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JAPAN
Aug 12, 2001

Koizumi will not go to Yasukuni Shrine, key LDP ally claims

Tetsuzo Fuyushiba, secretary general of the New Komeito party, a member of the ruling coalition, said Saturday he expects Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to cancel his plan to visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2001

Round two for Mr. Khatami

Iranian President Mohammed Khatami began his second term of office this week. Any hopes that his second landslide win might have chastened the country's conservatives were quickly put to rest in a last-minute power play. Mr. Khatami was supposed to have been sworn in last Sunday, but a dispute with hardliners...
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2001

Musharraf bravado won't stop the killing

ISLAMABAD -- In most parts of the world, a president's offer to grab a gun and go after the killers of a prominent businessman would raise eyebrows, to say the least. But in Pakistan, awash with illegal weapons, the bold words of President Pervez Musharraf did not surprise many people.
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2001

Path to Yasukuni is for the independent

On Aug. 15, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi plans to visit Yasukuni Shrine for the express purpose of paying homage to the souls of those who died during World War II and expressing his determination that Japan will never again seek to solve international disputes by military force.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Mabuchi cuts earnings projections

Mabuchi Motor Co. said Friday it has revised downward its group earnings projections for the year to Dec. 31, citing valuation losses on equity holdings.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Cabinet OKs caps on fiscal 2002 general spending

The Cabinet on Friday approved fiscal 2002 budgetary request guidelines that will cut general expenditures by some 900 billion yen to around 47.8 trillion yen, marking the biggest contraction ever.
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2001

G8's glaring contradiction

LONDON — The belligerent actions of the Italian state at Genoa last month were a declaration of war against young anticapitalist protesters. That, anyway, is how they were understood.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

BTM, Acom, three others establish loan joint venture

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, consumer credit firm Acom Co. and three other financial firms said Thursday they have set up a consumer loan joint venture.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Population increases despite record-low births

Japan's population was 126,284,805 as of March 31, up 213,500, or 0.17 percent, from a year earlier, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

KSD gets 100 million yen from LDP

The Liberal Democratic Party has provided 100 million yen on "moral grounds" to support scandal-hit KSD, a mutual-aid foundation for small firms, LDP Secretary General Taku Yamasaki said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Foreign teenagers leave following month exchange

Ten teenage students left Japan for their home countries earlier this week following a monthlong fact-finding tour in which they communicated with Japanese youths and among themselves in Japanese.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Reform of state-linked firms encounters stiff resistance

A government proposal to drastically overhaul government-backed corporations is facing resistance from the ministries and agencies that control them, according to a government report released Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 11, 2001

Playing chicken with telecommunication big boys

To some he is a hero. To others an anathema. For this writer, who lives in trepidation of meeting with Japanese CEOs because (sorry guys) they tend to be so predictable, Sachio Semmoto is a breath of fresh air.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Workers' views on economy worsen

A monthly survey of workers close to the man on the street shows that views on the current and future states of the economy are at their lowest since the survey was launched in January 2000, the Cabinet Office said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

War historian cuts past flag-waving gloss

Historian Tadatoshi Fujii has one main worry about today's Japanese: their ignorance of the basic facts about the Imperial armed forces and the nature of the wars they waged.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 11, 2001

Matsui leads Giants 7-1 over Yakult

Hideki Matsui of the Yomiuri Giants drove in five runs including a pair of two-run homers on Friday night, carrying the Giants to a 7-1 victory over the Yakult Swallows at the Tokyo Dome.
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2001

Koizumi's easy days are over

With Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's major victory in the Upper House election on July 29, Japanese politics has entered into a new phase.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

School absenteeism hits record high

The number of students absent from elementary and junior high schools for a prolonged period during fiscal 2000 increased by about 4,000, or 3.1 percent, from fiscal 1999, to hit a record 134,282, the education ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Economy deteriorating further

The government believes the economy is "further deteriorating" due chiefly to larger falls in exports and output plus a dip in investment.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

New top diplomat faces hurdles here and abroad

Taking bold steps to rebuild the Foreign Ministry after a series of scandals involving diplomats is the top priority for the new head of the bureaucracy, Vice Foreign Minister Yoshiji Nogami.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Japan to host global energy forum

Japan will host an international energy forum in Osaka next year to promote dialogue between oil-producing and oil-consuming countries, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

McDonald's unit sees profits fall

Nearly two weeks after its initial public offering, fast-food chain operator McDonald's Co. (Japan) Ltd. announced Friday that it posted 12.61 billion yen in pretax profits for the first half of this year, down 9.6 percent from a year earlier.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Koizumi re-elected as president of LDP

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was unanimously re-elected Friday afternoon as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, securing a full two-year term as head of the LDP.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Ex-UNEP official pushes business solutions to environment problems

Despite a sign of global economic recession, the private sector can help solve environmental issues by creating new business and stimulating the economy, according to Noel Brown, former director of the North American regional office of the United Nations Environmental Program.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

More relaxed vehicle inspections sought

A review of guidelines for automobile safety inspections saw a proposal Friday to lengthen the interval between mandatory checkups and scrap inspection items deemed nonessential or obsolete because of technological advances.

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’