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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 8, 2003

Walk-in freezer homes breed brutes

If you have never been inside a Japanese house, just imagine throwing a bunch of furniture, your computer and your TV into a walk-in freezer. Inhabitants walk around in special thick socks and "chan-chanko," traditional Japanese-style overcoats made for wearing inside the house. Walk into the bathroom...
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2003

Marubeni to dissolve China food unit

Trading house Marubeni Corp. said Friday it will dissolve its unprofitable Chinese subsidiary Tianjin Ronghong Sales & Distribution Co. by the end of fiscal 2002.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2003

Food safety bills aimed at restoring public trust

The Cabinet endorsed a set of bills Friday that seek to bolster food safety and protect public health in the wake of numerous recent scares.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2003

Ballet killer handed 15-year term

A ballet student was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison for fatally stabbing a Tokyo woman with whom he took dance lessons.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 7, 2003

Woodgate latest casualty in ongoing fire sale by Leeds

LONDON -- Little over a year ago Jonathan Woodgate was public enemy No. 1 in English football following his conviction for affray after an attack on a student, Sarfraz Najeib.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2003

Restart of Iwakuni civilian flights eyed

Japan and the United States agreed Thursday to begin talks on resuming civilian flights at the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Foreign Ministry officials said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

Kansai forum focuses on tourism hope

KYOTO -- Kansai needs to wake up and exploit its economic potential as an attractive tourist destination and center for industrial innovation, local business leaders said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

Cuts to guaranteed yields only hope for insurance industry

Keiko Horikoshi, 41, sought out a financial planner last month to make sense of her and her husband's life insurance coverage.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

Mitsubishi to sell LNG firm stake

Major trader Mitsubishi Corp. said Thursday it will sell its 15 percent stake in Malaysia LNG Sendirian Berhad, a liquefied natural gas manufacturer, to Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS), Malaysia's government-owned oil company.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

Home loan body to resell mortgages under draft law

The Government Housing Loan Corp. will be allowed to securitize and sell mortgages after buying them from private financial institutions, according to a proposal presented Thursday to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2003

Koizumi provides tacit support for U.S. attack

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi hinted Thursday that Japan would support a U.S.-led military offensive against Iraq "as an ally of the United States."
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

Kadokawa to buy film concern Daiei

Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. said Thursday one of its units will pay 1.44 billion yen to acquire the entire operations of film producer Daiei Co.
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Feb 7, 2003

Osaka survey follows ethnic lines

OSAKA -- While Osaka's foreign residents are divided on the need to provide information for medical services in foreign languages, they are in general agreement that schools should teach more about the history, language and culture of other countries.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2003

Convicted Aum figure's appeal nixed

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday turned down an appeal by a former senior Aum Shinrikyo figure who was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in the murder of one member and the cremation of another.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2003

Police draw more cyber attacks

Hackers made some 58,000 attempts to break into police computer systems from October to December, up 7,000 from the previous three-month period, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

Hitachi-Mitsubishi chip deal OK'd

Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. obtained approval Thursday from their shareholders on a plan to spin off and integrate their semiconductor operations under a joint venture to be set up April 1.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

METI to allow JNOC units to join operations

The government plans to let three Japan National Oil Corp. affiliates integrate operations as part of reforms to dissolve the money-losing state oil developer in two years, industry ministry officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2003

Farm chief sues publisher over allegation of corruption

Agriculture minister Tadamori Oshima filed a lawsuit Thursday against the publisher of a weekly magazine demanding 10 million yen in damages and a published apology over an article that alleged he worked inappropriately for the construction of a vocational school.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

METI, BOJ target credit crunch

The government and the Bank of Japan will jointly promote the securitization of small and midsize companies' credit receivable as a new funding tool to deal with the credit crunch, according to plans released Thursday at the Diet.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2003

Ancient voices, timeless tales brought back to life

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- "Thai" or "Tai"?
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2003

Court ruling hits estate of ex-Kyoto mayor

OSAKA -- The Osaka High Court on Thursday ordered the estate of a deceased former mayor of Kyoto to pay 2.6 billion yen to compensate the city for his 1992 role in the purchase of a piece of property at more than double the appropriate price.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2003

Emperor to leave hospital early

Emperor Akihito, who underwent a prostate cancer operation last month, will be released from the hospital Saturday afternoon, the Imperial Household Agency announced Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2003

Kissing not Japanese strong suit, Harlequin poll finds

The modesty widely viewed as a Japanese trademark was again apparent in a recently released survey on kissing, with only 29 percent of respondents rating their kisses an 8 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’