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JAPAN
Oct 25, 2003

Ishihara tells Fujii to hold his tongue

Transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara said Friday he would not comply with a request by Haruho Fujii for exemption from the public servant's oath to keep official secrets.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2003

Redesigned 1,000 yen bills roll off presses

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki announced Friday the start of printing of redesigned 1,000 yen bills, which will go into circulation in July.
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2003

Mr. Mahathir and the Jews

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, under attack for telling a gathering of Islamic national leaders last week that "the Jews rule this world by proxy," has defended himself by saying that this and other remarks he made about Jews were taken out of context. They were.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2003

Koizumi fails to evict LDP elder

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi tried Thursday to persuade two octogenarian former prime ministers to retire from politics because of their age, effecting a quiet exit in the case of Kiichi Miyazawa but running up against a brick wall in the shape of Yasuhiro Nakasone.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2003

Nakasone getting little sympathy at home

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi wants former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone to quit politics because he's too old -- and people in the 85-year-old's hometown agree.
COMMENTARY
Oct 24, 2003

Criticism prods Bush to tune diplomacy

So far, the war in Iraq and the issues surrounding North Korea have topped news of international events in 2003.
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2003

Nintendo buys 2.6% stake in Bandai

Major video game maker Nintendo Co. has purchased a 2.6 percent stake in toy maker Bandai Co., or 1.28 million shares, becoming one of its top 10 shareholders, Bandai said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2003

Two placed in protection at Japan consul

A Japanese man who has fled North Korea and a woman claiming to be his sister were put under protection of the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, northeastern China, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 22, 2003

'Unfair' currency rate hit

Japan's attempts to weaken the yen in foreign-exchange markets give its automakers "an unfair advantage" in the United States, a top executive of General Motors Corp. said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 22, 2003

Auto firms hope Tokyo Motor Show can kick-start demand

The 37th Tokyo Motor Show opens to the public Saturday in Makuhari, Chiba Prefecture, and the auto industry hopes the 12-day event will help stimulate the Japanese market.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 22, 2003

Cynic's view of the sex and the city

One of kabuki's most prolific playwrights, Tsuruya Nanboku, produced 120 dramas in the last 25 years of his life. This month, the Kabukiza, in Ginza, stages just two of them, a pair of remarkable sewamono (realistic plays) titled "Kamikakete Sango Taisetsu (A Pledge of Love to Sango)" and "Osome Hisamatsu...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2003

SDF to continue in antiterror efforts

Japan on Tuesday extended its naval logistic support for U.S. antiterror operations in Afghanistan by another six months.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 21, 2003

Japan still bazaar for the bizarre

It's not news that Japan is a vast emporium for some of the weirdest products ever retailed on the planet. We've all read the stories about high-tech toilet seats, used schoolgirls' underwear, million-yen pet beetles, canned whale blubber, and so on.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 21, 2003

GM chasing bigger slice of Asia mart

General Motors Corp. wants a bigger piece of rapidly growing markets in the Asia-Pacific region and will strongly promote cooperation with its three Japanese partners, a top GM executive said Monday in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2003

'Swing vote' could usher in two-party system for Japan

A brewing political drama could open the way for a two-party system in Japan. Already the ruling and opposition parties are bracing for the Nov. 9 general election in which a transfer of power between two major parties looms as a real possibility for the first time since the end of World War II.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2003

Man awaiting transplant dies, becomes a donor

A man waiting for a kidney transplant but who was declared brain dead became a donor himself Sunday when his pancreas was transplanted in accordance with his wishes, medical sources said.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2003

JH chief Fujii eyes Ishihara, Abe libel suits

Haruho Fujii, president of Japan Highway Public Corp., is considering legal action against land minister Nobuteru Ishihara and Shinzo Abe, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Fujii's lawyers said Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2003

Mustard gas victims' redress edges nearer

Japan is in final negotiations with Beijing to pay around 300 million yen for the victims of an August poison gas leak from Japanese wartime chemical weapons left behind in China, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2003

Tokyo unveils latest financial plan

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Friday that it will cut its workforce by 4,000 and raise an additional 30 billion yen from tax revenues to improve its finances by fiscal 2006.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2003

Daiei books miserable first half

Struggling retailer Daiei Inc. said Friday its group net profit plunged 98.4 percent to 2.3 billion yen in the business first half due to the absence of a hefty one-time gain booked a year ago.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2003

Bubbles feed on more than irrationality

GUATEMALA CITY -- Government officials in China and South Korea are confronted with the troubling prospects of a real estate bubble evident in soaring prices in parts of Shanghai and Seoul. After all, it was the bursting of the asset bubbles in Japan that set the stage for a lost decade of sluggish economic...
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2003

Keidanren to hold parties to campaign pledges

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) plans to keep tabs on the pledges made by major political parties and hold them accountable to the promises they make, according to its president, Hiroshi Okuda.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2003

Japan announces pledge of $1.5 billion to Iraq

Japan will provide Iraq with grants worth $1.5 billion in 2004 to support the country's reconstruction, the government announced Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2003

Government says economy remains on track for recovery

The government said Wednesday the economy remains on a recovery track, but it cautioned against a possible adverse impact from fluctuations in the foreign-exchange and stock markets, as well as turbulence in the global economy.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2003

Japan Post head against scrapping postal savings

Japan Post President Masaharu Ikuta on Wednesday opposed proposals to abolish his entity's postal savings and insurance services as part of the government's privatization program.

Longform

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