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BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2003

Yanase, BMW join hands

The Japan-based units of German automaker BMW AG and import car dealer Yanase & Co. said Monday they will work together to promote sales of BMW cars in Japan.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2003

Current account surplus up 33.8%

Japan's current account surplus grew 33.8 percent in 2002 from a year earlier, marking the first rise in four years, mainly due to a jump in exports to other parts of Asia, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 11, 2003

Stick insect

* Japanese name: Nanafushi * Scientific name: Phraortes elongatus * Description: Stick insects belong to the order of insects called Phasmida, which derives from phasma, the Latin word for phantom. It's easy to identify a stick insect, but it is seeing it in the first place that is difficult, because...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2003

Murder suspect may have killed before

A 29-year-old man charged with committing a murder in July in Tokyo was served a fresh warrant Monday in connection with a slaying in 2000, police said.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2003

Bank capital guidelines due by late March

The government will come up with guidelines by the end of March for assessing efforts by banks to increase their capital, according to Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2003

Mizuho unit to cut prime lending rate

Mizuho Corporate Bank, a unit of Mizuho Holdings Inc., said Monday it will cut its long-term prime lending rate by 0.1 percentage point to 1.55 percent per year, matching the record low marked in July 2001.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 11, 2003

Kawaii sea lion back in spotlight

Celebrity sea lion Tama-chan is causing a flap yet again.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Feb 11, 2003

Finally, anti-tobacco lessons come to schools

Every time our family sits down in a restaurant in Japan, my 11-year-old sniffs the air with disgust. He waves a hand through the cigarette haze and glares at the smokers all around us. "What's the matter with these people?" he growled when we went out for a meal the other day. "Didn't anyone ever teach...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2003

Court throws out suit on mailed ballots

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a man suffering from anxiety neurosis who claimed his ineligibility to vote by mail violated his constitutional rights.
COMMUNITY
Feb 11, 2003

Global coalition launches art attack

Artscape 2003, the 23rd annual art exhibition of international and Japanese students will take place from Feb. 27 to March 9, at the National Children's Castle (kodomo no shiro) in Shibuya. The event will showcase works from over 500 students from 55 nations, representing grades 5 through 12.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2003

Group unveils fresh 'missing' list

A citizens' group that independently investigates cases in which Japanese have disappeared under mysterious circumstances on Monday released a fresh list featuring the names of 44 people.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2003

U.S. test of U.N. relevance

Time was when those threatening to go to war had to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt. Today we are asked to prove to the powerful, to their satisfaction, why they should not go to war. The U.N. inspectors don't have to prove that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction; Iraqi President Saddam Hussein...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2003

Recovering Emperor returns home early

Emperor Akihito, who underwent a prostate cancer operation last month, was released Saturday afternoon from a Tokyo hospital, the Imperial Household Agency said.
COMMENTARY
Feb 9, 2003

Islamabad seeks fresh start with Moscow

ISLAMABAD -- Making his first trip to Russia, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf arrived in Moscow this month hoping to break new ground. Russia and Pakistan were at odds for years, but over the past decade Pakistan has developed an interest in reaching out to the wider world, irrespective of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 9, 2003

Titillating tales from China's perfumed city

SHANGHAI: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City, by Stella Dong. Perennial/HarperCollins, 2001, 318 pp., $15 (paper) Great cities deserve the attentions of writers who combine the historian's pursuit of accuracy with the willingness to be swayed by impressions, prejudices, anecdotes and flawed opinions....
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2003

Newer, smarter sentinels

There is no new thing under the sun, said the quotable author of Ecclesiastes a few thousand years ago. Won over by its pith and poetry, we have always regarded that statement as self-evidently true. Lately, though, we have begun to wonder if the exact opposite isn't the case. Sometimes it seems as if...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Feb 9, 2003

Female vocalists singing a new tune

In the past, female jazz singers in Japan were often just pretty faces up front. They had to sing, of course, but their main role was often to provide a contrast to the usually all-male band.
COMMUNITY
Feb 9, 2003

Hole in one: Hole in pocket

All golfers dream that -- be it only once in their lifetime -- they might, miraculously, achieve a hole in one.
COMMUNITY
Feb 9, 2003

Tax handicap draw players' ire

Golf is the only game in Japan that is taxed. Every time a golfer in Japan tees off, he or she pays an average of 800 yen in "golf course usage tax" to the prefectural government. This is in addition to the national 5 percent consumption tax.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 9, 2003

In search of lost worlds

Most Westerners have heard about the legend of Atlantis, but how many have heard about the lost kingdom of Nan Mador? Like Atlantis, Nan Mador was supposedly as big as a continent, and stretched from Micronesia in the South Pacific all the way to Easter Island off the coast of Chile.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell