INSIDE JAPAN from our view

Japan PM reshuffles cabinet  TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appointed Shinzo Abe as the government's top spokesman in a cabinet reshuffle, strengthening the popular Abe's position as a candidate to succeed the prime minister next year. Koizumi, who led his Liberal Democratic Party to a landslide win in last month's election, has said he will step down when his term as party head ends next September and that he would appoint potential candidates for his job to key spots in the reshuffle.

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CIA leak probe continues  WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The CIA leak investigation is "not over," special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said Friday after announcing charges against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. Fitzgerald said he will be keeping the investigation "open to consider other matters." But, he said, "the substantial bulk of the work in this investigation is concluded."

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Sox win first Series title in 88 years  CNN : It took 88 long years, but the Chicago White Sox are the World Series champions after beating the Houston Astros in a 1-0 nail-biter in Game 4. The Sox's four-game sweep brings the team its first championship since 1917. It was the third title for the White Sox, following wins in 1906 and 1917. And it was the first since "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the "Black Sox" threw the 1919 Series against Cincinnati.

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U.S. accepts Japan plan on Futemma relocation  Kyodo News TOKYO — The United States on Wednesday accepted Japan's proposal on building a replacement airfield for the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa using existing land in another U.S. camp in the prefecture, Japanese Defense Agency chief Yoshinori Ono said.

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U.S. beef import ban likely to be eased by year-end   Kyodo News — Japan is expected to ease its two-year-old ban on U.S. and Canadian beef imports before the end of this year as an expert panel sees risks related to mad cow disease between Japanese and North American beef as "extremely small," sources familiar with the matter said Monday.

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Wilma spins toward Florida CNN: Hurricane Wilma is heading north into the Gulf of Mexico after pounding Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula for two days. The storm, now with 100 mph winds, could strengthen as it heads toward Florida, whose southern half is under a hurricane warning. Wilma is expected to reach Florida Monday morning.

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Thursday, October 20, 2005 at 04:00 JST 2005 Kyodo News OSAKA — A 40-year-old woman was found dead in a condominium in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, on Wednesday morning. Police said her 12-year-old son has admitted beating her. The vice principal and a teacher at the boy's school went to the condo after the school received a call from the boy's father, who lives in Tokyo. The father told the school that the boy had called him to say his mother was not moving, the police said. His parents, who were divorced, had consulted with the school about domestic violence committed by the boy in June, a school official said.

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TOKYO — The rate of adult smokers in Japan fell to a record low of 29.2% as of June, down 0.2 percentage point from a year earlier for the 10th straight year of declines, a Japan Tobacco Inc survey said Tuesday. Growing awareness of the hazards of smoking and tougher legal restrictions on smoking in public mainly contributed to the decrease, JT officials said.

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The Nikkei fell 0.36% to 13,352.24, its fifth straight losing session and longest negative run since May. Tokyo's broader TOPIX index finished virtually unchanged at 1,392.69 as steel and bank shares rebounded and oil stocks advanced.

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Koizumi visits Yasukuni war shrine  TOKYO, Japan -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has visited the controversial Yasukuni war shrine that honors the war dead, a move that has prompted outrage from China and South Korea in the past.

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SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) -- Spaniard Fernando Alonso won a chaotic Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday to hand Renault the Formula One constructor's title on top of the driver's crown he took last month.

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 This site is a first step for me to write daily weblog in English. Yesterday, I wrote some ideas about birth rate. I found it very tough work to write about a difficult matter in English. I mean, to show my whole idea about it requires me to know a lot of technical words.

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Gov't to devise countermeasures on falling birthrate by next summer

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