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JAPAN
Jul 27, 2004

Mob figure owns up to overseeing loan-sharking enterprise

A mob figure accused of masterminding one of the nation's most extensive loan-sharking rings pleaded guilty Monday before the Tokyo District Court.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2004

Man gets suspended term for illegal stay

A Bangladeshi man suspected of having links to alleged al-Qaeda member Lionel Dumont was handed a 30-month sentence Monday, suspended for five years, for violating immigration laws.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2004

Iraqi clerics laud Japan's role in reconstruction

Senior Iraqi clergymen expressed gratitude Monday for Japan's reconstruction efforts in their country and asked for further support in the fields of medicine, electricity and the media.
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2004

DPJ's fortunes are rising

In the July 11 Upper House election, the opposition Democratic Party of Japan made dramatic gains, winning more seats than the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (50-49). The DPJ also surpassed the LDP in the proportional representation bloc of November's general election. With the two parties dominating...
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2004

Like NTT phone fee, line brokers face extinction

Kanji in the window of a three-story building near JR Okachimachi Station in central Tokyo advertise "denwa tokubai" (discounted telephone lines).
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 27, 2004

Know the law

You might have noticed the dragnet in Japan these days.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 26, 2004

Separate but equal acts of reconciliation

NEW YORK -- In "My Life" (Knopf, 2004), former U.S. President Bill Clinton writes: "Elizabeth Eckford, who at 15 was deeply seared emotionally by vicious harassment as she walked alone through an angry mob, was reconciled with Hazel Massery, one of the girls who had taunted her 40 years earlier."
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 25, 2004

Kabuki star in Fuji TV's "Tuesday Special" and more

On July 25, kabuki star Nakamura Kankuro will wrap up a historic weeklong run in New York City. Though Kankuro has performed in New York before, this time he brought his portable Heisei Nakamura-za theater and had it erected in the plaza of Lincoln Center.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 24, 2004

Morio Matsui

In times of difficulty and pain, Morio Matsui says he has always been saved by his painting.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 21, 2004

Too deep for tears

Greece has been buzzing with excitement following the Euro 2004 victory and before the countdown to this summer's Olympics. When I arrived in Athens on July 1, it looked like the whole city was being given a long overdue clean-up. After strolling around the Acropolis gardens where people were chatting...
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2004

Boy extorts 1 million from classmate

A Japanese sixth grader bullied a classmate into giving him more than 1 million over several years so he and his friends could buy video games, fishing gear and snacks, an official said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 21, 2004

Back and in full effect

Summer festivals are always rich with reunions and resurrections. What better way to jump-start a sagging reputation, cap a triumphant return or herald a new chapter in an artist's career?
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 20, 2004

Bill of rights

As the government moves to beef up the country's military preparedness, once again the issue of the protection of foreigners' rights has been raised.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2004

Going global with civic virtues

How do we instill civic virtue in the global marketplace to civilize and tame it so that we arrive at the place where the market serves the people instead of where people are served up to the market? Around half of the world's 100 largest economies are private companies. This gives the private sector...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jul 18, 2004

Candela rise above definitions of East and West

Japanese culture is famed for importing artistic forms and converting them to new patterns, but one local group of foreign musicians is trying to reverse that trend. Candela, a group of four American musicians with diverse musical backgrounds, creates jazz-based music with Japanese melodies; folk tunes...
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2004

Homeless team heads for Sweden to battle in second futsal world cup

Thirty years of ups and downs -- the last five of which he has spent living in a park -- have not rusted Takashi Ito's ball-control skills as much as he had thought they would.
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2004

MTFG exec sees mutual benefits from UFJ merger

The chairman of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi said Thursday he sees a planned merger between Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. and UFJ Holdings Inc. as being mutually beneficial.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2004

Kobe, Osaka vie to be home where Buffaloes, Orix may jointly roam

OSAKA -- The proposed merger between the Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix BlueWave has not only shaken the baseball world but also heated up the rivalry between Osaka and Kobe for economic, social and cultural dominance of the Kansai region.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2004

U.S. presence in grillings unfair scrutiny?

In late May, a 24-year-old U.S. Navy sailor at the Yokosuka Navy Base in Kanagawa Prefecture was arrested for drunk driving after bumping his car into another outside the base, slightly injuring a child inside the vehicle that was hit.
COMMENTARY
Jul 15, 2004

Prepare for post-Koizumi era

HONOLULU -- Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro took a beating in last Sunday's Upper House elections. While his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost seats, the real blow seems to be the prime minister's loss of rapport with voters. The magic is gone, and that means his leverage within the party is shrinking....
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2004

Mr. Koizumi survives a rebuke

One salient feature of Sunday's Upper House election is that voters displayed a delicate sense of balance, just as they have before in national elections. In effect, they sharply rebuked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for making light of public opinion, but stopped short of punishing him so severely...
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2004

Peace group protests activists' arrest, beating by cops

An umbrella organization of 51 citizens' groups that has staged peace marches in Tokyo lodged a protest Tuesday over the arrests of three participants in one such walk in Shibuya Ward earlier this month, displaying video footage of one of them being repeatedly beaten by police.
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2004

Majority of election victors back deployment of SDF to Iraq

More than half of those elected in Sunday's House of Councilors election support or condone Japan's deployment of troops in Iraq, while almost four in 10 have flawed pension payment records, according to a Kyodo News survey.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2004

Ultraeasy monetary policy to stay despite steady growth

The nation's recent steady economic growth will not immediately lead to a tighter monetary grip by the Bank of Japan due to the inherent time lag between a recovery and a turnaround in deflation, BOJ Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jul 14, 2004

Down by the river

Tucked behind a gas station on a side street out near the Sumida River, a 12-minute walk from the nearest subway station, the Shinkawa Building is not the easiest place to find on Tokyo's art map. But the nondescript two-story structure is a worthwhile visit for anyone interested in Japanese contemporary...
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2004

LDP setback could deal a blow to Koizumi's diplomacy efforts

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's diplomatic policies on Iraq and North Korea could take a knock due to the setback experienced by his dominant Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday's House of Councilors election.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2004

EU leaders face voters' wrath

LONDON -- George Orwell once called soccer a substitute for war. Looking at the recently finished European Championship held in Lisbon, one might well call it a political metaphor. What happened on the pitch during the monthlong tournament was an uncanny reflection of what is happening on a wider and...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2004

DPJ cleans up as LDP falls shy

The Democratic Party of Japan scored big gains in the House of Councilors election Sunday and was poised to outperform Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party in the number of seats won.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat