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BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2004

Matsushita turned a profit in 2003; first in three years

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Wednesday it returned to profit for the first time in three years in fiscal 2003, buoyed by robust sales of plasma display panel TVs and DVD recorders.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2004

Japan Post inks parcel delivery ties

Japan Post has formed business partnerships with two convenience store chains for parcel delivery services, Japan Post officials said Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 29, 2004

Jones, Montgomery may skip Osaka

Triple Olympic champion Marion Jones and 100 meter record-holder Tim Montgomery have pulled out of the IAAF Japan Grand Prix next month, local media reported Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2004

Employment opportunities set to grow amid recovery

More than 40 percent of major companies that took part in a recent survey said they plan to increase the recruitment of workers fresh out of school next spring, according to a report compiled Wednesday by Kyodo News.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2004

Industrial production rises for second straight year

Japan's industrial production rose an unadjusted 3.4 percent in fiscal 2003, marking a second straight yearly rise, the government said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

Rightist pleads guilty to spree of terror

The leader of an ultrarightist group pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he and members of his group conducted terror attacks against members of North Korean-related organizations and others in 2002 and 2003.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

Golden Week travelers jump the gun at Narita, Kansai

The departure rush for overseas travelers during the Golden Week holidays began Wednesday at Narita and Kansai airports, Japan's two major international gateways.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2004

Ministry upgrades regional economies

The Finance Ministry on Wednesday upgraded its quarterly assessment of the nation's regional economies for the third straight quarter, noting brighter signs were evident in personal consumption.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 29, 2004

Dodgers to honor Japanese-Americans

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Tuesday they will celebrate Japanese American Community Night on Wednesday, April 28 when they play host to the New York Mets, according to Dodger owner Frank McCourt.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2004

Hitachi net profit plunges 43%

Hitachi Ltd. said Wednesday its net profit for fiscal 2003 plunged 43 percent to 15.88 billion yen due to heavier tax payments.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

Revise Constitution to allow greater flexibility: council

A private think tank issued a policy proposal Wednesday urging Japan to develop an independent national strategy and contribute to building a "non-war community order."
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2004

Yamaha posts record net profit of 40.1 billion yen

Yamaha Motor Co. said Wednesday that it posted a record consolidated net profit of 40.1 billion yen for fiscal 2003, which ended in March, up 57 percent from the previous year.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Apr 29, 2004

Knicks a long way from being a factor

NEW YORK -- Say this much for the Knicks, at least they weren't swept by the Red Sox. But, really, what did you expect?
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

Public land developers held 2.5 trillion yen in bad assets: study

An academic research group has found that about 700 prefectural and municipal land development entities nationwide held a combined 2.5 trillion yen in nonperforming assets at the end of fiscal 2001.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2004

BOJ says Japan will 'continue its recovery'

The Bank of Japan said Wednesday in a semiannual economic outlook report that the nation's economy will "continue its recovery" in fiscal 2004.
COMMENTARY
Apr 29, 2004

British fault line with Bush

LONDON -- Commentators on both sides of the Atlantic have been raising the possibility of a split between Britain and America on the handling of Middle Eastern affairs.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

Food aid eyed for Myanmar poppy farmers

The government said Wednesday it will provide emergency food aid worth $300,000 to former opium poppy farmers in Myanmar through the U.N. World Food Program in response to an appeal by the WFP, the WFP and the Foreign Ministry said.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

Pension reform bills driven past committee

Amid growing public distrust of the pension system, the ruling coalition rammed government-sponsored pension reform legislation through a House of Representatives committee Wednesday in the opposition's absence.
COMMENTARY
Apr 29, 2004

Asian values shade Japan hostage crisis

LOS ANGELES -- It's true that Asian values may not be all they used to be. But they still pop up now and again with the capacity to dazzle and astonish. It's possible to argue, in fact, that if Asian values remain a strong enough force over time, they could even mitigate emerging Asian nationalism. Two...
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2004

U.S. seeks reconstruction aid from SDF in Afghanistan

OSAKA -- With the security situation in Afghanistan worsening, the U.S. State Department's coordinator for the country voiced hope for increased Japanese participation, including military assistance for reconstruction efforts at the local level.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Apr 29, 2004

'Little blighters' that drive me barking mad

Two years ago, we transplanted 20 cherry saplings cloned from an ancient and historical tree (see Old Nic's Notebook; May, 1, 2003) here where I live in Kurohime, Nagano Prefecture. We then raised the saplings with loving care in our own little nursery for six years, before replanting them at the entranceway...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2004

Selling oneself short in the South

Sonny Rating: * * (out of 5) Director: Nicholas Cage Running time: 110 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] There was a time when one could relish seeing Nicholas Cage's name in a film's credits, a fertile period that encompassed 1991's "Wild at...
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

Airports plan to start shoe X-rays before Golden Week

Japan will start X-raying travelers' shoes at airports before the Golden Week holidays begin in late April as part of an antiterror drive, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Nobuteru Ishihara said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

Lower House OKs four expressway bills

The House of Representatives approved government-sponsored bills Tuesday to privatize four expressway corporations with the backing of the ruling coalition.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2004

Locksmith admits kidnapping, killing writer

A locksmith pleaded guilty Tuesday at the Tokyo District Court to illegally confining and murdering a freelance journalist in September.
EDITORIALS
Apr 28, 2004

Back to the future in Indonesia

The first round of voting in Indonesia's electoral pageant has revealed a wave of nostalgia for the past. Golkar, the party of disgraced former leader Suharto, came out on top in national parliamentary elections in early April. Days after the results were announced, Golkar picked Mr. Wiranto, a former...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2004

Fashionable marriage

Best known in Japan as a fashion photographer and music-video director, Kazuaki Kiriya has made his feature-film debut with "Casshern," the Japanese film industry's most extravagant marriage yet between live action and 3-D animation.

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