Yomiuri Shimbun/Daily Yomiuri articles from February 2009

Yomiuri Shimbun/Daily Yomiuri archives from February 2009

Nonregular workers axed hits 158,000.
February 28, 2009... Nonregular workers axed hits 158,000 Yomiuri Nonregular workers who have lost their jobs or will become unemployed during the October-March period number 157,806 throughout the country, more than five times the corresponding figure...

2 men held over burying Kochi woman's body.
February 28, 2009... 2 men held over burying Kochi woman's body Yomiuri KOCHI KOCHI--Two men from Kochi Prefecture were arrested Friday on suspicion of abandoning the body of a 27-year-old woman in a bamboo forest in Kochi, police said. The...

Middle, high school leaked Eiken English exam info.
February 28, 2009... Middle, high school leaked Eiken English exam info Yomiuri Three teachers of Ikubunkan Middle and High School in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, leaked information to enable their students to pass the Test in Practical English Proficiency,...

Olympus informant to seek redress / Company leaked name of.
February 28, 2009... Olympus informant to seek redress / Company leaked name of salesman, downgraded him to filing duties Yomiuri An employee of precision equipment maker Olympus Corp. who informed on his boss will file a case against the company over a...

Tissue from Bikini Atoll N-test victim uncovered.
February 28, 2009... Tissue from Bikini Atoll N-test victim uncovered Yomiuri HIROSHIMA HIROSHIMA--A science laboratory in Hiroshima is in possession of tissue samples believed to be from a Japanese sailor who died soon after being exposed to...

Man gets death penalty for killing 2 in Osaka.
February 28, 2009... Man gets death penalty for killing 2 in Osaka Yomiuri OSAKA OSAKA--A 59-year-old man was sentenced to death at the Osaka District Court on Friday, as was demanded by prosecutors, for robbing and killing a female Chinese student...

YIES / Collective self-defense concept 'must be redefined'.
February 28, 2009... YIES / Collective self-defense concept 'must be redefined' Yomiuri OSAKA OSAKA--The nation's right to collective self-defense should be reinterpreted in the context of strengthening Japan-U.S. relations, Shotaro Yachi, former...

Yomiuri, Wall Street Journal sign partnership agreement.
February 28, 2009... Yomiuri, Wall Street Journal sign partnership agreement Yomiuri The Yomiuri Shimbun signed a partnership agreement with The Wall Street Journal covering editing, printing and sales, in Tokyo on Friday. The signing ceremony at The...

Hamburg, Osaka mark 20 years as sister cities.
February 28, 2009... Hamburg, Osaka mark 20 years as sister cities Yomiuri OSAKA OSAKA--Hamburg and Osaka will mark the 20th anniversary of their sister city relationship in 2009 with a series of cultural and commercial events in both cities. ...

Musings / Feb. 26, 2009.
February 28, 2009... Musings / Feb. 26, 2009 Yomiuri The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun's Feb. 26 issue. * * * The most famous Japanese vacuum cleaner over the past decades is said to be the Fujin...

65% of doctors back kids' organ transplants.
February 28, 2009... 65% of doctors back kids' organ transplants Yomiuri Sixty-five percent of pediatricians surveyed by the Japanese Society of Emergency Pediatrics believe the current legal ban on organ transplants from brain-dead donors aged under 15...

A decade on, Organ Transplant Law falls short.
February 28, 2009... A decade on, Organ Transplant Law falls short Giko Sehata and Tatsuya Kimura / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers Yomiuri In the decade since the nation's first organ transplant from a brain-dead patient under the Organ Transplant Law...

Excessively strict rules make organ transplants difficult/.
February 28, 2009... Excessively strict rules make organ transplants difficult Yomiuri Although 10 years have passed since Japan's first organ transplant from a brain-dead donor was conducted under the Organ Transplant Law in 1999, transplantation of...

Rare-metal recyclers see viable business.
February 28, 2009... Rare-metal recyclers see viable business Yomiuri Workers carried about 10 cardboard boxes containing 120 kilograms of used electrical appliances into the warehouse of an industrial waste disposal company in Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture,...

Films should be about quality / TV stations' involvement d.
February 28, 2009... Films should be about quality / TV stations' involvement double-edged sword for movie industry Yoshikazu Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer Yomiuri The growing role TV stations are taking in financing and producing movies,...

30% of ambulance HQs lack stroke facility info.
February 28, 2009... 30% of ambulance HQs lack stroke facility info Yomiuri About 30 percent of regional fire headquarters in the country do not know which medical facilities in their areas can provide special treatment for strokes, which can help...

EDITORIAL / Economy, not Aso, must be focus of Diet.
February 28, 2009... EDITORIAL / Economy, not Aso, must be focus of Diet Yomiuri Japan is in the midst of the "most serious economic crisis since the end of World War II," as Kaoru Yosano, state minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, put it....

Female kodan storyteller group to debut in March.
February 28, 2009... Female kodan storyteller group to debut in March Yomiuri Five female professional kodanshi storytellers in their 30s and 40s recently formed a group to try to attract more fans to this type of storytelling. Kodan is a dramatic...

Booksellers offer manga samples via cell phone.
February 28, 2009... Booksellers offer manga samples via cell phone Yomiuri A group operating bookstores and other businesses in Shimane and Tottori prefectures has developed a system to allow customers to read the first few pages of manga comic books on...

Images on business cards to promote local goods.
February 28, 2009... Images on business cards to promote local goods Yomiuri A team promoting brands from Yamanashi Prefecture has decided to advertise local specialties by printing manga or photos depicting those products on the back of its prefectural...

Flower power aids rehabilitation.
February 28, 2009... Flower power aids rehabilitation Yomiuri Ikebana is being used to alleviate memory loss and short attention spans among people with brain damage in a project at a rehabilitation facility in Miuramura, Ibaraki Prefecture. The...

FIBA urges JBA to resolve two-league quandary.
February 28, 2009... FIBA urges JBA to resolve two-league quandary Ken Marantz / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter Yomiuri FIBA, world basketball's governing body, is pleased that the Japan Basketball Association finally got its house in order. Now it...

Sanyo puts title on line against familiar foe.
February 28, 2009... Sanyo puts title on line against familiar foe Rich Freeman / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter Yomiuri The 2008-09 domestic rugby season finally draws to a close today with Sanyo Wild Knights looking to defend their All-Japan...

Antlers start season with sweep in sights.
February 28, 2009... Antlers start season with sweep in sights Shintaro Kano / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter Yomiuri Two-time defending champion Kashima Antlers hope to set the tone for the new season today with victory over Asian champion Gamba Osaka...

Hara: Japan right on schedule.
February 28, 2009... Hara: Japan right on schedule Jim Allen / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter Yomiuri National team manager Tatsunori Hara said preparations were moving ahead for the World Baseball Classic. With six days remaining before Japan opens...

Japan ends lost decade in Nordic combined.
February 28, 2009... Japan ends lost decade in Nordic combined Yomiuri LIBEREC, Czech Republic LIBEREC, Czech Republic--Once the dominant country in the Nordic combined, Japan's efforts to regain the top spot in the team event finally paid off. It...

Yomiuri intl forum set for March 24.
February 27, 2009... Yomiuri intl forum set for March 24 Yomiuri The Yomiuri International Economic Society (YIES) and The Yomiuri Shimbun will hold a symposium on "Preventing a Global Depression" on March 24, kicking off a series of international...

2 arrested over evasion of direct mail fees.
February 27, 2009... 2 arrested over evasion of direct mail fees Yomiuri OSAKA OSAKA--Prosecutors arrested the president of an advertising firm in Nishi Ward, Osaka, and a former executive of the firm Thursday on suspicion they abused a discount...

Death penalty sought for alleged murder of 7.
February 27, 2009... Death penalty sought for alleged murder of 7 Yomiuri KOBE KOBE--Prosecutors on Thursday demanded the death penalty for a 52-year-old man indicted on charges of killing seven members of two families in August 2004 in Kakogawa,...

Kabukicho bar scam uncorked / Drinking holes conspired to.
February 27, 2009... Kabukicho bar scam uncorked / Drinking holes conspired to ply customers with booze, rob them Yomiuri About 30 bar patrons in the Kabukicho entertainment district of Tokyo appear to have been robbed since autumn after being fed...

Izumisano city faces reconstruction law.
February 27, 2009... Izumisano city faces reconstruction law Yomiuri OSAKA OSAKA--The debt-ridden city of Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, is likely to be subject in fiscal 2009 to a law requiring the reconstruction of financially strapped local...

Measure aims to limit health premium variance.
February 27, 2009... Measure aims to limit health premium variance Yomiuri The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has announced a plan to minimize the impact of changes to health insurance premiums with the introduction of different prefectural rates in...

Court rejects suit seeking name erasures from Yasukuni.
February 27, 2009... Court rejects suit seeking name erasures from Yasukuni Yomiuri OSAKA OSAKA--A lawsuit demanding the names of 11 people who died in battle during World War II be erased from Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo was dismissed Thursday by the...

New car navigation system warns of accidents.
February 27, 2009... New car navigation system warns of accidents Hiroaki Mori / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Yomiuri A new system that uses car navigation software to detect possible accidents and alert drivers via a synthesized voice currently is...

NPA: Internet insult cases top 10,000.
February 27, 2009... NPA: Internet insult cases top 10,000 Yomiuri A record 6,321 cases of Internet-related crimes, or cyber crimes, were handled by police in 2008, a National Police Agency survey showed Thursday. According to the NPA survey, the...

Software replaces singers in pop songs.
February 27, 2009... Software replaces singers in pop songs Yomiuri Voice synthesizer software with which users can make a virtual idol sing a song in a feminine voice has been changing the Japanese music scene. A piece of software called "Hatsune...

New Komeito tight-lipped on LDP leadership.
February 27, 2009... New Komeito tight-lipped on LDP leadership Yomiuri New Komeito members have been complaining about being led up a dead end while the approval ratings of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso have been dropping. Though New...

Osaka city told to refund 1.7 bil. yen to tax-exempt hospi.
February 27, 2009... Osaka city told to refund 1.7 bil. yen to tax-exempt hospital Yomiuri OSAKA OSAKA--The Osaka municipal government will refund 1.7 billion yen in taxes to a foundation managing Kitano Hospital in Kita Ward as the Supreme Court...

Explain antipiracy mission / Govt should get public on boa.
February 27, 2009... Explain antipiracy mission / Govt should get public on board before dispatching MSDF ships Hidemichi Katsumata / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer Yomiuri Taking the Maritime Self-Defense Force's first antipiracy map exercise as a...

EDITORIAL / Rethink needed over organ transplant system.
February 27, 2009... EDITORIAL / Rethink needed over organ transplant system Yomiuri At Kochi Red Cross Hospital on Feb. 28, 1999, organs, including a heart, were removed from a brain-dead donor for transplantation into other patients, marking the first...

Word play: All-rounder Toru Emori and his translation of '.
February 27, 2009... Word play: All-rounder Toru Emori and his translation of 'Glengarry Glen Ross' Ikuko Kitagawa / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri It's hard to pin down the real Toru Emori--he's an actor, narrator, playwright, stage director...

Haruki Murakami: Janan's 21st-century cultural ambassdor.
February 27, 2009... Haruki Murakami: Janan's 21st-century cultural ambassdor Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri Two sharply contrasting portraits of a global Japan flashed simultaneously around the world this month, like one of...

SOFT POWER HARD TRUTHS / Cosplayers a breath of fresh air.
February 27, 2009... SOFT POWER HARD TRUTHS / Cosplayers a breath of fresh air for D.C. Roland Kelts / Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri I arrived at Katsucon, the 15th annual Washington area anime convention, the night before opening day,...

COMICS REVIEW / 'Nana' meandering, yet intriguing.
February 27, 2009... COMICS REVIEW / 'Nana' meandering, yet intriguing Ikuko Kitagawa / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri Two young women, both named Nana, meet by chance on a train traveling to Tokyo through the snow. One Nana is heading to the...

TROUBLESHOOTER / How can I tell my parents I'm gay?
February 27, 2009... TROUBLESHOOTER / How can I tell my parents I'm gay? Yomiuri Dear Troubleshooter: I'm a female student in my 20s. I'm gay. I have someone special and am living with her. But my parents, who do not know I'm gay, believe I'm living...

TROUBLESHOOTER / Former boss hints at our past affair.
February 27, 2009... TROUBLESHOOTER / Former boss hints at our past affair Yomiuri Dear Troubleshooter: Three years ago I married a man whom I met through work. His company and mine still have business relations. What makes me concerned is my...

TASTE OF HOME #64 / Oshiruko sweet bean soup is fuel for.
February 27, 2009... TASTE OF HOME #64 / Oshiruko sweet bean soup is fuel for winter exertion Tamako Sakamoto / Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri When my daughter was in kindergarten, one day, she came home and said, "My teacher told me we will...

Bountiful BAGELS.
February 27, 2009... Bountiful BAGELS Tom Baker / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri Yukiko Yamauchi makes bagels the old-fashioned way, rolling the dough into ring shapes by hand, boiling them and then lining them up on wooden boards and sliding...

'Syrian Bride' a stoic heroine.
February 27, 2009... 'Syrian Bride' a stoic heroine Ikuko Kitagawa / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri The Syrian Bride 4 stars out of five Dir: Eran Riklis Cast: Hiam Abbass, Makram J. Khoury, Clara Khoury, Ashraf Barhoum Once...

Women at dark heart of Battlestar Galactica.
February 27, 2009... Women at dark heart of Battlestar Galactica Cristoph Mark / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri Humanity has been all but wiped out, and less than 50,000 survivors of the human race are floating through space in search of a new...

TELEVIEWS / Televiews offers 12 picks to help brighten up.
February 27, 2009... TELEVIEWS / Televiews offers 12 picks to help brighten up spring TV schedule Wm. Penn / Daily Yomiuri Columnist Yomiuri Smile. Spring is on the way. The Televiews goal this week is to find a dozen things to smile about in the...

Seeing is...doubting.
February 27, 2009... Seeing is...doubting Cristoph Mark / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri Doubt 4 stars out of five Dir: John Patrick Shanley Cast: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis So rarely is a...

NATURE IN SHORT / Alighting impulsively en route to Tokyo.
February 27, 2009... NATURE IN SHORT / Alighting impulsively en route to Tokyo brings about enlightenment Kevin Short / Daily Yomiuri Columnist Yomiuri One day last week, I was on the JR Sobu Line heading west from Chiba into Tokyo. I was leaning...

Tazawa tosses scoreless inning.
February 27, 2009... Tazawa tosses scoreless inning Yomiuri Boston Red Sox Junichi Tazawa retired all three batters he faced and earned the win in a preseason tuneup against Boston College on Wednesday in Florida. Tazawa, the former righty for Eneos...

Japan's unintended game for the ages.
February 27, 2009... Japan's unintended game for the ages Jim Allen / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter Yomiuri Sports are supposed to be great levelers, where results matter more than promise, and what one does is more important than who one knows. ...

Loophole behind league influx.
February 27, 2009... Loophole behind league influx Rich Freeman / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter Yomiuri A loophole in the eligibility rules for foreigners in the Top League is behind a sudden surge in interest in Australian rugby league players. ...

Niiya among entries for Nagoya marathon.
February 27, 2009... Niiya among entries for Nagoya marathon Yomiuri Hitomi Niiya, the latest prodigy of noted marathon coach Yoshio Koide, is among the top invited runners at next month's Nagoya International Women's Marathon--in which former Olympic...

Aso, Obama hold first talks Leaders pledge to work togethe.
February 26, 2009... Aso, Obama hold first talks Leaders pledge to work together to help stabilize Afghanistan Hiroaki Matsunaga Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Yomiuri WASHINGTON--Prime Minister Taro Aso and U.S. President Barack Obama met for the...

Pakistani arrested over attempted drug export.
February 26, 2009... Pakistani arrested over attempted drug export Yomiuri NAGOYA NAGOYA--A Pakistani man wanted on suspicion of attempting to smuggle from Nagoya to Afghanistan a ton of a chemical compound used to produce heroin was arrested...

2 police officers held over leaking probe info.
February 26, 2009... 2 police officers held over leaking probe info Yomiuri NARA NARA--Two officers of the Nara prefectural police have been arrested on suspicion of leaking confidential investigation information to a mayor of a village in the...

Obama calls Japan 'great partner' / New president's approa.
February 26, 2009... Obama calls Japan 'great partner' / New president's approach shows departure from Bush's unilateralism Satoshi Ogawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent Yomiuri WASHINGTON WASHINGTON--In Tuesday's talks between Prime Minister...

Govt to give new bureau personnel control.
February 26, 2009... Govt to give new bureau personnel control Yomiuri The government is planning to transfer most of the National Personnel Authority's functions to a new bureau to be established within the Cabinet Secretariat, according to drafts of a...

Fertility doctor broke medical association rules.
February 26, 2009... Fertility doctor broke medical association rules Yomiuri TAKAMATSU--The doctor believed to have mistakenly implanted a fertilized egg from another patient into a woman in her 20s in September has implanted multiple fertilized eggs in...

SESC to seek charges over 'fake' capital increase.
February 26, 2009... SESC to seek charges over 'fake' capital increase Yomiuri The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission likely will file an complaint with the Tokyo Regional Prosecutors Office against those involved in an alleged fake increase...

Woman fatally crushed between elevator, wall.
February 26, 2009... Woman fatally crushed between elevator, wall Yomiuri HIMEJI, Hyogo Prefecture HIMEJI, Hyogo Prefecture--A woman died Wednesday after falling into an elevator shaft at a food firm here, and becoming wedged between the elevator...

Ex-Shinginko employee arrested over loan fraud.
February 26, 2009... Ex-Shinginko employee arrested over loan fraud Yomiuri The Metropolitan Police Department on Wednesday arrested a 53-year-old former employee of Shinginko Tokyo bank and three others on suspicion of defrauding the bank out of about...

Kosovo girl doing well after surgery in Japan.
February 26, 2009... Kosovo girl doing well after surgery in Japan Toru Kaneko / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent Yomiuri SKENDERAJ, Kosovo SKENDERAJ, Kosovo--A 12-year-old Kosovan girl who suffered severe burns during the bloody ethnic conflict in...

Cat, dog stationmasters boost local railways.
February 26, 2009... Cat, dog stationmasters boost local railways Yomiuri Canine and feline stationmasters in three prefectures have brought fame to little-known small town stations, attracting passengers from across the country. The three sweet...

Govt manual aims to help teachers tackle child abuse.
February 26, 2009... Govt manual aims to help teachers tackle child abuse Mitsuhiko Watanabe / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Yomiuri The Education, Science and Technology Ministry has for the first time compiled an instruction manual for teachers to...

MPD expert invents bogus-coin detector.
February 26, 2009... MPD expert invents bogus-coin detector Yomiuri The Metropolitan Police Department's research institute has developed a new method that enables investigators to identify forged coins in just seconds, instead of the several minutes...

Google deal surprises authors / Writers group taken aback.
February 26, 2009... Google deal surprises authors / Writers group taken aback by U.S. Copyright settlement Yomiuri Google Inc.'s announcement in Japan that it had settled a class-action lawsuit with U.S. Copyright holders has surprised Japanese...

POLITICAL PULSE / Islands' future still foggy / Can 'creat.
February 26, 2009... POLITICAL PULSE / Islands' future still foggy / Can 'creative approach' clear haze around northern territories? Tetsuya Harada Yomiuri During their summit meeting held in Sakhalin on Feb. 18, Prime Minister Taro Aso and Russian...

Parents dissatisfied with high fee.
February 26, 2009... Parents dissatisfied with high fee Yomiuri The new compensation system for medical accidents involving obstetric treatment is expected to relieve those parents who are occupied caring for children with cerebral palsy with little room...

Obstetric compensation too complex.
February 26, 2009... Obstetric compensation too complex Wataru Kurihara and Yukiko Takanashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers Yomiuri The compensation system for medical accidents involving obstetric treatment, in which compensation is provided for...

EDITORIAL / Active diplomacy needed to boost Japan-U.S. ti.
February 26, 2009... EDITORIAL / Active diplomacy needed to boost Japan-U.S. ties Yomiuri Continuing multilayered cooperation in broader fields will help strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance significantly. In their first meeting in Washington on...

Educational Renaissance / 'Churashima e-net' links classes.
February 26, 2009... Educational Renaissance / 'Churashima e-net' links classes across the water Eiji Kaji / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Yomiuri MIYAKOJIMA, Okinawa The following is an excerpt from The Yomiuri Shimbun's Educational Renaissance...

Pearl industry certain luster will last.
February 26, 2009... Pearl industry certain luster will last Hiroko Ihara / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri Kobe KOBE--A necklace of large South Sea pearls makes the wearer look and feel immediately gorgeous. Japanese akoya pearls, though...

U.S.-Japan Economic Forum lecture looks at global recessio.
February 26, 2009... U.S.-Japan Economic Forum lecture looks at global recession Kenichi Okumura / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri Osaka OSAKA--Securing open trade and effective financial markets is key to overcoming the current economic...

THE HOT CORNER: NPB gives 'show time' new spin.
February 26, 2009... THE HOT CORNER: NPB gives 'show time' new spin Jim Allen / The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri Nippon Professional Baseball is taking on a mole hill as if it were challenging Mt. Everest. This year's targets in the war on wasted time are...

Japan tops bumbling Australia in another rout.
February 26, 2009... Japan tops bumbling Australia in another rout Yomiuri For the second consecutive night, Japan's starting pitcher looked shaky. And for the second time, it didn't matter. Japan routed mistake-prone Australia 11-2 in the last of a...

Panel says meat from cloned animals safe.
February 25, 2009... Panel says meat from cloned animals safe Yomiuri A government panel on food safety on Tuesday approved a draft report that concluded meat from cloned cattle and pigs is as safe as that from animals born through conventional...

Aso, Obama to reconfirm vitality of tiesTalks to focus on.
February 25, 2009... Aso, Obama to reconfirm vitality of tiesTalks to focus on Afghanistan, economic crisis By Hiroaki Matsunaga/Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Yomiuri WASHINGTON--Prime Minister Taro Aso and U.S. President Barack Obama were to hold...

Woman's eggs implanted 2 days before 'error'.
February 25, 2009... Woman's eggs implanted 2 days before 'error' Yomiuri TAKAMATSU TAKAMATSU--The doctor believed to have mistakenly transplanted a fertilized egg from another patient into a woman at a Takamatsu hospital in September also implanted...

Student held over recruiting drug smugglers via Web site.
February 25, 2009... Student held over recruiting drug smugglers via Web site Yomiuri OSAKA OSAKA--A university student who allegedly recruited drug smugglers online and a jobless man believed to be a smuggler have been arrested and indicted on...