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JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Labor having to swallow merit pay, lower income

Electrical machinery and automobile manufacturing companies are moving away from the annual pay raise system in a bid to reinforce performance-based pay and rein in payrolls.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 5, 2003

Kyoto signs Ko

Kyoto Purple Sanga has successfully signed South Korea international midfielder Ko Jong Su to an 11-month loan through to Jan. 1 from South Korean club Suwon Bluewings, the J. League Division One club announced Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2003

Nearly 41% of firms have adopted merit-based annual pay

Nearly 41 percent of listed companies have adopted merit-based annual pay systems, according to a survey by a nonprofit organization.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Recruit exec gets suspended term in bribes scandal dating from '80s

The Tokyo District Court, ruling on a 15-year-old bribery scandal that led to the downfall of a prime minister and touched deep into the bureaucracy, gave a suspended sentence Tuesday to Hiromasa Ezoe, founder and former chairman of information conglomerate Recruit Co.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 5, 2003

Silent diplomacy serves Japan poorly

A recent opinion poll in Japan shows that 68 percent of Japanese believe that the United States and Britain should not attack Iraq. Yet, in debates in the Diet, neither Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi nor Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi utter anything more than tepid responses such as: "Japan cannot...
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2003

Shiokawa slams banks' capital plans

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa criticized the nation's top banks Tuesday for planning to increase their capital through third-party stock allocations.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 5, 2003

Tokuyama to defend WBC title

World Boxing Council super flyweight champion Masamori Tokuyama will defend his title against sixth-ranked Japanese Katsushige Kawashima on June 23 at the Yokohama Arena, Tokuyama's fight promoter said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2003

Seventy firms team up in 3D gambit

Sharp Corp., Sony Corp. and 68 other companies said Tuesday they have set up a consortium to jointly develop 3D display technologies. The 3D Consortium will be coordinated by five core firms -- Sharp, Sony, Sanyo Electric Co., NTT Data Corp. and Itochu Corp.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Politician's aides held over unreported funding

Two aides to House of Representatives member Takanori Sakai were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of failing to report some 120 million yen in political donations from a supporter over a period of several years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 5, 2003

Not just another pretty spaz

Singer-songwriter Rhett Miller, who is in Tokyo for a few days plugging his album "The Instigator" is feeing encouraged. "I told my manager I wanted to come back in May with a band," he says between sips of green tea at the offices of Warner Music Japan. During a solo acoustic showcase the night before...
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2003

Fast Retailing sales down 26.8%

Fast Retailing Co., a casual-clothing retailer known for its Uniqlo brand, said Tuesday that sales in the first half of its business year through Feb. 28 dropped 26.8 percent on a same-store basis from a year earlier.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Ezoe: portrait of a fall from grace

Just prior to his arrest in 1989 and amid mounting public criticism of his alleged bribe-paying, Recruit Co. founder Hiromasa Ezoe thought he'd "rather die" than be detained, according to sources close to him.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 5, 2003

Yokohama's Furuki ready for stardom

The start of the season may be four weeks away, but there's one player everyone should keep an eye on.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 5, 2003

Steve Turre: "One 4 J"

Consider the "bone," as it's called among the jazz tribe. A vestige of ancient orchestras, fighting for survival amid competition from sultry saxophones, sweet clarinets and red-hot trumpets, the lumbering, awkward "bone" has always quavered near extinction. We're talking, of course, about the trombone,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 5, 2003

Q & Not U

Few words in the English language contain the letter q without the letter u (Iraq and Qi Gong being two exceptions). And in Washington D.C.'s thriving underground scene, very few bands lack some resemblance to hometown heroes Fugazi or any other post-hardcore project from the mind of Ian MacKaye.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Crackdown eyed on lock-pickers

People found in possession of lock-picking tools may face criminal charges if they cannot give a valid reason for having them, according to a bill approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2003

Toyota to launch Avensis in Japan

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it will introduce the new Avensis, a strategic car model developed for the European market, in Japan this fall.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2003

Monetary base up 12.6% to 93.02 trillion yen

Japan's monetary base was 93.02 trillion yen in February, up 12.6 percent from a year earlier and rising for the 25th consecutive month, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 5, 2003

Definitive Jux

When Rawkus Records and Quannum Projects were sucked into Universal's corporate black hole last year, the breadth of so-called underground hip-hop shrank considerably. Whatever such a grab means for music in general, it inadvertently boosted the street cred of the scene's most aggressively indie label,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2003

Honda turns attention to skies

Entering the robot business with its Asimo humanoid, Honda Motor Co. is now trying to advance into a new field with its newly developed engine for small aircraft.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2003

NTT fees unlikely WTO matter

Telecommunications minister Toranosuke Katayama dismissed on Tuesday the suggestion that the U.S. would go to the World Trade Organization over access fees charged by NTT for use of Japan's telephone infrastructure.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 5, 2003

Dave Fiuczynski: "Kif"

As with the music of many virtuosos, it is possible to become overwhelmed by Dave Fiuczynski's electric-guitar technique and his unique tonal pallette. After the Law of Diminishing Returns sets in, many amazing aspects of his playing might fly past the ears of many listeners. Fortunately, "Kif," with...
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Ruling bloc, opposition lawmakers defer Oshima spat to pass budget

Putting their spat aside for the time being, the ruling and opposition camps got together in the House of Representatives on Tuesday to approve an 81.79 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2003.

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