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EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2005

Ending the zero-rate policy

In March 2001, the Bank of Japan set short-term interest rates at near zero, declaring that the nation's economy had entered a period of deflation. That extra-loose monetary policy, which is said to have had few parallels in the world, is likely to change next spring, because an upturn in consumer prices...
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2005

Amway ready for greater triumph in China after tough years in Japan

For direct-selling giant Amway Co., China is fast becoming its most lucrative overseas market, far surpassing sales in the massive yet troublesome Japanese market.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2005

Heads roll at Meiji Yasuda as severity of scandal sinks in

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. said Friday that 11 executives, including President Ryotaro Kaneko, will step down Nov. 30 to take responsibility for the company's repeated failure to pay legitimate insurance claims.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Nov 3, 2005

Cutting deficit still top priority: Yosano

Debate over proposed tax hikes will not keep the government from trying to trim the budget deficit, according to Kaoru Yosano, the new economic and fiscal policy minister.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 2, 2005

Takahashi invited to Tokyo marathon

Naoko Takahashi will be out to avenge her loss to Ethiopia's Elfenesh Alemu when she runs in her first competitive full marathon in two years at this month's Tokyo International Women's Marathon.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 1, 2005

Lotte's Valentine up for three MLB jobs

Chiba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine revealed Monday the Washington Nationals, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Los Angeles Dodgers have shown interest in hiring him as manager.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2005

Takebe reappointed secretary general of LDP; Nakagawa gets policy affairs

Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party President Junichiro Koizumi reappointed Tsutomu Takebe, 64, to the party's No. 2 post of secretary general, while switching LDP Diet affairs chief Hidenao Nakagawa to the post of policy affairs chief.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 30, 2005

The freedom found in anominity

A MAN WITH NO TALENTS: Memoirs of a Tokyo Day Laborer, by Shiro Oyama, translated by Edward Fowler. Ithica/London: Cornell University Press, 2005, 140 pp., $21.00 (cloth). Toward the end of his account of what life is like at the bottom of Japan's social structure, Shiro Oyama (a pseudonym) observes...
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2005

Tokyo CPI edges down again

The key gauge of consumer prices in Tokyo fell 0.3 percent in October from a year earlier, marking a 73rd consecutive monthly decline, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2005

Output up for second month in row

Industrial production inched up a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent in September from the previous month, scoring a second straight monthly increase for the first time since the summer of 2004, according to a preliminary government report released Friday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 27, 2005

Valentine sets his sights on a real World Series title

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Pref. -- Bobby Valentine is eager to get back in the World Series, but this time, he wants it to be a truly global affair.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2005

Chemical firm is suspected of price fixing

The Fair Trade Commission on Wednesday searched the headquarters of an agrochemical firm in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, and other company offices on suspicion that the firm has been illegally fixing the price of a popular pesticide.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2005

Technology opening up new doors for charities and donors

fundraising by mobile phones, but we are determined to keep looking for new methods one after another," Fukui said. The "fundraising by clicking" method is also spreading. Under this system, when a visitor to a company's Web site clicks on the appropriate spot, that business makes a contribution to a...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2005

NPA plans hotline for 'harmful' Internet content

The National Police Agency plans to set up an online hotline for the public to report illegal or harmful content they spot on the Internet, such as that related to drug trafficking, child pornography or the production of explosives, NPA officials said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2005

Sex inequality slows growth

NEW YORK -- A growing number of countries have adopted population and development policies to meet the health-care and education needs of women, including their reproductive health needs. In spite of that, gender inequality persists in most countries around the world. According to the United Nations...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2005

Tokyo's Edogawa Ward halts population decline

One of the biggest challenges for a local government with a declining population and shrinking tax base is to lure young families to move into their communities.
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2005

China tackles its growing pains

The title is dry -- the "Communist Party of China Central Committee Proposal Regarding the Formulation of the 11th Five-Year Program for National Economic and Social Development" -- but its contents are very important. The document is an outline of how China can tackle the pressing problems created by...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2005

A circus on the harbor

Following on its impressive inauguration in 2001, the second Yokohama International Triennale of Contemporary Art is finally here, albeit a year late, and I have to say it has turned out far better than I had anticipated.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2005

Dominican emigrant tells court of plaintiffs' plight

A Japanese immigrant to the Dominican Republic, at the final trial session of a damages suit against the government, stressed Monday how he and his fellow immigrants have suffered as a result of a government-sponsored emigration program in the late 1950s.
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2005

Fukui, Greenspan discuss macroeconomic conditions

Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui held talks Monday with visiting U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, discussing a range of issues related to macroeconomic and monetary conditions, including those of Japan and the U.S., BOJ officials said.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 18, 2005

Ministry missive wrecks reception

Between Oct. 7-11, the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT), Japan's largest convocation of language educators, held its annual meeting in Shizuoka, a pleasant city between Tokyo and Osaka.

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