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Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2006

79.69 trillion yen budget with budget cap passed

The Diet passed a 79.69 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2006 on Monday with the backing of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling coalition.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 27, 2006

Kokudo wins 2nd straight Asia League title

Takahito Suzuki scored the go-ahead goal with less than five minutes left in the final period Sunday as Kokudo beat the Nippon Paper Cranes 4-3 in decisive Game 5 of the playoff final to retain its Asia League title.
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2006

No more tax money to U.S.

The administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has played down Japanese public sentiment against the U.S. military presence, believing that most people approve of it in general but object when their own community is affected.
BASKETBALL
Mar 26, 2006

Toyota wins 2nd Super League title

Point guard Doron Perkins scored 19 points and Charles O'Bannon followed with 18 to lead the Toyota Alvark to their second Super League title with a 77-66 win over the OSG Phoenix in Game 4 of the playoff final Saturday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 26, 2006

Ambassador Schieffer still fond of baseball in role as diplomat

Over the years, several people have been called "baseball ambassadors" for their efforts in fostering friendly relations between Japan and the United
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2006

Foreign Ministry kept contracted studies secret

The Foreign Ministry has refrained from disclosing 58 percent of the research projects it commissioned from affiliated organizations or outside experts since 2002 due to confidentiality reasons, an internal ministry document showed Saturday.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2006

New Tokyo Tower to be built in Sumida

NHK and five commercial TV broadcasters in the Tokyo area have decided to build a new radio and TV transmitter dubbed New Tokyo Tower, in Sumida Ward by 2010, sources familiar with the project said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 26, 2006

Mystery and intrigue preserved in translation

MY NAME IS RED by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Erdag Goknar. London: Faber & Faber Ltd., 2002, 508 pp., £7.99 (paper). CROSSFIRE by Miyuki Miyabe, translated by Deborah Stuhr Iwabuchi and Anna Husson Isozaki. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005, 404 pp., 2,600 yen (cloth). "A city's intellect," soliloquizes...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 25, 2006

Birmingham players face scathing attack after blowout loss

LONDON -- A few years ago a Premiership player inquired how much he would be fined if he missed training. He was told it would cost him £5,000, which seemed like a good deal.
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2006

Rising demand triggers expansion of rare metal reserves

Japan will expand the scope of its rare metal reserves to include such substances as platinum, indium and rare earth metals as increased demand from China has triggered concern about global supply shortages, according to government sources.
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2006

Household assets hit 1.5 quadrillion yen

Total assets held by the nation's households hit a record high 1.509 quadrillion yen in 2005, reflecting increases in income and rising share prices amid the economic upswing, the Bank of Japan said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2006

Ukraine's watershed election

KIEV -- Ukraine's politics are not those of the steppe. Our voters cannot stroll in one direction during one poll, and in the opposite direction the next time they vote, without worrying about falling over the edge. Ukrainians are people of the watershed: We live on either one side or the other of a...
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2006

FamilyMart, Ryohin revive ties

Convenience store chain FamilyMart Co. and Ryohin Keikaku Co., which runs stores selling Mujirushi Ryohin brand goods, said Thursday they will take an equity stake in each other, reviving cross-shareholding ties they had until three years ago.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2006

New yen loans to China are put on hold for now

Amid continued strained bilateral ties, the government has put on hold its decision to provide fresh yen loans to China for fiscal 2005, Foreign Ministry officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 24, 2006

Lovin' tribute to jug band legend Fritz

"If you believe in magic, don't bother to choose / If it's jug band music, or rhythm and blues / Just go and listen, it'll start with a smile / It won't wipe off your face no matter how hard you try," sang John Sebastian in the mid-'60s hit "Do You Believe in Magic," a song he performed with his folk-pop...
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2006

Man with cancer can't sell policy for cash

Man with cancer can't sell policy for cash
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2006

Visit Japan, sure, but info centers closing

Ah, the friendly tourist information center -- often the first place travelers visit when trying to acquaint themselves with an unfamiliar city.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 23, 2006

A sense of van Meene

Dutch photographer Hellen van Meene, accompanied by her husband Frank, is visiting Japan for the fifth time. Sipping on an orange juice inside the smoked glass walls of Montauk cafe on Omotesando's busy shopping strip, she tells how the Japan Foundation invited her to contribute to the nation's pavilion...
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2006

LDP offers deficit-trimming tips

Japan can cut its deficit by more than 100 trillion yen in five years by allowing firms to put their names on landmarks like the Rainbow Bridge, selling off prime land and securitizing state loans, a Liberal Democratic Party fiscal reform subpanel said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 22, 2006

Self-interest and those Greenland pigs

Why do some societies last for hundreds, even thousands, of years, while others soar, dazzle but then fizzle like short-lived summer fireworks?
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2006

Demand beat supply by end of '05

Excess in supply was eliminated in Japan's gross domestic product in the fourth quarter of 2005 for the first time in about eight years, the Cabinet Office said Monday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 20, 2006

Cubans down Dominicans

SAN DIEGO -- Team Cuba didn't come all the way to Petco Park to get smoked.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2006

Half of big firms to hire more grads in '07: survey

Nearly half of major firms surveyed plan to increase hiring of recruits fresh out of school next spring, according to a Kyodo News survey released Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 20, 2006

Unfinished business for women

Twenty years after the much heralded gender-equality law went into effect in Japan, women still face discrimination in the workplace -- in ways less apparent but just as effective in limiting their promotional opportunities and so also widening the wage gap with male colleagues.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 19, 2006

LaRocca provides even more punch to lineup of Swallows

The Hanshin Tigers have their "JFK" pitching relay, but now the Tokyo Yakult Swallows can counter with their "LIRR" quartet of sluggers. No, it's not the Long Island Railroad, but second baseman Greg LaRocca, third sacker Akinori Iwamura, left fielder Alex Ramirez and first baseman Adam Riggs.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 19, 2006

Wrapping paper that influenced l'art japonais of Paris

HOTEI ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTS; edited by Amy Reigle Newland; specialist advisers: Julie Nelson Davis, Oikawa Shigeru, Ellis Tinios, Chris Uhlenbeck; foreword by Suzuki Juzo. Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2005, two volumes in slipcase, 528 pp., 140 color and 140 b/w illustrations, $249...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.