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Japan Times
Features
Feb 29, 2004

Pooch paradise

A dog's life in Japan can be about as close to canine heaven on earth as it gets.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 29, 2004

Romania takes high road in AIDS fight

NEW YORK -- The Romanian government's serious commitment to improve access to treatment, increase outreach activities, build an effective partnership with the private sector and improve health infrastructure has led to dramatic progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2004

Just 10 won asylum bids last year

The government granted refugee status to 10 asylum-seekers last year, the lowest number in the past six years, while rejecting the applications of 298 foreigners, the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau announced Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 28, 2004

Hitting the nail on the head

"The nail that sticks up gets hammered down!"
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2004

Courts issue 1,499 restraining orders

Courts issued 1,499 restraining orders in domestic violence cases in 2003, up 27.5 percent from the previous year.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2004

Bubble-era resort projects to be reassessed, axed

The government said Wednesday it will no longer promote resort development and will urge 41 prefectural governments to reassess or abolish plans to build unneeded recreational facilities, government officials said.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2004

Mexico panda unable to light Ling Ling's fire

Giant panda Shuan Shuan's charms failed this time. The 16-year-old, in Japan on a breeding mission from Mexico, was unable to spark the interest of Japan's male panda Ling Ling, and breeders have resorted to artificial insemination, Tokyo's Ueno Zoo said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2004

Aum's organization just a shell of its old flush self

Doomsday may soon be a self-fulfilling prophecy for Japan's infamous cult.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2004

IMF exec backs yen intervention

Japan's yen-selling intervention against the dollar is appropriate due to the country's limited policy options to rescue the economy from deflation, Horst Koehler, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said Wednesday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2004

Yamanouchi, Fujisawa to merge

Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. and Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. said Tuesday they have agreed to merge in a bid to survive intensifying global competition.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 23, 2004

Admire Don takes February Stakes

Race favorite Admire Don rose to the challenge of the year's first top-level race and, in form befitting the dirt champion of 2003, turned in a satisfying half-length win of the February Stakes on Sunday in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Feb 23, 2004

Critical war questions beg for an answer

NEW YORK -- First, my historian friend George Akita sent me a clipping of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's article that appeared in The Honolulu Advertiser (Aug. 7, 2003). Titled "We need rules for waging war," the piece begins with McNamara remembering the night of March 9, 1945, when...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 22, 2004

A second generation apart

INVISIBLE GARDENS, by Julie Shigekuni. St. Martin's Press, 2003, $23.95 (cloth). Lily Soto Quinn is starting to have an affair. At the first sexual encounter, she ponders the significance of her lover's body: "Part of him so clearly missing. A gap between his kneecap and the ground, filled with nothing...
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2004

Schools told not to force staff to play anthem

A bar association in Tokyo has urged principals at two public elementary schools in the city of Kunitachi, western Tokyo, not to force music teachers to play the national anthem at school ceremonies.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2004

Bridgestone profits double as recall woes ebb, Europe sales soar

Profits at tire maker Bridgestone Corp. nearly doubled in the fiscal year that ended Dec. 31 as sales rose in Europe and payments related to a massive U.S. tire recall three years ago declined.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2004

Shinsei Bank share price surges on TSE debut

Shinsei Bank shares debuted Thursday on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, marking a dramatic revival from the collapse of Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan five years ago.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
Feb 20, 2004

Makeover for gum gives health-conscious something to chew on

Despite a shrinking confectionary market, chewing gum has been enjoying healthy growth, posting record sales last year.
EDITORIALS
Feb 19, 2004

Upper House in need of reform

Should Japan keep its bicameral parliamentary system? Put another way, is the House of Councilors, or Upper House, really necessary? The question is not new. Many Japanese have long regarded it as the "rubber stamp" of the more influential House of Representatives. Now the issue is coming under scrutiny...
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2004

GDP logs 1.7% quarterly rise

Japan's economy expanded a real 1.7 percent in the October-December period, the best showing in 13 1/2 years, backed by strong corporate capital investment, exports and consumer spending, the Cabinet Office said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2004

Head of DaimlerChrysler Smart unit reportedly to be named MMC chief

Andreas Renschler, president of DaimlerChrysler AG subsidiary Smart GmbH, will take the helm of struggling automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. as early as April, industry sources said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLITICS IN FOCUS
Feb 17, 2004

Koizumi, Kan warm to unicameral system

Whenever a Diet session convenes, the Emperor gives a short speech at the House of Councilors' opening ceremony -- a tradition that should demonstrate the chamber's status.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2004

TSE listing reflects Shinsei's return to viability

Demonstrating its successful revival, Shinsei Bank, the successor to the failed Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, will list its shares Thursday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2004

Toyota approach lifts NEC's PC production

NEC Corp. has boosted per-worker output of personal computers almost sixfold in the three years since it introduced Toyota Motor Corp.'s production style, company officials have said.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 15, 2004

Asian Sherlocks pursue exotic crimes

THE FENG SHUI DETECTIVE, by Nury Vittachi. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004, 280 pp., $23.95 (cloth). THE LAST KASHMIRI ROSE, by Barbara Cleverly. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003, 314 pp., $6.99 (paper). The "feng shui detective," an elderly Singaporean named C.F. Wong, doesn't wear a trench coat or pack...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 15, 2004

The politics of sex: How a government stays on top

COLONIZING SEX: Sexology and Social Control in Modern Japan, by Sabine Fruhstuck. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003, 217 pp., 15 illustrations, $50.00 (cloth), $19.95 (paper). Philosopher Michael Foucault has written that sexuality is the most useful tool in any power relationship. It is...
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 14, 2004

Gaillard backs down on request

Yokohama BayStars right-hander Eddie Gaillard, who will likely move to middle relief with the return of closer Kazuhiro Sasaki from the major leagues, has backed out of a request for a multiyear contract, team executive Masatake Yamanaka said Friday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 14, 2004

Kitajima wins MVP award again

The Japan Swimming Federation named Kosuke Kitajima as the 2003 Most Valuable Player on Friday, granting him the top distinction for the second year in a row.

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