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BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2002

Regional banks hit with negative rating

Moody's Investors Service Inc. on Friday gave Japan's regional banking sector a negative rating outlook.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 24, 2002

A drink is only as good as the pub that serves it

We are sitting in Enjoy! House, a small pub cum club in Ebisu. There is hardly room to swing a cat, yet somehow a bar, tables and a minuscule dance floor are all squeezed in. The decor is ethnic meets neo-hippie; the service foreigner-friendly; the food good.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 24, 2002

Taking kids on a Disneyland home stay

If you stay in Japan long enough, there will come a time, equal to that of the Super Lotto, called "ongaeshi," when you have to pay back people who have helped you along your rocky limestone road to a comfortable life in Japan. I'm pretty sure that's why Japanese people always ask how long you have been...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
Aug 24, 2002

Steep costs seen stifling market for Internet ice boxes

Imagine the convenience of a microwave oven that can download 1,000 recipes and automatically set the optimal cooking temperature for each dish, or a refrigerator whose contents you check via your cell phone.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Aug 24, 2002

Taro Okamoto museum throws open artist's inner sanctum

Even to those who are clueless when it comes to art and culture, the name Taro Okamoto will probably ring a bell. After all, the late avant-garde artist was responsible for the famous statement "Geijutsu wa bakuhatsu da!" ("Art is an explosion!")
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2002

SMBC eyes Arai-Gumi bailout move

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. is considering providing Arai-Gumi Ltd., a medium-size construction company, with a bailout worth billions of yen, sources close to the deal said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2002

Nippon Electric Glass in CRT move

Nippon Electric Glass Co. said Friday it has established a new subsidiary in China to expand its output of glass bulbs for cathode-ray tubes.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2002

Labor entities to merge

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare plans to integrate two labor-related entities into a new institute next year to better deal with unemployment problems, ministry sources said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 24, 2002

When guilt goes beyond crime

First of two parts. The second will appear on this page tomorrow. If you kill one person, an old joke goes, you get sent to jail. Kill 20, you get sent to a mental asylum. Kill 20,000, you get sent to Geneva for peace talks. The story is very much a reflection of the mass atrocities of the 20th century....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 24, 2002

Slovaks falling victim to EU hypocrisy

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Slovakia is the eastern part of the old Czechoslovakia that left the federation in 1993. It came off worse economically in the break-up, unfairly so, but it won in the geographical carve-up, getting two-thirds of the wine country and above all, the Tatra mountains.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2002

Tokyo seeks compensation for Mizuho computer fiasco

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Friday demanded that Mizuho Bank pay 17 million yen in compensation to cover losses caused by the bank's massive computer failure earlier this year, according to metropolitan government officials.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 24, 2002

Fumiko Daido

Early each morning, Fumiko Daido likes to go out into her garden to tend her plants. In western Tokyo, near Mount Takao, at the back of her garden she has an arrangement of bamboos merging into the hillside, and in front a gazebo focusing on an opposite hill. Fumiko does not grow prize blooms with bright...
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2002

10% carry gene mutation tied to abnormal clotting

OSAKA -- About 10 percent of Japanese carry one of four gene mutations linked to abnormalities in blood clotting that may be connected to circulatory breakdowns such as cerebral infarction, according to the latest findings of a Japanese research group.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2002

Kenwood to cut 550 jobs by Sept. 30

Financially troubled Kenwood Corp. said Friday it plans to cut 550 jobs from its workforce by Sept. 30 through a voluntary retirement program.
SUMO
Aug 23, 2002

Takanohana promises return in fall

Yokozuna Takanohana, facing calls for retirement if he does not wrestle in next month's fall tourney, told his fan club Wednesday that he is ready to get back onto the raised ring after more than a year's absence.
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2002

Chen eyes Taiwan's 'own road'

HONG KONG -- In the days following Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's provocative declaration Aug. 3 that Taiwan and China are separate countries, there has been much speculation regarding his motives, with some analysts suggesting it was an unintentional slip of the tongue. Others said his words were...
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2002

FSA offers protection in exchange for zero interest

The Financial Services Agency is considering maintaining full government protection for ordinary deposits beyond April 1 on condition that the deposits earn no interest, FSA sources said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2002

Kobe activists hope to repay Tanaka by rallying behind his Nagano race

KOBE -- Kobe-based activists who had worked with former Nagano Gov. Yasuo Tanaka as volunteers helping this city following the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake are lending support to his re-election bid in the Sept. 1 gubernatorial race.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2002

Fifth mad cow case found in Japan

Japan's fifth case of mad cow disease has been found in an inspection of slaughtered cows in Kanagawa Prefecture, the health ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2002

Net-dating crimes up 2.6-fold through June

Crimes linked to Internet dating sites more than doubled in the first half of this year, according to a National Police Agency report released Thursday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 23, 2002

Matsui's double not 'magic' for Giants

Yomiuri slugger Hideki Matsui drilled his Central League-leading 34th and 35th homers but it was not enough as Takuro Ishii nailed a go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 11th inning to lift the Yokohama BayStars over the Giants 6-5 at the Tokyo Dome on Thursday, avoiding a sweep of the three-game series....
JAPAN / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Aug 23, 2002

Japan gropes for ideal corporate governance model

The rash of U.S. corporate scandals has rocked the Japanese business community, which until recently admired the success of the American business model.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2002

Victims of bad medicine slated for relief in 2004

A new independent administrative agency will be set up in April 2004 to support victims of tainted or faulty medications and to simplify approval procedures for new drugs and medical equipment, health ministry sources said Thursday.

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