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JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

Stock option income counts as salary: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that proceeds from exercising stock options should be regarded as a part of salary and thus subject to a higher tax rate than for one-time income.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

Visa issuance for all chinese may become permanent

Transport minister Kazuo Kitagawa said Tuesday he wants to make permanent a plan under which group tourists from all over China will get Visas for the six-month Aichi World Exposition.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2005

A reason for long-term unity

The World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held last week in Kobe under the auspices of the United Nations, has produced concrete results, notably the Hyogo Framework for Action, a 10-year global action plan for reducing disaster risks, and an agreement to build a tsunami early-warning system in the...
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

Five Kurdish refugees may be sent to a third country

law."
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

No deal made to keep quiet about ashes: Machimura

Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura denied Tuesday that a senior Foreign Ministry official who visited Pyongyang in November agreed not to disclose the fact that Japan had received what North Korea claimed were cremated remains of abductee Megumi Yokota.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

Hike in Tokyo-Seoul exchanges eyed

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed hope Tuesday that exchanges of people between Japan and South Korea will top 5 million this year, the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 26, 2005

Inoue sidelined for six months

Kosei Inoue, who won the gold in the men's 100-kg class at the Sydney Olympics, said Tuesday that the chest injury he suffered earlier this month is more serious than initially thought and will force him out of judo action for about half a year.
COMMENTARY
Jan 26, 2005

Things look up to Downer

LOS ANGELES -- They say an optimist looks at the very same glass that the pessimist sees as half-empty and proclaims it to be half-full. By that measure, one of the world's foremost optimists has got to be Alexander Downer, Australia's minister for foreign affairs.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

NHK boss exits as viewers stop paying

Faced with a rising number of people refusing to pay viewer subscription fees due to embezzlement scandals, NHK President Katsuji Ebisawa tendered his resignation Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

Koizumi plans blocwide postal powwow

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he intends to talk out his contentious postal privatization plan with the ruling bloc so related bills can be approved by the Diet within the current 150-day session.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 26, 2005

Baseball luminaries give Eagles GM Kuehnert big send off

More than 200 people attended the "Marty Kuehnert-Shi Iwai GM Shunin to Saranaru Nippon Yakyu Kai no Hatten o Negau Kai" (Party to Congratulate Mr. Marty Kuehnert on His Appointment as General Manager and Praying for the Success of Japanese Baseball) at a Tokyo hotel on Friday, Jan. 21, in honor of the...
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2005

Vodafone cuts off users of crime-linked phones

Vodafone K.K. has begun unilaterally terminating services for prepaid mobile phones that have been used in fraudulent billing and other crimes, company officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2005

Muto says it may take longer than expected to beat deflation

Deputy Bank of Japan Gov. Toshiro Muto has indicated the economy might move out of deflation later than the central bank has forecast.
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2005

Banks to get tougher on card forgery

The Japanese Bankers Association urged its 180 member banks Tuesday to reinforce measures protecting depositors from growing bank-card forgery.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 26, 2005

Know your Shins!

Ask the band directly, what are The Shins about, and the four friends' free-for-all flow of deadpan wit, wild metaphor and the occasional outburst of song (evidence of not just a clever group of people but a happy one) stops cold.
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2005

Electrical appliance sales fall 1.87%

Sales of household electrical appliances at major retailers slipped 1.87 percent in 2004 from the previous year to 1.98 trillion yen, according to preliminary data released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

Get ready, hay fever sufferers

Cedar pollen, a major cause of hay fever, may be prevalent in Japan until mid-May, about a month longer than average, according to weather information provider Weathernews Inc.
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2005

Nomura posts 32% profit decline

Nomura Holdings Inc. said Tuesday its profit fell 32 percent in the nine months to December due to a slowdown in its bond business and higher costs in its merchant banking operations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 26, 2005

Time to reflect on transition

Japan is in the midst of a "Korea boom." It seems that the smiling face of Bae Yong Joon is everywhere, and almost 10,000 (mostly) female fans greeted the superstar Korean actor when he arrived at Narita airport last November. Perhaps sparked by 2002's jointly hosted soccer World Cup, films, fashion,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 26, 2005

Concert of 1,000 cellists looks set to raise the roof in Kobe

World-famous cellist Mstislav Rostropovich will conduct a concert for 1,000 cellos during a weeklong international cello convention in May in Kobe, which is currently commemorating the 10th anniversary of the devastating Great Hanshin Earthquake.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2005

Digital machines replacing conventional photo booths

Coin-operated digital photo booths that offer high-quality passport and other photos are spreading.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

Panel: Is a woman's place on the throne?

A private advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi kicked off discussions Tuesday on the Imperial House Law, with the central theme to be whether and how a female could ascend to the Chrysanthemum Throne.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 26, 2005

Gosling plays it straight

He's not "Ryan-san" but "Gos-sama" to his Japanese fans, and the tall, lanky 25-year-old from Canada is fast on his way to becoming the next Hollywood sensation ("the next River Phoenix!" gush the Japanese movie magazines). However, in person, Ryan Gosling is an unassuming, laid-back kind of guy who...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 26, 2005

Sub Pop's second coming

In the late '80s and early '90s, Seattle and its music scene became the center of the pop culture universe. Sub Pop, the small label founded by sometime journalist Bruce Pavitt and nurtured with his partner Jonathan Poneman was its primary documenter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 26, 2005

Talkin' Bertolt

Between his return from the United States after World War II, and his death in 1956, playwright Bertolt Brecht, with his Berliner Ensemble, created one of the finest acting companies in the world -- one which became a testing-ground for his theatrical exploration and challenged the theatrical conventions...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years