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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.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2006

Koizumi to offer grant in Mongolia

Tokyo will sign official documents to provide 350 million yen in grants to support 20 young Mongolian officials to study in Japan each year, the government has announced.
COMMENTARY
Aug 9, 2006

Beijing loath to cast the fate of elections in Hong Kong to the wind

HONG KONG -- With Hong Kong having entered its 10th year as a Chinese special administrative region, pressure is building on Beijing to honor its promise of allowing full democratization of this former British colony. Opinion surveys consistently show that the majority of Hong Kong residents want to...
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2006

Grew Foundation offers scholarships

The Grew Foundation, created in honor of the late U.S. Ambassador to Japan Joseph Grew, is offering scholarships to Japanese high school students aiming to study at U.S. colleges, the foundation said Monday.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2006

Japan to share expo-tise with China

The government will set up a panel of experts Wednesday to share its experience hosting the World Exposition last year in Aichi Prefecture with 2010 expo host China, the trade minister said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2006

Wage freeze sought for civil servants

The National Personnel Authority said Tuesday the basic monthly pay and bonus levels for government workers should stay the same in fiscal 2006 because its newly altered survey shows there is almost no gap between public- and private-sector salaries.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2006

Rocket lands near GSDF Golan unit

A rocket landed near the Ground Self-Defense Force camp in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last Friday, forcing some 30 soldiers to evacuate to a bomb shelter, government sources said Tuesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 9, 2006

Drone beetle Kanabun

* Scientific name: Rhomborrhina japonica * Description: Large, handsome and sturdy insects, drone beetles have distinctive antennae that end in a club that can be fanned out to form a leafy antenna with a large surface area -- the better to detect odors carried in the air. The beetles are around 4...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’