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Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2004

Former LDP lawmaker gets 32 months

The Tokyo District Court sentenced former Diet lawmaker Takanori Sakai to 32 months in prison Friday for not reporting 168 million yen in political donations and defrauding the state out of 24 million yen.
Dec 25, 2004

Now 22, Kobe killer to be turned loose Jan. 1

A 22-year-old man who murdered two children in Kobe in 1997 when he was 14 will be fully discharged from a medical reformatory on Jan. 1, the Justice Ministry announced Friday.
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2004

Strained Japan-China ties bode ill for region's future

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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 25, 2004

Last-minute gifts for discerning foreigners

Merry Christmas! If you are one of those people who waits till the last nano-second to do your Christmas shopping, don't worry. You've still got till midnight tonight to get a Christmas present for that special gaijin you forgot about.
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2004

Waiting for Japan to change -- or can it?

LOS ANGELES -- For as long as I write this column on Asia, which enters into its 10th year next month, I doubt I'll ever witness anything as amusing or telling as the flareup that took place at the close of the University of Southern California's Asia Conference last month.
BUSINESS
Dec 25, 2004

Mitsui to fire employees for fabricating diesel filter test data

Mitsui & Co. said Friday two employees at the trading house and another at a subsidiary will be fired for fabricating test data to obtain official approval for a diesel particulate filter.
Dec 25, 2004

Cancer victims' kin demand ban on sales of Iressa

Families of patients who died after experiencing side effects from the lung cancer drug Iressa urged the government Friday to order British pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca PLC to stop selling it because tests have shown it ineffective at prolonging life.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2004

Princess' funeral to cost 131 million yen

The Cabinet said Friday it will spend 131 million yen in taxpayer money on the funeral of Princess Takamatsu, an aunt of Emperor Akihito.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 25, 2004

Ai-chan to play in Chinese league

Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara will join Chinese Super League powerhouse Beijing on a one-year professional contract, table tennis officials said Friday.
Dec 25, 2004

Court nixes IBJ back-taxes ruling over bad-loan writeoffs to lender

The Supreme Court on Friday invalidated a decision to impose back taxes on the former Industrial Bank of Japan for writing off nonperforming loans it made to an insolvent "jusen" mortgage lender.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2004

Singh moves to resolve Kashmir conflict

MADRAS, India -- India's new prime minister, Manmohan Singh, welcomed his Pakistani counterpart, Shaukat Aziz, in New Delhi the other day with a classic line: "Who could say 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall would be a thing of the past. My hope and prayer is that we can do something similar in the Indian...
BUSINESS
Dec 25, 2004

MMC hurting bad

Three of Japan's top five automakers saw their domestic sales rise in November from a year earlier, while scandal-tainted Mitsubishi Motors Corp. failed to pull out of its downward spiral, according to figures released Friday by the five companies.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2004

U.N. group drafts turtle guideline

A U.N. organization is compiling the first international guideline for protecting sea turtles from fishing operations, according to Japanese government sources.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2004

Government eyes medical teams for disaster victims

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will form about 200 medical teams and assign them to hospitals nationwide to bolster earthquake- and other disaster-response measures, ministry officials said Thursday.
JAPAN / READERS' FUND
Dec 24, 2004

Kyoto aid group helping farmers revive agriculture in Afghanistan

When a nongovernmental organization based in Kyoto sent a study team to Afghanistan's Herat Province in November 2001, just a month after the Taliban regime had collapsed under the onslaught of U.S. retaliation for the Sept. 11 attacks, it found a human disaster in progress.
EDITORIALS
Dec 24, 2004

Gear shift on constitutional change

The Liberal Democratic Party recently came under public criticism for "going to extremes" in its bid to update the Constitution, Japan's first democratic charter that took effect in 1947. The criticism has prompted the party to alter its plans for constitutional reform. The party appears to have recognized...
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2004

Vietnamese woman, daughters face deportation

A Vietnamese woman and her two daughters in Kanagawa Prefecture are on the verge of being deported because her visa expired in January and the immigration office is withholding an extension.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 24, 2004

Third straight for Yoshida, K. Icho

Saori Yoshida won the women's 55-kg weight class and Kaori Icho prevailed in the women's 63 kg as both Olympic gold medalists claimed their third straight titles at the wrestling national championships on Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 24, 2004

Minato Mirai: Loading bay to pleasure haven

Originally home to a huge shipbuilding dock, Yokohama's Minato Mirai 21 area is today a great attraction for day and nighttime visitors alike. The "21" of Minato Mirai's name stands for the 21st century, but plans to redevelop the coastal area were underway by 1965, just as Japan's economy started soaring...
SUMO
Dec 24, 2004

Asashoryu remains in charge in east spot at New Year Basho

Lone yokozuna Asashoryu, who won five Emperor's Cup titles in 2004, will occupy the prestigious east slot as the Japan Sumo Association released the rankings on Thursday for the upcoming New Year Grand Sumo Tournament.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2004

Public wants sanctions -- but at what price?

A large section of the public responded with predictable fury to recent revelations that a set of remains handed by North Korea to Japanese officials were not, as Pyongyang had claimed, those of abductee Megumi Yokota.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Dec 24, 2004

The rundown of the big countdowns

Another year has whizzed on by and the silly season is upon us again. Those of you who haven't yet had enough of overeating and overdrinking might find some of the Christmas dinner options of interest. Otherwise, hold off on the food, tighten that belt and get ready to dance in the New Year.

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?