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BUSINESS
May 24, 2006

OECD upgrades GDP growth estimates for 2006, 2007

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development upgraded on Tuesday its real economic growth estimates for Japan to 2.8 percent in 2006 and 2.2 percent in 2007. Its previous projection in November was for 2.0 percent for both years.
JAPAN
May 23, 2006

Importer's rare tortoises a labor of love

Before he heads off to work, Masakazu Utsunomiya has a unique daily ritual of tender loving care -- he bathes and feeds the rare Burmese starred tortoises he keeps in his modest Tokyo apartment and ensures their tanks' temperature is just right.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2006

Profits up for megabanks

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. earned a net profit of more than 1 trillion yen in the 2005 business year while competitor Mizuho Financial Group Inc. booked a record-high net profit, according to earnings reports released Monday by Japan's top two banks.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2006

The great ape debate unfolds in Europe

PRINCETON, New Jersey -- In his "History of European Morals," published in 1869, the Irish historian and philosopher W.E.H. Lecky wrote:
COMMENTARY
May 22, 2006

Japan keeps blowing smoke

This year's slogan adopted by the World Health Organization for No Tobacco Day (May 31) is "Tobacco: deadly in any form or disguise." Since the framework convention on tobacco control came into effect in February 2005, the antismoking movement has become an irreversible global trend.
EDITORIALS
May 21, 2006

Mr. Matsui's apology

'Mind the gap," the British warn commuters stepping off trains. It's good advice in East-West relations, too, since there are some gaps that appear to be unbridgeable. A rather wide one was revealed last week in the hubbub in the United States over the apology of New York Yankees left fielder Hideki...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 21, 2006

Lurking in the shadows, following in Edgar Allan Poe's footsteps

THE BLACK LIZARD AND BEAST IN THE SHADOWS, by Edogawa Rampo, translated by Ian Hughes, introduction by Mark Schreiber. Fukuoka: Kurodahan Press, 2006, 284 pp., $15.00 (paper). Edogawa Rampo, the pen name Taro Hirai (1894-1965) adopted in homage to Edgar Allan Poe (think phonetically), is the father of...
SOCCER / World cup
May 20, 2006

JFA to name successor to coach Zico in July

The Japan Football Association intends to appoint the national team's new coach by the end of July, JFA President Saburo Kawabuchi said Friday.
JAPAN
May 20, 2006

Corporate social responsibility seen gaining favor in Japan, experts say

Growing awareness of corporate social responsibility was praised as favorable progress for Japan at a symposium in Tokyo earlier this week.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 20, 2006

Norma Diaz de Polski

Mention Argentina, and two stereotypes spring to mind: soccer and beef.
JAPAN
May 20, 2006

Young killers at heart of capital punishment fight

it just did it right there." His flippant attitude at the time and during his trial outraged Yayoi's husband, Hiroshi, and prosecutors, who appealed the life sentence, demanding the death penalty.
COMMENTARY
May 19, 2006

Pride in a Yankee apology

LOS ANGELES -- In the sports-happy, internationally oblivious country of the United States, probably more people know who Hideki Matsui is than who Junichiro Koizumi is.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2006

Russian flirtation with the fascist threat

MOSCOW -- Today's Kremlin thinks that democracy was being built too quickly in Russia. The government does not say that it is against democracy, only that it is untimely and needs to be delayed -- a logic that manifests itself in most official decisions. Thus, at the beginning of the current decade,...
CULTURE / Music
May 19, 2006

Mercan Dede "Nefes"

Istanbul's Doublemoon label has staked out a rep as one of the most progressive world-music labels. Their best-selling artist is also their most unique: Mercan Dede, a producer/DJ/musician who, like Talvin Singh, is equally comfortable in both traditional and modern contexts, usually at the same time....
BUSINESS
May 19, 2006

Softbank, Vodafone set up firm

Softbank Corp. and Britain's Vodafone Group PLC, which recently sold its Japanese subsidiary to Softbank, announced Thursday that they are setting up a joint venture to develop and procure mobile phone handsets, software and digital content.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 19, 2006

A Japanese Jim Jarmusch

If the name Atsushi Funahashi doesn't ring any bells in the Japanese film industry, it's mainly because the domestic film scene had never been his primary concern.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 19, 2006

Beacon: Power dining that shines

The stock market's up and ditto consumer spending. Real estate is rebounding and there's even talk of another bubble. No surprise then that we've been seeing plenty of upmarket restaurants opening in recent months. Better still, some of our favorite restaurateurs are getting into the action.
MORE SPORTS
May 18, 2006

Fudo, Oyama bound for c'ship

Yuri Fudo and Shiho Oyama have been guaranteed spots at next month's U.S. LPGA Championship, the second major tournament of the year on the tour, the Ladies Professional Golfers' Association of Japan said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 18, 2006

Annan asks Koizumi to give air support to U.N. in Iraq

Visiting U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan asked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday to provide air support for U.N. activities in Iraq, opening the possibility that the Air Self-Defense Force will get a new mission there.
JAPAN
May 17, 2006

Aso says change needed in war-dead system

Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Tuesday he sees problems in the current method of honoring the war dead at Yasukuni Shrine and suggested that having a single religious institution in charge of the system needs changing.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2006

Taro Aso has a history problem with Australia

When Foreign Minister Taro Aso visited Australia recently, did he know that the father of the Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, had been a Japanese prisoner of war in the notorious Changi jail in Singapore? And if Alexander Downer Sr. had been sent to a certain camp in Kyushu, as some 200...
JAPAN
May 17, 2006

Egypt says thanks for new yen loan

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on Tuesday thanked Prime Minister Koizumi for Japan's agreement to provide yen loans up to 34.8 billion yen for a new museum project, a Foreign Ministry official said.
JAPAN
May 17, 2006

Bid to address Congress has Yasukuni proviso

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's contentious visits to Yasukuni Shrine are a matter of religious freedom, the government said Tuesday, rejecting criticism leveled by a powerful U.S. congressman.

Longform

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo