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JAPAN
Jun 29, 2005

Weather observations with domestic satellite resume

The Meteorological Agency on Tuesday returned to using its own satellite for weather observations for the first time in two years, using the multifunction transport satellite Himawari No. 6 that was launched in February.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2005

Struggling companies try to placate shareholders

Executives of troubled firms, including Seibu Railway Co., Japan Airlines Corp. and Itoham Foods Inc., apologized Tuesday at their annual shareholders' meetings for troubling their investors.
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2005

A tidal wave of optimism

LOS ANGELES -- Talk about an ocean of optimism! Here's a positive current for you if there ever was one: A close friend -- whom I dub The Very Successful Korean-American Businessman (VSKAB), who doesn't want his name to be used (but whose last name is Kim like several million other Korean-Americans),...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 29, 2005

A painter of his time?

When Alfred H. Barr (the founder of the Museum of Modern Art, New York) was sketching out the shape of modern art in the 20th century -- its movements, influences and directions -- he drew a kind of family tree showing how all the different "isms" connected to one another in an evolutionary way.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jun 29, 2005

Hidden gems in clay

Any new publication on Japanese ceramic art in English is a welcome addition to the few books on the subject. Like "Masterpieces of Modern Japanese Pottery from the Gisela Freudenberg Collection" currently showing in Frankfurt, Germany, many of these publications coincide with exhibitions and serve to...
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2005

E-commerce grew sharply in 2004

Japan saw a sharp rise in Internet-based business-to-business and business-to-consumer commerce last year, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2005

Nippon Oil to raise gasoline prices

Nippon Oil Corp., Japan's largest oil refiner, said Tuesday it will raise wholesale prices on gasoline and gas oil by 3.1 yen per kiloliter in July due to crude oil price increases.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2005

'Mr. Yen' sees symbolic yuan gesture by yearend

China may make a "symbolic" gesture of addressing overseas complaints about its currency policy by slightly loosening the yuan's peg to the dollar before the end of the year, a former top currency guru said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2005

China seizes Japanese school's textbooks

Chinese authorities have confiscated 128 Japanese social studies textbooks ordered by a Japanese school in Dalian because they contain "inappropriate descriptions" of Taiwan and mainland China, government officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2005

LDP council drops consensus to stamp revised postal bills

Two months after the Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi sent a package of postal privatization bills to the Diet, his Liberal Democratic Party's Executive Council decided Tuesday to back a revised version of them by a majority vote.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2005

116 LDP lawmakers back Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni

A panel was formed Tuesday by 116 members of the Liberal Democratic Party to support Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's contentious visits to Yasukuni Shrine for the sake of "peace" and "national interests."
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2005

Retail sales jumped 2.7% in May

National retail sales rose 2.7 percent in May from a year earlier to 10.54 trillion yen, logging the third straight monthly increase thanks to surges in petroleum product prices and brisk sales of new vehicles, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Tuesday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2005

M&A, poison pill bill nearly law

A House of Councilors panel approved a bill Tuesday to update Japan's corporate legal system, paving the way for the enactment of new legislation to facilitate mergers and acquisitions while strengthening countermeasures against hostile takeovers.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2005

Microsoft to give NPA computer tech info

U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. has signed an agreement with the National Police Agency to provide technological information to help it investigate computer-related crimes, including cyber attacks, officials of the two parties said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2005

Finance says grant aid is misspent

The Finance Ministry issued a report Tuesday criticizing how 176.5 billion yen in grant aid for developing countries is being used in 53 projects in the fiscal 2005 budget.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2005

Hayashi loses appeal over curry poisonings

OSAKA — Masumi Hayashi must hang for murdering four people and injuring 63 others with arsenic-laced curry at a Wakayama summer festival seven years ago, the Osaka High Court ruled Tuesday, upholding a lower court verdict.
COMMUNITY
Jun 28, 2005

Curing that constant chocolate craving

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BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2005

Microsoft, Toshiba in HD-DVD tieup

Microsoft Corp. and Toshiba Corp. announced Monday they will jointly develop new-generation high-definition DVD players, concluding an agreement that strengthens their alliance in the wider area of technology for digital home electrical appliances.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2005

New Toyota chief thinks locally, ups output goal

In a sign that Toyota Motor Corp. is promoting local production and enjoying brisk sales, new President Katsuaki Watanabe said Monday its output of vehicles introduced under its Innovative Multipurpose Vehicle project is likely to reach 700,000 units, up from 500,000 as originally planned.

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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?