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BUSINESS
May 13, 2003

Sogo, Seibu to merge operations in June

Struggling department store operator Sogo Inc. announced Monday that it will integrate its operations with Seibu Department Stores Ltd. on June 1 under a new holding company, Millennium Retailing Inc.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 13, 2003

Entering the Dragon Palace, English-language driving schools and craft experience

Dragon palace Following on from news of the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo, a reader asks why Meguro Gajoen's Dragon Palace is closed most of the year.
EDITORIALS
May 12, 2003

A great leap forward in China?

Back-to-back calamities are forcing China's leaders to adopt new approaches to governance. A government accustomed to ruling without challenge is now under pressure to restore public confidence in its leadership. Hopes that this might lead to more broad-based political reform are premature, however....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 11, 2003

Bailing the banks while letting the debtors die

Reportedly, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has decided to address suicide, which has becomes something of an epidemic over the past decade as the economy continues its skid into the void.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 11, 2003

In praise of tireless women

In Japanese, a jagged stretch of coastline is referred to as riasu, which is taken from the Spanish word "rias." The word is most commonly used on the northwestern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, or Galicia, which is characterized by hundreds of small coves that provide homes for a rich variety of sea...
BUSINESS
May 10, 2003

IMF exec calls for inflation target

An official of the International Monetary Fund suggested Friday that the Bank of Japan adopt an inflation target.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2003

Softbank posts second net loss

Softbank Corp. said Friday its group net loss worsened in the year through March 31 due to hefty outlays to attract new subscribers to its broadband Internet service.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 10, 2003

Law unto himself meets Japanese country singer

Hearing a great cover of the country song "All You Ever Do Is Hurt Me" as he descended into Kenny's Country Music Station one Saturday evening in 2001, Chicago-born Dan Rosen wondered who the American woman singing it was. Imagine his surprise, then, when he looked at the stage and heard "this big, really...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 9, 2003

Camera-phones help DoCoMo to post solid profit

NTT DoCoMo Inc., the nation's top mobile phone firm, said Thursday it posted a group net profit of 212.49 billion yen for the year through March, thanks to strong growth stimulated by camera-equipped handsets.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 9, 2003

Gaming industry revolution falls through

A potential revolution within the gaming industry fell apart Thursday, with Sega Corp. announcing it has scrapped integration talks with Sammy Corp. and video game maker Namco Ltd. saying it has dropped a merger proposal submitted to Sega.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 7, 2003

Japan Post to create model offices in bid to reform

Japan Post will try to improve its operations by creating 12 model post offices around the country so employees at its 24,000 outlets can learn about cost-cutting measures and improving productivity, Japan Post President Masaharu Ikuta said in a recent interview.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
May 7, 2003

Shimadzu enjoys fruits of research and development program

If he had been a researcher at a major Japanese university, Koichi Tanaka could not have won the 2002 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
BUSINESS
May 7, 2003

Qualified IT staff still thin on ground

At least one in four major Japanese companies lack qualified information-technology staff despite the high unemployment rate amid the sluggish economy, according to a Kyodo News survey released Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 7, 2003

One door opens, another one closes

"The closing of a door can bring blessed privacy and comfort -- the opening, terror. Conversely, the closing of a door can be a sad and final thing -- the opening a wonderfully joyous moment."
BASEBALL / MLB
May 5, 2003

Ham proves to be tougher than Buffalo

Michihiro Ogasawara and Tomochika Tsuboi had three hits each and combined for eight RBIs as the Nippon Ham Fighters trounced the Kintetsu Buffaloes 11-3 at Osaka Dome on Sunday.
COMMENTARY
May 5, 2003

China still hasn't learned the right lesson

HONG KONG -- The dismissal on Easter Sunday of Chinese Health Minister Zhang Wenkang and Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong for their role in covering up the seriousness of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic was the biggest governmental shakeup in over a decade and has far-reaching ramifications....
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2003

Avoid hasty reaction to a probable bluff

LONDON -- "They don't negotiate like we do," explained Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and one of the North Korean regime's few channels of communication with the United States, after meeting with Pyongyang's representative in January. "They believe that...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 4, 2003

The Great Sasuke faces up to political reality

Two recent news items prompted an interesting digression in Asahi Shimbun's unattributed "Tensei Jingo" column April 23. Making initially veiled references to Lower House lawmaker Kenshiro Matsunami's alleged links with underworld figures and the election last month of professional wrestler the Great...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 3, 2003

Time to reconnect? Home is where the hearts are

Living abroad has its ups and downs. There are times of euphoria -- total absorption and delight with one's adopted culture -- and there are the deep troughs, when negativity sets in and everything turns hateful and to be despised. There is also that infinitely more bewildering phase, when nothing feels...
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2003

Hong Kong's blurred sense of identity had a role in SARS fiasco

HONG KNG -- In the end, it took the Chinese Communist Party's nine-member Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) 5 1/2 months to take a public stand on handling the current atypical pneumonia crisis with much greater openness. Guangdong Province experienced the first outbreak of the previously unknown disease...
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
May 1, 2003

New Wi-Fi accessibility unleashes the Internet

After enjoying the speed and always-on convenience of broadband Internet for about a year, I was surprised one afternoon to feel an odd pang of disconnectedness when staying at a friend's cottage in Izu. With nary a phone line or fiber-optic cable for miles around, I briefly found myself wishing my friend...
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2003

Privacy bills still have faults

The Diet debate on the government-proposed privacy legislation cleared a major hurdle last week as a Lower House special committee approved it with the support of the ruling parties. The controversial package, designed to protect personal information held by government offices and private companies,...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Apr 30, 2003

Pyongyang's actions shock few observers

MOSCOW -- When you are told that a person whom you don't know has won the lottery or lost a job, your feelings are pretty predictable and simple: Envy in the first case and empathy in the second. Yet if the person in question is somebody you know, your reactions get more complicated. You immediately...
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2003

Hitachi swings back into the black

Hitachi Ltd. said Monday it returned to profitability in fiscal 2002, thanks to cost-cutting measures.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 29, 2003

Overstaying visas, noisy neighbors and DIY trading

Visa overstaying I'm a Ukranian Citizen now in Japan. I have overstayed my tourist three-month visa. If I would like to go back to my country, what should I do? Can I buy an air ticket without a visa? Do they have money or other kinds of penalties for this type of case? -- Tokyo Don
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2003

Gaps huge in city assemblies' pay

The salary disparity for city assembly members nationwide can reach as much as six times, with the lowest pay generally corresponding to municipalities with small populations, according to a Kyodo News survey.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2003

Little light seen at end of job search

Job prospects for those leaving universities next spring appear nearly unchanged from this year, according to a Kyodo News poll.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat