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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2006

Strife-ridden JAL removes Shinmachi from its helm

Japan Airlines Corp. announced Wednesday that JAL President Toshiyuki Shinmachi will be relieved of his post and be replaced by Senior Vice President Haruka Nishimatsu.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2006

Russian mayor confirms talks with Nissan on factory

NEW YORK (Kyodo) The mayor of St. Petersburg, Russia, Valentina Matvienko, said Monday in New York that her city is talking with major automakers, including Nissan Motor Co., to encourage them to locate factories there, confirming a recent Interfax report.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 26, 2006

Will Barry Bonds play his last game at Tokyo Dome?

News came last week that San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds announced he would be retiring at the end of the 2006 season. The next day, he said he may play several more years. Typical for a guy who often changes his mind, but there's nothing wrong with that.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 22, 2006

S. Korean wetland faces doom

For those readers long ago numbed to the fraud, waste and environmental abuse that accompanies public works projects in Japan, here's one that might jump-start your ire: A project by the South Korean government to landfill and develop 40,100 hectares (almost 100,000 acres) of coastal waters and wetlands...
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2006

Japanese whale institute attacks U.K. claims

LONDON (Kyodo) A Japanese research institute is disputing claims by British environmentalists that whale meat is being used in pet food.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 19, 2006

An innocent abroad brings his twisted genius to Japan

I first heard about Momus, the alter-ego of the Scottish musical maverick Nick Currie, in 2002, when a writer friend directed me to an article that Currie had written on the coolness of Tokyo's up-and-coming Nakameguro district.
EDITORIALS
Feb 18, 2006

What right to torment?

Muslim furor in the Middle East and other parts of the world touched off by the appearance of cartoon depictions of the prophet Muhammad has led to diplomatic rows, embassy burnings and violent protests. It now begs serious thought about how the media should exercise the rights to freedom of the press...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2006

Mitutoyo unaware exports illegal?

High-tech precision instrument maker Mitutoyo Corp. issued a qualified denial Tuesday of knowingly engaging in the illegal export of machinery that could be converted for use in nuclear weapons production.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2006

Sompo hits staff for padding contracts

Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. said Tuesday it punished 527 people, including sales staff and their supervisors, last month for illegally padding the number of new contracts they sold to meet internal sales goals.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 15, 2006

Japan Times wins award for animal rights coverage

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) today announced that The Japan Times is this year's winner of its prestigious International Genesis Award, given in recognition of its Nov. 30, 2005 "breakthrough expose" headlined: " 'Secret' dolphin slaughter defies protests."
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2006

Livedoor chief says firm could be sold

Backpedaling from his previous position, Livedoor Co. President Kozo Hiramatsu said Monday the firm is preparing for any eventuality, including possibly selling itself to a willing buyer.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 12, 2006

Building scandals expose society's uncaring foundation

Japan is in the throes of two scandals that highlight a stunning flaw in the social order. For all its much-trumpeted national cohesion and the lip service paid in Japan to the people's sense of nasake (compassion, sympathy, mercy), these scandals are stark reminders that public welfare and the common...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2006

English abusers finally get their day in the sun

"Please be careful to forget valuables" has received the Sign Language Award at the Amazing English Hunt 2005 awards, the English-Speaking Union of Japan, a nonprofit organization to promote international exchanges through English, and eigoTwown.com, which runs a Web site offering English education information,...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2006

Abe denies secret pact for Okinawa

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe on Thursday denied a news report that Japan had secretly shouldered $4 million in costs for Okinawa's reversion to Japan from U.S. occupation in 1972.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2006

Weeping Toyoko boss pledges to right wrongs

Toyoko Inn Co. President Norimasa Nishida said Monday the firm will retrofit all the hotels that it illegally modified after they were approved by municipal governments as meeting barrier-free codes, and will hire disabled people to promote their employment.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2006

Violations found at 70 Toyoko inns

Toyoko Inn Co. illegally renovated 70 of its hotels in 25 prefectures, according to a Kyodo News tally based on findings by local authorities through Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2006

Family delighted film on abductee wins prize

The relatives of victims of North Korea's abductions expressed their joy Monday after a U.S. film on Megumi Yokota has won the best documentary award at the U.S. Slamdance Film Festival in Utah.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2006

More hotel violations revealed

The Yokohama Municipal Government on Saturday inspected two hotels operated by Toyoko Inn Co. and found that a total of 31 rooms had been added illegally, city officials said.
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2006

Much ado about an old Chinese map

A little squall ruffled the staid world of historical scholarship earlier this month after a Beijing lawyer and amateur collector produced a tattered, bamboo-paper map that at first glance appeared to undermine an axiom of Western history. The map, which Mr. Liu Gang said he bought in a Shanghai bookshop...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 28, 2006

Forcing Eriksson out early makes perpetrators look weak

LONDON -- The hypocrisy, double-talk, deceit and lies have plummeted to new depths this week.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2006

Fast Retailing, Daiei partner on apparel

Struggling retailer Daiei Inc. said Thursday it has reached an agreement with Fast Retailing Co., which runs the Uniqlo clothing stores, on a tieup to open a new low-price casual clothing chain, with outlets at all Daiei general merchandise stores.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2006

Arrest of 'son' has LDP eating crow

The arrest of Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie has rocked the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which had unofficially supported the 33-year-old Internet tycoon in the Sept. 11 general election as a standard-bearer in Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform drive.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2006

The world according to 'Horiemon'

Following is a list of remarks by Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie about money, corporate acquisitions and other topics since his emergence in 2004 as what many saw as a young, confident mold-breaker in Japan's hidebound corporate world:
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2006

Japan to lodge protest over shoddy U.S. beef inspection

Top government officials said Saturday they would lodge protests with the United States after it was found that lack of knowledge on the part of an inspector allowed a banned material that poses a risk of mad cow disease to be included in a shipment of beef to Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2006

Consumers outraged by risky beef shipment

Anger, concern and a feeling of betrayal swirled among consumers, retailers and restaurants after the government announced that a shipment of beef imported from the United States contained material considered at risk of carrying mad cow disease.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2006

'Livedoor shock' halts TSE

The Tokyo Stock Exchange shut down trading early to avoid system troubles Wednesday amid a continued free-fall as investors spooked by the investigation into Livedoor Co. flooded the bourse with sell orders.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 17, 2006

Finding space in gay Japan

At first glance, homosexual life in Japan can seem quite repressed. Public displays of affection are next to nil, gay Japanese men often live secret lives and it's hard to notice a gay presence at all unless by venturing into Tokyo's "gayborhood," Shinjuku Ni-Chome.

Longform

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