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JAPAN / BY THE NUMBERS
Dec 14, 2004

Sake trendy abroad but hard sell here to young

It has a deep, delicate and definitely cultural flavor. Yet sake does not appeal to many of today's Japanese, who would rather clink glasses of "shochu" liquor or wine.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2004

Rice genome is decoded; now expect new varieties to crop up

An international team of scientists has completed the sequencing of the rice genome, an accomplishment that should lead to the development of new varieties of rice to meet different needs, including resistance to disease.
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2004

Komeito decides to back cut in tax breaks

The ruling coalition basically agreed Monday on halving the fixed-rate income tax cuts during fiscal 2005 and abolish the cuts in fiscal 2006, senior ruling party lawmakers said.
Dec 14, 2004

Terrorist tracking center planned

The Justice Ministry will set up an intelligence center to track the movements of suspected terrorists and identify weaknesses in immigration controls at airports, according to ministry sources.
Dec 14, 2004

Doctor who treated Bikini Atoll H-test victims dead at 83

Toshiyuki Kumatori, a prominent figure in radiological sciences who treated radiation victims of the 1954 U.S. hydrogen-bomb test at Bikini Atoll in the Central Pacific, died Saturday from pneumonia at a hospital in Saitama Prefecture. He was 83.
Dec 14, 2004

Data on subscribers to Yahoo BB leaked

Softbank Corp. said Monday personal data on some 6,500 subscribers to its Yahoo BB Internet service may have been leaked, based on information it received from two Tokyo-based publishers.
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2004

'Tankan' likely to be a downer: experts

The Bank of Japan's quarterly "tankan" business sentiment survey is expected to show a decline in confidence among major manufacturers for the first time in 21 months, according to a recent poll of economists.
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2004

UFJ contests Sumitomo's suit against MTFG tieup

UFJ Holdings Inc. contested in court Monday a Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. demand that UFJ and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. be ordered to halt talks on merging trust banking operations.
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2004

U.S. proposes talks on Taiwan Strait strategy

The United States has proposed launching a bilateral dialogue with Japan on possible joint cooperation in the event hostilities erupt between China and Taiwan, Japanese government sources said Monday.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 14, 2004

Mongolia: Land of yesterday and tomorrow

ULAN BATOR Mongolia has been called "one of the last unspoiled travel destinations in Asia," and, indeed, the traveler feels not only in another country but in another century.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2004

Women's work may go underground

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is considering reviewing the law banning women from working at mines and tunnel construction sites, aiming to expand their labor opportunities, ministry officials said Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2004

Heart surgeon under suspicion of malpractice

Three patients with defective heart valves died between January and March 2003 after undergoing operations performed by the same cardiac surgeon at Tokyo Medical University Hospital, informed sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2004

LDP panel wants tax cuts ended in fiscal '06

The Liberal Democratic Party's tax panel is moving to propose abolishing tax reductions in fiscal 2006 on condition that the economic recovery is maintained, political sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2004

North Korea may get deadline to fully explain Yokota's fate

Japan will set a deadline for North Korea to give a full and honest account of the fate of abductee Megumi Yokota if it does not respond sincerely to a protest Japan filed over the matter, government sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2004

Stricter limits eyed for farmed tuna

The Fisheries Agency has decided to impose tougher limits on imports of farmed bluefin tuna due to criticism that tuna farms have caused environment pollution and overexploitation, agency sources said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 12, 2004

Brewing emotions and desires

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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 12, 2004

Wrapping things up in time for Christmas

Tokyo bibliophiles will no doubt look back at 2004 as the year in which a revered Tokyo institution -- the Maruzen book store -- moved from its original location in Nihombashi, where it had operated since 1870, to a new home on the first through fourth floors of the OAZO Building in Marunouchi. While...
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2004

Yachi tabbed as vice foreign minister

Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura has decided to appoint Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Shotaro Yachi as vice foreign minister, according to sources.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2004

Guam native tells Tokyo gathering of WWII atrocities

Juanita Cruz was only 8 years old when she saw her mother being raped by Japanese soldiers. At 10, she saw her 5-year-old brother killed.
Features
Dec 12, 2004

'Trophy' reflects on what might have been but for bed freeze-out

Seated elegantly at a table in a Tokyo cafe, 37-year-old Kazumi Nakazawa is recalling the brief period seven years ago when it wasn't obvious her marriage was doomed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 12, 2004

Until dearth do us part

It is a condition that many married Japanese know all too well.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 12, 2004

The Stars

In the spectrum of Japanese psychedelia, The Stars occupy a poppy middle ground: They are neither as noisy (nor mystical) as Acid Mothers' Temple or Ghost, nor do they opt for the atmospheric faux folksiness of Maher Shala Has Baz or The Tennis Coats. Instead, the tunes of singer-songwriter You Ishihara,...
Features
Dec 12, 2004

Sex-starved wives get men on prescription

Champions of conventional concepts of matrimony may well be shocked -- dismayed, even -- by the current slew of stories in Japanese magazines detailing just how likely the nation's married women are to have sex outside their marriages.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 12, 2004

The short and the sweet of popular Japanese theater

A GUIDE TO THE JAPANESE STAGE: From Traditional to Cutting Edge, by Ronald Cavaye, Paul Griffith and Akihiko Senda. Foreword by Nomura Mansai. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2004, 388 pp., many illustrations. 2,310 yen (paper). A convenient, pocket-size volume, this entertainment guide recommends "plays...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 12, 2004

Nostalgia is a green monster

GODZILLA ON MY MIND: Fifty Years of the King of Monsters, by William Tsutsui. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004, 240 pp., $12.95 (paper).

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?