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BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

Overtime in November climbs 4%

Average overtime at Japanese companies rose 4 percent in November from a year earlier to 10.5 hours, the 17th straight monthly gain, the government said in a report released Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

Beer-lovers set new record -- hic

Global beer consumption in 2002 rose 2.1 percent over the previous year to 141.56 million kiloliters, for the 17th straight yearly increase, according to Kirin Brewery Co.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

Unemployment rate unchanged at 5.2%

Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in November stood at 5.2 percent, unchanged from the previous month, when it posted the first increase since March.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

Matsushita in China TV system deal

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Friday it has agreed with two Chinese companies to jointly develop a television broadcast production system based on its semiconductor memory card technology.
EDITORIALS
Dec 27, 2003

Mr. Gadhafi's change of heart

Mercurial Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has pulled off another coup. Last week's announcement that Libya would give up all its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has turned the former pariah into an international statesman. Surprising though the move may have seemed, it was the result...
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Japan officially slaps ban on U.S. beef over BSE scare

Japan, the biggest importer of U.S. beef, said Friday it will ban imports of the meat and order a recall of meat already in the country after a laboratory in Britain confirmed a cow from Washington state has tested positive for mad cow disease.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2003

A chance for Europe to stand on its own

LONDON -- Disneyland, the Kennedy Space Center and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush were all on the agenda during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly's visit to Orlando, Florida, this month. Missing were members of the U.S. Congress. They weren't in Istanbul 12 months ago -- apparently because of problems with their...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

No panic over latest BSE scare

Japanese consumers are taking the news of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States with relative calm, with restaurants and supermarkets reporting none of the tumbling sales they experienced two years ago.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

Household spending up in November

Spending by Japan's wage-earning households grew in November from the year-before level for the first time in three months, with income increasing for the first time since March 2002, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

Imports of calves' brains revealed

Some 40 kg of calves' brains has been imported into Japan from the United States this year, with 23 kg having been consumed at five restaurants in Tokyo and other cities, the health ministry said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 27, 2003

Rabinder Malik

Almost 10 years ago when Rabinder Malik celebrated his 60th birthday, his family and friends put on a surprise party for him. "Sixty persons came," he said. "That was awesome."
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

New airline to link Kyushu, Tokyo

A startup airline plans to begin flights between Kitakyushu and Tokyo, primarily targeting business travelers, when a planned new airport opens here in 2005, the company's president said Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2003

Too soon to say who will foot Yamaichi bill

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said Friday that the outstanding balance of emergency loans by the Bank of Japan to Yamaichi Securities Co., which collapsed in 1997, must first be determined before discussing who will foot the final bill.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2003

Shedding light on Kissinger's dark legacy

NEW YORK -- Recently released documents from the U.S. National Security Archive shed important light on former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's role in Argentina. These documents indicate that Kissinger approved of the Argentinian military junta's ruthless tactics to eliminate any opposition to its...
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2003

New expressways to cost taxpayers 2.4 trillion yen

An advisory panel to the transport minister on Thursday approved construction of some 700 km worth of expressways at a cost of roughly 2.4 trillion yen.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2003

Video-based drug sales get qualified ministry OK

A health ministry panel has compiled a draft report conditionally removing the ban on overnight videophone-based sales of over-the-counter drugs by retailers.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2003

Most feel men should help raise kids

Most respondents to a welfare ministry survey think men should help care for children, and many women with partners who help in raising kids want a bigger family.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2003

Court reverses order to halt expropriation of Tokyo land

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday repealed a lower court order that the national and local governments suspend expropriation of land in Akiruno, Tokyo, for a highway project.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 26, 2003

It's time for Premier League players to grow up

LONDON -- A former footballer once confided to me that after his retirement he and his wife decided to go on the dream holiday they had never been able to take while he was a leading international.
EDITORIALS
Dec 26, 2003

Privatizing the highway corporations

Finally the stage has been set for the privatization of the debt-ridden highway corporations. The government plans to send related bills to the next Diet session, which opens in January. If the package is approved as scheduled, a new tollway system will go into operation in fiscal 2005 under the management...
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2003

Japan to probe U.S. mad cow case

Japan will send a mission to the United States next month to gather information on the country's first case of mad cow disease, a senior farm ministry official said Thursday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 26, 2003

Tuffy inks two-year, $10 million pact with Giants

Reigning Pacific League home run king Tuffy Rhodes signed a two-year contract with the Yomiuri Giants carrying an annual salary of $5 million (about 543 million yen), officials of the Central League club said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2003

Matsumotokiyoshi to buy Tobu unit

Matsumotokiyoshi Co. said Thursday it will acquire Tobu Railway Co.'s drug store chain in January as part of a strategy to open its outlets in railway properties.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2003

RCC expected to get lawyer named as its next president

Attorney Yoshihiko Okuno is expected to succeed Akio Kioi as president of the Resolution and Collection Corp.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2003

Koizumi tapes foreign-investment ads

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has taped TV and DVD advertisements as part of a government campaign to attract more foreign direct investment to Japan, government officials said.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’