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BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Appliance sales off 2% in January

January sales of home electrical appliances at big retailers fell 2.16 percent year-on-year to 197.7 billion yen, the fifth drop in a row, the Nippon Electric Big-Stores Association said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Mitsui staff found guilty of rigging bids

The Tokyo District Court sentenced two Mitsui & Co. employees Tuesday to suspended one-year prison terms for rigging bids for a project that used official aid money.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Teacher molester gets token term

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court sentenced a 51-year-old former junior high school teacher to a suspended 30-month prison term Tuesday for molesting a 13-year-old female pupil last October.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Isetan business plan looks to cut workers, boost profit

Isetan Co. said Tuesday it will try to boost its operating profit to 15 billion yen in fiscal 2005 from an estimated 10 billion yen in fiscal 2002 under a three-year business plan featuring drastic cuts in personnel costs.
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2003

Asia losing a great leader with the departure of Kim

MANILA -- As resident representative of the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation for six years in South Korea, I was given the honor of meeting Kim Dae Jung on several occasions both as leader of the opposition and as president. Kim is internationally renown primarily as a political and economic reformer and...
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2003

Trans-Atlantic arrogance defeats unity

LONDON -- One of the most depressing features of the past few weeks has been the arrogance displayed by political leaders. With some leaders, power goes to their heads. They are surrounded by sycophantic underlings and protected by posses of security guards. The media are bludgeoned by press offices...
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Firebombing goes awry as man sets self alight

OSAKA -- A man tried Tuesday to torch the Osaka branch of Tokai Tokyo Securities Co. in Chuo Ward but instead set himself ablaze before fleeing, police said.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Opposition parties to call for change in budget for 2003

Four opposition parties agreed Tuesday to jointly urge the government to make changes worth 1.7 trillion yen to the 81.79 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2003 submitted to the Diet in late January.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Cabinet chimes in on antideflation expectations

Cabinet ministers voiced expectations Tuesday that the government and the Bank of Japan will cooperate more closely to combat deflation following Monday's nomination of Toshihiko Fukui as the new BOJ chief.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 26, 2003

Freed jazz

Musicians can be extraordinary in so many different ways. John Coltrane was on a radical quest for enlightenment until the day he died. Bill Evans could voice chords in ways no one else ever imagined. Like a cat, Theolonius Monk could step off an edge and always land on his feet. And Miles Davis? You...
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Sony's Nobuyuki Idei and six others offered Keidanren roles

Seven business leaders, including Sony Corp. Chairman Nobuyuki Idei, 65, and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. President Norio Wada, 62, have been asked to become vice chairmen of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), sources at the group said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Gates courts LDP leadership over 'e-Japan' deal

In an unprecedented attempt to encourage the Japanese government to adopt Windows for a planned electronic government project, Microsoft Corp. founder and Chairman Bill Gates said Tuesday that he will reveal Microsoft's most tightly guarded secret -- the operating system's source code.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

BOJ nominations ready for Diet panels

The ruling parties are expected to present the government's choice for the next Bank of Japan governor to the steering committees of both Diet chambers Wednesday, according to coalition lawmakers.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

48.8% of homes have Net-capable devices: ministry

2002 saw 48.8 percent of the nation's households sporting Internet-capable electronics equipment, according to the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 26, 2003

Sonny Landgreth: "The Road We're On"

Sonny Landreth's new release, "The Road We're On," marks a new peak for slide-guitar playing. Though blues guitarists often slip a bottleneck, roll a cut-metal tube or scrape a knife blade along the strings, only a few players become full-time slide masters.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Kawaguchi backs new Iraq proposal

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi expressed support Tuesday for a resolution submitted to the U.N. Security Council by the United States and Britain that seeks the green light for military strikes against Iraq, stressing the need for the international community to apply diplomatic pressure on Baghdad....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 26, 2003

The Go-Betweens: "Bright Yellow Bright Orange"

At a time and in a place where the jangly iconoclasm of The Smiths held sway, the off-center pop songs of the Go-Betweens should have been chart contenders, but the group's popularity never grew beyond a cult. Some attribute the cool response to the fact that they were strangers in a strange land; Aussies...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 26, 2003

No sex please, we're pacifist

Sex and war. These two universals are, like their cousins death and taxes, woven into the very fabric of human history. And next week both the battle to procreate and the desire to dominate will be on the receiving end of ridicule as groups around the world -- and at least two in Tokyo -- give readings...
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Japan plays down North Korean missile provocation

The government tried Tuesday to play down the impact of North Korea firing a surface-to-ship missile into the Sea of Japan, saying launches of short-range missiles do not violate the Pyongyang Declaration.
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2003

Challenges for Mr. Roh Moo Hyun

South Korea continues its impressive transition to genuine democracy this week with the inauguration of Mr. Roh Moo Hyun as the country's 16th president. Mr. Roh could be a pivotal figure in South Korean history, perhaps even more significant than the man who preceded him, Mr. Kim Dae Jung. If the new...
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Intellectual property panel planned

A task force led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will be set up on March 1 to formulate a strategy on patents and other intellectual property with a view to giving the Japanese economy a helping hand.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 26, 2003

Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Tim Sparks:"Masada Guitars"

'Masada Guitars" finds three very unusual and accomplished guitarists -- Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Tim Sparks -- interpreting the simple, elegant tunes from John Zorn's Masada songbook. Zorn began composing this material in 1993 and, by the time he finished, he'd written 208 of his most lyrical songs....
MORE SPORTS
Feb 26, 2003

Shibui to miss Nagoya Marathon

Yoko Shibui, who injured her left knee while training in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, will miss the upcoming Nagoya Marathon, sponsors said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 26, 2003

Theatrical history in the making

This production is the stuff of theater history: Don't miss it. That, essentially, is all that needs to be said about the miraculous new staging of "Pericles" by Yukio Ninagawa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 26, 2003

Bright Eyes: "Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground"

Connor Oberst has hidden under the moniker Bright Eyes for more than five years now, but he began recording in 1994 at the ripe old age of 14. From the start, his salted-wound confessionals and distraught delivery left precious little middle ground between fans and detractors. Some made him out as the...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji