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JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Japan, North Korea resume talks

Japan and North Korea launched a 10th round of normalization talks Tuesday in Tokyo, reiterating basic positions over which the two sides clashed during the previous round of discussions in Pyongyang in April.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

Budget to again top 80 trillion yen in 2001

General-account budget requests from government ministries and agencies for fiscal 2001 are likely to total about 84 trillion yen, exceeding the 80 trillion yen mark for the third year in a row, government sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

TSE to tie up with two Chinese stock exchanges

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is planning to conclude broad business tieups with China's Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges next year, TSE officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Rare birds to be tracked by satellite

Albatrosses, seen resting on Torishima Island, are among rare migratory birds of Northeast Asia. Japan will launch a project next fiscal year to track the movements of rare migratory birds in Northeast Asia such as the albatross and Saunders' gull, according to Environment Agency officials.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

FSA approves cross-sales at life, nonlife insurers

The Financial Services Agency has decided to allow life and nonlife insurance firms to sell each other's products for commission fees, industry sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Protesters demand abductees' return

Relatives and supporters of Japanese nationals allegedly abducted by North Korean agents cry "Return our family members!" at a Foreign Ministry building. Relatives and supporters of Japanese allegedly abducted by North Korean agents staged a demonstration Tuesday at a Foreign Ministry building where...
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

BOJ policy options seen in positive light

Although it still remains anybody's guess whether the timing of the latest shift in monetary policy was correct, the effect could be that market participants now see the Bank of Japan's policy options in a more positive light.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

Forum calls for new WTO round

WASHINGTON — Despite the failure of last year's World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, panelists and participants at a recent symposium in Washington remain hopeful that a new round of multilateral trade talks will be launched before the end of next year.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Police asked to verify Mori brothel story

The Tokyo District Court decided Tuesday to ask the Metropolitan Police Department to confirm whether Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori was caught in a brothel more than four decades ago, as claimed by a monthly magazine involved in a libel suit.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Public opinions sought on nuclear policy

The Atomic Energy Commission said Tuesday that it will hold public hearings on Japan's long-term nuclear policy, including the planned use of plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel, in a bid to finalize the policy by the end of the year.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

First conference of parliament leaders to be held Aug. 30

The first-ever conference of presiding officers of national parliaments around the world will be held at the U.N. headquarters in New York for three days beginning Aug. 30, ahead of September's Millennium Summit, according to organizers.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Kono to visit China for talks

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono will hold talks with Chinese President Jiang Zemin and four other government and Chinese Communist Party leaders during his Aug. 28 to 31 visit to Beijing, according to a Japanese official.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

Mitsubishi extends recall of faulty cars as scandal widens

Mitsubishi Motor Corp. President Katsuhiko Kawasoe sweats during a Tuesday press conference at the Transport Ministry. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will recall another 88,000 vehicles following a previous recall announcement in July, admitting that the firm had been systematically hiding user...
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

Nine banks copy BOJ's rate hike

Nine Japanese banks said Tuesday they will raise their short-term prime lending rates by 0.125 percentage point, following the Bank of Japan's decision Aug. 11 to scrap its "zero-interest-rate" policy.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 23, 2000

A taste of life on the Mongolian steppe

We didn't speak a word of Mongolian, we knew no one in the country and we made no prebookings, but we befriended a family of nomadic Mongols living traditionally on the steppe as herders and discovered an idyllic way of life.
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2000

The summer 'silly season' everywhere

Europe is on holiday. Go to Paris and you will find half the restaurants shut. Many industries close down for weeks, and their workers flock to holiday resorts. Britain is not much different from the rest of Europe in this respect -- although British firms tend to stagger holidays more than in other...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 23, 2000

Quilt Fest Tokyo 2000 -- bee there

Eleven antique quilts with the log-cabin pattern will be specially exhibited during the Quilt Festival Tokyo 2000, Sept. 7-13 on the 7th floor of Shibuya's Tokyu department store (main store in Dogenzaka).
CULTURE / Art
Aug 23, 2000

Vermont festival has quilters in stitches

NORTHFIELD, Vt. -- The joy of quilting must be implanted in women's DNA. What else can explain the cheerful excitement of the 24th Vermont Quilt Festival? My friend and I encountered very few men at New England's oldest and largest annual quilt show, but lots of high-spirited women. Together they created...
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

Anxiety overload caused failure in Seattle: Hills

WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills offered her assessment of why the WTO talks in Seattle ended in failure.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 23, 2000

Lions seize first place in PL

Pinch hitter Tetsuya Kakiuchi stroked a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning as the Seibu Lions edged the Daiei Hawks 3-2 at the Seibu Dome on Tuesday to grab sole possession of first place in the Pacific League standings, one game ahead of the Hawks.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Aug 23, 2000

Boiled and baked, the real thing: New York bagels at Little Tribeca

As the song goes, "Everything Must Change." Nowhere is that clearer than in the world of the Japanese kissaten. Remember the half cups of coffee (no refills, thank you), high prices and limited choices? Nowadays we have filled-to-the-brim short, tall or grande, the cheap and the cheaper (Doutor and Pronto...
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Aug 23, 2000

Eye scream

lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/uc004810.jpg Not only did the U.S. government give us the Internet, but it has posted a recipe for vanilla ice cream as well. It's actually a photo of a recipe handwritten by Thomas Jefferson, one of the architects of that government, sometime in the 1780s. Click on "Holograph...

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