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BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2006

Law aims to boost recourse cross-border

The government plans to introduce legislation in the current Diet session that would revise a century-old legal framework to strengthen consumer and employee protections in cross-border disputes.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2006

Politics loom at Kansai business meet

KYOTO -- The 44th annual Kansai Economic Seminar began in Kyoto Thursday, but in the opening speeches and plenary sessions, social and political concerns instead of economic issues received the lion's share of attention.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2006

2009 pivotal year for sales tax: Ishi

The issue of whether to raise the consumption tax will come to a head in fiscal 2009, although the margin and timing of any increase will be a political decision, the government's Tax Commission Chairman Hiromitsu Ishi said in a recent interview with Kyodo News.
SUMO
Feb 9, 2006

Most fans support ban on women

A majority of Japanese sumo fans support a tradition that bans women from stepping on the ancient sport's raised dirt wrestling mound, according to a survey commissioned by the Japan Sumo Association and released Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2006

Schieffer asks Iwakuni voters to consider the big picture

OSAKA — The U.S. ambassador to Japan on Wednesday urged voters in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, opposed to the realignment of the U.S. forces to put national and regional needs ahead of local concerns.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2006

Ex-envoy admits secret pact on Okinawa

A former senior Foreign Ministry official admitted Wednesday that Japan secretly shouldered $4 million in costs for Okinawa's reversion from U.S. control in 1972.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2006

Fukuoka design firm also faked structural data

Faked earthquake-resistance data were used to construct at least three condominium complexes in Fukuoka Prefecture built by Kimura Construction Co. but not designed by disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha, the land ministry and the Fukuoka Municipal Government said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Toyota records 34% jump in third-quarter net profit

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday its group net profit for the fiscal third quarter jumped 34.1 percent from the previous year to a record 397.5 billion yen thanks to thriving overseas sales and the yen's depreciation against the dollar.
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2006

China swaps historical facts for fiction

HONG KONG -- At a time when Beijing is upbraiding Tokyo for its depiction in history textbooks of the invasion and occupation of China in the 1930s and 1940s -- and used it as a reason for excluding Japan from the United Nations Security Council -- it has exposed its own politicization of history by...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 7, 2006

How Japan became No. 1

Who has the global bragging rights to slimness? First there was Mireille Guiliano's book, "French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure," published in 2004. Hot on the heels of this best-seller, Naomi Moriyama threw down the gauntlet less than a year later with "Japanese Women Don't...
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2006

Pinch of censorship vs. pile of trouble

There's a good reason why censorship sparks so many squabbles, as developments in both China and the Muslim world this past week have reminded us. It's a slippery concept. We who favor openness and transparency think we know exactly where we stand on censorship: We think it's bad. Right? Freedom of speech...
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2006

Containing a growing divide

The growing economic gap in Japanese society under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform policy is emerging as a major national political issue. Critics in the opposition camp as well as the ruling coalition charge that deregulation and intensified competition have divided society into winners and...
EDITORIALS
Feb 5, 2006

A tradition not yet finished

The bad news just keeps on coming for fans of conventional cameras. Nikon Corp. will stop manufacturing most of its film cameras, and Konika Minolta Holdings Inc. will completely withdraw from the camera and film business. The sad thing is that these makers have long contributed to Japan's photographic...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2006

Attendant sent up for rail crossing deaths

The Tokyo District Court sentenced a Tobu Railway Co. railway-crossing attendant to 18 months in prison Friday for negligence resulting in the deaths of two women and injuries to two others in March, when he opened a grade crossing gate as a train approached.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2006

Importers ask for refunds before U.S. beef on hold rots

The Japan Meat Traders Association is sounding out the United States about the possibility of buying back 1,380 tons of U.S. beef that cannot clear Japanese customs, association officials said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2006

Aso, Tanigaki also balk on female reign

Senior Cabinet ministers Friday joined growing voices within the Liberal Democratic Party expressing concern over a government-sponsored bill to allow females and their descendants to ascend to the Imperial throne.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2006

Tokyo to leverage whole talks on abduction issue

In a move to pressure North Korea a day before bilateral talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang are to start in Beijing, Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Friday that Tokyo may consider abandoning the three-track talks on security, abduction and normalization if there is no progress on the abduction issue.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2006

Toyoko Inn qualifies apology to disabled

Toyoko Inn Co. President Norimasa Nishida apologized to a federation of nationwide disabled people's groups Thursday for removing mandatory facilities designed for their use at its hotels.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2006

'80s serial killer Miyazaki's death sentence finalized

SAITAMA (Kyodo) The death sentence for serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki, 43, who was convicted of killing four girls in 1988 and 1989, is final now that the Supreme Court has rejected an objection filed by his counsel over a technical detail.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2006

New games bring more people to video consoles

There may be no monsters to slay or racing cars to spin, but new video games that claim to stimulate the brain or translate languages are being snapped up by a new crowd of gamers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2006

TSE's new IT czar has big task

The newly installed chief information officer at trouble-plagued Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc. vowed Thursday to improve the computer trading system of Asia's largest bourse to make it more competitive in the global capital market.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2006

Fuji Photo plans to ax 5,000 jobs, reduce its film lineup

Fuji Photo Film Co. said Tuesday it will cut 5,000 workers, one-third of its image product division, due to the rapidly shrinking photo-film market.

Longform

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