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BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 14, 2004

Gaillard backs down on request

Yokohama BayStars right-hander Eddie Gaillard, who will likely move to middle relief with the return of closer Kazuhiro Sasaki from the major leagues, has backed out of a request for a multiyear contract, team executive Masatake Yamanaka said Friday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 14, 2004

Kitajima wins MVP award again

The Japan Swimming Federation named Kosuke Kitajima as the 2003 Most Valuable Player on Friday, granting him the top distinction for the second year in a row.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004

Returnees may collect relatives in Pyongyang

Japan would be willing to allow the five Japanese who returned to their homeland after being abducted to North Korea decades ago to fly to Pyongyang airport to collect their relatives, as long as they do not get off the plane, a senior government official said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004

Whistle-blower law in the pipeline

Three decades after Hiroaki Kushioka exposed a price-fixing cartel involving his employer in the trucking industry, the government is working on what would become Japan's first-ever law to protect whistle-blowers in private-sector firms and government organizations.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004

Koizumi promises Palestinians that Tokyo will do what it can

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi promised Palestinian ministers Friday that Japan will provide as much financial support as possible to help them overcome economic difficulties and continue efforts to reach peace with Israel.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2004

NTT DoCoMo drops bid for ATT

NTT DoCoMo Inc. sources said Friday the company has abandoned its plan to buy ATT Wireless Services Inc. as the deal would be too costly.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004

Electronics retailers searched

Government authorities on Friday searched two electronics retail outlets in Fukuoka over their suspected sales of thousands of used home appliances that had been collected for recycling.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 14, 2004

Tateyama sidelined

Yakult Swallows right-hander Shohei Tateyama was diagnosed with damaged ligaments in his right elbow Friday and will be out of action for at least four weeks, officials of the Central League club said.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 14, 2004

Sakamoto to take part in ekiden

Naoko Sakamoto, who won the Osaka International Women's Marathon last month, will take part in the Yokohama International Women's Ekiden later this month as a member of the Japanese national team.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004

Takefuji Corp. hid 920 million yen in income in '00

Consumer loan company Takefuji Corp. hid 920 million yen in income in fiscal 2000 by claiming to have sold bad loans to a subsidiary, and did not declare other income, sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004

Defense Agency list violated privacy

The Tokyo District Court ruled Friday that a list compiled by the Defense Agency of people who asked it for information was a violation of their privacy.
COMMENTARY
Feb 14, 2004

The fallibility of intelligence

LONDON -- The Jan. 28 report of Lord Justice Brian Hutton's inquiry into the death last July of British government defense scientist David Kelly was highly critical of the behavior of the British Broadcasting Corp. and a BBC reporter who had accused the government of "sexing up" intelligence for the...
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2004

Car recycling law brings automakers together

A new law to promote car recycling that will take effect in January has already fueled competition and led to greater cooperation among Japanese automakers.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 14, 2004

My lazy old one-eyed 'daruma' doll

You're going to rot on that island!" said Mr. High Mountain (Takayama) over the phone.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2004

China chicken imports conditionally approved

Japan has agreed to resume imports of heat-treated processed poultry products from China, on condition that Chinese processing plants clear hygiene norms to be specified by Japan, agriculture ministry officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004

GSDF troops undeterred by mortar attack near base

Japan is analyzing Thursday's mortar attack in Samawah, southern Iraq, where its Ground Self-Defense Force troops are being deployed, but the incident will not affect its humanitarian mission there, government officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004

Embryo stem cell research OK'd

Japan approved Friday its first medical research project using domestically created human embryo stem cells.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 14, 2004

Handling anger via growth, creative expression

After her father died in 1996, Chizuko Tezuka found herself more and more depressed. Eventually the emotion was so overwhelming that she took absence of leave from her post as associate professor in Keio University's International Center in Tokyo, and sought help.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2004

McDonald's Holdings posts 7 billion yen net loss

McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) said Friday it posted a net loss of 7.12 billion yen for 2003, with weak sales and heavy restructuring costs forcing the company into its second consecutive losing year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 14, 2004

Roland Thompson

His happiest memory, Roland Thompson says, is of his training, and learning advanced techniques, in Soke Shioda's black-belt aikido classes. His saddest memory is of the day Shioda died. He regards himself as "very fortunate to have been with him, and to have trained with him, during that last part of...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 14, 2004

Hi-yo, 'silver'! Home helpers to the rescue!

Most men have but one woman in their lives, yet I am an exception. For I have oodles of women. Right here at my house.
JAPAN / LABOR PAINS
Feb 13, 2004

Medical sector faces hard choice amid aging society

As Japan gropes for solutions to the imminent labor shortage amid the rapidly graying population, the failure of a private-sector project to import nurses is a bitter reminder of the hurdles involved in attracting and keeping foreign professionals here.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2004

Japan should take lead role in peace process: Palestinians

Japan should be admitted into the so-called Quartet of nations and organizations sponsoring the stalled Mideast peace process, the Palestinian foreign minister said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2004

Goods meant to be recycled sold instead to export firm

A transport company in Fukuoka Prefecture has sold to an exporter thousands of used home electrical appliances that were meant to be recycled, a possible violation of the Home Appliance Recycling Law, two retailers said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2004

Questionable intelligence

Confronted with mounting evidence that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction at the time of last year's war, U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair last month decided to launch an independent inquiry into the quality of intelligence they used to justify the war....
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2004

SDP's Tsujimoto handed suspended term

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday sentenced Kiyomi Tsujimoto, former policy chief of the Social Democratic Party, to a suspended two-year prison term for defrauding the state out of 18.7 million yen.

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