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JAPAN
Dec 7, 2000

Foreign students in Japan up 15% from '99 to 64,000

The number of foreign students studying in Japan -- mainly at universities and vocational schools -- has reached more than 64,000, the Education Ministry said Wednesday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 7, 2000

Yahata keeps the Bunnies hopping

You might say Shin Yahata is the Tom Jones of the Japan Ice Hockey League. And while he has yet to experience women tossing their underwear at him as he tools around the ice for the Kokudo Bunnies, it may only be a matter of time.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2000

U.S. ties, midterm plan top new defense chief's priority list

Newly appointed Defense Agency director general Toshitsugu Saito said Wednesday that he hopes to visit the United States at the earliest opportunity to hold talks with his counterpart after the January launch of the new U.S. administration.
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2000

Imported vehicles post 3.3% monthly sales jump

Sales of imported motor vehicles in Japan rose 3.3 percent in November from a year earlier to 21,773 units, up for the fourth consecutive month, the Japan Automobile Importers Association said Wednesday.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Dec 7, 2000

Counting down to Christmas in gold and silver

When you're getting into a Christmas mood, nothing expresses this festive state better than sparkly, shimmery, glimmery things, and when it comes to buying special gifts from the beauty realm, there is plenty of that sparkly stuff out there to choose from.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Dec 7, 2000

Yohei Kono warns against turning inward

Japan needs to constantly examine the contents of its official development assistance, but a large-scale reduction in ODA spending could jeopardize relations with Asian countries, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Wednesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 7, 2000

SMAP star finds true love, new role

When the public recently learned that 28-year-old idol Takuya Kimura was marrying singer Shizuka Kudo, who is already four months pregnant with his child, the SMAP-man's image immediately changed from sex symbol to . . . well, actually, the image still seems to be under construction.
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2000

Getting real on the Net

The Gallic gall. A French court has done the unthinkable. It has ruled that the French government has jurisdiction over cyberspace, or at least that part of the digital universe that overlaps with its physical borders.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

LDP approves three top positions

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday formally appointed Makoto Koga as its secretary general and Kanezo Muraoka as chairman of the Executive Council, while approving Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's decision to retain Shizuka Kamei as policy affairs chief.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2000

World economy better than in 1998, EPA says

Despite concerns over surging crude oil prices and the weak euro, the global conomy remains in better shape now than it was in 1998, when it was hit by the Asian financial crisis that broke out the previous year, the Economic Planning Agency said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

New ministers outline their policies for the future

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's newly appointed Cabinet ministers outlined their policy programs Tuesday evening in a meeting with the press at the Prime Minister's Official Residence.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

First Nordic-Japan Forum held

NAGANO -- About 950 people attended the first Nordic-Japan Forum on environmental issues held recently at a hotel in Nagano Prefecture.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

Group protests GMO rice imports

A Tokyo civic group sent a letter protesting the import and sale of genetically modified rice to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

Video shop bomber 'wanted to destroy people'

The 17-year-old boy who was arrested Monday evening after claiming responsibility for an explosion at a video shop in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward has told police that he "wanted to destroy people" at random.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2000

Last thing bear market needs is falling yen

The yen has come under fresh downward pressure, mirroring a shift in sentiment about economic and corporate earnings prospects in Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

Opposition says new Cabinet is evidence of same old politics

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's newly formed Cabinet was the immediate target of a shower of criticism Tuesday from opposition parties.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

Mori names new Cabinet

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori unveiled his new Cabinet on Tuesday evening, retaining six key ministers and making a surprise decision to appoint former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto ahead of a major administrative realignment that will take place on Jan. 6.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2000

Coalition parties begin discussing ODA spending

A study group set up by the coalition parties started talks Tuesday to overhaul the 1 trillion yen ODA budget, party officials said.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

Hashimoto faction wins big in shakeup

Policy continuity, factional power plays and surprise appointments characterized the new Cabinet launched Tuesday by Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who hopes his new team will help him and his Liberal Democratic Party survive the months leading to next summer's Upper House election.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

Record number of travelers heading overseas

The number of Japanese traveling overseas during the New Year's holidays will hit a record high of 688,000, marking the first increase in four years, according to an estimate released Tuesday by Japan Travel Bureau Inc.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 6, 2000

CL president to quit

Central League President Sumiko Takahara will step down at the end of her term of office this month because of an ongoing battle with cancer, baseball officials said Tuesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 6, 2000

Japanese union ready to play hard ball

OSAKA -- The Japanese professional baseball players association adopted a resolution Tuesday to seek a 142-game season next year with interleague play to counter a management plan to introduce a 140-game schedule in 2001.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

Government appeals ruling on pollution

The national government on Tuesday appealed a recent court ruling ordering it to reduce emissions of so-called suspended particulate matter (SPM) to within environmentally acceptable limits in areas along National Route 23 in Nagoya.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 6, 2000

Yokohama gets nod

J. League chairman Saburo Kawabuchi met officials of Yokohama FC on Tuesday and agreed to recommend that the club be promoted to the J. League's Second Division next season.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2000

Japan, Myanmar to work on economic aid report

Japan and Myanmar agreed Tuesday to work on creating a report over the coming two years on Japanese support for economic structural reform in Myanmar, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

Longform

Capsule hotels were created as a way to deal with the amount of overwork employees tend to do in Japan. Can't commute home? Then spend the night in an tiny, affordable sleeping space.
Japan wakes up to the market for a proper sleep