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BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 11, 2004

Happy Ogasawara remains a Fighter

Nippon Ham Fighters infielder Michihiro Ogasawara re-signed Friday for an unchanged annual salary of 400 million yen, officials of the Pacific League club said.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2004

Yokota furor spells end to food aid for North Korea, Machimura says

North Korea will not receive the remaining half of its food aid package from Japan, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2004

Majority want SDF brought home: survey

Sixty-one percent of respondents to a Kyodo News poll oppose the government's decision to extend the Self-Defense Forces troops' mission in Iraq, according to the results released Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2004

Obituary: Sayoko Arai

Sayoko Arai, a pioneer in the field of simultaneous interpretation, died Wednesday of the cirrhosis of the liver in Tokyo, her family said Thursday. She was 75.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2004

Government approves new bullet train initiatives

The government and ruling coalition gave the go-ahead Friday for new bullet train projects in Hokkaido, Kyushu and the Hokuriku region.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 11, 2004

Bill Hemmer

CNN claims that "American Morning," its flagship news program, is seen in more than 86 million households in the U.S. Here in Japan through CNNj, a partnership between CNN and Japan Cable Television, it may be seen in over 5 million households. This year marks the 20th anniversary of CNN's first live...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2004

Film depicts Japan's gender equality strife

A documentary film about an American woman's struggle to achieve gender equality in postwar Japan, sponsored and made by Japanese women, is set to be released next April.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2004

Seibu Railway listing hopes dashed

Seibu Railway Co. said Friday it has abandoned efforts to get its shares listed on the Jasdaq over-the-counter market by the end of the current fiscal year.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2004

Wholesale prices up 2% in November

Spikes in commodity prices helped lift wholesale prices by 2.0 percent in November from a year earlier, up for the ninth month in a row, the Bank of Japan said Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2004

Cell phones answer music players' call

After e-mail, Internet access and cameras, music will likely be the next killer application for cell phones in Japan, where online distribution is yet to catch on.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 11, 2004

Slipper prophecy: My life, my toilet!

It all started last summer in a yakitori shop in Kyushu. I went into the bathroom and the toilet slippers greeted me with a chirpy English phrase written on them: "My life, my toilet!" This humored me greatly at the time. However, I have learned my lesson. I will not laugh next time.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2004

IRCJ looks to sell off Daiei units

The Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan plans to sell more than half of some 110 companies in the Daiei group as part of its rehabilitation of the supermarket chain, industry sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2004

Public servants' bonuses grow; Koizumi the 6 million yen man

The bonus payments dished out Friday to the majority of public servants across Japan were more than 10 percent higher than the reduced bonuses these workers got last year.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2004

MMC hopes for revival with 10-year warranties

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. plans to offer a 10-year, 100,000-km warranty for its vehicles in a bid to boost business, sources said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Dec 11, 2004

At last, Asia is taking shape

HONOLULU -- For generations, East Asia has been identified as a geographical entity -- it was a region on a map -- but it lacked a coherent identity beyond that. That is changing. East Asia is laying the foundation for an international presence that will rival that of the European Union. Last month's...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 11, 2004

Malone latest to feel wrath of Kobe's wife

NEW YORK -- You realize, of course, Kobe Bryant knew exactly what he was doing when he made himself available for an interview on ex-Laker Mychal Thompson's L.A. radio show earlier this week.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 11, 2004

Pink Cow princess with two feet firmly on ground

In the early 1990s, artist-sculptor Traci Consoli left her native California to see a bit of the world. "I made a life in Tokyo, married to a Japanese guitar player, but found I was still not happy. Something was missing."
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2004

Tax hikes could be recipe for recession, analysts say

Books and Web sites devoted to the art of economizing describe the savings per month from "recycling" leftovers by putting them in stews and tempura (2,600 yen), taking shorter showers (540 yen) and flushing toilets at low-intensity (720 yen).
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2004

EU sticks to its guns ban

The European Union has successfully fended off a Chinese diplomatic press to resume arms sales. The decision to delay is a good one: Beijing's claims of discrimination notwithstanding, East Asia does not need more weapons. Equally important is the rift such sales would engineer in the West: The prospect...
COMMENTARY
Dec 11, 2004

More to winning than tackling the Taliban

ISLAMABAD -- A call by a senior U.S. official urging Afghanistan's Taliban fighters to lay down their arms in exchange for a promise that only those guilty of major crimes would be punished marks a departure from Washington's traditional hardline stance toward the group.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 11, 2004

Controversial Hoddle given one more chance by Wolves

LONDON -- "You and I have been physically been given two hands and two legs and a half-decent brain. Some people have not been born like that for a reason.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 10, 2004

Popular ex-Hawk Traxler dead at 37

Sad news reached Japan recently with the word that Brian Traxler, a former member of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, had passed away at the age of 37 in San Antonio on Nov. 19.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2004

Long-range missile quest off defense buildup plan

The government will not begin controversial research into long-range precision missile technology, according to the fiscal 2005-2009 midterm defense buildup plan handed to the ruling bloc Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2004

Taguchi tutored KAL bomber, abductee's families say

Recent testimony by a repatriated Japanese abductee supports allegations that fellow abductee Yaeko Taguchi was the language tutor for a confessed North Korean agent who blew a Korean Air jetliner out of the sky in 1987, families of abduction victims said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2004

Takebe fires warning shot over postal reform bills

Tsutomu Takebe, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, suggested Thursday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi should dissolve the House of Representatives if his postal reform initiative hits a snag in the Diet in January.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2004

Recipients of tainted blood products begin to fight back

Taking institutions like the central government and big corporations to court is no easy feat for ordinary Japanese citizens. It's even more daunting for mothers busy raising their children and not used to attending the bar.

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?