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BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Mitsubishi Pharma profits up 229%

Mitsubishi Pharma Corp. said Monday that its group net profit soared 229.4 percent to 8.99 billion yen in fiscal 2001 due to cost-cutting and the U.S. government's authorization of a resumption of shipments from a U.S. plant.
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Sex-determining gene of fish detected

A group of researchers has detected a gene in a Japanese freshwater fish that determines male sex, according to the group's thesis published Monday in Nature magazine.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Koizumi vows to keep pursuing privatization in second year

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has told a British financial newspaper that his top priorities for his second year in office are to privatize the postal services and public organizations, including Japan Highway Public Corp., and to accelerate the disposal of banks' bad loans.
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Coast guard to bolster ties with SDF

The Japan Coast Guard is ready to work more closely with the Self-Defense Forces to deal with unidentified suspicious ships after such a ship sank in the East China Sea in December after a shootout with patrol boats, the coast guard said in an annual report released Monday.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Itochu, Hitachi to team up on info systems development

Hitachi Ltd. and Itochu Corp. said Monday they have agreed to form a comprehensive alliance in the information technology sector.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WHALE WATCHING
May 14, 2002

Japan seen polishing its harpoons

Japan's official in charge of whaling issues is optimistic that the prowhaling contingent will continue to make inroads at the International Whaling Commission talks in progress in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Fourth cow infected with BSE

A Hokkaido cow was confirmed Monday to be infected with mad cow disease, the fourth case in Japan since September, health ministry officials said.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Jiji Press announces new president

Jun Sakakibara, 62, a senior managing director of Jiji Press Ltd., has been named president and chief executive officer of Japan's leading news agency, Jiji Press said Monday.
BUSINESS / TAKING STOCK
May 14, 2002

Tokyo market has lots of room to recover

The benchmark Nikkei average has been moving between 11,000 and 12,000 for nearly two months in the absence of strong incentives to drive the market either up or down.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2002

Time for U.S. to scrap Cuba embargo

FREDERICKSBURG, Virginia -- In his travels around Cuba this week former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will meet a friendly, resilient people who have bravely withstood the stupidity and cruelty that have emanated from both sides of the Straits of Florida.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
May 14, 2002

Let Alex run free up front

Japan strikers are a delicate bunch. Atsushi Yanagisawa went down with "Beirut Belly" during the Asian Cup in 2000 and has not touched a kebab since.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Core machinery orders declined 6.2% in March

Core private-sector machinery orders fell 6.2 percent in March, reverting to minus territory after rising in February for the first time in three months, the Cabinet Office said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Cull whales, avoid waste: researcher

With decades of whale research under his belt, Seiji Ohsumi, director general of the Institute of Cetacean Research, was around when Japan ceased commercial whaling and is now at the forefront of the nation's push to resume the program.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Toray's group net profit plunges

Toray Industries Inc., a manufacturer of synthetic fibers, said Monday its group net profit plunged 77.6 percent to 3.8 billion yen in the fiscal year ended March 31 as overall demand weakened amid the severe business environment.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Keidanren debut no joking matter

Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., an Osaka-based entertainment management company, will join the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), Chairman Takashi Imai said Monday.
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Statues in Iran challenge theories on Buddhism's spread

OSAKA -- A Japanese scholar said Monday he believes the discovery of 19 Buddha statues at an ancient site in Iran challenges current theories on the spread of Buddhism.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

IY Bank admits double-billing 4,000 accounts for bank fees

IY Bank, the banking unit of retailer Ito-Yokado Co., said Monday that 4,000 accounts were erroneously double-billed for monthly fees.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

MMC returns to black after two years of losses

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. on Monday reported a return to the black for the first time in three years, posting 11.3 billion yen in consolidated net profits in the 2001 business year.
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Former trading house official gets seven years

OSAKA -- Shinya Takeuchi, a former official of Yuasa Trading Co., was sentenced Monday to a seven-year prison term for swindling the Tokyo-based trading house out of about 5.72 billion yen through fictitious deals.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
May 14, 2002

Handover of Okinawa to Japan was prickly issue

Tsuyoshi Sakurai remembers when Japan allocated 1 billion yen to Okinawa in its first financial assistance package in fiscal 1962, when the islands of the Ryukyus were still under U.S. rule.
EDITORIALS
May 13, 2002

Conditions for SDF mobilization

National defense bills now before the Diet are drawing a mixed reaction from the public. In a Kyodo News poll earlier this month, nearly 50 percent said Japan needs emergency legislation to deal with military attacks from abroad, but when asked whether the package should be passed in the current Diet...
SOCCER / World cup
May 13, 2002

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

"Passion" is the story of Japan soccer team coach Philippe Troussier, his struggle to make it as a player and manager and his travels around France, Africa and Japan. In the book, Troussier also details his philosophy and thinking as he prepares for the World Cup in June. In this, the ninth of 10 exclusive...
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2002

Unilateralism is not the way

CANBERRA -- As the sole remaining superpower, not only does the United States have no peer competitor, its dominance is unmatched across a whole range of issues and areas of activity in world affairs.
SOCCER / J. League
May 13, 2002

Rivals set for Nabisco showdown

Jubilo Iwata and Kashima Antlers are set for a quarterfinal showdown in the Nabisco Cup after both reached the last eight with late away wins in the final round of group-stage matches on Sunday.
COMMENTARY
May 13, 2002

Wider economic gaps ahead

The first decade of the 21st century is likely to be no less turbulent than the last decade of the 20th century. It is next to impossible to predict how the world will change in this coming decade, but one thing is certain: The world in 2010 will defy predictions based on today's knowledge.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 13, 2002

Nakamura's clutch home run gives Kintetsu 'sayonara' win

Trailing by a run with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Kintetsu third baseman Norihiro Nakamura belted a two-run, "sayonara" home run off of Tomokazu Iba to edge Nippon Ham 5-4 at the Osaka Dome on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2002

Prime minister or nationalist puppet?

CAMBRIDGE, England -- The ink was barely dry on my April 21 Japan Times article "Koizumi trade pitch misses," which stated Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was thinking of going to pray at Yasukuni Shrine, when the news came that he had gone. We were told that he had felt the need "to mourn those who...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight