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BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2003

Average wage down in January

The labor ministry has revised downward the January average monthly wage at domestic firms, including overtime pay, to 275,934 yen, a fall of 0.2 percent from a year earlier.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2003

DoCoMo mulls lower call charges

NTT DoCoMo Inc. is considering lowering charges for calls made from fixed-line telephones to its mobile phones, the company's president said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Public opinion disregarded on Iraq

The government appears to be disregarding public opinion here and siding with American sentiment in shaping Tokyo's stance toward a possible U.S.-led war on Iraq.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Expressway to run under west Tokyo

A Tokyo section of the Gaikando expressway will run through a tunnel more than 40 meters underground, transport minister Chikage Ogi said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Decontrols to bring in more foreign doctors

Life in Japan as a foreigner is not always easy, especially if you become sick and don't speak the same language as your doctor.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Magazine vindicated in top court privacy ruling

The Supreme Court on Friday overturned a Nagoya High Court ruling that ordered a weekly magazine to pay compensation for violating the privacy of a man accused of taking part in murders in 1994 when he was a minor.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2003

Industrial output revised upward

Industrial production in January was revised upward to a seasonally adjusted increase of 2 percent from the previous month, compared with a preliminary 1.5 percent rise, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2003

Business failures down, liabilities up

Corporate bankruptcies were off 7.4 percent in February for the second straight month of decline on a year-on-year basis, but liabilities left by the failed firms jumped 20.6 percent, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2003

U.S. poised to tackle Japan loan crisis

The U.S. appears to be showing its cards in the runup to bilateral economic talks in Washington next month, stacking four financial industry executives on its eight-member private sector panel.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2003

Japan Inc. plotting its own war survival strategy

Japan Inc. is on high alert.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

International NGO urges Japan to stop backing Iraq attack

The head of an international NGO on Friday urged the government to understand that a war on Iraq would trigger a major humanitarian disaster.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2003

Nominations of prospective BOJ execs approved

The House of Councilors approved the nominations of three prospective Bank of Japan executives during a plenary session Friday.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 15, 2003

J2 teams get ready for action

Seeking two tickets to join the nation's top flight in a year's time, a total of 12 teams across the nation will launch their Division Two campaigns Saturday.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Ambassador to the Vatican named

Gunkatsu Kano, current ambassador to Colombia, was appointed Friday as ambassador to the Vatican, the Foreign Ministry said. Kano, 60, was consul general in Poland before serving as ambassador to Colombia from May 1999.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Importer of cancer drug in info probe

AstraZeneca K.K., the Osaka-based importer of the controversial cancer drug Iressa, may have failed to notify health authorities of the drug's acute side effects within the time period set by the government, sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Population logs lowest growth in postwar period

Japan's population grew 0.11 percent in the year to Oct. 1, the lowest growth rate recorded in the postwar period, the Public Management, Home Affairs and Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Mar 15, 2003

Pork, potatoes, pottery Kagoshima's mainstays

Kagoshima Yurakukan, a local-specialities complex taking up three floors of a building in Tokyo's Yurakucho district, has been attracting health-conscious consumers with its products from Kagoshima Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Bill aims at shortening court trials

The government finalized a bill Friday aimed at reducing the length of district court trials to two years or less, along with three other bills on justice system reform.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

'Muen botoke' rite held in Tokyo

An annual Buddhist rite for "muen botoke" -- people who died and left behind no known relatives -- was held Friday at a temple in eastern Tokyo, a grim reminder of the soaring number of remains in recent years that are buried under these circumstances.
EDITORIALS
Mar 15, 2003

An order of unpalatable patriotism

The United States may or may not be going to war with Iraq this month, but it is already at war with France. In case there was any lingering doubt about that, this week saw two developments that brought the erstwhile allies' mutual hostility out into the open.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Bill aimed at Net dating sites OK'd

A bill that would ban the use of Internet dating sites to solicit sex or dates with people under 18 years old was endorsed by the government Friday.
COMMENTARY
Mar 15, 2003

What drives the warmongers?

At last count we had been given six different reasons for invading Iraq, some of them false and the rest contradictory. The current favorite -- seeking to change an obnoxious regime -- might carry weight if it was not contrary to international law and if in the past both the United States and Britain...
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Spy ship may have ferried agents

A North Korean spy ship that sank in the East China Sea in 2001 may also have ferried agents to and from Japan, officials of a joint police-coast guard team analyzing the salvaged ship said Friday.
BUSINESS / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Mar 15, 2003

Multilateral alliance good for ANA, but JAL isn't convinced

All Nippon Airways Co. President Yoji Ohashi could hardly contain his joy last month when he witnessed the entry of Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's No. 2 carrier, into Star Alliance, the world's largest airline coalition.
COMMENTARY
Mar 15, 2003

U.S., ROK narrow the gap

HONOLULU -- Debates are raging among the security policy communities in the U.S. and South Korea over North Korean motives and intentions and how best to deal with Pyongyang. There seems to be only one point upon which all agree: no solution to the current standoff is practical unless Washington and...
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2003

Orient eyes capital boost through share issuance

Struggling consumer credit firm Orient Corp. said Friday it will issue 150 billion yen in preferred shares to be purchased by Mizuho Corporate Bank to boost its depleted capital base.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes