2003.12.02

NTT DoCoMo-Linux (Kyodo) In a major boost for Linux (and a blow to Microsoft), NTT DoCoMo will put the free operating system into some of its 3G phones.     2003.12.02

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DPRK-Japanese Red Army Offspring (Kyodo) The two daughters of a former wife of one of the hijackers of the Red Army Faction group, have changed their last name from their mother's maiden name to their father's surname, people close to the family said today. The daughters, aged 23 and 25, who were born, raised and currently live in North Korea, are likely preparing to move to Japan.   2003.12.02

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Koizumi Renews Pledge on Iraq Troops (AP).  UPDATED Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi today stood by his pledge to send troops to Iraq, even as media reported that Japan had decided to postpone sending a team of engineers and doctors there following the murder of two of its diplomats.   2003.12.02

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Takefuji Arrest (Mainichi) The 73-year-old chairman of Takefuji, Japan's largest consumer credit firm, is arrested as part of probe of illegal wiretaps allegedly carried out against journalists by company employees and detective agencies on its behalf.     2003.12.02

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Japan-Net Outages UPDATED A glitch knocked out Yahoo Japan's portal service today for three hours. NTT's search engine Goo offline for one hour. Rakuten's Infoseek search service also suffers outage. NTT East and other entities seeking source of trouble.   2003.12.02

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Japan-Maglev (AP) Japanese maglev train breaks its own speed record.     2003.12.02

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ROK credit card debts swell. [BBC News ] South Koreans struggle under huge credit card debts, piling pressure on the hard hit credit industry.   2003.12.02

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Japanese Hotel-Lepers (Japan Times) Kumamoto hotel owner says it is "only natural" to shun lepers -- even if they no longer are contagious.     2003.12.02

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Japan-Iraq (Kyodo) U.S. still hopes Japan will send troops to Iraq despite murders of Japanese diplomats.   2003.12.02

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U.S. Wins WTO Appeal on Japan's Restrictions on Apples [U.S. Department of State: ] The World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body has upheld earlier panel findings that Japan's import restrictions on U.S. apples are not justified and are in breach of Japan's WTO obligations.   2003.12.02

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