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BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2000

Cut compulsory car insurance payments: panel

An advisory council to the commissioner of the Financial Supervisory Agency on Wednesday proposed eliminating the compulsory premiums drivers must pay under the state-run automobile insurance system.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2000

Red Army fugitive returned for trial

Red Army Faction fugitive Yoshimi Tanaka arrived Wednesday in Japan to face trial for his role in a Japan Airlines jetliner hijacking 30 years ago, following his arrest in Thailand by Japanese police the previous night.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2000

200 major firms hold shareholders' meetings

About 200 major companies across the nation held their annual shareholders' meetings Wednesday, beating the huge crush for such meetings that will take place today.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2000

Nikkei claims heavy dealing linked to SQ fixation day

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. said Wednesday that a special quotation fixation day was a major factor behind the heavy trading of specific issues during the two days before the announcement of a change in the benchmark Nikkei stock average's components in April, denying a report linking the deals to...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 29, 2000

Redemption just a haircut away

We've seen how popular shaved heads have become in sports. Whether for fashion or function, Michael Jordan, Andre Agassi and Brazilian soccer stars are among countless male athletes noted for taking it all off.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 29, 2000

Take the sunset road to Fukuoka's natural lifestyle zone

"Everyone wants to head west," an architect friend told me recently. "It's natural. That's where the sun sets, and where thoughts of relaxation turn to at the end of the day."
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2000

Tomen reviewing Sri Lanka mine deal

Tomen Corp. is reconsidering its planned investment in a huge phosphate mine in Eppawala, an ancient village in central Sri Lanka, according to members of a Japanese nongovernmental organization supporting residents who oppose the project.
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2000

Japan's voters call for change

Voters apparently called for a change in the nation's politics in Sunday's elections for the House of Representatives. The Democratic Party of Japan consolidated its position as the No. 1 opposition party by winning an additional 35 seats, although it failed to win enough votes to allow it to establish...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 29, 2000

Marriage guide for men begs the question, 'Et tu, Brutus?'

In the cultural wars secular liberalism continues its slow, laborious march toward victory (two steps forward, one step back), but one bastion of male-centered tradition remains inviolate: the marriage proposal. Men do the asking, and women wait for them to ask. The vector indicated by this dynamic mimics...
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2000

NTT breakup fails to level playing field

Nearly a year after the splitup of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., the big experiment is coming under scrutiny as questions are raised over whether its new profile has actually made a difference.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2000

A Chinese teenager's dream of a better life ends in tragedy in the back of a truck

CHANGLE, Fujian -- Smartly dressed in a Calvin Klein T-shirt, jeans and white trainers, the teenager props up a motorbike in Changle, a city in the southern Chinese province of Fujian. His hair flopping over sunglasses, he flashes a shy grin at the camera. Jin Xicai hardly resembles the stereotype refugee,...
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2000

Supreme Court upholds detention of Nepal man

The Supreme Court upheld Wednesday a high court decision to detain a Nepalese man for appeals procedures in a murder and robbery case, despite the man being found not guilty of all the charges by a lower court.
EDITORIALS
Jun 28, 2000

The finest map in the world

Rival researchers this week announced that they had completed a draft model of the human genome -- the blueprint of the human being. The breakthrough was hailed as "a milestone in science," a "revolution in medical science" and "the most important, most wondrous map ever produced by humankind." For once,...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 28, 2000

May fans 12 batters as Giants tame Tigers

Southpaw Darrell May tossed a three-hitter for his seventh victory as the Central League-leading Yomiuri Giants blanked the Hanshin Tigers 6-0 at the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday to snap their losing streak at three.
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2000

Top farm bureaucrat pleads not guilty to bribery

An elite farm ministry bureaucrat pleaded not guilty Tuesday to helping an agricultural cooperative in Kagawa Prefecture secure farm subsidies in exchange for entertainment worth 2.9 million yen.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2000

More young people take part-time jobs: report

The number of part-time workers between 15 and 34 years old stood at an estimated 1.51 million in 1997, an increase of 500,000 from five years earlier, the Labor Ministry said in an annual report on labor released Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2000

Three DaimlerChrysler execs to join MMC board

Shareholders of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. approved a plan Tuesday to have on the company's board of directors three people appointed by DaimlerChrysler AG, which is to become Mitsubishi Motors' main shareholder.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2000

Biggest cable TV firms to integrate on Sept. 1

Compiled from wire services Jupiter Telecommunications Co., Japan's largest cable television operator, and its rival, Titus Communications Corp., the second-largest, announced Tuesday that they have agreed to effectively merge on Sept. 1 through a stock swap scheme.
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2000

JR set for summer steam locomotive tours

Steam locomotive engineers, a rare commodity in modern Japan, are currently gearing up for the summer by putting the finishing touches on their training.
JAPAN / History
Jun 28, 2000

China's Korean War POWs find you can't go home again

BEIJING — In a hotel room in the Yangtze River port of Wuhan, a dozen elderly Chinese men fight back tears to sing a song written almost 50 years ago in a U.S. prisoner-of-war camp in South Korea. At the end of the song, their tears flow freely, for friends lost in the conflict and for their own harsh...
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2000

Bad wheel load caused Hibiya line subway crash

An improperly balanced wheel-load was the probable key cause of the subway train derailment that killed five passengers and injured 60 others on Tokyo's Hibiya Line in March, a Transport Ministry expert panel said in its interim report released Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2000

ACCJ calls for easier rules on domain registration

The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan said Tuesday that it has handed over a report to the Japan Network Information Center requesting a relaxation of rules for registering domain names -- the addresses for accessing pages on the Internet.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 28, 2000

All thumbs

In past columns, I've expressed my support for those people you've probably seen silently staring at their cell-phone screens, furiously typing away or intently scrolling. I recently joined their growing number. I think of it as a test drive; others might call it an occupational hazard. At any rate,...

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