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BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2004

Japan's economic upturn sustainable, Koehler says

Horst Koehler, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said Tuesday he believes Japan's economic recovery is sustainable and commended the nation for its financial system reforms that have seen steady falls in banks' bad loans.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 25, 2004

International theater festival takes Japan to a new stage

I recently read a book about a mass breakout by Japanese from an Australian prisoner-of-war camp on Aug. 5, 1944. Some 1,100 Japanese tried to escape, but none succeeded -- indeed, 231 died, many by their own hand using prison-issue cutlery. "Voyage from Shame" by Harry Gordon (1995) portrays this breakout...
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2004

Four held over bids to blackmail Softbank firms

Police said Tuesday they have arrested four men in two separate cases for allegedly trying to extort money out of Softbank Corp. and an affiliate with confidential client data leaked from its Yahoo BB Internet connection service.
COMMENTARY
Feb 25, 2004

Six-party talks: prospects for success

HONOLULU -- The second round of six-party talks on North Korea's suspected nuclear-weapons program is scheduled to begin Wednesday. Expectations are currently running so low that many will call the meeting a success if the North Koreans merely show up, or if they don't walk out once the United States...
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2004

Follower couldn't shake Aum's allure till its 1999 apology

When Aum Shinrikyo officially acknowledged for the first time in December 1999 that it was behind a spate of heinous crimes and apologized to the survivors, Hiroyuki Miyaguchi said he was relieved that suspicions he and other rank-and-file cultists harbored for years had finally been cleared up.
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2004

Japan-Mexico FTA talks see progress in agriculture sector

Japan and Mexico have made progress in ironing out differences over farm trade toward a free-trade agreement.
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2004

Kobe Steel appoints Inubushi chief

Kobe Steel Ltd. Vice President Yasuo Inubushi will be appointed president, the company said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 25, 2004

Empty democracy in Iran

To no one's surprise, conservatives claimed an overwhelming victory in parliamentary elections held in Iran last week. The results were predictable since many of the country's reform-oriented candidates were not allowed to run. The low turnout is proof that the outcome does not reflect the will of the...
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2004

'Portable' mobile phone numbers to receive boost

A study panel at the telecommunications ministry is set to propose a new system in which mobile phone users can retain their phone numbers when they switch from one provider to another, ministry sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2004

LDP against more Filipino, Thai M.D.s, nurses here

A Liberal Democratic Party panel on free-trade agreements is reluctant to allow more doctors or nurses from the Philippines and Thailand to work in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 25, 2004

Discovering the bright side of the 'dark continent'

When I was young, Africa and its people were represented to me through two distinct sets of images. The first, delivered by National Geographic and other anthropological sources, were the cliched photographs of tribesmen gripping spears in their hands and bare-breasted woman balancing baskets on their...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2004

Yamanouchi, Fujisawa to merge

Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. said Tuesday they have agreed to merge in a bid to survive intensifying global competition.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2004

Koizumi promises 500 million yen to East Timor

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged Monday to provide 500 million yen in grants in aid to East Timor to help its nation-building efforts.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2004

Crown Prince turns 44, rues wife's woes

Crown Prince Naruhito said his wife has become exhausted from the pressures of royal life, motherhood and media scrutiny over the couple's lack of a male heir, and asks that she be left in peace.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2004

Abductee's son wants to meet agent

A man whose mother was abducted to North Korea in 1978 handed a senior Foreign Ministry official a letter Monday addressed to a former North Korean agent who may have learned the Japanese language from the woman.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2004

Saving best for last, guru verdict done deal?

Friday is verdict day in the eight-year trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara, who if the state has its way will hang for masterminding or ordering 13 heinous crimes that resulted in 27 slayings at the hands of his disciples.
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2004

Yoshinoya can't get a break

Restaurant chain operator Yoshinoya D&C can't win for losing.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2004

HIV trial ends as Abe, 87, is deemed feeble

The Tokyo High Court said Monday it will stop hearing an appeal by prosecutors against the acquittal of Takeshi Abe on charges of negligence resulting in a patient's death, saying the 87-year-old HIV expert has become mentally incompetent.
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2004

Trade surplus up fivefold year on year

Japan's trade surplus in January grew almost fivefold from a year earlier as exports to China and other Asian economies expanded while imports from the United States dropped due to the ban on U.S. beef.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 24, 2004

Advice for the stage-struck and proofing

We have received a sudden clutch of enquiries from stage-struck readers this week.
EDITORIALS
Feb 24, 2004

Malaysia's new look

Malaysia's new prime minister, Mr. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is wasting no time distinguishing himself in office. Typically, however, he is doing it quietly. Without a lot of fanfare, Mr. Badawi has launched a campaign to root out corruption. In foreign policy, he is smoothing over the rough relationships...
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2004

'Paradise' emigrant back for lawsuit

Toru Takegama's spirits were high when he left Japan in July 1956 for the Dominican Republic under a government-backed emigration project.
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2004

Brisk Chinese demand spurring Japan's economy

Brisk demand for Japanese goods in China is becoming a major driving force for Japan's economy, helping the nation as it struggles to shake off more than a decade of stagnation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 24, 2004

Is there value for money in English education?

Amanda Townsend Teacher, 26

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