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JAPAN
Jun 2, 1999

'Kimigayo' fliers not official state line: Nonaka

A leaflet explaining the lyrics of "Kimigayo," the de facto national anthem, that was distributed to Japanese embassies in more than 110 countries is not intended to be an official government interpretation, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 1999

Cost, doubts mean rousing reception unlikely for pill

and MAYUMI NEGISHI Staff writers
JAPAN
Jun 2, 1999

Spring to bring kids 'unique education'

A new class covering unconventional subjects will appear in the nation's elementary and junior high schools as early as next April, the Education Ministry announced Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 1999

Dentsu revenues fall first time in five years

Advertising king Dentsu Inc. said Wednesday that its pretax profit and operating revenues for the business year ended March 31 dropped for the first time in five years.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 2, 1999

Found and lost

In looking through my file for information I needed for today's column, I was diverted by notes from readers that amused me, or might someday be useful. Here are a few of them:
JAPAN
Jun 2, 1999

Ishihara's Yokota visit fails to rally support

In a move designed to give another push toward the return or joint-use of the U.S. military's Yokota Air Base, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara on Wednesday made a high-profile visit to the base and held a meeting with local mayors — but failed to forge local voices into a chorus.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 2, 1999

Island life a short cut to evolution

Japan is not just an island; it is an archipelago.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jun 2, 1999

Among the ruins of the Mayan Paris

You wouldn't have wanted to watch a ball game at the close of the season in the ancient Mayan city of Copan.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 1999

Price said not everything in IDC bidding war

Toyota Motor Corp. President Hiroshi Okuda reiterated Wednesday that his firm will take workers' job security and international relations into consideration along with bid prices in deciding what offer to accept for its shares in International Digital Communications Inc.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 2, 1999

Learning through landscapes

ARBORFIELD CROSS, England -- When Susan Humphries was appointed head of the Coombes Infant School in Arborfield Cross, Surrey, an hour's drive from London, it was doubtless a satisfying moment in career terms. A school of her own at last. What she did not realize, and is likely to dismiss modestly today,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 2, 1999

Wham bam, no thanks ma'am

Now it can be told. When I first came to Japan, I didn't believe in yakuza .
EDITORIALS
Jun 1, 1999

Ratify the stand against torture

It was in 1984 that the United Nations adopted the "Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment." More than 110 countries have since joined the treaty, but surprisingly Japan is not yet one of them. Finally, however, the government has decided to ratify the...
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1999

Competitiveness Commission to hear smaller firms' views

To reflect broader business opinions on the nation's industrial policy planning, the government will ask nonmanufacturers to participate in ongoing meetings of its joint advisory panel with the private sector, trade chief Kaoru Yosano said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1999

Wiretap bills clear chamber as opposition boycotts vote

The House of Representatives approved a package of bills Tuesday that will allow wiretapping in investigations into organized crime, paving the way for their passage in the Upper House during the current Diet session.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1999

Sega announces new global strategies

Can Sega make a comeback? Which company will come up with the key digital home electronic appliance of the future?
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1999

Men's jobless rate hits record 5%; women fare better

The unemployment rate for men in Japan rose to a record 5 percent in April, offsetting a slight gain for women and keeping the overall figure at an all-time high of 4.8 percent for the second month in a row, the government said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1999

Japanese monitors set to depart for Jakarta

A Japanese team of monitors for Indonesia's general election next Monday was officially launched Tuesday to ensure a fair, legal voting process in the nation, which is to hold its first free election in 44 years.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1999

Bills formed, driven by international pressure

A package of bills allowing investigators to wiretap private communications resulted from pressure from the global community calling on Japan to provide a legal framework to help efforts to crack down on international organized crime.
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

NSC gives Tokai nuclear plant clean bill of health

The governmental Nuclear Safety Commission concluded Monday that there are no safety problems at the suspended nuclear spent-fuel reprocessing plant at Tokai village, Ibaraki Prefecture, paving the way for the plant to resume operations.
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Prange exhibit recalls Occupation's censorship

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

U.S. revokes $100,000 port tariffs

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has officially removed surcharges it had imposed in 1997, but later suspended, on three Japanese maritime carriers, Transport Ministry officials said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 1999

Tiananmen martyrs: rebels without a cause

History holds many surprises for true believers, especially for revolutionaries who find out that the causes they fought for years ago were baseless. That, at least, is the lesson to be drawn from the collapse of the Soviet Union by people who fought and even died for the communist ideology that supported...
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Death sentence sought for cultist

Prosecutors asked for the death penalty Monday for a former senior member of Aum Shinrikyo accused of releasing sarin in the deadly March 1995 Tokyo subway gas attack that killed 12 and injured thousands, and illegally manufacturing firearms.
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Finance cool to Keidanren's extra budget call

Top Finance Ministry officials on Monday raised doubts over the need for a supplementary budget to help alleviate the recession during a meeting with the nation's most powerful business lobby.
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

ANA announces restructuring plan, job cuts

All Nippon Airways Co. unveiled a mid-term business plan Monday that includes a 10-percent cut in ANA group's 28,000 workforce over a four-year period.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 1999

Trade must extend to poorer countries

Prosperous countries in the North, such as the United States, can no longer rely on trade between developed countries led by Fortune 500 corporations alone. Trade must increase in developing countries and transitional economies if all are to benefit from a growing world economy. Policymakers and businesses...
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Japan offers to support U.N. arms-trade conference

Japan will extend maximum support toward preparation of an international conference on illicit arms trade that the United Nations General Assembly plans to hold in 2001, State Foreign Secretary Keizo Takemi pledged Monday at the start of a Japan-hosted workshop on regulating small arms.
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Rise in female smokers raises concern

KOBE -- Experts at an international symposium marking World No-Tobacco Day on Monday expressed concern over an increasing rate of young female smokers.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 1999

A de facto treaty revision

The Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, signed in 1951, is understood to be an arrangement whereby the United States, in exchange for the use of military bases in Japan, is committed to the rescue of this nation in the event of external aggression. Japan, with its "war-renouncing" Constitution, follows a policy...
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Softbank names board candidates

Softbank Corp. said Monday it plans to propose at a shareholders' meeting later this month the appointment of five new outside board directors, including Den Fujita, president of McDonald's Co. (Japan).

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