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JAPAN
Dec 31, 2005

Pair identify North Korean abductors

from property taxes or reduce their tax rates, citing the group's public nature, a government survey showed Friday. Although diplomatic facilities in Japan are exempt from fixed property tax, there are growing calls within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that the association should not receive the...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 31, 2005

Asada's triumphs have ISU officials skating on thin ice

What if you had a Winter Olympics and the best figure skater in the world wasn't allowed to participate?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2005

Overseas challenges attractive for JICA senior volunteers

When Setsuko Inoue was 57 years old, she quit her job as a principal at an elementary school in Tokyo's Suginami Ward and served as a volunteer worker for a day-care center for physically and mentally disabled children in Nepal.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 31, 2005

The year of the dog -- bow-wouch!

It's the year of the dog! Wow! Bow-wow! According to the Koyomi calendar, if you were born in the year of the dog (1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994 or 2006), you possess a sense of duty and obligation. You are fastidious, diligent and make a peaceful, harmonious atmosphere. That's the good part....
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2005

BOJ faces dilemma over ending its supereasy money stance

As the nation prepares to usher in a new year, policymakers at the Bank of Japan are grappling with an unprecedented dilemma: how to end the bank's "quantitative easing" monetary policy.
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2005

METI eyes local subsidies, other steps to curb garbage

The industry ministry has asked an advisory panel to examine new recycling proposals, such as financially helping municipalities that collect and sort garbage and charging shoppers for plastic bags at supermarkets and other stores.
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2005

High hopes harbored for mobile phone television broadcasts

Digital TV broadcasts to mobile phones are scheduled to begin in April, and expectations are high the new service will create a portable fusion of broadcasting and the Internet.
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2005

Testing times for Japan, China

HONOLULU -- Taro Aso's recent comment in plain words about the "threat" posed by China's military modernization effort is as remarkable as the supposed threat itself. The readiness of a Japanese Cabinet official, and a foreign minister no less, to publicly acknowledge and criticize China's military buildup...
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2005

Carrying on with fewer people

Japan's population started shrinking this year, according to two separate reports by the Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry and the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. The shrinkage began one year earlier than the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research had projected.
BASKETBALL
Dec 30, 2005

Bryant laying the foundations for next generation bj-leaguers

As much as he enjoys seeing his team win or score lots of points, Tokyo Apache head coach Joe Bryant believes in something more important when it comes to the bj-league -- making it a league for Japanese players.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2005

Rare-disease sufferers want drugs fast-tracked

, a rare, life-threatening disease caused by a deficiency in a lysosomal enzyme. The hereditary, progressive illness causes mental retardation, poor vision and stiffness in the joints. Tomoki's only chance of getting better is to have a bone marrow or blood transplant from an umbilical cord, but his...
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2005

First test-tube dolphin in Japan dies of starvation

Japan's first dolphin conceived by artificial insemination died Tuesday at Kamogawa Sea World in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2005

Toys for adult boys increasing

market is very serious," Ibuki said. "But the industry is probably in a very interesting transition period."
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Dec 30, 2005

Kobayashi declines Lotte offer

Chiba Lotte Marines closer Masahide Kobayashi on Thursday turned down the Japan Series champions' offer of a 230 million yen annual salary, unchanged from this year.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2005

New Pyongyang approach needed: summit architect

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to Yasukuni Shrine and his surprise visit to Pyongyang in 2002 all reflect a diplomatic decision to defy "gaiatsu," or foreign pressure, a former top diplomat recently reckoned.
COMMENTARY
Dec 30, 2005

Decline of three EU leaders

PARIS -- At the end of last May, French and Dutch voters rejected by a strong majority the draft European constitution worked out by a convention chaired by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing. Since all 25 member-states of the European Union had to approve the treaty, the chances of it...
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2005

Timetable for quake-proofing tests accelerated

The government will have the earthquake resistance of up to 2 million residences checked in the next 10 years and renovate about half of them to make them stronger, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2005

Handsets best pal for young female shoppers

for personal computers, will grow further," he predicted. Supporting this growth is the spread of third-generation mobile phones that offer high-speed data transmission, as well as flat fees for unlimited Internet use.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2005

The art of bonsai catching on with young crowd

the containers to put them in," an Isetan official said. For some people, though, buying a modern bonsai is not enough.
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2005

Japanese banks follow manufacturers into China

With the promise of large profits overwhelming any concerns about the political tension between Tokyo and Beijing, Japanese companies continue to expand in China. And following behind them are Japanese banks.

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?