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BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2003

Drastic improvement seen in business sentiment

The key gauge for business sentiment among major companies swung into the plus column in the October-December period for the first time in 11 quarters, thanks to improvement in the domestic economy, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2003

Few warm to greater-Tokyo assembly idea

Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa advocates creation of an unprecedented regional administrative system that would deal with issues affecting the multiple prefectures and municipalities that constitute greater Tokyo.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2003

Ishiba briefs Koizumi on fact-finding mission, slips away

Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday reported the results of a fact-minding mission to Iraq to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Dec 4, 2003

"Lionboy," "The English Roses"

"Lionboy," Zizou Corder, Puffin Books; 2003; 352 pp. How old do you have to be to write your first book? Thirty years old? Twenty? How about 10? If you're Isabel Adomakoh Young, 10 is as good an age as any.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 4, 2003

Alarm mars a runaway success story for salmon

In October, I spent some time in Vancouver. I have grown-up children there, as well as grandchildren and a lot of old friends, most of whom I met while working for the Environmental Protection Service. Even though I left Canada in 1978 to come to Japan and pursue the often dubious course of a writer,...
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2003

Mergers expected to halve number of municipalities

Mergers will bring the number of cities, towns and villages in Japan to half the current figure by March 2005, according to a Kyodo News survey made available this week.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 3, 2003

Tuffy Rhodes released

Tuffy Rhodes was formally turned loose from the Pacific League club on Tuesday after the Japan pro baseball commissioner's office released a list of 79 players who were not put on reserve by their respective clubs.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2003

Ex-MMC executives to pay for defect-complaints coverup

Eleven former managers of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. agreed to an out-of-court settlement Tuesday in a shareholder suit filed by an investor who demanded they pay damages to the company for a drop in sales caused by the automaker's coverup of defect complaints.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2003

Takefuji wiretapping scandal unfolds

More than a year after journalist Shunsuke Yamaoka first accused Takefuji Corp. of tapping his home phone, police have finally reached the top echelons of the country's leading consumer loan firm.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2003

Takefuji boss held for wiretapping journalist

Police on Tuesday arrested Takefuji Corp. Chairman Yasuo Takei for allegedly ordering employees to bug the phone of a journalist who had criticized the consumer loan giant.
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2003

Mizuho Corporate Bank set to expand China business

Mizuho Corporate Bank President Hiroshi Saito said Tuesday the company will greatly expand operations to take advantage of the rapid growth of the Chinese economy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2003

Digital broadcasts mark fledgling debut

With signs that say "Digital is coming!" hanging in stores packed with new TV models promising dazzling imagery, Tokyo's bustling electronics shopping district in Akihabara is one place in Japan that's gung-ho about digital television broadcasting that began Monday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 2, 2003

Giants pitcher Kudo to get hefty pay cut

Yomiuri Giants lefty Kimiyasu Kudo, who turned 40 in May, will be given a 20 million yen pay cut, the Central League club said Monday.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 2, 2003

Zico demands victory

Euro stars or no Euro stars, Japan coach Zico has demanded nothing less than victory from his players ahead of the East Asian Championship, which kicks off in Japan on Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2003

NGOs weighing impact of killings, future course

Japanese nongovernmental organizations working in Iraq expressed concern Monday that their aid activities may face a strategic change given the weekend assassination of two Japanese diplomats in the country.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2003

Governor lays blame for collapse on auditor

UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Pref. Kyodo) Tochigi Gov. Akio Fukuda on Sunday blamed an auditor for the national government's decision to take control of Ashikaga Bank in his prefecture.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2003

Kimpo, Haneda shuttles take off

Japanese and South Korean airlines began shuttle flights Sunday between Tokyo's Haneda airport and Seoul's Kimpo in a bid to boost tourism and exchanges between the two capitals.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2003

Despite deaths, Koizumi determined to send SDF

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated Sunday that the deaths of two Japanese diplomats in Iraq, possibly at the hands of terrorists, will not change his plan to send troops to the war-torn country.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2003

South Iraq safe enough for SDF troops: Ishiba

Southern Iraq is in need of humanitarian assistance and is safe enough for Self-Defense Forces troops, Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2003

Probe ties WWII poison gas to 138 sites

Poison gas may have been abandoned at 138 sites in 41 prefectures at the end of World War II, according to the results of a nationwide study released Friday by the Environment Ministry.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Nov 29, 2003

Coup ushers in uncertain era

MOSCOW -- A former Soviet republic, Georgia, is in the limelight again. Outraged by an allegedly fraudulent parliamentary election, protesters toppled the government of President Eduard A. Shevardnadze and installed an interim administration led by a number of opposition leaders.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2003

Troops to be dispatched to Iraq in 2004

Japan will dispatch some 550 ground troops to southern Iraq in four waves starting in early February and ending in late March.
BUSINESS
Nov 28, 2003

Payback tariffs to hit U.S. imports by end of the year

Japan could have retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports in place by the end of the year unless Washington withdraws its hefty steel tariffs, a senior official of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2003

Top court dismisses landowners' appeal

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by eight Okinawa Prefecture landowners seeking damages for the forced leasing of their land to the U.S. military.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2003

Kin want missing persons cases reinvestigated

The families of several missing people considered very likely to have been abducted to North Korea asked the government Thursday to reinvestigate their cases.

Longform

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