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JAPAN
Dec 17, 2005

Population now on track to start shrinking in 2006, not 2007: report

Japan's population will start shrinking next year and not in 2007 as was earlier projected and could be half of what it is now in a century, if the birthrate continues to decline at the current pace, according to a government report released Friday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2005

Advocate for the elderly

Next year Japan will take another step forward toward strengthening the protection of the weaker members of society. The Diet has passed a law to prevent cruel treatment of the aged and to assist those taking care of them. Preparations are being made for implementing the law in April. Enactment of the...
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2005

Road deaths near 50-year low

The number of traffic accident deaths for the 11 months to November fell by 394 from the same period last year to 6,200, with the annual figure expected to remain below 7,000 for the first time since 1956 if the current pace persists for the rest of the year, the National Police Agency said Thursday....
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 16, 2005

Broadcaster screenslatest co-productions

There has never been greater attention on Asian cinema. The Sixth NHK Asian Film Festival, taking place Dec. 17-25 in Shibuya, Tokyo, continues its mission to support promising filmmakers in Asia following on the heels of Tokyo International Film Festival, Tokyo FILMeX and South Korea's Pusan Film Festival,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 16, 2005

Stripping it down, thriving on basics

Born in 1970 into an acting family -- his father is butoh master Akaji Maro and his brother is rising star Nao Omori -- Tatsushi Omori served as an assistant director for Junji Sakamoto and Kazuyuki Izutsu before working for producer/director Genjiro Arato on "Akame Shijuha-taki Shinju Misui" in 2003...
BUSINESS
Dec 16, 2005

ANA, JAL engine repairs to cost carriers 9.5 billion yen

All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Corp. will replace parts in engines made by Pratt & Whitney of the United States in their Boeing 777s for about 9.5 billion yen due to incidents involving engine trouble earlier this year, the airlines said Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 15, 2005

Pullouts weaken men's G.P. field

This year's figure skating Grand Prix Final will feature only five competitors in the men's event after a series of withdrawals, the Japan Skating Federation said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2005

Cops turn to forensic analysis to catch gropers

Stumped for years by blatant suspects, police are using forensic analysis to hunt down gropers on crowded trains by matching tiny fabric fibers from the perpetrator's palm with the victim's clothes.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2005

Reactors needed for Kyoto goals, expert says

Japan should promote nuclear power and renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels to fight global warming, a Canadian scientist said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 15, 2005

Director Koki Mitani and the gentle indecision of Japanese juries

When 44-year-old writer/director Koki Mitani was young, he got so excited watching "Twelve Angry Men," a classic American jury-room film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, that he wanted someday to make his own original version.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2005

JAXA to delay Hayabusa return as probe enters spin

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will delay until 2010 the return of a star-crossed space probe sent to collect samples from an asteroid after a thruster problem put the probe into an unexpected spin, a JAXA official said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2005

Yoshinoya to have 'gyudon' back next month

With the government partially lifting its two-year import ban on U.S. beef, the fast-food restaurant chain Yoshinoya D&C Co. is preparing to resume its mainstay "gyudon" beef-on-rice dishes next month.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Dec 13, 2005

Lions accept MLB bid for Mori

The Seibu Lions notified the baseball commissioner's office Monday that the team will accept a bid made by a major league team for pitcher Shinji Mori.
COMMENTARY
Dec 13, 2005

Keys to the LDP's viability

The Liberal Democratic Party has ruled Japan since it was established in 1955 -- except for 11 months in 1993 and 1994. Last month it celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding.
Japan Times
Features
Dec 11, 2005

Japan's new Wave

Japan and South Korea are like an old, bickering couple: Though they may want to part ways at times, their shared history and interdependency compel them to work things out. That, and they've got no place else to go.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 10, 2005

Ferguson risks legacy being rise and fall of Man United

LONDON -- When your club has spent £65 million on four strikers, all of whom played in the 2-1 Champions League defeat by Benfica on Wednesday you have a right to expect better than the powder-puff display by Manchester United in the Stadium of Light -- none of which is at the end of the Old Trafford...
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2005

Frustrated bureaucrats pen reform ideas

When Ichiro Asahina, a 32-year-old bureaucrat at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, was studying at Harvard University between 2001 and 2003, he had time to think about what Kasumigaseki, Tokyo's governmental hub, meant to him and to Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 9, 2005

Drumming up an apocalypse

Afrirampo are a whacked-out crackpot girl duo just out of their teens from Osaka, which is famous for its out-there noise-rock scene.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2005

Residents can sue railway: top court

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that residents near Odakyu Electric Railway Co. elevated train tracks in Tokyo qualify as plaintiffs in a lawsuit demanding the revocation of permits for the section.
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2005

Step up the war on AIDS

The 2005 report by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is a shocking reminder that the number of HIV/AIDS cases worldwide has hit an all-time high, exceeding 40 million people for the first time.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2005

Unlicensed doctor caught after 8 years

Tokyo police on Tuesday arrested a self-styled doctor who is suspected of practicing medicine without a license for eight years at about 20 medical institutions.
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2005

Kao camp in lead for Kanebo: sources

The state-backed corporate bailout agency is close to picking Kao Corp. and three investment funds as the buyer of Kanebo Ltd. and Kanebo Cosmetics Inc. as it entered the final phase of selection proceedings, sources said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2005

Bush should do the right thing, and quit

NEW YORK -- By August 2003, California Gov. Gray Davis' approval rating had plunged to 22 percent. Two months later, he lost a special recall election.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go