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JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Japan to ratify child labor pact

The government on Friday decided to seek Diet ratification of an international treaty intended to eliminate the worst forms of child labor around the world.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 17, 2001

Upon further meditation . . .

Sometime after Gus Van Sant had released "Goodwill Hunting," he took a trip to India. During his stay, he was faxed a screenplay from Sony Pictures. Written by an unknown anchorman called Mike Rich, "Finding Forrester" had everything that prompted Van Sant to cut off his journey and return to LA. Three...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Successor before new stimulus, Mori hints

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori indicated his support Friday for holding the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race before compiling emergency measures to boost the ailing economy, effectively indicating he is not trying to hold onto power.
COMMENTARY
Mar 17, 2001

Two old allies, two visions

LOS ANGELES -- Remember how the senior George Bush, when he was president, admitted to having trouble with "the vision thing." Has that deficiency been passed on to his son?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2001

Taliban fanaticism is not typical of Islam

LONDON -- The problem is that the world is actually a very provincial place. Most people in the non-Muslim parts of the world have never been in any Muslim country, so if Muslims anywhere in the world do something really stupid, they will readily believe that those actions are typical of Islam -- and...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Russian envoy does summit spadework

A Russian envoy visited Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Friday to lay the groundwork for an upcoming summit between Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Miyazawa will not draft extra budget

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa reiterated Friday that he has no plans to draw up a supplementary budget for fiscal 2001, which starts April 1.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Foot cult leader failed to declare 750 million yen in income

The founder and former leader of the Honohana Sampogyo foot-reading cult failed to declare some 750 million yen in taxable income for four years until 1999, sources close to the case said Friday.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 17, 2001

Taking the Watanabe optional tour

Few of us can understand why the Taliban in Afghanistan is destroying the awe-inspiring giant Buddhist statues at Bamiyan instead of turning them into profitable tourist sites generating millions of dollars in T-shirt and other souvenir sales. Someone who might, however, is Satoshi Watanabe, whose own...
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Fears over recycling law boost trade in appliances

The estimated output of household electric appliances in fiscal 2000 will rise for the first time in four years, with consumers buying goods prior to the enforcement of a recycling law on April 1, an industry body said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Kyoei set to join Millea group

Kyoei Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co. is planning to join the Millea Insurance Group to be formed by Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and two other insurers by around 2004, industry sources said Friday.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Mar 17, 2001

The sonic richness of the nightingale's song

One of the simplest yet most profound pleasures of spring in Japan is hearing the nightingale's song. Even in the urban sprawl of Tokyo, these sonorous creatures find patches of greenery and manage to make their melodies heard in spite of the cacophony of traffic, trains and ubiquitous loudspeakers....
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

NTT president slams new 'control' law

NTT Corp. President Junichiro Miyazu on Friday reiterated his opposition to legislation proposed by the telecommunications ministry to tighten control on the telecom giant, ministry officials said.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Toshiba, IFC tie up on fuel cells

Toshiba Corp. plans to tie up with International Fuel Cells of the United States in the development of fuel cells, Toshiba officials said Friday.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 17, 2001

Two women, a ghost and a very big fish

An abridged version of Tsuruya Nanboku IV's 1809 play "Okuni Gozen Kesho no Sugatami" is being presented at the National Theater in Tokyo until Tuesday under the title "Imayo Kasane Kesho no Sugatami (Kasane Putting on Her Makeup)."
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Matsuo hotel claim was for night flight

The sacked Foreign Ministry logistics chief suspected of embezzlement and inflating expenses for overseas trips by prime ministers submitted a receipt for a hotel stay for a night when a prime ministerial entourage was aboard an airplane, ministry sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Tokyo department stores suffer slow sales

Sales at department stores in Tokyo's 23 wards fell in February by 0.8 percent from a year earlier to 150.80 billion yen, according to a preliminary report released Friday by the Japan Department Stores Association.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

New hires at shrinking chain tense

Amid the nation's continuing economic slump, a group of tense-looking new employees of the major supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co. attended the company's entrance ceremony at a Tokyo hotel Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Budget passage seen in 10 days

The fiscal 2001 state budget is likely to be passed by the Diet by March 26, a senior official of the Liberal Democratic Party said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Eight-year English program is first of its kind for children

OSAKA -- In a pioneering move, the city of Osakasayama in Osaka Prefecture will in April begin a program to teach English to children over the eight-year period from nursery school through elementary school.
COMMENTARY
Mar 16, 2001

Pointless summits as Mori clings to power

I have worked as a political journalist for over half a century. I started out covering Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida's Cabinet for a Japanese newspaper. As a rookie reporter, I befriended the late Shintaro Abe, who shared the same beat with me. Later he turned to politics when he became secretary to...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2001

Has cycle of peace begun?

NEW DELHI -- Sri Lanka's 18-year-old bloody ethnic crisis between Tamils demanding an independent homeland and the government has always been marked by hope. Even during some of the darkest days of the strife a little over a decade ago, there was always a glimmer of light. Then, New Delhi interfered...
EDITORIALS
Mar 16, 2001

'The enemy of my enemy . . .'

That seems to be the principle guiding foreign policy in Moscow and Tehran. Those two governments have much to be dissatisfied with in international politics, and have decided that together they have a better chance of getting the rest of the world to pay attention to them. It is an alliance of convenience...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 16, 2001

Cinnamon girls are forever

There have been a lot of odes to the '70s on film lately, but director Cameron Crowe ("Say Anything," "Jerry McGuire") certainly has a unique tale to tell. As a 15-year-old rock journalist for music magazines like Creem and Rolling Stone, Crowe spent his formative years in the mid-'70s on tour with stadium...
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Top academic criticizes university 'privatization'

University of Tokyo President Shigehiko Hasumi on Thursday criticized the government's move to turn national universities into quasi-independent agencies, calling it a political gambit.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji