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BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2003

Insurer, bank eye bad-loan gambit

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. said Monday they will set up a fund in September with an investment firm affiliated with Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. to purchase bad loans from financial institutions.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 12, 2003

Biculturalism, accessories and recession

Biculturalism, accessories and recession
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 12, 2003

Words of advice for the power-hungry

While we've had a few close shaves over the years, Tokyo's power grid has fortunately been spared a major, city-wide blackout. This year, the closure of 17 nuclear power generators for safety inspection led many to fret that there might not be sufficient power over the summer; fortunately demand has...
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2003

Finance Ministry to cut loan rates

The Finance Ministry said Monday it will cut some of its rates for loans to governmental lending institutions on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2003

Goodwill sees record profit on outsourcing demand

Human-resources firm Goodwill Group Inc. on Monday reported a record group net profit for the year through June, thanks to strong demand for its outsourcing and nursing-care services.
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2003

BOJ economic outlook now of half-full variety

The Bank of Japan on Monday left its assessment of Japan's economy unchanged in August but indicated the economy is on a recovery path amid expectations of growth in the United States in the latter half of the year.
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2003

Brokerages accepting nighttime share orders

To tap potential demand from daytime salaried workers, some brokerages in Japan have started accepting share orders placed by phone during night hours on weekdays and weekends.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Aug 12, 2003

Ajinomoto's amino acid products draw athletes, health-conscious consumers

Don't be surprised if you see Seattle Mariners sensation Ichiro Suzuki downing an Ajinomoto Co. amino acid drink in the dugout at Safeco Field during a baseball game.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2003

Tanaka seen as comeback threat

Reports that prosecutors do not plan to indict former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka for allegedly misusing the salary of her state-funded secretary have set off a political firestorm not only in her home area but in Tokyo's political center of Nagatacho.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2003

Housing suppliers cash in on demand for homes that reflect seasonal change

More and more housing suppliers are pitching eco-friendly "symbiotic housing" that incorporates traditional Japanese aesthetic values such as the texture of wood and the ability to reflect seasonal changes.
EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2003

The conservationists and the canary

The conservationists' string of laments is a familiar one by now. Even a child can name the elements: worldwide degradation of land, loss of habitats (especially in the rapidly shrinking tropical rainforests) and the accelerating extinction of species. In fact, the plaint has become so familiar that...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2003

Chaotic images of Indonesia

HONOLULU -- Turmoil in Indonesia was underscored Tuesday when a terrorist bomb exploded in a hotel in Jakarta killing at least 14 people and wounding about 150 more. It has added to the already surging concern of American officials in Washington and at the U.S. Pacific Command's headquarters in Hawaii,...
MORE SPORTS
Aug 10, 2003

JABF turns down H.S. boxer's request

The Japan Amateur Boxing Federation (JABF) has rejected a request for a hearing at the Japanese court of arbitration (JSAA) lodged by a high school boxer over the JABF's revoking of his amateur license, JSAA sources said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 10, 2003

Pulling away the curtains from the 'Princes of the Yen'

PRINCES OF YEN: Central Bankers and the Transformation of the Economy, by Richard A. Werner. London: M.E. Sharpe, 2003, 362 pp., $27.95, (paper). Richard A. Werner has written a rare book. "The Princes of the Yen" is a scholarly, thoroughly researched treatise on economics that reads like a detective...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Aug 10, 2003

Akagi nurtures organic lifeform

Jazz pianist Kei Akagi clearly relishes the dual nature of the human mind. This is no surprise coming from someone who has divided his time between the United States and Japan, his college studies between philosophy and music, his musical training between classical and jazz, his jazz playing between...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

Waterways of Edo life

For centuries, the boastful citizens of Edo lorded it over country bumpkins by saying, "I'm an Edokko [native of Edo] 'cause I was cleaned with pipe water when I was born and I've grown up drinking pipe water ever since."
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 10, 2003

Arias enjoying life

Four years in Japan and George Arias says he is finally where he had always longed to be as a player -- at the very top.
COMMENTARY
Aug 10, 2003

U.S. hardly stoking fear of China threat

HONG KONG -- The Pentagon's latest report on the military power of the People's Republic of China has, predictably, angered Beijing. But a careful reading shows that the language used is by no means provocative.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 10, 2003

Making tracks across moor and marsh

In the autumn of 1865, two Victorian gentlemen set off on foot from the Yorkshire town of Settle. They walked north through moorland haunted by the lonely cry of rooks, struggled through marshes, scaled mountains, skirted lethal potholes, were lashed by shrieking winds and stinging rain and, for most...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

The ones who got there first

Four centuries before Tokugawa Ieyasu arrived at Edo, a fierce band of mounted warriors had already fortified the hill where Ieyasu would build his magnificent Edo Castle, and on which the Imperial Palace now stands.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

Treasures too much for one

For one man alone, the Tokugawa treasures were simply too much to handle.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

History of homegrown Japanese science finally adds up

Think Edo Period, and you think ukiyo-e, bonsai, yakimono and kabuki. Few think of science, or of the technological skill and spirit, which would later hatch Sony, Toyota and a core part of the country's national identity.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2003

Japanese nuclear arsenal looks unlikely

WASHINGTON -- Speculation is rife about whether North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons could drive Japan to develop a nuclear arsenal. Some opinion leaders have even suggested that America should exploit this prospect to scare China into resolving the North Korea nuclear crisis. However, the reality...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 10, 2003

Foreign visitors who found the old in a new Japan

THE GREAT WAVE: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japan, by Christopher Benfey. New York: Random House, 2003, 534 pp., with monochrome plates, $25,95 (paper). In the middle of the century before last, Japan was -- as the West termed it -- finally opened up. The mysterious...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

Lost pet? No sweat -- except in the tub

You may think you've got just about everything for your pet -- from brand-name waterproofs and jewelry to its weekly trips to a pet cafe and yoga classes. Now, though, there's a new out-of-this-world accessory for the pet owner with everything: the no-hiding-place collar.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 10, 2003

The spirit of corrupt regimes alive in Japan

It's no secret that Japan discourages asylum-seekers, though officials never admit to it openly. When asked what the government would do about the 10 North Korean refugees who entered the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok on July 31, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said that it would be better for them...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji