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BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2002

Regular gasoline prices remain flat

Retail prices of regular gasoline averaged 99 yen per liter in September, unchanged from August in line with flat wholesale prices, the Oil Information Center reported Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 24, 2002

Corporate ethics remain in peril

Safety should be the highest priority of any nuclear power-generating program. Japan, the world's only victim of atomic bombings, has every reason to be particularly sensitive about nuclear safety. However, some of the nation's electric power companies have been found wanting in the safety management...
COMMENTARY
Sep 24, 2002

Building corporate integrity

A spate of corporate scandals have rocked Japan this year. Snow Brand Foods Co. and Nippon Ham Co. mislabeled beef, abusing the government's buyback program that was set up to bail out the beef industry following the outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan. Trading giant Mitsui & Co. was implicated in a...
BUSINESS
Sep 24, 2002

'Al-Qaeda' economist slams band-aid mentality

Masaru Kaneko calls himself an "al-Qaeda" among economic academics, noting that his position has won him no sympathy from the mainstream.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Sep 24, 2002

A cape designed by God with wine in mind

Rule No. 1 for a Cape Wine Route tour is: Find someone else to do the driving.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Sep 23, 2002

The future of the U.S. economy: tasks for top nations and the IMF

One year has passed since the terrorist attacks that hit New York and the Pentagon. Although the war in Afghanistan ended rather quickly, the danger of terrorism lingers on, and the Bush Administration's policy of not ruling out pre-emptive attacks has fueled new tensions. The recent slump in stock markets...
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2002

Japan, North Korea hold unofficial consultations

Japan and North Korea held unofficial consultations over the weekend, with Tokyo demanding a thorough investigation into the abductions of its nationals, it was learned Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2002

Reform delays discouraging

Junichiro Koizumi was Japan's first prime minister to receive a mandate to push structural reforms by convincing the public that there would be no economic growth without painful reforms. It remains to be seen, however, whether Koizumi will succeed in his reforms. More than a year after launching his...
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2002

War bills headed for back burner

A majority of lawmakers in the ruling coalition want to postpone debate on the war contingency bills until next year.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2002

Venture to foster e-business pros

Iwao Nakatani, president of Tama University, and more than 20 information technology-related companies have jointly founded an organization to produce professionals versed in electronic business, founders said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Sep 22, 2002

Wheelchair designer hopes to get more users on the streets

Etsumi Okigawa hopes to design as many wheelchairs as possible so their users can become everyday fixtures at schools, offices and street corners.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2002

One-third of proposals in deregulation plan implemented

The government has implemented 205 out of 599 proposals in a three-year deregulation plan approved by the Cabinet in March, Nobuteru Ishihara, state minister in charge of deregulatory affairs, said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Sep 21, 2002

Underestimating the players

SEOUL -- The success of Tuesday's Japan-North Korea summit in Pyongyang shows just how much critics underestimated both Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Both demonstrated a considerable amount of diplomatic skill, and courage, during this historic one-day...
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Scholar named to Supreme Court

The government has appointed Tokiyasu Fujita, a professor of administrative law at Tohoku University's graduate school, as a Supreme Court justice, officials said Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2002

BOJ fears repercussions of stock turbulence on economy

The nation's financial system remains vulnerable to slumping stock prices, the Bank of Japan said in its monthly assessment of the economy released Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 19, 2002

The Pyongyang achievement

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on Tuesday achieved a breakthrough, although a qualified one, in ending decades-long mutual enmity between Japan and North Korea. In fact, the outcome of the talks between the two leaders at the historic summit in Pyongyang was more...
Japan Times
JAPAN / BABY BUST
Sep 19, 2002

Birthrate suffers as women face unattractive choices

Mayumi Shinde, 40, has worked for seven years as a system engineer at a Tokyo firm, at one stage attaining a job capability assessment of S -- one special level higher than A, the normal top ranking.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2002

Temp firms gear for manufacturing entry

The lift of a statutory ban on dispatching temporary workers to the manufacturing sector has long been a fervent wish for many such businesses and personnel providers.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2002

Koreans in Japan react to revelations, fret over compensation

Korean residents in Japan have expressed dismay at the fate of some of the Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea and at the obscuring of the issue of compensation from Japan for its 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2002

Shiokawa wheels out ministry's latest tax plan

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa made a fresh proposal Wednesday to implement tax cuts of 1.5 trillion yen over a five-year period while simultaneously imposing tax hikes.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2002

Kim's calculated gamble to open up is born of desperation

PYONGYANG -- Even at the Koryo Hotel, one of the most luxurious accommodations for foreign visitors in Pyongyang, the energy shortage was apparent.
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2002

Abductees' families express grief, rage over death reports

Relatives of some of the 11 Japanese who were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s voiced deep grief and indignation Tuesday after learning that only four of them are alive and one remains missing.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2002

Kim admits abductions

PYONGYANG -- Four of the 11 Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and '80s are alive but six others are dead, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during their landmark talks on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2002

Koizumi to go in fighting

The first item on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's agenda when he meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will be his demand for information about 11 Japanese believed abducted to the Stalinist state between 1977 and 1983, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday.
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2002

Mortgage-lending confab aims to fire up European market

The movers and shakers of Europe's mortgage-lending industry are to attend an unprecedented conference that starts in Madrid on Sept. 22 in an effort to find solutions in light of globalization and ensuing difficulties they currently face -- including dilution within the financial services industry and...
EDITORIALS
Sep 16, 2002

Chance to make history

The meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, scheduled for Tuesday in Pyongyang, will provide a historic opportunity to end decades of enmity between Japan and North Korea. Mr. Koizumi is the first Japanese head of government to visit that country. It remains...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 15, 2002

It's time for family feuds!

The inter-season "specials" period is in full swing, and this week there appears to be more than the usual number of variety programs dedicated to dysfunctional families. If you're into this type of thing, which usually involves cameras invading homes where husbands and wives fight, kids fight or in-laws...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Sep 15, 2002

Sake-shopping picks that really hit the spot

There exists, where you would least expect it, a marvelous oasis for sake shopping. Yoshiike department store, just outside Okachimachi Station and just across from the entrance to Ameyokocho, has a fantastic selection of sake and a plethora of sake utensils to go with it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 14, 2002

Silver, socks make Afghan refugees independent

Shahnaz Akhtar arrived in Tokyo from Pakistan on Sept. 3, a guest of Global Village's Fair Trade Co. in Jiyugaoka, which distributes and sells leather and silver work and embroidered, woven and knitted goods crafted by Afghan refugees under her guidance. The purpose in being here? "To gather information...

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