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BUSINESS
May 28, 2005

FSA to test new system to rate banks

The Financial Services Agency will start a new bank rating system in July that will allow regular bank inspections to be used more flexibly, agency officials said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 28, 2005

Tokyo Families, Fun House maker gets fine start

Why does it come as such a surprise to find Carin Smolinsky with an Audi TT Roadster? Certainly it suits her driving personality -- the bubbling nature of her entrepreneurial spirit. For her own part, it's perfect for nipping ("sedately," she insists) through Tokyo traffic and slides into the smallest...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 28, 2005

The books I will someday write

...
BUSINESS
May 28, 2005

Japan still No. 1 in terms of net external assets

The balance of Japan's net external assets totaled a record 185.797 trillion yen as of March 31, up 7.5 percent from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 28, 2005

China greets with right hand, slaps with left: minister

Industry minister Shoichi Nakagawa blasted China's gas exploration projects in the East China Sea on Friday, describing their ongoing progress in defiance of Japan's repeated protests as "outrageous."
BUSINESS
May 28, 2005

Toyota ponders new China plant

NAGOYA (Kyodo) Toyota Motor Corp. is thinking of building a factory in Tianjin, China, to produce small cars beginning in 2007, company officials said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2005

Leaders, not geography, decide destiny

During their recent visits to Washington some prominent Japanese lawmakers were promoting an uncomfortable message: China is a long-term threat to Japanese security, and a future conflict between Japan and China is virtually inevitable.
BUSINESS
May 28, 2005

Moody's ups life insurers' ratings

Moody's Investors Service said Friday it has revised upward its ratings of eight major Japanese insurance firms.
SOCCER / World cup
May 27, 2005

Zico to give Oguro first start for national team

Japan coach Zico will be looking for in-form striker Masashi Oguro to spark Japan to victory as the Asian champion wrap up its preparations for next month's World Cup qualifiers against the United Arab Emirates in the Kirin Cup on Friday.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 27, 2005

O'Brien made many enemies in short stay with 76ers

NEW YORK -- The 76ers had little choice Monday but to cut Jim O'Brien loose (with $8 million guaranteed and two years left on his contract; the team owned an option for a third) in favor of Maurice Cheeks.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 27, 2005

Sakai drives in three as Eagles complete three-game sweep of Dragons

Tadaharu Sakai drove in three runs Thursday and the Rakuten Golden Eagles erupted for nine runs in the top of the sixth inning on their way to a 15-3 win over the Chunichi Dragons and a three-game sweep of the defending Central League champions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 27, 2005

A rock 'n' roll heart

Rock 'n' roll will never die. The sound may have mutated with each passing generation to create a variety of strains: alternative, progressive, metal, punk, noise, grunge. But it's the same 4:4 beat that drives them all and syncs our pulse to the rhythm.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 27, 2005

Get peace of mind . . . in the off-season

Arrival in some places doesn't always meet expectations. From stories I had read of Taketomi, I had built up a picture of a sleepy subtropical paradise. This island at the southwestern end of the Okinawan chain was, I learned, a place of coral-sand streets and quaint Okinawan life, an island where cars...
BUSINESS
May 27, 2005

Heavy industries ink Boeing 787 deal

U.S. aircraft maker Boeing Co. signed a deal Thursday with Japanese manufacturers for work on the new 787 jetliner, marking the biggest involvement of this nation's companies in a Boeing project.
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2005

Planning for transport safety

One month after the April 25 train derailment in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, it is not yet completely clear how and why it occurred, but the government's investigation committee has kept the public reasonably well informed about its progress even before publishing its report. Its positive attitude toward...
BUSINESS
May 27, 2005

NBS launches 40 billion yen share buyback

Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. on Thursday started buying 6.3 million of its own shares at a cost of 6,300 yen per share -- or a total of 40 billion yen -- via a public tender that will end June 15.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 27, 2005

Tamagotchi's rebirth sparking new sales binge

Every day for more than a year, phones at Hakuhinkan Toy Park have been ringing off the hook when the store opens at 11 a.m.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2005

Nintendo saw profits more than double in 2004

Nintendo Co.'s net profit more than doubled for fiscal 2004, lifted by strong sales of its new portable game player Nintendo DS and gains from foreign-exchange fluctuations, the firm said Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
May 26, 2005

Softball in Sendai for Japan, U.S.

The Japanese and U.S. women's national softball teams will play three exhibition games in Sendai in August, the Japan Softball Association said Wednesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 26, 2005

Otsuka, Agbayani lead Lotte past the Giants

Akira Otsuka connected for a solo homer in the fourth inning Wednesday as the Pacific League-leading Chiba Lotte Marines scored a pair of runs on their way to a 5-3 win over the Yomiuri Giants in interleague play.
Rugby
May 26, 2005

Brave Blossoms fell Romanian Oaks to set up rugby final against Canucks

Daisuke Ohata may well be the pin-up boy of Japanese rugby but 19-year-old Ayumu Goromaru is the face of the future and the two combined on Wednesday to send Japan into the final of the Toshiba Super Cup as the Brave Blossoms beat the Oaks of Romania 23-16 at Tokyo's National Stadium.
MORE SPORTS
May 26, 2005

Murofushi set for season debut

Athens Olympic hammer throw champion Koji Murofushi will make his delayed season debut at the upcoming national track and field championships, athletics officials said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
May 26, 2005

Bid-rigging at public expense

The Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office is conducting a sweeping investigation of a number of public engineering companies on charges of violating the Antimonopoly Law over the years by restricting fair business transactions. Public prosecutors have launched the massive investigation in response to...
BUSINESS
May 26, 2005

Kansai airport turns first profit

The operator of Kansai International Airport said Wednesday it posted its first-ever full-year profit in fiscal 2004, thanks to an increase in international flights and a reduction in interest payments on debts.

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?