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COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 13, 2005

Scales of justice

Spare a thought for Hiroyuki Cho. The 39-year-old purported "mastermind" behind the theft of large fiber-glass Peko-chan dolls in broad daylight from outside one of Japan's most famous confectionery chains was last week handed a 7-year prison sentence for his crimes.
BUSINESS
Sep 10, 2005

Komura to be Meiji Yasuda president

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. is finalizing a decision for the company to promote Senior Managing Director Masato Komura to the presidency, succeeding Ryotaro Kaneko, sources said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 9, 2005

Anatomy of a train disaster

The April 25 tragic train crash on the West Japan Railway Co.'s Fukuchiyama Line in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, was the worst rail accident since Japanese National Railways was privatized in April 1987. It killed 106 passengers plus the driver, Ryujiro Takami, 23, and injured 555 others. Many bereaved...
COMMENTARY
Sep 8, 2005

'Third World' chaos hits home

HONOLULU -- The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the United States is proving difficult for Americans to comprehend. Casualties currently number in the scores, but the body count is expected to swell in the days and weeks ahead -- when the survivors can stop merely trying to survive and can...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2005

Koizumi's bare-knuckle power play may soon haunt him

Sunday's election for the Lower House stands out as abnormal, but not because of its abruptness. Many surprise elections have been held before. On March 14, 1953, for instance, then Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, who was president of the Liberal Party, dissolved the Lower House following the passage...
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2005

Global warming ups downpours, draughts

The number of days when it either rains heavily or not at all in Japan has increased during the past 100 years, while the number of moderately rainy days has decreased, according to the Meteorological Research Institute.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2005

Budget overallocated 10 billion yen; Finance Ministry tops wasteful list

Government ministries and agencies reported more than 10 billion yen in overallocated or unused funds in fiscal 2004, suggesting that loose budget management is aggravating the nation's huge budget deficits, according to official reports made public by Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 2, 2005

Koizumi gets some high marks but must do more: Doyukai

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration should be given high marks for having addressed issues untouched by its predecessors, but there is still more to do, according to the chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai).
BUSINESS
Sep 2, 2005

Japan Post to bag Daimaru trucking unit

Japan Post announced Thursday it has agreed with Daimaru Inc. to acquire a controlling stake in Asocia Corp., the department store chain's wholly owned distribution services subsidiary.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 28, 2005

Privacy of sperm donors leaves lives in limbo

Emi Nishimura's identity quest began the hard way.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2005

Toyota hopes to steal BMW's thunder via Lexus

The Japan launch of Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus luxury brand next week is likely to mark the beginning of a period of intense competition in the premium car sector.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2005

Toyota top income earner in Japan for a sixth year

Toyota Motor Corp. was Japan's biggest corporate income earner in fiscal 2004 for the sixth straight year, credit research agency Teikoku Databank said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Medical expenses rose to all-time high in 2003

Medical expenses paid to medical institutions hit an all-time high of 31.538 trillion yen in the fiscal year ended in March 2004, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2005

National universities generate 110 billion yen profit

All of Japan's 89 national universities except one posted a combined gross profit of about 110 billion yen in fiscal 2004, with Osaka University at the top pf the heap with 7.1 billion yen in earnings, the government said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2005

Home renovation scams causing alarm

Reports of home renovation fraud have been coming out of the woodwork ever since the media reported that two elderly sisters with dementia were duped for 50 million yen in unnecessary repair work and almost lost their home in an auction to pay for the scam.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2005

Japan Highway exec indicted over bids

Prosecutors filed charges Monday against Michio Uchida, vice president of the Japan Highway Public Corp., for his involvement in rigging bids for bridge projects, resulting in inflated costs.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2005

Revlon, Morgan Stanley to enter bids for Kanebo

U.S. cosmetics maker Revlon Inc. and U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley & Co. are expected to enter a tender for Kanebo Ltd. and Kanebo Cosmetics Inc., according to industry sources.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 12, 2005

Chelsea leads three-horse race in quest for Premiership title

LONDON -- According to Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon the 2005-06 Premiership title will be won by "a small bunch of one" with manager Jose Mourinho predicting the Blues will confirm their second successive English crown in the last fixture on May 7 at Newcastle. So that's this season then. Roll...
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2005

Truants dip 0.01-point to 123,000

About 123,000 elementary and junior high school students were absent from school for 30 days or longer in the 2004 school year, down about 3,000 from the previous year, the education ministry said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2005

Shiseido sees no synergy from Kanebo bid

Shiseido Co. will withdraw from a series of tenders for Kanebo Ltd. and Kanebo Cosmetics Inc. soon to be held by the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan, company sources said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / 60 YEARS AND ONWARD
Aug 11, 2005

Remnants of war still buried in Japan

Residents in the western Tokyo suburb of Nishitokyo recently had a World War II flashback.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2005

Record 566 teachers judged incompetent

A record 566 teachers in public schools were ruled incompetent by local boards of education in the 2004 school year, up 85 from the year before, according to a government survey released Tuesday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 7, 2005

Will Giants turn to foreign manager after Horiuchi departs?

The Yomiuri Giants are not going to win the 2005 Central League pennant and most likely will finish in the "B Class" (bottom three) for the first time since 1997.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 7, 2005

Nepalese children caught in the crossfire

NEW YORK -- The armed conflict in Nepal between the government and Maoist guerrillas is making victims of an increasing number of children, who have been subjected to a wide array of human-rights violations. Over the past several years, the U.N. Security Council has worked to develop a body of law intended...
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2005

Honda will go it alone on fuel-cell cars unless GM comes knocking

Honda Motor Co. will work alone to develop fuel-cell cars but is open to the idea of joint research with General Motors Corp., President Takeo Fukui said in an interview Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2005

When will China's miracle hit the wall?

PHILADELPHIA -- U.S. "Fed" Governor Ben Bernanke has blamed net inflows of capital from the rest of the world, especially China, for a global savings glut that is driving up the U.S. current account deficit. Unfortunately, some commentators have echoed this seemingly plausible but outrageously silly...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 25, 2005

Depredation of species that get in our way

NEW YORK -- "Protected Birds Are Back, With a Vengeance: Cormorants Take Over, Making Some Enemies." This headline in the New York Times earlier this month, inset in a photo showing a few black birds atop a tree, struck me with the thought: So it has come to pass. Hadn't the same daily some years back...

Longform

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