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Japan Times
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Feb 1, 2003

Hiroshima's long-neglected cuisine brought to the fore at Shinjuku store

Hiroshima Prefecture's natural beauty and abundance of marine life are almost always upstaged by the tragedy that befell its capital in 1945.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Economy top priority: Koizumi

Admitting that the Japanese economy is struggling to find a way out of the recession, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made clear Friday that reviving the economy will be his top priority for this year, declaring he will take "all available policy measures" to fight deflation.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Sogo announces plan to join Seibu under a holding firm

Sogo Co. President Shigeaki Wada announced Friday that the department store chain will merge its operations with those of Seibu Department Ltd., its bankruptcy-rehabilitation sponsor suddenly experiencing its own difficulties.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Key consumer-prices gauge slides for third consecutive year

The key gauge of consumer prices fell a record 0.9 percent in 2002 for the third straight year of decline, the government said Friday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Mizuho told to boost loans to small firms

The Financial Services Agency on Friday ordered Mizuho Holdings Inc., the world's largest banking group in terms of assets, to increase loans to smaller companies and submit guidelines for doing so by the end of this month.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 1, 2003

Sakae Ishikawa

"Since my work is theoretical, I like to think I am part of the academic world," Sakae Ishikawa said. "Whether I can call myself a scholar or not is a delicate question."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 31, 2003

Coca Restaurant: Fun food in funky retro style

There is precious little architecture left in central Tokyo these days that has any history attached to it. So when restaurants want to imbue their premises with a period feel, mostly they just have to fake it. The results can range from ersatz Edo-style castles to flimsy, film-set backdrops glorifying...
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2003

Thorough inspection must come first

The U.N. search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has turned up no conclusive evidence that it is developing or possessing these deadly arms. But the inspectors have also reported to the U.N. Security Council that Baghdad has given them only limited cooperation during the past two months and that...
MORE SPORTS
Jan 31, 2003

Takahashi to follow coach Koide

Olympic marathon champion Naoko Takahashi said Thursday she will leave the Sekisui Chemical athletics team and continue to train with her longtime coach Yoshio Koide.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

Assemblyman admits raping hostess

A Tokyo metropolitan assemblyman pleaded guilty Thursday to raping and injuring a woman at a hotel in Shinjuku Ward in November, retracting previous statements he had made over the case.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

Hiroshima island may host night drills

The government may shift noisy night-flying drills by U.S. Navy warplanes to an uninhabited island in Hiroshima Prefecture and away from the Atsugi air base in Kanagawa Prefecture, defense sources said Thursday.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 31, 2003

Perryman says Toda has the pedigree for the Premiership

LONDON -- It has been a mixed week for Japan in the Premiership. One player has arrived, one is on his way back from injury while the former national coach was beaten to the Republic of Ireland job by someone few people outside Ireland had ever heard of.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 31, 2003

Dokic holds off Widjaja at Toray Pan Pacific Open

Yugoslav Jelena Dokic overcame a sluggish start to beat Indonesian Angelique Widjaja in straight sets in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open on Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

FTC orders Iwamisawa to curb public works role

The Fair Trade Commission on Thursday ordered the city of Iwamisawa in Hokkaido to take action aimed at curbing its excessive involvement in city-sponsored public works projects.
COMMENTARY
Jan 31, 2003

War drums making al-Qaeda restless

ISLAMABAD -- Across the Mideast, the fact of life remains that violence breeds more violence. Thus the warning by Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah that al-Qaeda terrorists may stage retaliatory attacks if the United States leads a war against Iraq cannot be ignored. Speaking on the sidelines...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2003

Mimura to take reins at Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel Corp. said Thursday that Akio Mimura, one of its six executive vice presidents, will be promoted to president April 1, succeeding Akira Chihaya.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2003

Sogo finishes court-ordered rehab drive

Sogo Co. said Thursday the Tokyo District Court has certified that the department store chain, which went under in 2000, has successfully completed legal rehabilitation procedures under the Civil Corporate Revival Law.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2003

Hitachi dropping losers to enhance profits

Hitachi will drop money-losing businesses that now bring in 1.6 trillion yen in annual sales for the Japanese electronics maker in an effort to return to profitability.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2003

FTA with ASEAN gets mixed reviews

About half of Japanese companies operating in other Asian economies expect positive effects from a possible free-trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, according to a survey released Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

Icicle brings bullet trains to a halt

OSAKA -- The Tokaido Shinkansen Line linking Tokyo and Osaka ground to a halt Thursday morning after an icicle shorted out a power line, Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) said.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2003

Outstanding JGBs forecast to hit 929.9 trillion yen

The outstanding balance of government bonds by March 31, 2017, the end of fiscal 2016, will amount to 929.9 trillion yen if deflation continues and economic growth remains sluggish through the end of fiscal 2006, according to a Finance Ministry estimate released Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

Court strikes down Ishihara's bank tax

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday supported a lower court decision invalidating a controversial tax imposed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on major banks, ordering Tokyo to return 162.87 billion yen collected from 17 banks in fiscal 2000 and 2001.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

Loan-sharking cases hit record high in 2002

Police acted last year on a record 238 cases of loan-sharking or unauthorized lending, in which a record 122,000 people were victimized, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2003

Lifetime of missed chances

LONDON -- On Jan. 22, two of the world's leading powers celebrated the 40th anniversary of a remarkable reconciliation. At the historic Palace of Versailles, France's President Jacques Chirac and Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder toasted a treaty signed in 1963 by their visionary predecessors, Charles...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

Fueling U.S. planes that attack is legal: official

U.S. aircraft receiving fuel provided by the Self-Defense Forces and subsequently attacking Iraq would not constitute an act of collective defense, Osamu Akiyama, Cabinet legislation bureau director general, said Thursday.

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’