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EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2004

Time for Goodbye Kitty?

Japan has exported hundreds of things and ideas -- from haiku to Hondas, swordsmanship to sashimi -- of which it can be proud. Hello Kitty, the expressionless icon celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, is another story.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2004

Pyongyang to host next round of abduction talks

North Korea agreed Friday to a request from Japan to hold a meeting in Pyongyang in mid-November on the abduction issue, according to Seiken Sugiura, deputy chief Cabinet secretary.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 7, 2004

NPB begins hearings on Rakuten, Livedoor bids

The public hearing for the two companies that have applied for membership to Nippon Professional Baseball began Wednesday with the two sides presenting their business propositions before a panel of baseball executives.
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2004

FSA targets UFJ over attempts to block inspections

The Financial Services Agency will file a criminal complaint against UFJ Bank and several former executives for allegedly violating the Banking Law by blocking FSA inspections, sources said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2004

Expect loose reins on Japan

LAS VEGAS -- For decades, Tokyo has wanted to be treated like a "normal" nation free from the constraints of the Occupation Era and U.S. foreign-policy dominance. Well, Japan is on the edge of realizing that dream, but the costs will be the end of the special U.S.-Japan relationship and the emergence...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2004

Special Diet session to start Oct. 12

The government will convene an extraordinary Diet session on Oct. 12, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 6, 2004

International hubris may throttle Labour

LONDON -- There has been more money at the Labour Party conference the past few years than the delegates' parents might ever have dreamed of, let alone the impoverished founders of the workers' party. There has been, and is, more money because the power is with the parliamentary leaders of this party....
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2004

Programmers to compete in stock contest

Virtual robots developed by novice and veteran computer programmers will compete in a one-month stock investment contest starting Jan. 24.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2004

Travel agents plan to cash in on Ichiro

Major tour operators are hoping there will be more demand next year for tours to the United States to watch baseball following Ichiro Suzuki's record-breaking performance this season.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2004

Airlines lose big during typhoons

Flight cancellations due to a series of typhoons this year have cost the nation's major airlines more than 5 billion yen as of the end of September.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 3, 2004

TBS's "Around the World! Dream and Romance and Money" and more

Popular boy band Tokio is on an economic kick this week. On the Oct. 3 installment of their weekly Nihon TV show "Tetsuwan Dash," three members are dropped off in Zurich, Switzerland. Each armed with only 10,000 yen in cash, they have to see how far that money can take them.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 3, 2004

Yokohama Jazz Promenade

Yokohama is Japan's hometown of jazz, and though Kobe and Tokyo can claim bragging rights, those cities never put on as impressive a festival as the annual Yokohama Jazz Promenade, which takes place Oct. 9 and 10 this year.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2004

Toyama, Ibaraki get digital TV

Terrestrial digital broadcasting began Friday in Toyama and Ibaraki prefectures, the first time for these broadcasting services to become available outside Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 2, 2004

Democrats Abroad: last chance to vote Bush out

Lauren Shannon is both a director and the front-of-house manager of Fujimamas, the highly successful restaurant bar and cafe in Jingumae, central Tokyo. An American citizen, she is also the vice chair of Democrats Abroad.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2004

Girl to be institutionalized over boy's fall

The Tokyo Family Court decided Thursday to institutionalize a 13-year-old girl for pushing a boy from an apartment building in Tokyo in June, saying she has trouble thinking rationally.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2004

Kids tutored on fear-, anger-management

Naoto Araki, a 15-year-old Yokohama high school student, persistently kicked the chair Bill Pozzobon was sitting on, just to make him mad.
BUSINESS
Sep 29, 2004

Toshiba sees boom in audiovisual biz

Toshiba Corp. said Tuesday it plans to more than triple annual revenue generated by its audiovisual business to 1.5 trillion yen in fiscal 2010, through the introduction of next-generation flat-screen TVs and DVD players.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 28, 2004

New talent, cheap fares and STDs

Talent scouting Jan believes she has a great voice and wonders how to find representation in Japan. "Are there any agencies that take on foreigners?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 28, 2004

To hell and back again

For a woman who barely cheated death earlier this year and who has since spent months recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Nahoko Takato looks in remarkably fine fettle.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Sep 28, 2004

Japanese mega-stores blazing trails in a brave, new publishing world

The Japanese bookstore world used to be one of "If you put it out, it will sell." But that comfortable age is over. Seven straight years of declining book sales have killed off some 1,500 bookstores.
EDITORIALS
Sep 27, 2004

A greater burden for higher earners

The government's Tax Commission is discussing the fiscal 2005 revision of the tax system. The focus this time is on the decrease or abolition of the fixed reduction for individual income and resident taxes, which was introduced in 1999 as an economic-stimulus measure. Rather than draw the line there,...
COMMENTARY
Sep 27, 2004

Reforming the United Nations

LONDON -- The Japanese government is understandably frustrated by the delay in reaching agreement on enlargement of the Security Council. Japan makes the largest contribution to the running of the United Nations, but still has to take its turn as an elected member of the Security Council.
Japan Times
Features
Sep 26, 2004

Disillusioned bard of a bygone Japan

In the century that has passed since the death of Lafcadio Hearn on Sept. 26, 1904, the Japanese people have studiously formulated and maintained a myth -- and they have done it with all the tools and vigor of nostalgia at their disposal.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 26, 2004

"Sunday Present" on TV Asahi and more

Lately, a lot of attention has been focused on the problem of waste left behind on mountains by alpinists and hikers. Mount Everest is said to be almost a dump and Mount Fuji a national disgrace. However, the problem of trash and environmental pollution afflicts even smaller peaks.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 23, 2004

Herring gull

* Japanese name: Segurokamome * Scientific name: Larus argentatus * Description: Herring gulls are large, noisy, boisterous birds. They are white with light gray backs, black wingtips and pink legs that have webbed feet. A key identifying mark is the red spot on the lower tip of their yellow bills....
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2004

Daikyo, UFJ to take IRCJ rehab route

Daikyo Inc. and its main creditor, UFJ Bank, are planning to seek support from the government's Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan, possibly this month, to rehabilitate the struggling condominium builder, sources said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 20, 2004

Updating the defense program

The government is stepping up efforts to revise the 1995 Defense Program Outline, which sets guidelines for the buildup of the Self-Defense Forces. A revision is considered necessary in light of recent changes in the security environment surrounding Japan. Beyond adjusting to reality, though, it is essential...

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat