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JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Some still against drinking water during exercise

Until about a decade ago, students at many Japanese schools were forbidden from drinking water while engaging in sports, no matter how thirsty they became.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 18, 2004

Bilingualism, creativity and Shanghai trips

Creative classes The New Center for Creative Arts has just opened in Moto-Azabu, Tokyo.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Pager service to end 35-year run

NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Monday it will stop accepting new subscriptions for the nation's only nationwide pager service on June 30, marking the end of Japan's full-scale pager service that began more than 35 years ago.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Dentsu's net profit up 35% in '03

Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency, said Monday its net profit rose 35 percent to 30.88 billion yen for the year through March, thanks to a one-time gain from a change in the company's pension fund scheme.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Ozawa backs away from bid for DPJ presidency

Ichiro Ozawa on Monday retracted his earlier consent to become president of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, saying he failed to pay into the National Pension Program for six years in the 1980s.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

AOL Japan to transfer Net business to eAccess

America Online Inc. of the United States will effectively withdraw from Internet connection services in Japan as its wholly owned Japanese subsidiary decided to turn over its business to a Tokyo firm, the subsidiary said Monday.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Agency eyes building 10 new nuclear reactors by fiscal 2030

The energy agency envisions a need to build about 10 nuclear reactors by fiscal 2030, according to a draft long-term outlook on energy supply and demand.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Major supermarkets' sales fell following price-tag change

Major supermarket chains saw their sales fall in April from year-before levels, thanks to a legal change in pricing that took effect April 1, company officials said Monday.
SUMO
May 18, 2004

Triumvirate share lead

Yokozuna Asashoryu continued his charge toward a third straight Emperor's Cup by gunning down Kotonowaka on Monday to maintain his share of the lead heading into the final stretch of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Tight lid urged on swelling budgets, welfare outlays

The government should set a clear target to limit snowballing social welfare costs and keep budget deficits from swelling further, an advisory committee to Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said in a policy proposal Monday.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Beer, 'happoshu' shipments slipped 9.1% in April

Combined shipments of beer and "happoshu," its low-malt cousin, among the nation's five top brewers slipped 9.1 percent in April from a year ago, according to reports released Monday.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Hijackers' kids file suit over searches

The six North Korean-born offspring of Red Army Faction fugitives who came to Japan in January have filed a damages suit, claiming the body searches they underwent upon arrival at Narita airport and seizure of their possessions were illegal.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Health food vendor top taxpayer

Health food entrepreneur Hitori Saito was Japan's top individual taxpayer last year, according to a list released Monday by the National Tax Agency.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Cold lands JCP chief in hospital

Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii was admitted to a Tokyo hospital Friday night due to a cold, a JCP official said Monday.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Some still against drinking water during exercise

Until about a decade ago, students at many Japanese schools were forbidden from drinking water while engaging in sports, no matter how thirsty they became.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Miyake Island plankton count rose after volcanic activity

The amount of plankton found in waters around Miyake Island, a volcanic island 180 km south of Tokyo, increased by 20 percent to 30 percent a year after volcanic eruptions began there in summer 2000, a research team said Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 18, 2004

Students pay price in visa crackdown

When American students Angela Luna and Richard Nishizawa tried to board a plane bound for San Francisco in March, airport authorities threw them in a small holding cell and held them incommunicado for several days before banishing them from Japan for five years.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Tsutaya operator sees profit soar

Culture Convenience Club Co., operator of the Tsutaya video rental chain, said Monday its fiscal 2003 net profit soared 90 percent to a record 2.39 billion yen, powered by aggressive franchise expansion.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Current account surplus hits record 17.27 trillion yen

The current account surplus rose to a record 17.27 trillion yen in fiscal 2003, up 29 percent from the previous year, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Definition of al-Sadr group as 'quasi-governmental' denied

The Cabinet Legislation Bureau last month did not define followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq as "a quasi-government," the top government spokesman said Monday in denying media reports to that effect.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

UFJ Holdings faces 100 billion yen net loss

UFJ Holdings Inc., one of Japan's top four banking groups, will probably book a net loss of some 100 billion yen for 2003, with its loan-loss charges having swelled to about 1 trillion yen, banking sources said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2004

Myanmar's thorn in the ASEM process

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Once again, the experiment known as the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) enters the limelight for the wrong reasons. With preparation under way for a summit meeting in Hanoi next October, the focus is not so much on real issues as on the format for participation. Characteristically,...
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Hijackers' kids file suit over searches

The six North Korean-born offspring of Red Army Faction fugitives who came to Japan in January have filed a damages suit, claiming the body searches they underwent upon arrival at Narita airport and seizure of their possessions were illegal.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Wholesale prices edge up 0.5%

Wholesale prices rose in April from a year earlier, marking a second straight year-on-year increase, the Bank of Japan said Monday in a preliminary report.
JAPAN
May 18, 2004

Nukes, abductions progress key

Japan will not resume normalization talks with North Korea unless there is progress on the abduction issue as well as Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons program, the top government spokesman said Monday.

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?