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JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Ruling bloc, opposition lawmakers defer Oshima spat to pass budget

Putting their spat aside for the time being, the ruling and opposition camps got together in the House of Representatives on Tuesday to approve an 81.79 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2003.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 5, 2003

All ye that pass by, behold

A little girl, neglected by her busy parents, one day meets a headless man in a suit, holding an umbrella in one hand and a hat in the other. This ghostlike stranger gives her the hat and when she puts it on, her familiar world disappears and she finds herself in "Quidam" -- a wonderland where nothing...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 5, 2003

Sri Lankan president must grasp the olive branch

MADRAS, India -- The five rounds of talks in as many months between the Sri Lanka government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, are perhaps the most significant development in South Asia in almost two decades. The discussions began after the two sides called a truce.
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2003

AIDS vaccine disappoints

To practically no one's surprise, the first test of an AIDS vaccine has failed. That the outcome was widely predicted -- and even anticipated -- must not deter future efforts to develop a vaccine. AIDS is one of the worst scourges humanity has suffered to date, and a combination of economics and demographics...
SUMO
Mar 4, 2003

Musashimaru to skip spring basho

Yokozuna Musashimaru will pull out of the upcoming Spring Grand Sumo Tournament after failing to recover from wrist surgery, his stablemaster said Monday.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2003

Sega downplays Microsoft's pursuit

Sega Corp. on Monday dismissed a report that Microsoft Corp. and Electronic Arts Inc. may try to acquire the Japanese video game software developer.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Spring gale comes early to Tokyo

The year's first warm gale, indicating the arrival of spring, blew into Tokyo and some Sea of Japan coastal areas Monday, the Meteorological Agency said. The spring wind arrived 12 days earlier than last year.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Quake shakes northeastern Japan

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 hit wide areas of the Tohoku region Monday morning, the Meteorological Agency said. It struck at around 7:47 a.m., registering 4 on the Japanese intensity scale to 7 in northern Miyagi Prefecture, and 3 in several parts in Iwate, Akita, Miyagi, Yamagata and Fukushima...
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2003

Hikari Tsushin hikes loss forecast

Hikari Tsushin Inc. said Monday it expects a consolidated net loss of 4.4 billion yen for the year to March 31, well up from an earlier projected loss of 400 million yen.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2003

Nissan hopes to boost dealer profits with tailor-made insurance policies

Nissan Motor Co. has taken the unusual step of agreeing to have its affiliated car dealers sell auto insurance provided exclusively by Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. and Millea Holdings Inc., according to company sources.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Once-charging Koizumi now besieged

Approval of the 81.79 trillion yen fiscal 2003 budget package by the Lower House Budget Committee -- with little deviation from the ruling coalition's schedule -- should spell one victory for the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
COMMENTARY
Mar 4, 2003

Don't give up on alternatives

Nearly three years have passed since Junichiro Koizumi made his dashing debut as prime minister with an unprecedentedly high public approval rate of 80 percent, after declaring somewhat self-contradictorily that he would not hesitate to destroy his own Liberal Democratic Party to attain his reform goals....
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Japan 'helpless' against missiles

Japan has no effective means of protecting its citizens in the event of a ballistic missile attack by North Korea, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Experts to probe failure of flight data systems

The transport ministry said Monday it will establish later this month an investigative committee of outside experts to look into the recent breakdown of flight data processing systems.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Antiwar campaigners begin weeklong protest

In another attempt to stop a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq, a loosely united coalition of 47 Japanese groups is waging a one-week campaign that organizers hope will culminate in one of the biggest protests in recent years.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2003

Increase in overtime boosts average monthly salaries

The average monthly wage, including overtime pay, stood at 277,003 yen in January, up 0.2 percent from a year earlier, marking the first rise in 25 months, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Monday in a preliminary report.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Spring wage talks going the way of the dinosaur?

The curtain has fallen on the "shunto" wage hike negotiations that unions have conducted every spring for almost half a century amid the nation's deflationary downturn and fierce international competition.
COMMENTARY
Mar 4, 2003

Signs of a thaw in cross-Strait relations

HONG KONG -- In a potentially significant move, China is reported to have pulled back some of its missiles along the Fujian coast facing Taiwan, something that the United States and Taiwan have been urging China to do for some time. An article in Taiwan's United Daily News on Thursday reported that "the...
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Obituary: Jiro Ikushima

Jiro Ikushima, a pioneer of hard-boiled fiction in Japan, died Sunday night of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital, his family said Monday. He was 70.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Lower House expected to OK fiscal 2003 budget

The House of Representatives was set Monday night to endorse an 81.79 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2003. The move would ensure the budget's enactment in time for the April 1 start of the new fiscal year.

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