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JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

Paternity leave takers fewer

Only 0.5 percent of male private-sector company workers took paternity leave in fiscal 2004, down from 0.56 percent the year before, a health ministry survey said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

Ozawa return done deal

Ichiro Ozawa, president of the Democratic Party of Japan, will probably be reinstalled in September without a challenger to merit an election, sources at the largest opposition party said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

Abe gets boost as factions look set to back him

Factional politics once again have come to the forefront of the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election with reports Wednesday that Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe has secured the support of two faction leaders and is a virtual shoo-in.
EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2006

Nagano bids maverick goodbye

Nagano voters on Sunday chose a steady and stable style of politics over maverick leadership often characterized by theatrics, confrontation and confusion. Gov. Yasuo Tanaka, a reform-minded ex-novelist, sought a third term but was defeated by Mr. Jin Murai, a former state minister for national disaster...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2006

Facing the past, embracing the future

To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future. We thus owe it to the youthful generations of the 21st century to communicate the hatred of war, the commitment to peace, that was engraved in so many lives on Aug. 15, 1945.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 10, 2006

A loving tribute at the Watari-um for a close friend

"Bye-Bye, Nam June Paik," the current exhibition at the Watari-Um Museum of Contemporary Art, is a loving tribute to an artist who has always been close to that Aoyama art space's heart.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 10, 2006

History strains Seoul ties: Ban

Abe to play a positive role by paying special attention to these issues in the future," Ban said in response to reporters' questions over whether the two discussed the territorial and Yasukuni disputes. In a separate news conference, Abe said the Yasukuni issue did not directly come up.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2006

Rape wielded as a weapon in Myanmar

LONDON -- Gender-based sexual violence obstructs peace and development, particularly when it is a weapon used by military dictatorships against their own peoples. Myanmar is now permeated by such state-sponsored violence. Systematic sexual violence became visible in Myanmar when the Shan Women's Action...
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2006

Mizuho Corporate's prime at 2.5%

Mizuho Corporate Bank said Wednesday it will lower its long-term prime lending rate by 0.15 percentage point to 2.5 percent per annum, bringing the rate down for the first time in two months.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2006

Hokuetsu chief offers talks to Nippon Paper

The president of Hokuetsu Paper Mills Ltd., the target of an unprecedented hostile takeover bid by Oji Paper Co., said Wednesday it is ready to negotiate with Nippon Paper Group Inc. about forming a business alliance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 10, 2006

Kyogen meets contemporary theater

For the past 20 years, Kazuhiro Morisaki has promoted the comical performing art form of kyogen, but that doesn't make him a purist.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 10, 2006

Koizumi drops fresh hint on surrender-day Yasukuni visit

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday that he should keep his 2001 campaign pledge to visit Yasukuni Shrine on the Aug. 15 anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender, despite opposition in Asia and at home.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 10, 2006

There's an art to saving country life

Just a few hours north of Tokyo's seemingly endless sprawl is the mountainous region of Echigo-Tsumari in Niigata Prefecture. Like so many other rural parts of northern Japan, it is a rugged, isolated, aging and economically stagnant place where elderly men and women can be found doubled over in terraced...
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2006

Bridgestone's profit skids 68% in fiscal first half

Tire maker Bridgestone Corp. reported Wednesday a 68 percent plunge in net profit for the fiscal first half because of expenses related to closing a U.S. plant and the surging cost of raw materials, including crude oil and rubber.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2006

First U.S. beef since ban goes on sale at Costco

U.S. beef went on sale Wednesday for the first time since the lifting of a ban imposed in January over mad cow disease, officials from the stores selling the meat said.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2006

Inpex books 25.76 billion yen profit

Inpex Holdings Inc. said Wednesday it booked a 25.76 billion yen group net profit in the April-June quarter in the first earnings report it has released since it was formed in April by the merger of Inpex Corp. and Teikoku Oil Co.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2006

Japan Post needs improvement order, panel says

An advisory panel recommended Wednesday that Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Heizo Takenaka order Japan Post to improve its business practices after post offices were found to have offered inappropriate discounts on postal fees.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 10, 2006

Looking beyond the West

Art historian Dr. Charles Merewether is the artistic director and curator of the 2006 Biennale of Sydney (established 1973). Merewether has worked and taught in Mexico, Spain, Australia and the United States and is the author of a number of books on art, including "Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art: Experimentations...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2006

Will polluters pay for climate change?

PRINCETON, New Jersey -- I am writing this in New York in early August, when the mayor declared a "heat emergency" to prevent widespread electricity outages from the expected high use of air conditioners. City employees could face criminal charges if they set their thermostats below 25.5 C. Nevertheless,...
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2006

Gas prices hit 16-year high of 143.7 yen just before Bon

The nationwide average retail price of regular gasoline hit a 16-year high of 143.7 yen per liter Monday, officials at the Oil Information Center said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

Artist finds lifework painting shutters along shopping streets

HANNO, Saitama Pref. -- Sadao Kiyota airbrushes colors on the shutters of the Tonki tofu kitchen, which is closed one recent Monday as are neighboring stores on the Hanno Ginza shopping street near Seibu Hanno Station in Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2006

Fujimoto seeks thalidomide approval

Fujimoto Pharmaceutical Corp. has filed an application with the health ministry to manufacture and sell thalidomide as an authorized medicine, more than 40 years after the drug was banned in Japan for causing severe birth defects, according to a company official.
SOCCER
Aug 9, 2006

Ulsan stomps Dalian to lift silverware

Lee Chun Soo played a starring role once again as Ulsan Hyundai thrashed Dalian Shide 4-0 to win the A3 Champions Cup at Tokyo's National Stadium on Tuesday evening.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji