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Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Nov 3, 2005

Make English mandatory for elementary pupils, Kosaka says

The new education minister believes English education should be made mandatory for elementary school students.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Nov 3, 2005

Aso planning to run for LDP president

Foreign Minister Taro Aso, a potential successor to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, said he will run for president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party next September if he can get the required 20 party members to nominate him.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2005

Golfer 'Jumbo' Ozaki bankrupt

Pro golfer Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki has debts totaling 1.6 billion, yen his lawyer said Wednesday, a day after it was revealed that he has been granted court protection from creditors.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2005

Support for Koizumi Cabinet hits two-year high

Support for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet after Monday's reshuffle climbed to 60.1 percent, 5.6 percentage points higher than the previous survey in mid-October.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2005

Abe backs off sanctions for N. Korea

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe softened his stance Wednesday on the possibility of imposing economic sanctions on North Korea to apply pressure over the abduction issue.
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2005

Curtain falling on Chirac?

PARIS -- For decades it was widely assumed that Europe needed an engine to go forward, and that France and Germany were best qualified to play that role. For the time being, however, this has ceased to be true. If any member aims to lead the European Union, it's Britain, which holds the EU presidency...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2005

Mazda turns a record profit on robust Japan, China sales

Mazda Motor Corp. on Wednesday reported record sales and profits in the first half of fiscal 2005, mainly due to brisk sales in Japan and China, and reductions in manufacturing costs.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2005

Appeal by Super Free gang rapist rejected

The Supreme Court has rejected the final appeal of a former Waseda University student sentenced to 14 years in prison for three gang rape convictions, judicial sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2005

METI panel may back use of 'golden shares'

A study panel in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is considering allowing listed companies to use special shares to ward off hostile takeovers.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2005

Home-renovation fraud nets two years in prison

Three former employees of a home-renovation company in Tokyo were sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison over a fraud scheme aimed at tricking mainly elderly people into signing contracts for unnecessary renovations.
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2005

The dark side of the Libby indictment

SANTA BARBARA, California -- Arguing with an icon is a loser's game. In America, Daniel Ellsberg is certainly a political and antiwar icon. But I do have a quarrel with him, and it is so serious that I'll take my chances.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2005

Aso, Ban agree to mend relations, meet this month

New Foreign Minister Taro Aso and South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon agreed Wednesday to work on improving strained bilateral ties and to meet later this month in South Korea, Foreign Ministry officials said.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 3, 2005

A sign of Japan's decline

LONDON -- He didn't clap his hands, he did not wear a frock coat and he did not sign the visitors' book as "prime minister." So what?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2005

Rookie Katayama named to high-ranking post

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday named new lawmaker Satsuki Katayama as parliamentary secretary to the trade minister among his appointments of 22 senior vice ministers and 26 parliamentary secretaries.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2005

Medals of Honor to include JR train-accident rescuers

The government will issue Medals of Honor on Thursday to 827 people and 15 organizations for their contributions to society, including those who saved lives in the deadly train derailment in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, in April, government officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 3, 2005

And the winner, by a nose, is . . .

...
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2005

Wal-Mart exec named Seiyu CEO

Struggling supermarket operator Seiyu Ltd. on Wednesday named Ed Kolodzieski, chief operating officer of Wal-Mart International, as its next CEO, underlining greater control of the company by the world's largest retailer.
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2005

TBS steadfast in seeking out 'stable' shareholders

A top official of Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. said Wednesday it will continue to try to secure "stable" shareholders to ward off a potential hostile takeover by Internet shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 3, 2005

Pushkin delivers the goods

It's no secret what the mainstream art public really like -- soft, flowery Impressionism and cute, colorful Post-impressionism, with, possibly, a smattering of Picassos and Matisses thrown in to add grit. Hold a show with this kind of art, and you'll have to hang the paintings high so that people can...
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2005

Obituary: Warren G. Shimeall

Warren G. Shimeall, an attorney who worked in Japan for 53 years, died of heart failure at Tokyo Medical University Hospital on Tuesday, his family said. He was 79.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 3, 2005

A chance to dance Cranko's 'Onegin'

The etoile Manuel Legris, one of the top dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet, will fulfill one of the dreams of his career as a guest dancer in the Stuttgart Ballet when it tours Japan: performing the role of "Onegin" in a production of the ballet by the same name.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Nov 3, 2005

Cutting deficit still top priority: Yosano

Debate over proposed tax hikes will not keep the government from trying to trim the budget deficit, according to Kaoru Yosano, the new economic and fiscal policy minister.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 3, 2005

Making a difference in Japanese cinema

Film critics, like any one else, have their pet causes -- films and careers they want to boost or bury. But unless they wield the clout of a Roger Ebert, they are just one voice in a choir that, with the Internet, is growing by the dozens every day. Singing as sweetly as they want about their favorite...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 3, 2005

The Showa 40 select six

The usual reasons for the formation of artists' groups are similarities in media, style or philosophy. But the only link for the six members of the "Showa 40" group, who rank among Japan's best contemporary artists, is the year of their births, 1965. There is nothing else distinctly in common among the...

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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?