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BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2003

Resona Holdings to pare group

Resona Holdings Inc. will reduce the number of its subsidiaries and affiliates to a quarter of the current level, President Eiji Hosoya said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 27, 2003

Joao Gilberto

Experts agree that two pop music genres were invented by individuals: bluegrass by the American mandolinist Bill Monroe in 1938, and bossa nova by Brazilian Antonio Carlos Jobim in the mid-'50s. Jobim wrote "Desafinado," and while, in 1957, this was bossa nova's first big hit, the single itself was sung...
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2003

Yahoo Japan to conduct stock split

Yahoo Japan Corp. said Tuesday it will conduct a two-for-one stock split Nov. 20 for stockholders of record as of Sept. 30.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 27, 2003

Richard Bona: "Munia (The Tale)"

One of the encouragements jazz players often shout to each other during intense solos is "Tell the story!" On Cameroonian Richard Bona's third release, "Munia (The Tale)," he does just that by weaving lovely epic tales in melody and rhythm that combine West African music with New York jazz.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 27, 2003

Broadcast: "Ha Ha Sound"

Rarely does a gem shine out from the dull ground of contemporary electronica, but when one does it should be treasured. Such is "Ha Ha Sound," Broadcast's second album.
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2003

Environment Ministry greening up

The Environment Ministry said Tuesday it is preparing a bill to encourage more companies to reduce industrial pollution and protect the environment.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 27, 2003

Ramirez bats Swallows past Dragons

Alex Ramirez homered twice and drove in five runs to provide the brunt of an 11-hit offense, lifting the Yakult Swallows to a 9-0 shutout victory over the Chunichi Dragons in the Central League on Tuesday night at Tokyo's Jingu Stadium.
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2003

Strong overseas demand lifts carmakers' global output

Major Japanese carmakers, except Mitsubishi Motors Corp., boosted global production in July, thanks to strong overseas demand, according to company reports released Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2003

Supermarkets lock horns of plenty

Major supermarket firms Aeon Co. and Uny Co. will offer 30 percent to 50 percent discounts on lettuce, tomatoes and other produce items over four days starting Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2003

IRCJ plans to aid Mitsui Mining Co.

The Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan plans to assist Mitsui Mining Co. under its rescue program, sources said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 27, 2003

Tabaimo pulls ahead of 'fun art' pack

Although she has only recently turned 28, I am starting to think Tabaimo is one of Japan's most important artists. Here's why.
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2003

Elpida Memory to create semiconductor subsidiary

Elpida Memory Inc., the sole domestic supplier of dynamic random access memory chips, said Tuesday it will establish a wholly owned semiconductor manufacturing subsidiary Sept. 1.
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2003

Hiranuma calls WTO proposal unambitious

Trade minister Takeo Hiranuma expressed dissatisfaction Tuesday with a fresh World Trade Organization proposal to be adopted at a Sept. 10-14 ministerial meeting.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 27, 2003

Face to face with history's Greatest

Histor is wont to bestow epithets on its more colorful characters, from the vertically challenged King Pepin the Short (714?-768), father of Charlemagne, to Ethelred the Unready, who ruled England with singular incompetence from 978 to 1016. Few, however, have so richly deserved their title as Alexander...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2003

Meiji Life, Yasuda to hire 10,000 before merger

Meiji Life Insurance Co. and Yasuda Mutual Life Insurance Co. will hire 10,000 sales representatives by the end of this year to bring their combined marketing force to 45,000 before they merge in January, Meiji Life Insurance President Ryotaro Kaneko said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 27, 2003

The Dismemberment Plan: "The People's History of the Dismemberment Plan"

For frenetic indie foursome The Dismemberment Plan, breaking up has certainly been hard to do. Despite announcing their own dismemberment in January, the farewell tour has stretched into September, with their final show in Japan set for Saturday at Shibuya Nest before a farewell gig in Washington, D.C....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2003

Machiavelli on the Mekong

BRUSSELS -- In the West, Cambodia is synonymous with the horrors of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s. David Puttnam's film "The Killing Fields" seemed to tell it all. Towns and cities were emptied into the countryside and the population enslaved and brutalized. "Luckier" intellectuals were...
COMMENTARY
Aug 26, 2003

Fujimori case testing Japan

The Japanese government is facing mounting pressure from the Peruvian government for the extradition of former President Alberto Fujimori, who has been in exile in Japan since November 2000. Last March, Interpol issued an arrest warrant for the disgraced former leader and late last month, the Peruvian...
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2003

Sankyo sues drug firms over copycat packaging

Sankyo Co. filed a lawsuit Monday against five pharmaceutical companies, demanding they halt sales of generic drugs whose packaging is similar to that of its cholesterol-lowering drug.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Aug 26, 2003

Canon looks to blast rivals via download service

The dramatic growth in the market for mobile phones equipped with cameras has witnessed camera makers struggling to survive the onslaught, some by shifting to production of high-quality digital cameras.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2003

Record exports to China boost trade surplus

Japan's trade surplus expanded in July for the first time in two months, up 7.3 percent from a year earlier to 799.2 billion yen, helped by record-high exports to China, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 26, 2003

Promise seen in stock rebound

With the Nikkei stock average climbing past 10,000 points for the first time in more than a year, it seems that some of the pessimism about the Japanese economy has disappeared. The index has followed an upward trend since April when it tumbled to the 7,600 level, the lowest since the bubble burst in...
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2003

TSE planning online voting system

The Tokyo Stock Exchange will create an online system that will allow domestic and overseas investors to exercise their voting rights in Japanese companies, exchange officials said Monday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 26, 2003

Publishing, futons and more motors

Budding author Z. has written a book he thinks is ready for publication. "Can you give me guidance or advice as to how to go about getting published?"

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