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JAPAN
Jul 12, 2002

Government sees 'incipient recovery'

The government on Thursday upgraded its economic assessment on the back of brisk exports and improved production but warned that downside risks to the economy are increasing.
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2002

Fuel tank worry spurs MMC recall

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Thursday it is recalling 674 cars produced between Nov. 12, 2001, and this May 24 due to fears over defective fuel tanks.
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2002

Tax official caught evading taxes

A former head of the Sapporo Regional Taxation Bureau was sentenced Thursday to 14 months in prison for evading some 250 million yen in income tax.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Jul 12, 2002

Cultivating tradition

Seventeen boys and girls from Furusawa Elementary School are up to their shins in mud. June is the traditional rice-planting month in the Isumi area of Chiba Prefecture and for the past three years, the local fifth-graders have tried their hands at planting rice the old-fashioned way.
EDITORIALS
Jul 11, 2002

Africa asks, what's in a name?

After nearly four decades, the Organization of African Unity is no more. The OAU, founded in 1963, was dissolved this week. It was reborn as the African Union with the same membership and the same ambitions. Fortunately, there is one big difference between the new organization and the old one: The AU...
COMMENTARY
Jul 11, 2002

China holds Taiwan independence card

HONG KONG -- Beijing's unremitting struggle to keep Taiwan from straying onto the independence path continues unabated, with Lions Club International, or LCI, providing the latest battleground.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2002

Bad loans, job woes cloud China's 'rosy' future

Hardly a week goes by these days without Japanese companies advancing into China to tap its low labor costs or to gain a foothold in the huge market.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2002

Hijack fugitives want to return

Red Army Faction fugitives who hijacked a Japan Airlines jetliner to Pyongyang in 1970 released a statement Wednesday calling on Tokyo to set up talks for their possible return to Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Jul 11, 2002

Japan's carmakers tooling up for China

BEIJING -- Zhao Xue Bo, an international relations researcher at Beijing Broadcasting Institute, a national university, has been saving money for some time to buy a new car.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 11, 2002

Yakult's Hodges shows he's worthy of all-star status

YOKOHAMA -- Kevin Hodges gave an early All-Star performance Tuesday night as the Yakult Swallows beat the Yokohama BayStars 6-1 at Yokohama Stadium.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2002

Teen dies as Typhoon Chataan nears

Typhoon Chataan claimed its first victim in Japan as it threatened to strike the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture by early Thursday, the Meteorological Agency said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2002

NTT to launch Web chat service

NTT Communications Corp. said Wednesday it will start a new Web chat service in which animated characters augment written messages.
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2002

Honda to export cars from China

The president of Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday his company will set up a joint manufacturing plant in the Chinese coastal city of Guangzhou to produce and export small cars to the rest of Asia, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 11, 2002

Owners OK Fighters' move to Sapporo

The Nippon Ham Fighters' move from Tokyo to the Hokkaido capital of Sapporo was finalized Tuesday when Japanese baseball owners unanimously gave the green light to the Pacific League club's plan.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2002

Bureaucrats should have free hand on memos: panel

Foreign Ministry bureaucrats' memos on their contacts with lawmakers do not have to be cross-checked by the legislators for fact confirmation, an advisory panel on reforming the ministry agreed Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Jul 11, 2002

Osaka's peaceful heart

In 1972, two years after the Japan International Exposition in Osaka, redevelopment work began on the site. The result, eight years later, was the 260-hectare Expolands Green Oasis, which has now matured into a wonderful parkland with a wide range of attractions and facilities.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2002

EU envoy urges greater cooperation

The European Union and Japan should work together more closely on common international agendas, such as securing peace in the Middle East and reconstructing Afghanistan, to keep the the United States from taking a unilateral approach, EU Ambassador to Japan Ove Juul Jorgensen said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2002

FSA eyes ways to encourage regional bank tieups

The government will consider injecting public money into merged regional financial institutions to boost their capital bases to encourage regional banks and credit associations to merge, the Financial Services Agency said Wednesday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 11, 2002

Permanent status and foreign driving licences in Japan

Reader AEB from Kyushu writes: "I am single, have lived here in Japan for almost 10 years, and have a stable job. I hope to apply for permanent residency. I heard that you must have lived here for 10 years consecutively, or be married to a Japanese national.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
Jul 11, 2002

'Happoshu' price war seen taking toll on brewers

It was just a regular Friday, but lovers of beerlike beverages found an excuse for another round as the country's major breweries marked down their versions of "happoshu."
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2002

Ruptured sewage pipe floods USJ restaurant

OSAKA -- A sewage pipe ruptured in a restaurant in the Universal Studios Japan amusement park, prompting Osaka health officials to investigate, people familiar with the incident said Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 11, 2002

Obando's 'sayonara' home run hands Fighters sweep over Buffs

Sherman Obando belted a game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday night as the Nippon Ham Fighters gave their dwindling number of fans one last hurrah before the All-Star break begins.
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2002

Bond issuance cap may be abolished

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi suggested Wednesday he may abolish the 30 trillion yen cap on new government bond issues in the fiscal 2003 budget.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Jul 11, 2002

Factors in U.S., Japan cloud stock outlook

Fears of another huge terrorist attack in the U.S. shrank after Independence Day on July 4. But terrorism is just one of many bearish factors affecting stocks.
COMMUNITY
Jul 11, 2002

Keep those cards and letters coming, folks

When customers sound off about problems, good companies listen, even in Japan
MORE SPORTS
Jul 11, 2002

Ex-WBA champ 'Celes' to retire

Former World Boxing Association super-flyweight champion Shoji "Celes" Kobayashi has decided to hang up his gloves, the head of Tokyo's Kokusai boxing gym revealed Wednesday.

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’