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Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2004

Wife of GSDF sergeant found dead in her home

The wife of a Ground Self-Defense Force sergeant was found dead at their house in late September while he was stationed in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2004

Miyazaki's latest movie to get overseas distribution

Director Hayao Miyazaki's new animated film, "Howl's Moving Castle," which has just premiered in Japan, will also be screened in South Korea, France, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the producer of the film said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 21, 2004

Leave it to the beavers

You have to admire the spirit of some beavers in Louisiana who were found last week to have woven thousands of dollars worth of stolen currency into a dam they were building out of the more usual boring sticks and brush. It was certainly a whole new twist on the idea of putting money into property.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2004

Obituary: Suzuko Egashira

Crown Princess Masako's maternal grandmother, Suzuko Egashira, died Friday at a hospital in the city of Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, the Imperial Household Agency said. She was 88.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Nov 19, 2004

Ginza bites the Big Apple

American fashion institution Barneys New York has finally found a place to call home in Tokyo. Opened last month in Ginza, this is the first flagship store in Japan for the prestigious Big Apple retailer. Operated by Isetan, Barneys has been in Japan for over a decade, but fans in Tokyo have had to settle...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2004

Derailment mars shinkansen safety myth

Reverberations from the bullet train derailment in Niigata Prefecture on Oct. 23 continue to echo across Japan, as experts debate whether it was luck or skill that saved the day for the passengers roughed up by the series of strong earthquakes.
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2004

Mitsubishi, Itochu to be stakeholders in Isuzu

Mitsubishi Corp. and Itochu Corp. will buy stakes in truck maker Isuzu Motors Ltd., the two trading companies said Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2004

Government is urged to offer more help for foreigners with HIV, AIDS

A group of researchers and nongovernmental organizations is urging the government to reinforce support measures for foreigners with HIV or AIDS in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Nov 18, 2004

Atomic energy's second wind

LONDON -- American utility companies are returning to the idea of building nuclear power stations. They believe they can get approval for licenses to start doing so by 2007, and they also believe, despite bitter past experience, that safety problems can finally be solved and the economics can be justified....
BUSINESS
Nov 18, 2004

Steelmakers report record earnings on worldwide demand

Major steelmakers reported record earnings for the first half, powered by strong worldwide demand.
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2004

TSE to delist scandal-tainted Seibu Railway

The Tokyo Stock Exchange said Tuesday it will delist shares of Seibu Railway Co. on Dec. 17 because the company has been falsifying its shareholder records for nearly 50 years.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 17, 2004

Mound relief almost backfired for MLB pitchers

The visiting Major League Baseball All-Stars left Japan Nov. 14 with a 5-3 series victory over their All-Japan opponents but, ironically, a change in the pitching mounds designed to help the big leaguers for the final three games of the tour almost resulted in disaster for the visitors. Let me explain....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2004

Yokota's 'remains' brought home

Japanese officials returned Monday from Pyongyang with what they were told are the cremated remains of Megumi Yokota, who according to North Korea committed suicide after being abducted to the reclusive state in 1977.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2004

Kumagai Gumi, Tobishima scrap planned merger

Struggling second-tier construction companies Kumagai Gumi Co. and Tobishima Corp. will scrap their planned April 1 merger, the two companies announced Monday.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 15, 2004

The importance of questioning fearlessly and answering honestly

"Any damn fool can answer a question. The important thing is to ask one."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 14, 2004

LDP crew want credit where credit isn't due

It's easy to believe that once a person becomes a politician, he tends to lose touch with everyday reality as it's lived by the majority of citizens since he's usually too busy looking after his own interests. Nevertheless, a recent remark by Tsutomu Takebe, the secretary general of the Liberal Democratic...
EDITORIALS
Nov 14, 2004

Robots and us

Personal robots have been a long time coming. After R2-D2 and C-3PO whirred and clicked their way into the limelight in the first "Star Wars" movie 27 years ago, the mass entertainment world blossomed with their mechanical descendants. "Droids" and "bots," some humanoid, some not, became as familiar...
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2004

Tokyo to help with Miyake costs

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will provide up to 1.5 million yen to each household on Miyake Island to help rebuild homes damaged by a volcanic eruption, metro government officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2004

Woman says sumo chief choked her

A 28-year-old woman who works at a Tokyo restaurant has reported to police that Japan Sumo Association Chairman Kitanoumi assaulted and sexually harassed her, police sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2004

Delegates meet Yokota's spouse in North

Japanese negotiators in North Korea met Friday with the apparent husband of a Japanese citizen who was kidnapped by Pyongyang's agents in 1977 and, according to the North, died in the reclusive state, a Japanese official said.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2004

Aum monitoring should continue: justice minister

The law allowing surveillance of Aum Shinrikyo, the cult responsible for the deadly 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system and other heinous crimes, should be extended, Justice Minister Chieko Noono said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 13, 2004

How mum juggles racing, soccer, K1, Portugal

Last Tuesday, Sonia Ito is busy with household chores in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture. Early evening she leaves husband Yuta with 2-year old daughter Julia and catches the train for Tokyo. By 7:30 p.m. she's seated on a purple "zabuton" in Fuji TV's headquarters at O-Daiba, recording the soccer program...
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2004

North 'reluctant' to hold six-party talks before year's end

North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan has poured cold water on the idea of holding the next round of six-way talks on his country's nuclear threat by year's end, Senior Vice Foreign Minister Shuzen Tanigawa said Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2004

Opposition bill aims to get SDF out of Iraq

In a bid to have the Ground Self-Defense Force troops withdrawn from Iraq, opposition parties jointly submitted a bill Thursday to the Diet to scrap the special law allowing the deployment in the war-torn country.

Longform

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