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JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

Tokyo, Pyongyang to talk on weekend

Japan and North Korea have agreed to resume working-level government talks Saturday and Sunday in Beijing, and Tokyo again will demand the abduction issue be resolved, the top government spokesman said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

Abductees' multinational kin unite

People from Thailand, Lebanon, South Korea and Japan whose kin were allegedly abducted to North Korea vowed Wednesday to join hands to seek the return of their loved-ones.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

SDF ranks face regular urine tests

The Defense Agency will regularly conduct urine tests of Self-Defense Forces personnel in the light of a series of illegal drug use cases involving Maritime Self-Defense Force members, agency officials said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2005

Perception of safe beef

The government lifted a ban on imports of U.S. and Canadian beef last week. The ban had been in force for Canadian beef since the discovery in May 2003 of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), popularly known as mad cow disease, in that country. The ban on U.S. beef followed in December of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 22, 2005

Completely useless objects

It's 6 p.m., it's the end of the work day at a busy Kanda office block. OLs have been furiously tapping away at their keyboards, and connections have been made in the meeting rooms. Power players in their suits have been clinching make-or-break, win-win deals. Suddenly, the doors of the elevator open...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

Aneha, four subcontractors face charges

In addition to pressing charges against disgraced architect Hidetsugu Aneha, police will go after four firms that subcontracted the structural designs of four properties to him in connection with the quake-resistance data fabrication scandal, sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

No seat at Koizumi table for factions

Junior Diet members should avoid jealousy -- this was the advice Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had Wednesday for 30 new Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers who weren't invited to a party dinner he hosted the previous evening, apparently because they had joined LDP factions.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2005

Poverty collides with U.S. children's rights

NEW YORK -- The haunting images of African Americans stranded in New Orleans are powerful evidence of the fate of the dispossessed in the United States. The extent of the divide between rich and poor was clearly shown during a recent visit to the U.S. by Arjun Sengupta, an independent expert on human...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 22, 2005

Elemental expressions

Art comes in many forms, but all those forms have in common their intimate dependence on light (something to bear in mind on this, the shortest day of the year). Without this miraculous form of energy you wouldn't know the difference between an Old Master canvas, an Abstract Expressionist work or an...
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2005

Nissan woos women with curvy new sedans

In an effort to attract new female drivers, Nissan Motor Co. on Wednesday unveiled a revamped Bluebird Sylphy sedan aimed specifically at the needs of women in their 40s.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2005

Panel to let firms skip white-collar overtime

Companies would have the freedom to avoid paying overtime wages to high-ranking white-collar workers under a recommendation by a study panel at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

LDP, DPJ to push vote on Constitution

The ruling bloc and the Democratic Party of Japan have agreed in principle to submit a bill to a regular session of the Diet next year authorizing a referendum on revising the Constitution, party members said.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2005

Chiyoda lands LNG deal in Qatar

Engineering concern Chiyoda Corp. said Wednesday it had landed a 500 billion yen contract to build liquefied natural gas production facilities in Qatar with Technip France SA from Paris.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

Koizumi drawing flak for postelection playtime

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's recent "small travels" around Japan since his Liberal Democratic Party's landslide victory in the September election have sparked fresh criticism and backbiting among some elements of his own party and the bureaucracy, even though intraparty resistance forces were pretty...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 22, 2005

Looking back on 10 years of yakimono

In the 10 years since this column started, much has changed in the worldwide perception of yakimono, Japanese ceramic art. I'm talking about in the contemporary realm, not antiques. The deep and wide world of contemporary Japanese ceramic art is as varied as there are stars in a brilliant winter night...
COMMENTARY
Dec 22, 2005

Insecurity fuels anti-globalization battle

LOS ANGELES -- The issues that fueled the antiglobalization movement at the Battle of Seattle have not gone away. A revival movement surfaced last week. Call it the Battle of Hong Kong.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 22, 2005

Icho takes down Sakamoto in final

Olympic silver medalist Chiharu Icho overpowered Makiko Sakamoto in the women's 48-kg final to win her first title in two years at the national wrestling championships on Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2005

Seibu Railway shareholders OK reorganizing plan

Shareholders of Seibu Railway Co. endorsed a plan Wednesday to reorganize the company's group operations under a holding firm.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

JAL jet flew half year with engines on the wrong sides

Japan Airlines flew a Boeing jumbo jet for seven months without realizing its port and starboard outer engines had been switched to the wrong sides during maintenance in Singapore in February, airline officials admitted Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2005

China puts off trilateral telecom meeting

China has notified Japan that it will postpone a trilateral ministerial meeting also involving South Korea on information and communications because of a delay in preparations, officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

Japan to open consulate on Bali

Japan will set up a consulate general in Denpasar, Indonesia, on Jan. 1 and close two consulates general, in Anchorage, Alaska, and Porto Alegre, Brazil, government officials said Wednesday.

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?