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EDITORIALS
May 14, 2002

Suffer the children

The United Nations has decided that the world's 2 billion youngest citizens need healthier, more peaceful lives. To do that, member states last week cobbled together an action plan that sets ambitious goals -- yet failed to create a consensus on how to get there. It will take considerably more than lofty...
BASEBALL / MLB
May 14, 2002

Nakamura, Buffs hand Matsuzaka first loss

Norihiro Nakamura homered twice to drive in three runs Monday and Katsuhiko Maekawa held the Seibu Lions to five hits over 8 2/3 solid innings as the Kintetsu Buffaloes won their second straight with a 3-1 victory in the Pacific League.
SUMO
May 14, 2002

Maru remains unbeaten, Kaio, Musoyama fall to upsets

Yokozuna Musashimaru barreled over Toki just in time to remain unbeaten Monday but ozekis Kaio and Musoyama both were toppled to their first losses of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Rain could leave seriously ill people stranded: study

Extremely heavy rain once in five years would block access to key roadways, increasing the number of seriously ill patients unable to reach major medical facilities within one hour by 2.27 million, according to a government scenario.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Dream Jumbo lottery tickets go on sale

Tickets for the Dream Jumbo lottery went on sale nationwide Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Toyota's record-setting profits top 1 trillion yen

Toyota Motor Corp. announced Monday that its consolidated pretax profits jumped 14.5 percent from last year to a record 1.113 trillion yen during the 2001 business year, becoming the first Japanese company ever to post pretax profits exceeding 1 trillion yen.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Mitsubishi Pharma profits up 229%

Mitsubishi Pharma Corp. said Monday that its group net profit soared 229.4 percent to 8.99 billion yen in fiscal 2001 due to cost-cutting and the U.S. government's authorization of a resumption of shipments from a U.S. plant.
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Sex-determining gene of fish detected

A group of researchers has detected a gene in a Japanese freshwater fish that determines male sex, according to the group's thesis published Monday in Nature magazine.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Koizumi vows to keep pursuing privatization in second year

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has told a British financial newspaper that his top priorities for his second year in office are to privatize the postal services and public organizations, including Japan Highway Public Corp., and to accelerate the disposal of banks' bad loans.
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Coast guard to bolster ties with SDF

The Japan Coast Guard is ready to work more closely with the Self-Defense Forces to deal with unidentified suspicious ships after such a ship sank in the East China Sea in December after a shootout with patrol boats, the coast guard said in an annual report released Monday.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Itochu, Hitachi to team up on info systems development

Hitachi Ltd. and Itochu Corp. said Monday they have agreed to form a comprehensive alliance in the information technology sector.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WHALE WATCHING
May 14, 2002

Japan seen polishing its harpoons

Japan's official in charge of whaling issues is optimistic that the prowhaling contingent will continue to make inroads at the International Whaling Commission talks in progress in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Fourth cow infected with BSE

A Hokkaido cow was confirmed Monday to be infected with mad cow disease, the fourth case in Japan since September, health ministry officials said.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Jiji Press announces new president

Jun Sakakibara, 62, a senior managing director of Jiji Press Ltd., has been named president and chief executive officer of Japan's leading news agency, Jiji Press said Monday.
BUSINESS / TAKING STOCK
May 14, 2002

Tokyo market has lots of room to recover

The benchmark Nikkei average has been moving between 11,000 and 12,000 for nearly two months in the absence of strong incentives to drive the market either up or down.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2002

Time for U.S. to scrap Cuba embargo

FREDERICKSBURG, Virginia -- In his travels around Cuba this week former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will meet a friendly, resilient people who have bravely withstood the stupidity and cruelty that have emanated from both sides of the Straits of Florida.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
May 14, 2002

Let Alex run free up front

Japan strikers are a delicate bunch. Atsushi Yanagisawa went down with "Beirut Belly" during the Asian Cup in 2000 and has not touched a kebab since.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Core machinery orders declined 6.2% in March

Core private-sector machinery orders fell 6.2 percent in March, reverting to minus territory after rising in February for the first time in three months, the Cabinet Office said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Cull whales, avoid waste: researcher

With decades of whale research under his belt, Seiji Ohsumi, director general of the Institute of Cetacean Research, was around when Japan ceased commercial whaling and is now at the forefront of the nation's push to resume the program.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Toray's group net profit plunges

Toray Industries Inc., a manufacturer of synthetic fibers, said Monday its group net profit plunged 77.6 percent to 3.8 billion yen in the fiscal year ended March 31 as overall demand weakened amid the severe business environment.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Keidanren debut no joking matter

Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., an Osaka-based entertainment management company, will join the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), Chairman Takashi Imai said Monday.
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Statues in Iran challenge theories on Buddhism's spread

OSAKA -- A Japanese scholar said Monday he believes the discovery of 19 Buddha statues at an ancient site in Iran challenges current theories on the spread of Buddhism.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

IY Bank admits double-billing 4,000 accounts for bank fees

IY Bank, the banking unit of retailer Ito-Yokado Co., said Monday that 4,000 accounts were erroneously double-billed for monthly fees.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

MMC returns to black after two years of losses

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. on Monday reported a return to the black for the first time in three years, posting 11.3 billion yen in consolidated net profits in the 2001 business year.
JAPAN
May 14, 2002

Former trading house official gets seven years

OSAKA -- Shinya Takeuchi, a former official of Yuasa Trading Co., was sentenced Monday to a seven-year prison term for swindling the Tokyo-based trading house out of about 5.72 billion yen through fictitious deals.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
May 14, 2002

Handover of Okinawa to Japan was prickly issue

Tsuyoshi Sakurai remembers when Japan allocated 1 billion yen to Okinawa in its first financial assistance package in fiscal 1962, when the islands of the Ryukyus were still under U.S. rule.

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’