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BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2003

Bank lending balance down 4.7%

The average daily balance of Japanese bank lending fell 4.7 percent in October from a year earlier for the 70th straight month of decline, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2003

Private-sector machinery orders fall for third straight month

Core private-sector machinery orders fell a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent in September from a month earlier for the third consecutive monthly decline.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2003

Woman wins partial look at school record

A 23-year-old woman in Tokyo has been granted access to part of her elementary school records -- nine years after asking to see the whole document.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2003

Biomass plant to recycle zoo's animal waste now a dung deal

Tama Zoological Park in the western Tokyo suburb of Hino boasts 420 animals representing 59 species, including elephants, lions and giraffes, and cleaning up after them is a tall, costly order.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2003

Pharmaceutical companies to get patents from space research

Japan's space agency is drawing up new rules to give pharmaceutical companies all the intellectual property rights deriving from space research on protein crystal structures, agency sources said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2003

Tokyo pauses briefly to fete 400th year

From his 14th floor office window, Tsunenari Tokugawa can almost see the exact spot where his ancestors settled four centuries ago. It's just a few blocks away -- but it might as well be in another universe.
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2003

Rakuten eyes online brokerage niche

Rakuten Inc., the nation's largest Internet shopping mall, will enter the online brokerage sector by purchasing DLJdirect SFG Securities Inc., industry sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2003

MMC posts major losses in first half

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. on Tuesday reported hefty losses for the fiscal first half that ended Sept. 30 due to sluggish sales in North America.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2003

Some diners on city's tab to remain secret

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the identities of private citizens who dined at the Osaka Municipal Government's expense will remain a secret.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2003

Foreign student numbers in Japan up 14.6% to 109,508

There were 109,508 foreign students studying in Japan as of May 1, up 14.6 percent from a year earlier, the education ministry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2003

Record 124 women to be bureaucrats

The number of women to be hired as fast-track career bureaucrats will reach a record 124, or 19.3 percent of the 642 potential recruits for fiscal 2004, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 12, 2003

Democracy: a most contentious ideal

MANILA -- No other philosophical or political idea is as contentious as the concept of freedom. All principal writings of political philosophers deal with the issue of freedom in one sense or another, leading to an enormous -- and at times confusing -- body of sources. Freedom defines the relationships...
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2003

Twins from surrogate birth to get Japanese citizenship

Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa said Tuesday that twins born to an American surrogate mother for a Japanese couple will be granted Japanese citizenship, saying that at least their father is clearly a Japanese.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 12, 2003

A mini 'Mahabharata' of epic proportions

How is your "geijitsu no aki" going? If you haven't got out to enjoy the splendors of "artistic autumn" yet, the Ku Na'uka Theatre Company's new play, "Mahabharata-Nalacaritam (Prince Nala's Adventure)" is as romantic and colorful a spectacle as any laid on by nature.
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2003

A viable two-party system?

In Sunday's election, the voters opted for stability -- with a twist. They gave the three-party ruling coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party a continued mandate to run the country but, at the same time, handed the LDP a slap on the wrist: the loss of a majority in the 480-seat influential Lower...
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2003

One less woman in Lower House

Sunday's general election installed 34 women to the House of Representatives, one fewer than the record high -- under the present Constitution -- of 35 elected in the last Lower House election, in June 2000.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2003

Tax increase to aid welfare has broad support

More than 40 percent of the House of Representatives members elected in Sunday's general election support a rise in the consumption tax to promote welfare programs.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2003

Japan Post begins selling 4.4 billion New Year's cards

A ceremony Monday at the Tokyo Central Post Office in Chiyoda Ward marked the nationwide launch of New Year's postcard sales.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2003

Barber chain QB Net's innovations clipped by tight regulations

The experiences of one Tokyo-based hair-cutting operator seem to show how archaic rules in Japan can stifle innovative business ideas.
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2003

Planned bank edges toward fruition

The planned Nippon Industrial Bank, which will specialize in extending loans to small and midsize businesses, was granted a preliminary license from the Financial Services Agency on Oct. 31 to open in April, planners said Monday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 11, 2003

Lease rights, house-buying and classes

Contract issues On the subject of Amy's renewal of lease (Lifelines; Oct. 12), Robert writes in that under the "old" contract system, if the landlord wants her to move, he/she should offer to pay for the costs related to same, including agent commission, etc.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 11, 2003

Running the sex trade gantlet

It could be a scene from most neighborhoods in urban Japan but it happened to be mine in Hashimoto, Kanagawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2003
Nov 11, 2003

SDP, JCP setbacks spell trouble for Constitution

The setbacks suffered by the Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party, which were both reduced to less than 10 seats in Sunday's House of Representatives election, mark a sharp decline in forces committed to opposing any change to the war-renouncing Constitution.

Longform

The volunteer lifesavers of Nishihama Surf Lifesaving Club never know what's in store at the start of their day.
It's no simple day at the beach for Japan's volunteer lifesavers