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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDEN PATHS
Feb 27, 2003

Plants of blooming passion

On a gray February day, gardeners may be looking at colorful seed catalogs or even holiday brochures, dreaming of a trip to a tropical island. But this week it's time to leave your armchair gardening, because the tropics have come to Tokyo. The Japan Grand Prix International Orchid Festival offers a...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 27, 2003

How much pain can your brain take?

Japanese TV became famous abroad in the 1980s and created an image of Japan for outsiders that still lingers. The shows were the gaman taikai (endurance contests), where members of the public carried out tasks in which they suffered pain: The winners were the ones who endured the most.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2003

Application time limit for asylum may be scrapped

The government plans to scrap a widely criticized rule that says refugee applications can only be accepted within 60 days of an individual's arrival, according to a draft bill.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2003

Agency calls for repair of reactor cracks

Cracked pipes in nuclear reactors owned by three power utilities must be repaired or replaced before the reactors are put back into operation, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2003

Skylark posts 1.16 billion yen net loss

Skylark Co. said Wednesday it posted a group net loss of 1.16 billion yen in the business year to Dec. 31. The chain of family restaurants attributed the deterioration, which marks a reversal from a profit of 5.85 billion yen in the previous year, to an extraordinary loss of 31.73 billion yen, mainly...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
Feb 27, 2003

Avoiding the 'mojibake' bugaboo

...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Yamaguchi fraud appeal rejected

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday trimmed six months off former Labor Minister Toshio Yamaguchi's four-year prison sentence for fraud and embezzlement.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 26, 2003

Slow start for Godzilla

TAMPA, Fla. -- Hideki Matsui went 0-for-2 in his first intrasquad game with the New York Yankees.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

25 municipalities ended '01 in red

Twenty-five municipalities and affiliated organizations were in the red on their ordinary account balance sheets in fiscal 2001, according to a central government survey released Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Cleanup of palace moat yields just two bluegill

Contrary to initial predictions, the cleanup of Ushigafuchi moat at the Imperial Palace that began Tuesday yielded just two small bluegill, government officials said.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Appliance sales off 2% in January

January sales of home electrical appliances at big retailers fell 2.16 percent year-on-year to 197.7 billion yen, the fifth drop in a row, the Nippon Electric Big-Stores Association said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Mitsui staff found guilty of rigging bids

The Tokyo District Court sentenced two Mitsui & Co. employees Tuesday to suspended one-year prison terms for rigging bids for a project that used official aid money.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Teacher molester gets token term

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court sentenced a 51-year-old former junior high school teacher to a suspended 30-month prison term Tuesday for molesting a 13-year-old female pupil last October.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Isetan business plan looks to cut workers, boost profit

Isetan Co. said Tuesday it will try to boost its operating profit to 15 billion yen in fiscal 2005 from an estimated 10 billion yen in fiscal 2002 under a three-year business plan featuring drastic cuts in personnel costs.
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2003

Asia losing a great leader with the departure of Kim

MANILA -- As resident representative of the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation for six years in South Korea, I was given the honor of meeting Kim Dae Jung on several occasions both as leader of the opposition and as president. Kim is internationally renown primarily as a political and economic reformer and...
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2003

Trans-Atlantic arrogance defeats unity

LONDON -- One of the most depressing features of the past few weeks has been the arrogance displayed by political leaders. With some leaders, power goes to their heads. They are surrounded by sycophantic underlings and protected by posses of security guards. The media are bludgeoned by press offices...
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Firebombing goes awry as man sets self alight

OSAKA -- A man tried Tuesday to torch the Osaka branch of Tokai Tokyo Securities Co. in Chuo Ward but instead set himself ablaze before fleeing, police said.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Opposition parties to call for change in budget for 2003

Four opposition parties agreed Tuesday to jointly urge the government to make changes worth 1.7 trillion yen to the 81.79 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2003 submitted to the Diet in late January.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Cabinet chimes in on antideflation expectations

Cabinet ministers voiced expectations Tuesday that the government and the Bank of Japan will cooperate more closely to combat deflation following Monday's nomination of Toshihiko Fukui as the new BOJ chief.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 26, 2003

Freed jazz

Musicians can be extraordinary in so many different ways. John Coltrane was on a radical quest for enlightenment until the day he died. Bill Evans could voice chords in ways no one else ever imagined. Like a cat, Theolonius Monk could step off an edge and always land on his feet. And Miles Davis? You...
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Sony's Nobuyuki Idei and six others offered Keidanren roles

Seven business leaders, including Sony Corp. Chairman Nobuyuki Idei, 65, and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. President Norio Wada, 62, have been asked to become vice chairmen of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), sources at the group said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Gates courts LDP leadership over 'e-Japan' deal

In an unprecedented attempt to encourage the Japanese government to adopt Windows for a planned electronic government project, Microsoft Corp. founder and Chairman Bill Gates said Tuesday that he will reveal Microsoft's most tightly guarded secret -- the operating system's source code.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

BOJ nominations ready for Diet panels

The ruling parties are expected to present the government's choice for the next Bank of Japan governor to the steering committees of both Diet chambers Wednesday, according to coalition lawmakers.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

48.8% of homes have Net-capable devices: ministry

2002 saw 48.8 percent of the nation's households sporting Internet-capable electronics equipment, according to the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry.

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