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EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2002

What matters for Nago airport

Japan is set to build an offshore airport for U.S. military and Japanese commercial planes in Nago City, northern Okinawa, almost six years after Tokyo and Washington agreed to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan City, central Okinawa. On Monday, the central government and...
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2002

Emergency defense legislation believed too vague

Political dynamics aside, even some Defense Agency officials admit the emergency-contingency bills the ruling coalition plans to carry over to the next Diet session were flawed from the start.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2002

Spending by wage earners up 3.4%

Spending by wage-earning households rose an inflation-adjusted 3.4 percent in June from the year before, the government said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2002

Two men held over CFC smuggling

Police and Tokyo customs officials said Thursday they have arrested two men on suspicion of trying to smuggle some 6 tons of chlorofluorocarbon, a controlled ozone-depleting substance, into Japan.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2002

Locally designed regulatory reform zones pushed

The Council for Regulatory Reform released a report Tuesday calling for establishment of so-called special regulatory reform zones, backing the government's deregulatory efforts.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2002

Ex-governor pleads guilty to taking bribes

Former Tokushima Gov. Toshio Endo pleaded guilty Friday to charges of receiving 8 million yen in bribes from a business consultant in 1997 and 2000 in return for helping a local construction firm win public works projects in the prefecture.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2002

Diet enacts bills to liquidate JNOC, scale back state's hand in oil business

The Diet enacted legislation Friday to dissolve the debt-ridden Japan National Oil Corp. in 2005 and reshuffle the nation's oil-exploration and petroleum-stockpiling policies.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2002

Honda touts cogeneration system

Honda Motor Co. said Thursday it has developed a compact cogeneration device for households and will market it at roughly 200,000 yen by the end of March.
BUSINESS
Jul 18, 2002

Toshiba seeking to bolster reactor-dismantling business

Toshiba Corp. will set up a team of nuclear-plant experts to beef up the company's reactor-decommissioning business, company officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2002

IT services seen growing at 7.4%

The Japanese market for information-technology related services will grow an annual 7.4 percent and reach 7.93 trillion yen in 2006, a private market-research firm said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2002

Key gauge stayed above boom-bust line in May

The government said Friday its key gauge of the current state of the economy stayed above the boom-or-bust line in May for the fourth straight month.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2002

The Cyprus connection: How Milosevic evaded arms sanctions

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- On Dec. 27, 1998, a Yugoslav named Drakomir Stojkovic flew from Belgrade to Cyprus's Larnaca airport on a private jet carrying bags stuffed with 35 million deutsche marks -- worth roughly $17 million.
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2002

Tollgate mentality in Japan

Straddling the Keiyo Expressway linking Tokyo and Chiba is the Funabashi tollgate. A long row of booths collects a 200 yen toll from most drivers. Perennial jams at the tollgate have long caused frustration to me and others heading toward Chiba. People late for planes at Narita suffer even more.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2002

Aging YS-11s to fly off into the sunset

Time, it seems, is sounding the final death knoll for the YS-11, Japan's only domestically produced passenger aircraft.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2002

Air Do files for court protection

Hokkaido International Airlines Co., the ailing carrier better known as Air Do, filed for court protection from creditors Tuesday after giving up on self-rehabilitation efforts, company officials said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2002

'Cleaner' seen by ATM blast site

OSAKA — A man in a work uniform appeared to be cleaning near automated teller machines in an office building Tuesday evening about five minutes before an explosion there left one man in critical condition and three others injured, police said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Jun 20, 2002

Where 'Green Peach' blossomed

The woodcut print shown here depicts a rural idyll northwest of Edo. A meandering river nourishes an expanse of rice paddies on the left-hand side. Two men are crossing a bridge, and more people are walking by the riverside. On the rising ground behind them, a cluster of thatched houses identified as...
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2002

New pedestrian traffic signals to be installed

The National Police Agency plans to upgrade the nation's 770,000 pedestrian traffic lights by using an energy-saving, light-emitting-diode model that is easier to see.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 9, 2002

Japanese tradition that violates privacy rights

The current Self-Defense Forces scandal provides a glimpse into the mechanics of how such stories get reported. It appears that an insider at the Maritime Self-Defense Force sent information to the Mainichi Shimbun about personal data that an officer was compiling on people who made requests to the MSDF...
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2002

Household spending rose 1.9% in April

Overall household spending hit 320,068 yen in April, up a real 1.9 percent from a year earlier and marking the first increase in two months, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2002

Tokyo CPI falls 32nd straight month

Key consumer prices in Tokyo fell 1.1 percent in May from a year earlier for a record 32nd straight month of decline, the government said Friday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Court approves Shokusan Jutaku's rehabilitation plan

The Tokyo District Court said Monday it has approved a rehabilitation plan submitted by Shokusan Jutaku Sogo Co., a failed builder of custom-made houses.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2002

Sharp to form AC tieup in Egypt

OSAKA -- Sharp Corp. will form a technology tieup with an Egyptian company to produce air conditioners for sale in the Middle East and Africa, Sharp officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 15, 2002

Koto moves to stem resident boom

As many areas of central Tokyo try to woo new residents, Koto Ward is taking the opposite tack and virtually begging developers to stop constructing new apartment complexes.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 5, 2002

Fighting society's evils: illegal bicycle parking

As social problems go, illegally parked bicycles probably rank relatively low, somewhere between sex service advertisements in phone booths and public urination. But the problem has become so intractable in certain areas that local administrations have resorted to ever more desperate moves in response...
COMMENTARY
Apr 22, 2002

Defense bills only a first step

Japan has moved a step closer to enacting emergency security legislation to deal with direct military attacks on the nation. Last Wednesday, the government introduced in the Diet a package of three bills for such emergencies.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 21, 2002

Peak attraction

When the cherry trees in the highlands of Nagano Prefecture start blooming, Hajimu Miyamoto of the Azumi Village tourist association begins to feel excited -- and a little nervous.
BUSINESS
Apr 12, 2002

Negotiations on Narita user fees end in failure

Two days of negotiations between airlines and the Narita Airport Authority over user charges ended in a stalemate Wednesday, with little hope left for any deals before the current five-year agreement expires April 18.
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2002

Habits hinder car parts imports: METI

A number of practices considered to be customary by domestic car users hinder imports of replacement auto parts, according to a trade ministry report.

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