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BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2001

Drug firms Taisho, Tanabe won't merge after all

Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. and Tanabe Seiyaku Co. have given up their plan to integrate under a single holding company due to differences in corporate culture, the two companies said Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / THE WRITERS' SPIN
Dec 4, 2001

'Dull' firms blamed for slump

Many people blame the government for the nation's prolonged economic slump. But business consultant Tadashi Saegusa believes companies that delay internal restructuring are the prime culprits.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2001

Cabinet stock plan may be dropped

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda on Monday hinted the government will give up a controversial proposal to remove a 12-year-old ban on Cabinet ministers engaging in stock transactions.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Lawmakers cautiously back female ascension

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday that although he thinks a female member of the Imperial family should be allowed to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne, there should be no rush to amend the male-only succession law, which dates back to the early postwar period.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2001

Moody's mulls downgrade for Japan Finance

Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Monday it has assigned a domestic currency issuer rating of Aa2 to the governmental Japan Finance Corp. for Small Business (JFS) and has placed the entity under review for a possible downgrade.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Teen murderer of four to hang

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the death sentence for a man convicted of murdering four members of a family during a robbery in Chiba Prefecture in 1992 when he was 19 years old.
BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT
Dec 4, 2001

Dreaming of starting your own business?

"I want to go out on my own and start a business," a new acquaintance confessed the other day, "but then I look around at other people who've done it, and I hesitate. It really bugs me that I can't pick out what makes one person a success and another a washout. There just doesn't seem to be any rhyme...
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Postal officials admit role in election scam

OSAKA -- Former high-ranking officials of the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry pleaded guilty Monday to charges of violating the Public Offices Election Law to help their former boss win election to the House of Councilors in July.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

TV station settles with leader of biker gang

TV station settles with biker leader OSAKA -- TV Osaka reached an out-of-court settlement with a former motorcycle gang leader on Monday by expressing regret for arranging performances that led to his prosecution for road law violations.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2001

EU overtures to Cyprus rattle Turkey

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- When you cross the "green line" between the Cypriot and Turkish-occupied parts of the city, you enter a zone that has frozen in time since war stopped on this eastern Mediterranean island 27 years ago.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 3, 2001

Japan sees chance to advance after World Cup soccer draw

PUSAN, South Korea -- Japan got a break in the draw for next year's World Cup finals on Saturday after being drawn to face Belgium, Russia and Tunisia in the first round.
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 2001

Mr. Misuari's ill-timed tantrum

Muslim insurgents are once again fighting in the Philippines. Bandits and criminals who justify their activities by invoking Islam have been all too active in recent months, but the large-scale uprising earlier last month could signal a resumption of a conflict that was thought to have ended five years...
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2001

A year on, Kim's dream still unrealized

SEOUL -- South Korean President Kim Dae Jung will enjoy his trip to Europe. For 11 days, until Dec. 12, he can turn his back on merciless domestic politics, which have been causing him so many headaches. South Korea's president is far more popular beyond the borders of his country than among his own...
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 3, 2001

Antlers battle back for draw

FUKUROI, Shizuoka Pref. -- First-stage winner Jubilo Iwata and second-stage winner Kashima Antlers played to an entertaining 2-2 draw in the first leg of the J. League Championship finals at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa on Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2001

Afghanistan: another tragedy in the making

First Kosovo, now Afghanistan. In Kosovo, the election victory of moderate ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova shows the bankruptcy of the Western, mainly U.S., policymakers who had tried to impose their own solutions. Expect similar mistakes over Afghanistan.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2001

Join forces in the fight against deflation

Japan is suffering from a rare illness that many countries wish they could catch. The economy has more production than demand can absorb. Are savings too high or is consumption too low?
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2001

Politicos back female ascension, see hurdles

Most leaders of the ruling and opposition parties who spoke up Sunday supported revising the current male-only succession rules of the Imperial family, which resurfaced in the public spotlight after the Crown Princess gave birth to a girl Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 3, 2001

Tamuro Cherry tops fillies' G1

Dark horses toppled the top picks Sunday at Hanshin Racecourse as seventh choice Tamuro Cherry and ninth pick Arrow Carry raced to a one-two finish in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies.
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2001

Management buyouts find favor as restructuring tool

Management buyouts, a form of corporate acquisition in which management teams invest in the acquisition financing, have exceeded 100 billion yen so far this year, eclipsing the record of 40 billion yen set in 2000.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2001

Jiang unleashes revolutionary change

CAMBRIDGE, England -- There is a long tradition in China of requiring the people to study the words of their political leaders. In the late 17th century, the whole population of China was required to come together in small groups twice a month to study and recite the "16 moral maxims" published by the...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2001

Debate likely on Imperial succession rules

The birth of a baby girl to the Crown Prince and Princess on Saturday, the first in the couple's 8 1/2-year marriage, is likely to refuel debate within political circles over whether the Imperial House Law should be revised to allow the nation to have a reigning empress.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2001

Nation rejoices over birth of princess

Imperial family members, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and others on Sunday extended congratulations to the Imperial parents and grandparents of a baby girl born Saturday to the Crown Princess -- the first baby in her 8 1/2-year marriage to the prince.
EDITORIALS
Dec 2, 2001

Birth of an Imperial princess

A new baby is always cause for rejoicing, but the birth of a child to the Crown Prince and Princess on Saturday comes as especially bright news at this somber time. In an instant, the symbolic value of the monarchy -- sometimes doubted or forgotten -- becomes clear again. For a brief, shining moment,...
COMMENTARY
Dec 2, 2001

Chirac's competitive edge

PARIS -- So far, 10 men and two women have entered the race for the French presidential election in April and May. Only one of them has a small chance of being present in the second round -- Jean-Pierre Chevenement, former socialist minister for domestic affairs, whose hostility to the European Union,...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2001

Uptick noticed in N. Korean economy

LONDON -- There is a bustle on the streets of Pyongyang that has been sorely missing for at least five years. The shops -- never consumers' havens -- have some goods on the shelves. Restaurants on Changgwang Street, North Korea's pale equivalent of Tokyo's Ginza, are open and serving. Even street vendors...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2001

Blow away Big Tobacco's smoke screen

In an interconnected world, we're seeing ways that globalization may help or hinder our lives. Take the tobacco industry: It is using innovative means to bypass fledgling government tobacco control policies, particularly in developing countries. It is riding a wave to open regional trade in East Asia...
COMMENTARY
Dec 2, 2001

Afghan unification looks impracticable

NEW DELHI -- In the name of nation-building, a new great game is unfolding in Afghanistan even before the retreating Taliban militia's capacity to hold on to the southeastern provinces has been crushed. The new game is premised on the supposed need to keep that landlocked country united through a broad-based,...

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even through immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’