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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2000

India debates killing killers

NEW DELHI -- The recent execution of serial husband-killer Betty Lou Beets in Texas has been condemned by human rights institutions in many countries. They find it strange that the United States, which calls itself a champion of human rights, should resort to something as barbaric as capital punishment....
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2000

Truck blaze injures 18 in Osaka tunnel

OSAKA -- A fire broke out on a 2-ton truck carrying plastic products as it was traveling through a tunnel in Osaka Prefecture on Thursday, injuring 18 people.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2000

Aum cultists told to pay 668 million yen for attack

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered former members of Aum Shinrikyo to pay a total of 668 million yen to survivors and the next of kin of those killed in the March 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2000

NEC, Sanyo agree to unite on LCD chip production

OSAKA -- NEC Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. have agreed to collaborate in the production of semiconductors for liquid crystal displays used in personal computers, the two major Japanese electronics makers have announced.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2000

NPSC panel eyes reforms of police system

The National Public Safety Commission, Japan's highest institution on internal security, announced Thursday it will set up a panel to review the nation's police system following a series of high-profile scandals.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2000

Aichi drops plan to build on expo site

NAGOYA -- Aichi Prefecture has dropped a controversial plan to build a housing development in the Kaisho Forest, site of the 2005 World Exposition and close to the city of Seto, after the event concludes.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2000

DPJ to accept Pyongyang invitation

The Democratic Party of Japan plans to dispatch a delegation of lawmakers to North Korea, possibly this summer, at the request of Pyongyang's de facto No. 2 man, party officials said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2000

FSA surprises Nippon Life with inspection of its assets

The Financial Supervisory Agency on Thursday conducted a surprise inspection of Japan's largest life insurer, Nippon Life Insurance Co., the latest in a series of inspections of life insurers, sources close to Nippon Life said.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2000

DIC set to divide up Niigata Chuo before bank's sale

The government-backed Deposit Insurance Corp. plans to split up the operations of Niigata Chuo Bank, a collapsed second-tier regional bank based in Niigata Prefecture, ahead of its sale to three regional banks in the prefecture, financial industry sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2000

Yen gearing up to flex its muscles again

The yen is pulling out of its corrective phase.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2000

Department store chains study distribution merger

The nation's two leading department store chains, Takashimaya Co. and Mitsukoshi Ltd., announced Thursday they will study the integration of their distribution and information networks.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2000

More support daylight savings time

Nearly 60 percent of people are in favor of introducing a daylight savings time program in Japan, according to a government survey.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 10, 2000

Still much to savor in PPM

Take three vintage bottles of wine. Ignore every rule about proper storage. Open them about 40 times a year and serve them to whomever you meet. Within moments of tasting them, everyone is certain to experience the same thing: a deep, warm glow guaranteed to last a lifetime.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2000

IT sector leads way for huge gains in corporate pretax profits

A triple-digit surge in the pretax profits of personal computer makers and telecommunication companies more than offset a steep decline in other sectors as the combined figure jumped 41.8 percent in the October-December quarter.
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2000

Pyongyang's intransigence must end

The Japanese government on Tuesday formally announced that it will provide 100,000 tons of rice to North Korea through the U.N. World Food Program. Japan is taking humanitarian action to follow up an agreement that the countries recently reached to resume the normalization talks -- which broke down in...
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Fall in Obuchi's popularity blamed on recent scandals

Public support for Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's Cabinet has fallen to 41 percent, down 4.6 percentage points from December, an indication of discontent over scandals involving government officials, according to a Kyodo News public opinion survey.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Passengers describe the sudden impact

Police, firefighters and subway workers shouted instructions to each other Wednesday as they attempted to rescue injured commuters and get them to hospitals in the immediate aftermath of a subway collision that ruptured Tokyo's morning rush hour.
COMMENTARY
Mar 9, 2000

Telecommunications matters

Telecommunications has long been a contentious issue between the United States and Japan. This is because although Americans believe that the U.S. has the most advanced and most competitive telecommunications system in the world, market penetration in Japan for U.S. equipment suppliers and service providers...
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2000

BOJ makes dollar jump 1.5 yen but settles below expectation

The dollar shot up almost 1.5 yen at one point Wednesday in Tokyo as the Bank of Japan intervened to head off the yen's rise, but the intervention failed to have a lasting effect on the market.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Rail firm told to inspect all similar subway cars

A special committee under the Transport Ministry ordered the Teito Rapid Transit Authority to inspect all subway cars of the same type as the one that was involved in the fatal accident near Tokyo's Nakameguro Station on Wednesday morning.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Chronology of MOX falsification

* Aug. 20, 1999 -- BNFL discovers MOX data falsification related to fuel being produced for Takahama No. 3 reactor.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Subway crash claims four

Four passengers were killed and 33 others injured when a Tokyo subway train derailed and sideswiped a packed commuter train running in the opposite direction during rush hour Wednesday morning, police said.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2000

Oversupply to stunt dollar's comeback

The dollar-yen rate is struggling to find direction.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2000

Cell phone users to eclipse subscribers to fixed lines

Mobile phone subscribers in Japan are likely to outnumber fixed-line subscribers this month, ending the dominant role of conventional phones in telecommunications, the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Efforts to cut nuclear arms agreed upon

Japan and the United States agreed Wednesday to step up joint efforts to enhance international measures to prevent proliferation of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Obuchi comes to defense of embattled NPSC chief

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi dismissed Wednesday growing calls from the opposition camp for Kosuke Hori, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, to be sacked for his responsibility for the Niigata police sandal.

Longform

Dul Saroth (left) and Soeum Samrach, deminers with the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, practice using the Advanced Landmine Imaging System in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province in August.
The Japanese tech that could one day make Southeast Asia landmine-free