an alien culture.
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2004

Cell phone-based system to track products

The farm ministry will begin creating a system in fiscal 2005 that will enable consumers to trace the history of tagged farm products by scanning them with their mobile phones, ministry officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 19, 2004

Down in the grim intertidal zone

A coffee-shop friend of mine recently summed up his appreciation of our local lowland forest just outside Sapporo, saying: "You know, it's wonderful here; every season is the best season." And, you know, he has a powerful point.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2004

Consumer lender-bank tieups mutually beneficial

The Web site for consumer financing firm Mobit Co. solicits new customers for its ATM service with a cartoon.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2004

Hokkaido firms try daylight-saving

It's a decades-old debate in Japan: whether to save energy by turning the clocks ahead an hour in the summer like the United States and Europe.
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2004

Seiyu posts 2.88 billion yen net loss

Seiyu Ltd., an affiliate of U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., reported Wednesday a group net loss of 2.88 billion yen in the first half.
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2004

Lawson shuns Yamato in favor of Japan Post

Lawson Inc. and Japan Post said Wednesday the convenience store operator will handle Japan Post parcels at its 7,850 outlets nationwide starting in mid-November.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2004

Ex-Kokumin chief won't go to prison

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday overturned a lower court ruling and handed a former president of the now-defunct Kokumin Bank a suspended three-year prison term for aggravated breach of trust in connection with 9 billion yen in illegal loans he extended.
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2004

Asahi Glass shatters half-year sales, profit records in January-June period

Asahi Glass Co. said Wednesday it chalked up record half-year sales and profits in the January-June period.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2004

Trade wrangle lifts Latham

SYDNEY -- Sick, sick, sick. That's the only way to describe Australia's belated acceptance of a free-trade agreement with the United States. And if Canberra later gets indigestion from biting off more than it can chew in the deal, don't expect American drug companies to come to the rescue.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2004

Joint probe urged for copter crash

Japan will request that a joint panel with the United States be convened at an early date to probe last week's crash of a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter on a university campus in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, Japanese officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2004

Mobile-phone shipments decline

Domestic shipments of mobile phones, excluding personal handy-phone equipment, fell 15.4 percent in June from a year earlier to 4.01 million units, down for the sixth straight month, an industry association said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2004

Kepco admits more pipe inspections missed

Accident-hit Kansai Electric Power Co. said Wednesday it has not carried out pipe inspections at 11 designated points at three of its nuclear reactors in Fukui Prefecture, and added that it would immediately shut down the one reactor currently in service.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2004

Keep relations with U.S. in perspective

Undeniably the United States is very important to Japan. Nevertheless, I have detected some worrying signs in the present state of Japan-U.S. relations. More frequently than before, we hear people argue that good relations with the U.S. is an objective in itself. In addition, many Japanese unwittingly...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2004

Typhoon unloads; six die, pair missing

At least six people were killed and two others were missing in Shikoku on Wednesday as Typhoon Megi drenched a wide swath of the country with heavy rain, according to local rescue and police officials.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 18, 2004

Questions of balance

Fahrenheit 9/11 Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Michael Moore Running time: 122 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] The Fog of War Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Errol Morris Running time: 107 minutes Language: English Opens...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 18, 2004

Minds lost over teenage murderer

The United States of Leland Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Matthew Ryan Hoge Running time: 108 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "The United States of Leland" has a difficult story to tell, but first-time director Matthew Ryan Hoge tries...

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