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BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2003

Hiranuma stresses import of WTO meeting

An upcoming informal World Trade Organization ministerial talk in Montreal is important for the success of a full ministerial meeting to be held in Cancun, Mexico, in September, trade minister Takeo Hiranuma said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2003

Cabinet questions opposition merger

Several Cabinet ministers questioned on Friday the planned merger between the two main opposition parties, with one likening it to the sudden breakup of a now-defunct opposition party in 1997.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2003

Chongryun tax breaks face hard scrutiny

OSAKA -- For nearly half a century, the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun) has been the primary voice of the North Korean community in Japan, representing nearly 200,000 people.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2003

Killers in U.S. rely on mercy of Mexico

LOS ANGELES -- Anabella Vara was pregnant at 14 and married at 15, and by the time she was 21 she was living in fear. On Valentine's Day 1999 her husband, Daniel Perez, looped a rope around her neck and tried to strangle her. She and her 5-year-old son fled to her parents' house, but two months later...
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2003

Pension system in crisis, 2000, 2001 data show

Unpaid national pension premiums for fiscal 2000 and 2001 amounted to 1.88 trillion yen, and employers were 430 billion yen behind in corporate-based pension scheme dues as of the end of fiscal 2001, the Social Insurance Agency said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2003

Coalition paves way for approval of SDF-Iraq bill

The ruling coalition rammed a government-proposed bill to send Self-Defense Forces to Iraq through a House of Councilors committee Friday evening amid resistance from the opposition, paving the way for final Diet approval of the controversial legislation.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2003

Keidanren chief seeks reform ideas

OYAMA, Shizuoka Pref. -- Business leaders should take the initiative in pushing structural reforms aimed at reinvigorating the stagnant economy, Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2003

June trade surplus plunges 30.7%

The trade surplus dropped 30.7 percent in June from a year earlier to 846 billion yen, marking its first fall in three months as exports sputtered, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2003

Political donations to get murkier?

The ruling coalition's new proposal on corporate donations to political parties would probably conceal the identities of most donors, according to a recent Kyodo News study.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2003

DPJ targets watchdog official over insurance merger role

The Democratic Party of Japan filed a criminal accusation Wednesday against Financial Services Agency Commissioner Shokichi Takagi, blaming him for trying to pressure Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. to consolidate with an ailing life insurance firm last year.
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2003

Revolution's legacy at risk

PARIS -- After endless debate, which led for several weeks to huge strikes -- mainly in the transportation system -- and massive demonstrations, the French Parliament has largely approved, in spite of opposition from most unions, a bill reforming the laws on retirement. It will have two major effects:...
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2003

Fund in slain peacekeeper's name continues to push peace

The legacy of U.N. peacekeeper Yutaka Akino continues five years after he was shot dead in Tajikistan.
COMMENTARY
Jul 22, 2003

Foot-in-mouth disease spreads among pols

LONDON -- Foot-in-mouth politicians are a major cause of public disillusionment with politics. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, not only has a bad reputation for attempting to interfere in the legal process, but also for making stupid and embarrassing gaffes. His latest gaffe at the European...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2003

Net sidesteps ban on leaking personal info

After police took a junior high school student into custody earlier this month in the July 1 slaying of a 4-year-old boy in Nagasaki, a raft of information appeared on the Internet about the 12-year-old suspect -- in the face of a general ban on the media divulging data on minors involved in crimes....
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jul 20, 2003

Yokoyama's ship finally comes in

Ken Yokoyama is crazy.
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2003

'Kenpo' deficit widens

Japan's health insurance system for private-sector employees (Kenpo) is sinking deeper into deficit. It is estimated that eight of 10 health insurance associations booked losses in fiscal 2002. At this rate, an increase in insurance premiums seems inevitable.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 19, 2003

Matsuzaka, Takahashi on Nagashima's wish list

Seibu Lions right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka and Yomiuri Giants outfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi were among 33 professional players recommended Thursday for the Japanese national baseball team for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Sapporo this fall.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2003

Top court rules against moneylender

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that commercial moneylender Lopro Corp. effectively charged too much interest on loans that its affiliate charged fees to guarantee.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2003

Cemetery for war dead has identity crisis

Summer for many Japanese is a time that conjures up bitter memories of the nation's Aug. 15, 1945, defeat in the war -- a conflict that claimed millions of lives and left a number of cities devastated.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2003

Loose talk in chat room costs operator

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered the operator of an Internet chat room to pay a total of 4 million yen to a cosmetics firm and its head because content on one of its message boards defamed them.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2003

Foreign drugs urged for Alzheimer's

A health ministry research group has come out with the nation's first medical guidelines on Alzheimer's disease, recommending the government allow pharmaceutical firms to introduce two foreign-made drugs in Japan as soon as possible, researchers said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2003

Play on Constitution's birth now timely

Since its birth in 1947, the Constitution has always been a target for revision, primarily because it was drafted by Americans rather than Japanese.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2003

JCP forced to admit to more public drinking rules

Top executives of the Japanese Communist Party were embarrassed again Wednesday following a newspaper report revealing an internal party document that strictly outlines the behavior of party members when they drink outside their homes.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2003

Japan must think outside the box if it hopes to get ahead: creativity guru

Japan needs to set up a "Ministry of Creativity" to think its way out of the economic slump it has endured for a decade, according to the world's leading authority in the field of creative and conceptual thinking.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat