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Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2003

Expressway plans get green light

The government and ruling coalition on Monday endorsed a privatization scheme for semigovernmental expressway operators that effectively fails to put the brakes on the completion of unfinished sections of the planned 9,342-km thruway network.
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2003

Convenience store sales down again

Sales at convenience stores in Japan dropped 0.7 percent in November from a year earlier on a same-store basis, marking a ninth straight monthly decline, the Japan Franchise Association said Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2003

Ministry vows immediate steps to improve correctional system

The Justice Ministry announced Monday it will act immediately to improve the correctional system and prison conditions, including taking steps to reduce inmates' mandatory work hours, allow outsiders to visit prisons and revamp all padded cells.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2003

Ground troops may go to Iraq next month

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has decided to send a unit from the main contingent of the Ground Self-Defense Force to Iraq late next month at the earliest to help with rebuilding efforts, government sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2003

Is Kim sweating over dictator's capture?

HONOLULU -- Intelligence agencies from Seoul to Singapore would pay dearly for the answer to perhaps the most intriguing question in Asia arising from the capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein: What does the "Dear Leader" of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, who, like Hussein, is a charter member...
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Dec 21, 2003

Big steps for Tokyo's little jazz labels

Independent labels have always been a mainstay of the Tokyo jazz scene, but this year saw a bumper crop of good music coming from small labels. While many of these artists' recordings can only be found at their shows, stacked up neatly on fold-up tables at the back of the club, a number of the larger...
MORE SPORTS
Dec 21, 2003

Secom's escape is Sanix's heartbreak

Rugby fans in Tokyo found out on Saturday what Tongans and New Zealanders have known for years -- just how inspirational a player Inoke Afeaki is.
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2003

Devil of amity lurks in free trade details

SINGAPORE -- The decision at the Japan-ASEAN summit on Dec. 11-12 to create a new "special relationship" between the two may be historic, but the economic free-trade areas that will provide its foundation look like long shots. Japanese efforts are likely to be frustrated by the same political forces...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2003

Backer's arrest is egg on DPJ man's face

Shingo Nishimura, a House of Representatives member of the Democratic Party of Japan, wrote an essay expressing his gratitude for help in his election campaign in a magazine published by a man arrested Friday in connection with three shooting attacks.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2003

Six arrested over shooting attacks on Aum, union offices

Tokyo police arrested six people Friday in connection with three shooting incidents targeting offices of Aum Shinrikyo in Tokyo and Osaka, as well as a shooting at a teachers' union office in Hiroshima, for which a rightist group claimed responsibility.
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2003

Iraq and Japan's far right

If you think Japan's right wing is inevitably pro-American then think again. Over policy on Iraq and the Middle East, the gap between the conservative rightwingers, who support the United States, and their ideological kin on the extreme right is about as wide as it can get.
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2003

Juggling act obscures real threat

The two ruling parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, earlier this week agreed on plans to shore up the faltering pension system for private-sector employees. The package calls for painful adjustments beginning in fiscal 2004: higher premium rates and lower benefit levels. What is missing...
SUMO
Dec 19, 2003

Fujinishiki dies of kidney failure

Former komusubi Fujinishiki, also known as sumo elder Takasago, died of kidney failure Wednesday evening, his family said Thursday. He was 66.
EDITORIALS
Dec 18, 2003

Lame explanations for SDF dispatch

The Diet, although in recess, discussed the Iraq issue on Monday and Tuesday. The debate followed the government's decision last week to send ground troops to Iraq and, of course, Sunday's breaking news of the capture of Saddam Hussein. The government's answers, however, proved mostly unconvincing.
Japan Times
Events
Dec 18, 2003

U.K. journalists upbeat on economic outlook

Japan may still face some serious economic problems in the months and years to come, but the way the government and the financial authorities have handled the economy in the last 12 months mean there is today a great deal more hope for a sustainable recovery, according to five British financial journalists...
Events
Dec 18, 2003

Question of SDF being sent to Iraq divides panelists

The British journalists taking part in the Keizai Koho Center symposium had the opportunity to meet with Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi during their one-week visit to Japan, with the issue of the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq one matter that came up in their discussions.
COMMENTARY
Dec 18, 2003

Conservatives smell an upset

LONDON -- A transformation has taken place on the British political scene, and it is one that could have profound effects on the wider European landscape as well as on trans-Atlantic relations. The nature of this change can be summed up in two words -- Michael Howard. This is the man who has now emerged...
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2003

BOJ monetary policy intact; ABS program under review

The Bank of Japan Policy Board left its monetary policy intact Tuesday, though it moved to review a program to buy asset-backed securities from financial markets.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 16, 2003

Tax Commission urges tobacco-tax shift

The government's tax panel suggested Monday transferring tobacco tax revenues from the national government to local governments as a temporary measure in fiscal 2004.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 16, 2003

'Shut-ins' turn backs on Japan

To look at 29-year-old Kenji Tanaka laughing and drinking with his friends, it's hard to believe that he spent the best part of his twenties cut off from almost all human contact.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2003

Japan Highway chief pitches autonomy

Japan Highway Public Corp. must be legally empowered to make its own decisions on expressway construction and stand on a par with the government when it is privatized in fiscal 2005, new Japan Highway President Takeshi Kondo said Monday.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 14, 2003

Toasting the top of 2003's pop

It's been a fantastic 12 months for rock 'n' roll. Any of the top 10 albums listed here could easily have taken the No. 1 spot in a different year. Buy (or burn) them all. The only surprise was that, bar Kings of Leon, none of the new garage-rock upstarts hitching a lift on "The White Strokes" bandwagon...
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2003

Alleged abductee's remains sought by son

Japan will ask North Korea to return the remains of Shoji Terakoshi, who disappeared while fishing in the Sea of Japan in 1963, a senior Foreign Ministry official has told a family member.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2003

Prize curbs an own goal for lotto?

The National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health, which operates the J. League soccer lottery, is worried about poor ticket sales.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2003

ASDF advance team to be sent to Qatar, Kuwait

Japan plans to send a 10-member Air Self-Defense Force advance team to Qatar and Kuwait on Dec. 25 under a special law that allows for the dispatch of Japanese troops to aid the reconstruction of Iraq, according to government sources.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2003

Arroyo upbeat about FTA with Japan

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expressed optimism Friday toward the conclusion of a free-trade agreement with Japan, as the Philippines has no intention of entering Japan's sensitive rice market.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2003

Debate on privatizing highway firms nears crunch

Decision time is looming in the battle between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and parties with vested interests in expressway construction.

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