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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 22, 2004

Queen of Orlane turns 70 (but who'd know it)

In 1960, Reiko B. Lyster answered a "help wanted" classified ad placed in this paper by Max Factor. She had no particular interest in working for a cosmetics company, but (having helped Marlon Brando on a film set just the year previously) the job as a translator appealed.
JAPAN
May 22, 2004

Embattled MMC unveils 'last chance' survival plan

Japan's crisis-hit Mitsubishi Motors Corp. unveiled a survival plan Friday featuring a 450 billion yen cash injection, relocation of its head office from Tokyo to Kyoto and major cuts in its global workforce and Australian output.
COMMENTARY
May 21, 2004

Risks of Pyongyang's favors

HONOLULU -- What a week! Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is packing his bags for another trip to Pyongyang to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, and the United States has announced a troop transfer from South Korea to combat duty in Iraq.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2004

Snow Brand sheds scandals, red ink

Snow Brand Milk Products Co. said Thursday it returned to the black in fiscal 2003 for the first time in five years, overcoming a string of damaging scandals.
JAPAN
May 20, 2004

Never in Japan, can kin 'return' here?

OSAKA -- Many Japanese newspapers, magazines and TV stations are reporting that the offspring of five Japanese who were abducted to North Korea in 1978 and repatriated in October 2002 will be "returning" to Japan if North Korea lets them leave.
JAPAN
May 20, 2004

Never in Japan, can kin 'return' here?

OSAKA -- Many Japanese newspapers, magazines and TV stations are reporting that the offspring of five Japanese who were abducted to North Korea in 1978 and repatriated in October 2002 will be "returning" to Japan if North Korea lets them leave.
JAPAN
May 20, 2004

Hosoda admits omission of donations from fund-report

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda admitted Wednesday that he failed to declare in political funding reports some 31 million yen that a scandal-tainted company shouldered as part of the salary for his chauffeur between 1996 and 2003.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2004

India: a defeat for the government, a victory for democracy

In his concession speech on May 13, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) thanked the people of India for having given him their support for five years; promised full cooperation with Sonia Gandhi, leader of the largest victorious party, Congress; and noted that,...
JAPAN
May 20, 2004

Congolese ex-aide to Suzuki claims state defamed him

A Congolese man who was an aide to former lawmaker Muneo Suzuki filed a lawsuit Wednesday demanding that the government pay him 10 million yen in compensation for defaming him by saying he held a forged passport.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 19, 2004

Hanshin's relief trio has Tigers in hunt for repeat in CL

The Hanshin Tigers have a reputation of winning the Central League pennant once every other decade. Their last three titles came in 1964, 1985 and 2003, and their fans surely do not want to wait until 22-something for the next championship.
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

GSDF gets ready to wrap up work in East Timor

The Ground Self-Defense Force will end its two-year peacekeeping mission in East Timor on Thursday, after providing support in such reconstruction efforts as repairing school playgrounds.
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2004

Chechnya explodes again

The assassination last week of Mr. Akhmad Kadyrov is a reminder of the festering sore that is Chechnya. Moscow's hopes of pacifying the restive republic have been laid to rest with the slain president. Russian President Vladimir Putin now faces difficult choices: Find a suitable local figure that both...
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

GSDF gets ready to wrap up work in East Timor

The Ground Self-Defense Force will end its two-year peacekeeping mission in East Timor on Thursday, after providing support in such reconstruction efforts as repairing school playgrounds.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

Okada takes DPJ helm unopposed

Katsuya Okada, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, was chosen uncontested Tuesday as the new chief of the opposition party, following the abrupt withdrawal of the first pick, Ichiro Ozawa, the previous night.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2004

Business leaders express concern about deflation despite GDP growth

Business leaders voiced concern Tuesday about the deflationary state of the economy, despite the government's announcement earlier in the day that it grew for the eighth straight quarter in the January-March period.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Some still against drinking water during exercise

Until about a decade ago, students at many Japanese schools were forbidden from drinking water while engaging in sports, no matter how thirsty they became.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Some still against drinking water during exercise

Until about a decade ago, students at many Japanese schools were forbidden from drinking water while engaging in sports, no matter how thirsty they became.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Current account surplus hits record 17.27 trillion yen

The current account surplus rose to a record 17.27 trillion yen in fiscal 2003, up 29 percent from the previous year, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

UFJ Holdings faces 100 billion yen net loss

UFJ Holdings Inc., one of Japan's top four banking groups, will probably book a net loss of some 100 billion yen for 2003, with its loan-loss charges having swelled to about 1 trillion yen, banking sources said Monday.
CULTURE / Music
May 16, 2004

Avril under the skin of consumers

Walking out of Shibuya Station on May 12, you couldn't help but be aware that Avril Lavigne's second album, "Under My Skin," had just gone on sale. There she was, belting out her new single, "Don't Tell Me," up there on the big screen above the 109 Building. Tsutaya had a booth set up with Avril's kohl-eyed...
CULTURE / Music
May 16, 2004

Norman rises to any challenge

Veteran soprano Jessye Norman calls her upcoming performances in Tokyo and Nagoya a "big challenge."
JAPAN
May 15, 2004

Island areas have highest birthrates

Twenty-eight of the municipalities with the nation's top 30 average birthrates are in the island areas of Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2004

Social security costs to rise 1.8-fold by '25, hit 152 trillion yen

Japan's social security costs, including pensions, medical treatment and nursing care, are expected to reach 152 trillion yen in fiscal 2025, a 1.8-fold rise from current levels but down from earlier projections, the welfare ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2004

FSA bureau chief Gomi tapped as commissioner

The government plans to promote Hirofumi Gomi, director general of the Supervisory Bureau at the Financial Services Agency, to the post of FSA commissioner, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
May 15, 2004

Relatives of missing demand results from Pyongyang trip

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi must achieve concrete results when he meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on May 22 in Pyonygang, relatives of Japanese abducted to North Korea, and others working on their behalf, demanded Friday.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2004

Now cops spurn Mitsubishi vehicles

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp., mired in a defect coverup scandal, have been barred from bidding for police orders for 11 months, the National Police Agency said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2004

New jailers, same prison?

The stage-managed toppling of ex-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's statue will not, after all, be the image defining the Iraq war. Like the famous photo of the young girl on fire running naked to escape the horror of napalm in the Vietnam War, the photographs emerging from Abu Ghraib prison will be the...

Longform

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