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Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2003

Japan Highway president is sacked

Land, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Nobuteru Ishihara told Japan Highway Public Corp. President Haruho Fujii on Sunday to hand in his resignation Monday to take responsibility for the semigovernmental firm's controversial balance sheet.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2003

Japan to offer $5 billion over four years to Iraq

The government is considering a plan to provide around $5 billion, or about 550 billion yen, to help reconstruct Iraq in the four years beginning in fiscal 2004, government sources said Saturday.
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2003

Nippon Steel plots major complex

Nippon Steel Corp. said Friday it plans to create one of the world's largest commercial and amusement complexes on idle land currently occupied by its Sakai iron mill in Osaka.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2003

Cigarette packs to carry stern health warnings

The Finance Ministry will order tobacco companies to print stricter health warnings on cigarette packs beginning in July 2005, a ministry official said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2003

Job security Rengo's No. 1 priority

The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) presented a policy plan to its members Thursday that focuses on ensuring job security at annual wage talks with employers instead of demanding a uniform wage increase.
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2003

Nissan Diesel restructuring plan calls for bailout worth 106 billion yen

Struggling truck maker Nissan Diesel Motor Co. announced Tuesday a new restructuring plan that calls on Nissan Motor Co. and its three main banks to provide a 106 billion yen bailout.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2003

Justice minister pledges to make Japan 'safe again,' tighten border controls

Daizo Nozawa says Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has ordered him in his new job as justice minister to make Japan the "safest country in the world" again.
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2003

Aso goes postal over Koizumi's plan

Posts minister Taro Aso on Friday lambasted postal privatization plans submitted last year by an advisory group to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2003

New environment minister seeking to boost PR efforts

The Environment Ministry needs to work on making better presentations to the public if it hopes to create greater awareness of environmental issues, according to newly appointed Environment Minister Yuriko Koike.
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2003

Postal-privatization plan due by fall 2004

Heizo Takenaka, economy and fiscal policy minister, said Friday he will compile a postal-privatization plan by fall 2004.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 26, 2003

Transport chief to have a go at Japan Highway's books

In an effort to clear the air over Japan Highway Public Corp.'s disputed balance sheet, transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara said the government will draft its own version of the public entity's financial standings and present it to the Diet.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 25, 2003

Aso questions Koizumi's timetable to privatize postal services entity

New home affairs minister Taro Aso expressed skepticism Wednesday over the timetable put forward by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to privatize the postal services entity.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2003

More police, immigration officers sought

Seven prefectures in the Kanto and Kansai regions jointly filed a request Monday with the central government to increase the number of police and immigration officers assigned to major prefectures.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2003

Ishihara wants truth on Japan Highway's health

Newly appointed transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara indicated Monday he might sack Japan Highway Public Corp. President Haruho Fujii over the troubled entity's controversial balance sheet.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2003

Koizumi shakes up LDP leadership

In a bold and surprising bid to ward off a party rebellion, Prime Minister Junichio Koizumi on Sunday appointed Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe as the No. 2 man in his Liberal Democratic Party.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2003

Trade-environment debate deserves a judicial solution

The Cancun World Trade Organization Ministerial meeting concluded last weekend with little progress on a swath of issues it must try and complete by Jan. 1, 2005. Agriculture subsidies were the main stumbling block, but the talks really failed on a number of other fronts including trade and environment....
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2003

Mizuho, nine others cut back projections

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and nine other banks responded to business-improvement orders Friday by cutting their projected fiscal 2003 earnings.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2003

DPJ promises to slash wasteful state spending

The Democratic Party of Japan on Thursday unveiled a detailed cost-cutting manifesto for the next House of Representatives election, expected to be held in November.
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2003

Suzuki Motor eyes China engine production tieup

Suzuki Motor Corp. is in talks with Changhe Aircraft Industry (Group) Corp. of China to jointly manufacture car engines, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Sep 17, 2003

Moscow must walk a fine line as Tokyo and Beijing compete for Russian oil

HONG KONG -- Russia is in the enviable position of being wooed simultaneously by Asia's two main powers, China and Japan. At the same time, it has to walk a fine line because it is unlikely to be able to please both countries.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2003

LDP candidates want military flexibility

All four candidates in the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election said Sunday that Japan should be able to exercise the right of collective defense, a controversial issue related to the war-renouncing Constitution.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2003

LDP candidates all favor revisions to Constitution

The four candidates for the presidency of the governing Liberal Democratic Party each appeared positive Saturday about the possibility of revising the war-renouncing Article 9 of Japan's Constitution.
EDITORIALS
Sep 13, 2003

Mr. Arafat flexes his muscles

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has been sending a message to the world over the past few months: Despite being confined in his destroyed headquarters for a year and a half, he is still the only person that can make peace between Palestinians and Israelis. U.S.-led attempts to sideline...
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2003

Saks Fifth Avenue to open in Japan

The Japan unit of upscale U.S. department store Saks Fifth Avenue said Friday it will open its first Japanese outlet in Tokyo in the fall of 2005.
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2003

Asahi Breweries backs wind power

Asahi Breweries Ltd. said Thursday it will acquire a 19 percent equity stake in an electricity generation company wholly owned by the semigovernmental Electric Power Development Co. (J-Power).
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2003

Nissan Diesel plans 'green' truck

Nissan Diesel Motor Co. said Wednesday it will launch a 16-ton environmentally friendly truck in fall 2004.
COMMENTARY
Sep 10, 2003

China-Japan perception gap

WHITE FISH, Montana -- The accidental discovery of buried canisters of mustard gas, abandoned by Japanese troops in China over a half century ago, is only the most recent tangible reminder of the unfinished legacy of World War II. Forty Chinese workers were injured and one died after barrels of nerve...

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A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake