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BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2001

Mycal to sell Hokkaido unit's stock in debt-slashing move

OSAKA -- Ailing supermarket chain Mycal Corp. said Monday that it will sell 6.45 million shares in subsidiary Mycal Hokkaido Corp. to help slash its debt.
BUSINESS / TAKING STOCK
Aug 14, 2001

Fed survey compounds fears

The U.S. Federal Reserve's latest survey of regional banks has offered fresh evidence of worsening business sentiment, clouding economic and earnings prospects.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 14, 2001

Swallows widen CL lead

Pinch-hitter Hirofumi Watarai singled home two runs in the seventh inning to spark a four-run rally for Yakult on Sunday as the Swallows came from behind to defeat the Yomiuri Giants 7-4 and widen their lead to five games in the Central League pennant race.
COMMENTARY
Aug 14, 2001

Cleaning up after Tanaka

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi faces a serious problem: How to restore confidence in Japanese diplomacy, which has been eroded by Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka's inept conduct in the first 100 days of his administration.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2001

Credit-easing calls weigh on BOJ

Bank of Japan officials began a two-day Policy Board meeting Monday amid growing pressure for the central bank to take additional credit-easing measures.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2001

Jusco to dissolve furniture venture

Jusco Co., the nation's third-largest supermarket chain operator, said Monday it will dissolve its furniture retailing joint venture with RTG International Inc. of the United States by February 2003 due to poor performance.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 14, 2001

Fighters roll over Buffaloes

Yukio Tanaka blasted a grand slam in a six-run third inning as the Nippon Ham Fighters won their fourth straight game by defeating the Pacific League-leading Kintetsu Buffaloes 7-3 Monday at the Tokyo Dome.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Aug 14, 2001

World Cup volunteers require effective training

The Japanese World Cup Organizing Committee recently announced the results of volunteer applications for next year's World Cup.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

Yet another money scandal surfaces at Foreign Ministry

Another money scandal involving a Foreign Ministry official surfaced Monday, as the ministry announced that a diplomat at its embassy in Palau misappropriated about $10,000 in public money for his personal use.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2001

Firms seek protection from fickle weather that swings sales

The current spell of sweltering weather has constituted a breath of fresh air for a wide range of businesses, boosting sales of items such as air conditioners, summer clothes, ice cream, beer and soft drinks.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

Tokyo stocks dive to new 16-year low

The Tokyo stock market plummeted to its lowest close in more than 16 years on Monday as the market fretted over high-tech earnings.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

Police target leftist radicals over arson attack

The Metropolitan Police Department raided several locations Monday connected with a radical leftist group in connection with an arson attack last week that apparently targeted the office of a nationalist group that wrote a contentious history book.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

El Nino effect may hit again by early '02

The El Nino phenomenon, in which unusually warm ocean currents give rise to abnormal weather conditions, may recur during or before February in waters off Peru, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Monday afternoon, two days before the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender, amid strong domestic and international criticism.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

Hijacker's daughters apply for citizenship

Two daughters of one of the Japanese hijackers who defected to North Korea are seeking to obtain Japanese citizenship, sources close to them said Monday.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 14, 2001

Probing the borderline between life and death

The Shimokita Peninsula is a broad thumb of land at Honshu's northern tip, curling around Mutsu Bay and up toward Hokkaido. It is a wild place. Here you can find feral horses, the world's northernmost wild monkeys, some of Japan's last remaining wilderness -- and a holy mountain, Osorezan.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2001

Current account surplus fell 25% during first half

Japan's current account surplus declined 25.2 percent from a year earlier to 4.99 trillion yen during the first half of 2001, the Finance Ministry said Monday in a preliminary report.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

GMO ingredients found in 11 goods

Eleven of 59 soy bean and corn-processed products subject to a government investigation were found to contain ingredients with genetically modified organisms, according to the farm ministry.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

52.5% of firms have shed workers since '98

The labor ministry said 52.5 percent of companies it surveyed in September carried out layoffs and other employment-related adjustments between September 1998 and August 2000.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

Reactions vary to Yasukuni Shrine visit

Opinions were divided among the thousands of people gathered at Yasukuni Shrine on Monday over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's controversial visit the same day.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2001

Airlines urge more funding for airports

The government should inject more public money into airport construction in urban areas, particularly into expansion of Tokyo's Haneda airport and Kansai International Airport near Osaka, an association of 12 domestic airlines said Monday.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.