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Japan Times

Dowa Holdings chief to join panel

The government has appointed Hirokazu Yoshikawa, chairman and chief executive officer of nonferrous metals manufacturer Dowa Holdings Co., to the Government Revitalization Unit effective Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Tuesday. Yoshikawa, 67, will replace Kazuo Inamori, honorary chairman of Kyocera Corp., who stepped down from the post at ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:47 PM

'Cove' Oscar won't end Taiji dolphin kill

TAIJI, Wakayama Pref. — The gala crowd in Los Angeles cheered as "The Cove" won the best documentary Oscar with its grisly portrayal of dolphin slaughter. But residents of this small port shown in the film abhorred the attention and said it will not end their centuries-old tradition. Residents of ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:46 PM

Trucker busted with 260 stolen undies

SAGA (Kyodo) Kenichi Ikeda of the city of Nagasaki has carried around three bags and a secret he could not tell his family at home — inside the bags were hundreds of women's undergarments that he had stolen over 10 years, police said. Police arrested the 36-year-old truck driver, who ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:45 PM

Takeda, Daiichi Sankyo eyeing flu vaccines

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Daiichi Sankyo Co. are each considering producing vaccines for new and seasonal influenza, a move that would likely sharply increase supplies of domestically produced vaccines, sources said. The companies are considering commencing production as demand for influenza vaccines is expected to grow amid the spread of ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:44 PM

Key index on state of economy recovers pre-Lehman Shock level

The key gauge of the current state of the economy rose 2.5 points in January from the previous month, recovering to a level not seen since before the collapse in September 2008 of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which triggered the global financial crisis, a government survey showed Tuesday. The composite ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:43 PM

Sony to launch 3-D Bravia TVs

Sony Corp. said Tuesday it will begin selling 3-D televisions in Japan starting in June, pinning its hopes on the latest technology to help regain the lead in a market now dominated by South Korean rivals. The Japanese electronics giant also said it will aim to sell about 25 million ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:42 PM

UAW: spare NUMMI

NAGOYA (Kyodo) The vice president of the largest U.S. autoworker union visited the headquarters of Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday, urging the carmaker to rethink its decision to shut its Fremont, Calif.-based factory, Toyota officials said. United Auto Workers Vice President Bob King issued the appeal in a meeting with ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:41 PM

Non-English schools hope for aid

Private international high schools where English is not the language of instruction are hoping they will be eligible for planned annual subsidies of ¥120,000 per student, according to school officials. Unlike at more expensive English-based international schools, the subsidies, which would be disbursed at the discretion of the education ministry, ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:40 PM

Kids at pro-North high schools fret tuition waiver snub

For Om Kwan Ja, excluding "chosen gakko" pro-Pyongyang schools from the government's tuition-waiver program would mean more than just having to shell out extra cash for her kids' education. It's a problem that touches on her family's identity, especially for her son, who is studying at Tokyo Korean Junior & ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:39 PM

Shipment of nuclear waste arrives from U.K.

OSAKA — The first delivery of at least 850 canisters of high-level radioactive vitrified waste arrived Tuesday morning by ship from the U.K. in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, where it will sit in storage for decades before being buried deep underground. Antinuclear activists argue that with no local government yet willing ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:38 PM

Maehara: Ozawa clouding DPJ's 'historic mission'

Scandal-tainted Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa should consider stepping down, given the party's need to fulfill its "historic mission," land minister Seiji Maehara suggested Tuesday. "Japan's first-ever change of government in the postwar period took place amid a sense of crisis that the country would go into ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:37 PM

JAL taking applications for early retirements

Japan Airlines Corp. said Tuesday it will start soliciting early-retirement applications Thursday from rank-and-file employees and midlevel managers aged 35 and older at its key flight-services arm, Japan Airlines International Co. JAL, the nation's biggest airline, which filed for bankruptcy protection Jan. 19, said it will seek applications from ground ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:36 PM

Japanese game show takes the world by storm

LONDON — A Japanese game show is taking the world by storm by becoming one of the top TV formats of recent times. "Hole in the Wall" originally started off on Fuji Television Network in Japan, but has been sold now in more than 40 countries across. Executives lay the ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:35 PM

Honda to build second cycle plant in India

Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday it will boost its motorcycle production in India to meet robust local demand by building a second plant there. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned local unit of the company, aims to operate the planned facility in an industrial area in ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:34 PM

Former Mitsui chief to head JFTC

Shoei Utsuda, chairman and former president of trading house Mitsui & Co., will take over as chairman of the Japan Foreign Trade Council from May 31, replacing Marubeni Corp.'s Nobuo Katsumata, according to a release from the group. Utsuda stepped down as president of Mitsui last year. JFTC is the ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:33 PM

North Korea 'creates midrange missile unit'

SEOUL (AP) North Korea has recently created an army division in charge of newly developed intermediate-range missiles capable of striking U.S. forces in Japan and Guam, a South Korean news agency said Tuesday. The report came as North Korea stepped up its war rhetoric against the U.S. and South Korea ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:32 PM

Toyota experts challenge faulty electronics claim

WASHINGTON (AP) Toyota, dogged by millions of recalls and claims that it still has not fixed its safety problems, took its strongest step yet Monday to silence critics who blame faulty electronics for runaway cars and trucks. Toyota assembled a group of experts in a bid to refute studies by ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:31 PM

Pop vocalist Nakamura in stimulant bust

Koichi Nakamura, vocalist for the Japanese pop group Jaywalk, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stimulant possession, police said. Police found a small amount of amphetamine in a car parked in Tokyo's Minato Ward at around 2:20 a.m., while questioning the 59-year-old musician, who was inside the vehicle, they said.

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:30 PM

Admitting worst-kept secrets all about timing?

The Democratic Party of Japan-led government effectively dragged the skeletons in the closet of postwar Tokyo-Washington diplomacy out into the light Tuesday, in the process exposing the hollowness of its predecessor administrations' long denials. Some critics, however, question the timing of the DPJ-initiated panel's report, alleging it is just a ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:29 PM

Secret pacts existed; denials 'dishonest'

Secret pacts on nuclear arms and other issues were reached between Japan and the United States during the Cold War, a Foreign Ministry panel concluded Tuesday, effectively ending the government's decades-long official denial. While the pacts have already been exposed through U.S. declassified documents and other sources, the panel's investigation, ...

Posted on March 9, 2010 at 8:28 PM