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BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2000

BOJ delayed rate change to check data

Bank of Japan policymakers decided at a June 28 meeting to keep in place the "zero-interest-rate" policy and check economic data to reaffirm a recovery before ending the policy, according to minutes of the meeting released Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2000

Plan for spy-satellite system is finalized

Japan's plan to set up a system of four reconnaissance satellites has been finalized, with Kagoshima Prefecture chosen as the second of two sites for the system's ground antennas, according to a government source.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2000

Top civil service test yields lowest pass rate in 15 years

The National Personnel Authority said Wednesday that 1,228 candidates passed the nation's top civil service exam for fiscal 2000, 24 fewer than last year and the lowest number since the current exam system took effect in fiscal 1985.
COMMUNITY
Aug 17, 2000

Masatomo couture at the Ritz

The dragons are coming!
BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2000

MITI to expand loan guarantees

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry is planning to expand its loan-guarantee program for small businesses to direct fundraising from the market starting in fiscal 2001, MITI officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2000

Scholar suspected of leaking exam questions faces disgrace

The Health and Welfare Ministry on Wednesday urged a university professor sitting on the committee that formulates National Dentistry Examination questions to refrain from attending today's committee meeting due to suspicions he had earlier leaked questions.
COMMUNITY
Aug 17, 2000

Paper wings that bear dreams aloft

It is a bright, sunshiny day in Musashino Central Park in Tokyo's Musashino City, but the wind is a little strong for the participants in the Japan Paper Airplane Association semifinal flyoffs.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2000

Sex-slave fund facing uphill battle

Kyodo News Fifty-five years after the end of World War II, a Japanese foundation is facing an uphill battle in its sixth year of efforts to compensate Asian women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military.
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2000

The power of people

It is difficult, if not impossible, for anyone who is not Korean to comprehend the intensity of the reunions held this week in Seoul and Pyongyang. The photographs and news reports convey only a sliver of what happened as families were reunited after a half-century of division. Even the delicate choreography...
COMMUNITY
Aug 17, 2000

Preparing to teach for the next 500 years

It is remarkable that in 150 years of mainstream education, there has been little serious investigation into how the human brain learns. An exception is the work of Bulgarian scientist Dr. Georgi Lozanov, who began studies and experiments in the 1950s.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2000

U.S. military is no paper tiger

Is the U.S. military ready? Texas Gov. and Republican presidential nominee George Bush brought this important issue into the political spotlight at the Republican convention, when he criticized the administration of President Bill Clinton and, by implication, vice president and Democratic nominee Al...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 17, 2000

Support the economy -- take a vacation

If all you knew about Japan was what you saw on Japanese TV, you might think the Japanese are the most well-traveled citizens in the world. No other broadcast culture offers as many travel programs in which happy-go-lucky celebrity guides see the sights, interact freely with the natives and, most importantly,...
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Aug 17, 2000

The tawdry charm of the tattoo

Tattoos are everywhere these days. What are we expressing with this new vision of beauty, that calls for the tattoo to complete it? Until a few decades ago in the West, tattoos were associated mostly with sailors, prisoners, gang members, soldiers and carnival performers.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2000

Mount Bandai may erupt soon: agency

The Meteorological Agency warned Wednesday afternoon that Mount Bandai in Fukushima Prefecture could soon have a minor eruption.
BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2000

Three banks team up on trust fund

Sanwa Bank, Tokai Bank and Toyo Trust & Banking Co. said Wednesday they will jointly sell a new investment trust to be established by Partners Asset Management Co., an affiliate of Sanwa Bank.
BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2000

Tokyo department stores take slump into fifth month

Sales at department stores in Tokyo's 23 wards in July fell 5.6 percent from a year earlier to 205.8 billion yen, down for the fifth consecutive month, the Japan Department Stores Association said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2000

People-to-people ties will reunite Korea

Probably the most clear-cut dissimilarity between Germany when it was divided and the present state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula is the status of cross-border people-to-people contacts and relations. In the long years of Germany's division, a multitude of communication channels existed between...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 17, 2000

IAAF playing it for laughs with Sotomayor decision

"We're all created equal. Some are just more equal than others."
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2000

Malaysia makes a martyr

To no one's surprise, former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was found guilty of sodomy last week and sentenced to nine years in prison. This conviction follows last year's ruling that Mr. Anwar had abused his power while in office; only when that six-year prison term is complete will the...
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2000

Phone firms not obligated to aid bugging

The government will not ask telephone companies to voluntarily participate in police wiretapping operations, Justice Minister Okiharu Yasuoka said Tuesday, the day that Japan's first-ever wiretapping law took effect.
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2000

Tokyo confirms NCB transfer

The operations of state-owned Nippon Credit Bank will be transferred to a consortium led by Softbank Corp. on Sept. 1, the government confirmed Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2000

War surrender anniversary draws 1,500

About 1,500 people attended an annual memorial service to pay tribute to the war dead at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Tuesday, the 55th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2000

Aum followers down by 10: report

The Aum Shinrikyo religious group had 1,140 members as of Aug. 1, down 10 from three months ago, according to a report the group submitted Tuesday to the Public Security Investigation Agency.
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2000

Spain under siege

Basque separatists have escalated their campaign of violence. In the last week alone, a series of car bombings and shootings has claimed two lives and left another dozen people injured; four Basque activists were killed when the bomb they were transporting went off prematurely. The Spanish people have...

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