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JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Kawada sees victory as step to changing politics

Etsuko Kawada, winner of Sunday's House of Representatives by-election in Tokyo's No. 21 single-seat constituency, said Monday she felt a great sense of mission in being elected at a time of strong public distrust in politics.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Traffic deaths top 7,000 faster than in '99

This year's death toll from traffic accidents was 7,013 as of Friday, topping 7,000 four days earlier than last year, the National Police Agency said Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Lower House panel debates poll reform

A House of Representatives committee began deliberations Monday on a controversial electoral reform bill that was the center of an 18-day opposition Diet boycott.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Seller of fake smokes avoids prison

The Tokyo District Court on Monday sentenced a 51-year-old company executive to 21/2 years in prison, suspended for four years, for selling counterfeit cigarettes sold by Japan Tobacco Inc.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 24, 2000

Kuwata, Kiyohara free

Yomiuri Giants veterans Masumi Kuwata and Kazuhiro Kiyohara top the list of eight players added to this year's group of free agents, the commissioner's officer of Japanese professional baseball said Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Japan, Russia agree to seek new avenue

Japan and Russia on Monday agreed to seek new ways to resolve territorial disputes by the end of this year, now that it appears unlikely the row over a group of islands off Hokkaido will be resolved in time to conclude a bilateral peace treaty this year as planned.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Police develop picklock alarm

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has developed an alarm to detect picklocks as the number of thefts based on the crime continues to grow, department officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

New version given of Mori's secret proposal

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa on Monday contradicted Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori by saying the prime minister did not make a secret proposal to Pyongyang to resolve alleged abductions of Japanese.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2000

Portrait of Laos, Asia's 'forgotten country'

LAOS: Culture and Society, edited by Grant Evans. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books, 2000, 313 pp., $24.95 The colorful volumes of anthropology produced in the past by gifted amateurs, lady travelers of independent means, colonial officers and the like, have been replaced by the works of highly trained...
CULTURE / Music
Oct 24, 2000

Creating soundtracks for modern pop culture

Dodgeville, Mich. Ever heard of it? Perhaps not. It's just another small Midwestern town you pass through on your way to the big city. It certainly wouldn't occur to you it's where one of America's most talented and hardworking composers was born.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Internet site helps blind to connect

Being blind doesn't slow Osamu Miyazono down much -- the Internet was still untested water for most Japanese when he started logging on five years ago. Now he gets some 50 e-mails a day.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2000

Revealing the nation one grain at a time

THE POLITICS OF AGRICULTURE IN JAPAN, by Aurelia George Mulgan. London & New York: Routledge, 2000, 856 pp.,82 British pounds/$125 (cloth). In 1890, a young German academic agreed to evaluate a survey of landowners in the German provinces east of the Elbe River. Overcoming the limitations of biased...
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Nurse denies negligence in SIDS case

A nurse at a Tokyo hospital pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of professional negligence resulting in the death of a newborn in a controversial case involving sudden infant death syndrome and medical professionals.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2000

Asia getting mixed messages from U.S.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The issue is not new, but it has recently resurfaced: How is U.S. foreign policy coordinated and articulated, particularly when it affects Asia?
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Oct 24, 2000

Okinawan sounds old and new resonate through the mainland

For a reason that has so far confounded me, October and November usually herald a spate of Okinawan concerts and releases on the mainland, leading to unfortunate clashes of dates. This year is no exception: The Ryukyu Festival in Tokyo (previewed in this column) in early October unfortunately fell on...
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

SDF prepares to combat cyberterrorism

The Defense Agency is set to develop computer systems to combat attempts by hackers to disrupt the country's defense operation by breaking into key computer systems, sources said Monday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 24, 2000

Executives must obey the law

In a recent major shareholder suit, the Osaka District Court ordered 11 former Daiwa Bank executives to pay a total of $775 million (about 83 billion yen) in compensation for the $1.1-billion loss the bank suffered from illegal bond trading by a former employee of its New York branch. The ruling has...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2000

Free trade agreement a strategic move, says Goh

Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on Sunday underscored the strategic importance of a free-trade agreement to be negotiated between his nation and Japan at a time when both Europe and the United States are looking to expand their own regional FTAs.
EDITORIALS
Oct 23, 2000

Yugoslavia's long road

Having toppled Mr. Slobodan Milosevic, Yugoslavia's new president, Mr. Vojislav Kostunica, must now consolidate power if he is to return his country to the family of European nations. His efforts to form an interim government have been hampered by Yugoslavia's federal structure and the bad blood between...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2000

More women wanted for education boards

The Education Ministry has decided to seek a revision in an education law that would require local governments to include more women and younger people on their education boards so that a greater diversity of opinions will be reflected in local education policies, ministry sources said Saturday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 23, 2000

Hawks fly home up 2-0

So much for the home-dome advantage.
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 23, 2000

Consadole earns promotion to J1

HIRATSUKA, Kanagawa Pref. -- Consadole Sapporo will be back in the J. League's top flight next season after securing a top-two finish in the Second Division with a 3-0 win over Shonan Bellmare on Saturday night.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2000

Free trade agreement with Singapore targeted for 2001

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and visiting Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong agreed Sunday to formally launch negotiations on a bilateral free-trade agreement in January and conclude the negotiations by the end of 2001.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2000

Vice governor complains over scuffle with photographer

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has sent a written complaint to Shinchosha Ltd., the publisher of the weekly photo magazine Focus, claiming a vice governor was injured during a scuffle ensuing from an attempt by the magazine to take a photograph of him, it was learned Sunday.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2000

Insurance industry shakeout sees three firms plan alliance

Upheaval in the domestic insurance industry continues as Nippon Life Insurance Co., Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co. plan to form alliances in areas including product distribution and computer system development.

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