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BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 19, 2004

Kiyohara cracks two homers

Veteran Kazuhiro Kiyohara belted a pair of homers Thursday to power the Yomiuri Giants to a 9-3 win over the Seibu Lions in baseball preseason action.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
Mar 19, 2004

Firms expecting market for digital SLR cameras to explode

Confined to professionals and top-end amateurs thus far, the market for digital single-lens reflex cameras is expected to explode this year with the release of more affordable models.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2004

Future of Taiwan at stake in elections

NEW YORK -- No less than the future of Taiwan is at stake in the presidential election Saturday. If President Chen Shui-bian is re-elected, Taiwan's move toward becoming an independent state will accelerate and the Taiwan-China impasse will harden. If the Lien Chan/James Soong ticket wins, China will...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2004

Roh's fate hangs on political pulse

SEOUL -- The always contentious South Korean political scene was shattered last week with the impeachment of the sitting president, Roh Moo Hyun, with both Korea watchers and Koreans themselves who take their young democracy very seriously caught off guard.
COMMENTARY
Mar 19, 2004

Phantom fears of inflation

LONDON -- Could inflation return as the curse of global economic progress? After years of relative price stability -- and in some countries, such as Japan, price decline and deflation -- could the old threat rise, like Dracula, from the grave where most people assumed it was safely interred, and drain...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2004

Blossom, blossom, briefly everywhere

Yes, the sakura has for ages been the favorite of our people and the emblem of our character. . . . But, its nativity is not its sole claim to our affection. The refinement and grace of its beauty appeal to our aesthetic sense as no other flower can. Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933), from "Bushido" (1900) ...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2004

Tanaka's daughter seeks fines for publisher

The daughter of Diet lawmaker Makiko Tanaka has sought a court order forcing a publisher to pay fines of 30 million yen for every day that a weekly magazine featuring an article about her private life remains on store shelves, it was learned Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 19, 2004

Stefano: Faustro conjures up magical Veneto cucina

You don't have to go far in Tokyo to track down good Italian food. Virtually every neighborhood boasts its own ristoranti and trattorie these days, many of them with impeccable standards. The problem is, though, the places with the best cucina tend to be overhyped and overpriced, overweening or simply...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2004

'Fink-on-a-foreigner' Web site hit as xenophobic, faces review

The Justice Ministry will review a controversial Immigration Bureau Web site where people can anonymously report suspicious foreigners who might be illegal aliens.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2004

A victory for terrorists in Spain

Terrorists won an important victory last week in Spain. A series of bombs exploded in trains and rail stations in Madrid, killing some 200 people and injuring nearly 1,500 others. Al-Qaeda has taken credit for the savage attacks, saying Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's support for the war against terror...
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Japan detainee meets family in China

A Japanese man detained in China for allegedly engaging in smuggling people by helping them flee from North Korea has met members of his family, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Chinese rejected over suspect papers

Immigration authorities have denied entry permission to about 150 Chinese, suspecting their application papers may have been forged, sources said Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 18, 2004

Valentine speaks his mind in preseason game

The season hasn't even started yet and Chiba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine is already getting hot under the collar.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Terror-at-sea bill wins approval

A House of Representatives committee unanimously approved a bill Wednesday to tighten measures aimed at countering terrorist attacks on ships and ports.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Panel floats suspension for surgeons

A health ministry panel recommended Wednesday that two surgeons involved in a fatally botched prostate cancer operation in November 2002 be suspended from practicing medicine for two years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2004

Booming manufacturers reward workers

Automakers, electronics firms and other manufacturers responded Wednesday to wage-increase demands from their labor unions, with Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. fully meeting them.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Court halts weekly over story on Tanaka daughter

The latest issue of Shukan Bunshun was removed from newsstands Wednesday after the Tokyo District Court ordered a temporary injunction barring the sale of the Japanese-language weekly magazine.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Blood centers get creative to lure donors

Mitsuko Kobayashi often gave blood at local Red Cross centers as a young girl, because her mother said she should try to help people. But after giving birth two years ago, she found such trips difficult with a child in tow.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

'Manga' spins Japan's forex intervention as evil U.S. plot

The plot is sinister: Officials in Washington conspire to keep the dollar low and force Japanese authorities to intervene in the exchange market to buy the U.S. currency -- not to save vulnerable Japanese exporters from the dangers of a high yen, but to keep the U.S. economy from sliding.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Ex-governor's daughter handed suspended term

The Tokyo District Court handed a suspended prison term Wednesday to the daughter of a former Saitama governor for violating the Political Funds Control Law.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 18, 2004

Miyazato picks up Academic Award

The Japan Golf Association on Wednesday named Tohoku High School senior Ai Miyazato the Academic Award winner, honoring her as the most valuable student golfer in 2003 in the high school division.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

LDP, Komeito turn up heat on Pyongyang

Officials of the Liberal Democratic Party and its ruling bloc partner, New Komeito, reached a final agreement Wednesday on proposed legislation that would allow Japan to ban port calls by North Korean ships.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Obituary: Cid Corman

Cid Corman, an American poet, editor and translator who lived in Japan for nearly 40 years, has died after suffering a heart attack, his coeditor said Wednesday. He was 79.
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2004

Obituary: Masami Kogayu

Masami Kogayu, former vice finance minister, died Tuesday of heart failure at his home in Tokyo. He was 72.
EDITORIALS
Mar 18, 2004

Burden of the Kanebo bailout

Following weeks of tortuous bailout talks that put the notion of corporate governance to shame, the government's Industrial Revitalization Corp., or IRC, last week unveiled a huge rescue package for Kanebo Ltd., the troubled cosmetics firm that has looked like a rudderless ship all the while. What lies...

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.