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Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2002

Celebration of folk traditions keeps national identity alive for Peruvian

TSU, Mie Pref. (Kyodo News) Her family's playing of the traditional Peruvian folk song "El Condor Pasa" for a Japanese audience helps Rosa Ochante Muray keep her national identity alive.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2002

Mitsubishi Tokyo's Swiss unit to target wealthy investors

Three Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. companies said Monday they will jointly set up a securities firm in Switzerland to provide comprehensive wealth-management services.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Elementary schools snub Snow Brand

OSAKA -- Forty-two percent of some 14,000 municipally run elementary schools throughout Japan are boycotting products made by scandal-tainted Snow Brand Milk Products Co. and its group companies, according to the results of a poll released Sunday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 17, 2002

Was she used -- or were Makiko's tears deemed too dangerous?

The sixth Press and Human Rights Committee Conference, held at the end of January by the Asahi Shimbun, focused on the problem of gender discrimination in the media. In a full-page feature promoting the event in the Feb. 10 issue of the newspaper, three participants started out by blasting Prime Minister...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2002

Towels, tea & sympathy under CLAIR umbrella

I have arranged to meet Shingo Ishida, a program coordinator in the Guidance and Counseling Division of the JET Program Management Department in the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations. (Gulp, what a mouthful!) But after colleague Nicola Chilton -- working in a similar capacity under...
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2002

Fujita seeks integration with Mitsui-Sumitomo

As banks and the government desperately work to solve the issue of mounting problem loans, many of which were extended to the construction industry, financially troubled contractor Fujita Corp. said Friday that it plans to merge its key construction division with Mitsui Construction Co. and Sumitomo...
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2002

Asahi Mutual to cut stock losses

Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. said Friday it will raise 150 billion yen and cut its shareholding losses by 400 billion yen by March 31 in a bid to regain customer trust and stop policy cancellations.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2002

Margin buying still on rise

The balance of shares bought on credit rose for the fifth consecutive week last week as investors continued hunting for bargains.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2002

Sumikura officials held over 'sokaiya' payoffs

Police on Wednesday arrested three senior Sumikura Industrial Co. officials on suspicion of paying 5 million yen to three shareholders to ensure a June 2000 shareholders' meeting was not disrupted by racketeers.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2002

BOJ not planning to raise long-term bond purchases

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Wednesday there is no immediate need to increase the central bank's outright purchases of long-term government bonds to boost liquidity in the money market.
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Feb 14, 2002

Lawmakers' views of past still plague relations

An education ministry panel's approval last April of a history textbook, which critics denounced as attempting to glorify Japan's wartime past, drew a quick response from South Korean politicians.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2002

Aioi expects greater loss after terror attacks

Aioi Insurance Co. will likely incur a loss of 126.1 billion yen from reinsurance claims on its U.S. agent in the fiscal year to March 31, or 28.2 billion yen more than it expected.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2002

Shiokawa backpedals on 1% growth pledge

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa apparently backtracked Tuesday on his weekend assertion that Japan's economy will grow 1 percent in fiscal 2003.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2002

Kawaguchi mulls ways to curb pressure on Foreign Ministry

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi has been studying ways to curb political influence on diplomacy, and is considering a policy to make public anytime a politician approaches ministry officials concerning ministry affairs, sources close to her said Sunday.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2002

Shonan merger plan races clock, though some balk

With its gently arching coastline overlooking Enoshima Island in Sagami Bay and a distant view of Mount Fuji and the Hakone mountain range, the Shonan area in Kanagawa Prefecture triggers memories of songs and movies about the picturesque area.
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Feb 11, 2002

Cold lands but warm hearts

The literally hang out the flags for visitors to the small town of Nishikawa in the snowy foothills of Yamagata's Dewa Sanzan mountains. A large British Union Jack was crossed with a Japanese Hinomaru over the entrance to Tamaki, a riverside restaurant famous for its Hina ryori (Doll's Festival food),...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2002

Yokohama locals put U.S. Navy's land to good use

YOKOHAMA -- It may be a bit hard to believe that in this day and age you can get free farmland in Yokohama.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2002

Ozaki sought Kano's help for candidate

Michihiko Kano, former vice president of the Democratic Party of Japan who quit the party over his ties to a scandal-hit firm, was asked by an executive of the company to support a rookie candidate in the mayoral election in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, in fall 2000, sources close to the case said Saturday....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 10, 2002

Love in a time of decline for homegrown literature

Is there a future for Japanese literature? That is the question posed by an article in the February issue of Bungakukai. Writer Akira Nagae visited various bookstores and publishers in search of an answer. The manager of a bookstore near an arts university in Tokyo feels authors and publishers are deceiving...
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2002

Farm ministry begins beef testing

The farm ministry, responding to the revelation that Snow Brand Foods Co. abused a government beef-buyback program implemented after the discovery of mad cow disease in Japan, began random inspections Friday of beef it bought from across the nation.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2002

Koizumi urges steps to fight deflation ahead of G7 talks

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi instructed key economic ministers Friday to take measures to stop deflation and prevent further drops in the prices of Japanese stocks and government bonds.
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 8, 2002

Officials unhappy with Saitama pitch

Japanese officials are concerned about the playing surface at the Saitama World Cup stadium and may order it relaid in time for this year's finals, local media said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Feb 8, 2002

It's time to say: Let's talk about sex, babies

In all my years of studying Japanese, I never learned the word I need right now. How do you say "nocturnal emission"? I need to know because my 10-year-old son is starting sex education at school, and I haven't told him that part of "the facts of life." His Japanese is pretty good, but I think he'll...
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2002

G7 to pour wrath on Japan's economy, yen dive

With the economy already wobbling, Japan may find itself on the ropes when finance chiefs from the Group of Seven major economic powers gather this week in Ottawa.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2002

75% foresee Snow Brand doom: poll

Seventy-five percent of respondents to a recent Internet survey believe Snow Brand Milk Products Co. will not be able to regain the trust of consumers even if it carries out a restructuring program.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2002

Okuda opposes mark-to-market accounting freeze

Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Federation of Employers Associations (Nikkeiren), voiced opposition Wednesday to a proposal to temporarily freeze the mark-to-market method of accounting to protect banks' weakening capital bases.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?