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JAPAN
Jan 11, 2003

Imperial Couple attend 2003 lecture

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko attended an annual New Year's lecture Friday at the Imperial Palace covering language, material science innovations and genetic research, the Imperial Household Agency said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2003

Jobless fear for future, survive on savings

When Mamoru Kawasaki, 45, was forced to leave a well-known information technology company in March, he had heavy housing debts and a family of five to support, but also enough savings to live on for the time being.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 11, 2003

Luigi Cerantola

It is unusual to meet someone so unconventional as professor Luigi Cerantola. He has impeccable credentials in his publications of poetry, art and literary criticism, and in his collaborations with musicians for opera librettos. He presents himself with whimsy as a maverick who has a nonconforming wry,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 11, 2003

The 'risutora' blues: Music that won't go away

I have been "restored."
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2003

Security guard's 1970s abduction reads like novel

Police intercepted suspicious coded radio messages to and from a North Korean ship near the Noto Peninsula in 1977, shortly before security guard Yutaka Kume was apparently abducted nearby, sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jan 11, 2003

Japan will release oil stocks in event of Iraq war

Japan is ready to release its oil stockpiles, in line with other countries, if war breaks out in Iraq, industry minister Takeo Hiranuma said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Jan 11, 2003

Style, taste, color of Kyoto brought directly to Tokyo

If you want to learn some of the secrets of the ancient capital of Kyoto without leaving Tokyo, visit Kyoto-kan in the Akasaka district.
BUSINESS
Jan 11, 2003

Economic gauge indicates a state of contraction

The key gauge of the current state of the economy dipped below the boom-or-bust line of 50 percent in November for the first time in 10 months due chiefly to a decline in industrial output, the government said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2003

Japan, Russia defense chiefs to meet

Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba will pay a four-day visit to Moscow from Monday and hold talks the following day with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, the Defense Agency said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jan 11, 2003

Takeda Chemical forges U.S. link

...
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2003

Domestic, overseas travelers to fall 0.3% in 2003, JTB predicts

The number of Japanese traveling to domestic and overseas destinations this year will fall 0.3 percent to 335.82 million, according to an estimate by travel agency JTB Corp.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 11, 2003

Prepared to stand by his principles, pay the price

Francis Higashiki is on the move, passing through Tokyo's Hamamatsucho on his way to Haneda Airport. He works near Oita in Kyushu, in a home for 35 abused children. "After the war, orphanages were full of orphans. Now most children have parents, but sadly there is so much domestic violence."
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 10, 2003

Buffs open vault for Nakamura

OSAKA -- Norihiro Nakamura signed a free-agent deal with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes on Wednesday, becoming the highest-paid Japanese baseball player with an estimated annual salary of 500 million yen for 2003 plus incentives.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

Abduction suspect gathered military info

A Korean resident in Japan suspected of having been involved in the abduction of a Japanese national in 1977 is also believed to have gathered military information for North Korea, investigative sources said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2003

A shot in the arm or in the foot?

The economic package unveiled by U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday, coming on top of a huge tax cut announced last summer, is proof that the Bush administration is determined to revive the U.S. economy, which is still ailing from the collapse of a stock-market bubble. The stimulus plan is also...
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

Chief of Osaka finance firm held over investment scam

OSAKA -- The head of an Osaka finance company known as the Swiss Private Fund and former executives of the firm and an affiliate were arrested Thursday for allegedly violating the investment deposit and interest rate control law.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

ATM smash-and-grabs on the rise

More thieves are using heavy machinery to steal cash from automated teller machines, with the number of incidents increasing to 57 in 2002 from 48 the previous year, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

'Pride' organizer in apparent suicide

A company president who organized "Pride" mixed-martial arts matches has been found dead in a Tokyo hotel in an apparent suicide, police said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

Tone-deaf creator didn't cash in but ain't singin' the blues

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Pref. -- Back when Daisuke Inoue was a youngster banging drums with a local lounge band, he didn't think his invention for singalong soundtracks and a portable microphone would amount to much.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

Probe into Takefuji expanded

OSAKA -- The labor ministry on Thursday expanded its investigation into consumer finance company Takefuji Corp. on suspicion it forced staff to work overtime and failed to pay wage premiums, according to ministry officials.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2003

Asahi Mutual may abandon tieup plans

Struggling Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. may scrap plans to team up with nonlife insurer Millea Holdings Inc. in 2004, Asahi officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

Deadly drug reached 296 before approval

OSAKA -- A cancer drug blamed for more than 120 deaths in Japan was administered to 296 patients before the health ministry approved it last July, with one dying of side effects in May, pharmaceutical company officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2003

Honda ends Corolla's 33-year reign

The Honda Fit compact took over the title of the nation's best selling car in 2002, a position held by the Toyota Corolla for 33 straight years, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association 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’