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BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2003

WTO farming plans trigger huge Tokyo protest

More than 2,000 representatives of farm groups from Japan and nine other countries demonstrated Friday in Tokyo against plans for a substantial reduction in agricultural tariffs.
COMMUNITY
Feb 9, 2003

How green is your green?

What a difference a decade makes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 26, 2003

Watery worlds on show without a snorkel

Although the Kaiyukan Aquarium is located right on Osaka Bay, it is truly a case of "water, water everywhere, ne'er any drop to drink" for the 39,000 fish and 580 species of other sea creatures kept there in 15 large tanks.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2003

Geothermal heat pump systems to get trial use

The Environment Ministry plans to introduce an experimental program to use a geothermal heat pump system for public facilities as part of Japan's efforts to curb global warming, ministry officials said Monday.
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Nov 30, 2002

Literature museum goes into cyberspace

KOBE -- The opening earlier this month of a new museum of literature in Hyogo Prefecture was marked by the usual ceremonial pomp.
BUSINESS
Nov 29, 2002

Yanase to hand import rights on two cars over to GM unit

Yanase & Co., a car dealer specializing in foreign vehicles, said Thursday it will transfer the import rights relating to two foreign car makes to the Japanese unit of U.S. auto giant General Motors Corp.
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2002

More and more homes going with solar power

Solar panels on roofs and verandas are becoming a more familiar sight in Japan as people acquire the systems with help from subsidies amid government efforts to curb carbon dioxide emissions and combat global warming.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2002

Civilians sent to fix SDF warships

The Defense Agency has been dispatching private-sector civilian engineers to carry out maintenance on Self-Defense Forces vessels providing logistics support to the U.S.-led antiterrorism campaign in the Indian Ocean, agency officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2002

15 firms control Hanshin Expressway bids: police

OSAKA -- Fifteen firms effectively control the repair and maintenance work for Hanshin Expressway Public Corp., even after public bidding was introduced in fiscal 2001 in a bid to end collusion, police sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2002

Court approves Air Do rehab plan

The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday approved a rehabilitation plan for failed Air Do, now in the process of court-mandated restructuring under the civil rehabilitation law.
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2002

Monthly household spending sees biggest jump since 1997

Household spending rose 5.4 percent in September from a year earlier, marking the biggest increase since a 5.8 percent gain in March 1997, when consumers were stocking up on goods ahead of a consumption tax hike, the government said Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 7, 2002

Say 'baaa' if you're glad to be gay

When domestic rams eschew female sheep, and instead hang around in the corner of the field with other rams, rubbing each other up, necking and even mounting each other, what is going on? Lord Alfred Douglas, Oscar Wilde's lover, coined the phrase "The love that dare not speak its name," in his poem "Two...
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2002

Hitachi streamlining returns firm to black

Hitachi Ltd. said Thursday it returned to profitability in the first half to Sept. 30, posting a net profit of 12.85 billion yen, reversing a 110.54 billion yen loss in the same period a year earlier.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 30, 2002

Great Tokyo Air Raid was a war crime

On Dec. 7, 1964, the Japanese government conferred the First Order of Merit with the Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun upon Gen. Curtis LeMay -- yes, the same general who, less than 20 years earlier, had incinerated "well over half a million Japanese civilians, perhaps nearly a million."
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2002

Testing times for the U.N.

In finally taking the vexed issue of war with Iraq to the United Nations, U.S. President George W. Bush has presented the organization with a double-edged test of credibility. Will it lift its performance and remain relevant to U.S. foreign policy on Washington's terms, or in doing so will it be seen...
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2002

Yamaha raises profit forecast to 17 billion yen

Yamaha Corp., a major maker of musical instruments and special semiconductor chips, said Thursday it has revised upward its group profit forecast for the 2002 business year, citing personnel-cost cuts and brisk sales of mobile phone chips.
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2002

Tepco set to release results of voluntary inspections

Tokyo Electric Power Co. will soon release the results of its voluntary nuclear reactor inspections in an attempt to appease local communities and restore its recently battered credibility, Tepco officials said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
Sep 13, 2002

Okinawa's free-trade zones failing to attract companies

GUSHIKAWA, Okinawa Pref. -- The Acrorad Co. factory in Okinawa's Nakagusuku Free Trade Zone looks out on more than 100 hectares of empty lots.
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2002

Mori Seiki to take over Hitachi Seiki

Major machine-tool maker Mori Seiki Co. said Wednesday it has signed an agreement in which a subsidiary will take over the assets and accept the engineers of failed machine-tool maker Hitachi Seiki Co.
COMMUNITY
Sep 8, 2002

Hey Taxi!

An arm stuck out from the sidewalk and Hideaki pulled up his cab, let the customer in . . . and immediately sensed trouble.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2002

Osaka officials declare USJ drinking fountains safe

OSAKA -- Osaka city officials on Tuesday declared the drinking fountains at the Universal Studios Japan theme park safe.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2002

Deadline for winter attack is drawing near

WASHINGTON -- As the saying goes, while politicians and civilians like to think about strategy when contemplating war, generals think logistics. If the United States and any coalition partners go to war against Iraq, the first part of that logistics effort requires getting up to a quarter million combat...
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2002

Defense Agency budget request exceeds 5 trillion yen

The Defense Agency hopes to increase the capabilities of the Self-Defense Forces to combat terrorism, guerrilla attacks and spy ships, and on Friday requested an allocation of 5.0043 trillion yen in the fiscal 2003 general account budget to achieve this -- an increase of 64.8 billion yen, or 1.3 percent,...
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2002

Inamine asks Koizumi to review SOFA, reduce U.S. presence

Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine asked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday to review the Japanese-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement and reduce the size of U.S. forces based in Okinawa.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2002

Cops cashing in on driver licenses: lawsuit

Freelance journalist Yu Terasawa, 35, filed a suit in 2000 against the state, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and police-related organizations, claiming Japan's 74 million licensed drivers are being systematically financially exploited by police.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2002

Japan Telecom to sell off part of engineering unit

Japan Telecom Holdings Co. said Friday it has agreed to sell off part of an engineering subsidiary to Australian-based construction and real estate company Bovis Lend Lease Corp. in an effort to concentrate on its core telecommunications business.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami