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BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2000

Mitsui sets five-year reconstruction plan

Mitsui Construction Co. announced a five-year restructuring plan Friday under which the ailing general contractor will ask about 10 creditor financial institutions, including Sakura Bank, to forgive debts totaling 163 billion yen.
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2000

Fresh from ODA victory over Kamei, Mori turns to IT aid initiative

Fresh from surviving a hard-fought battle against political pressure for Draconian cuts in its foreign-aid budget, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's government is stepping up efforts to implement his $15 billion aid initiative in the area of information technology.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 30, 2000

Mukai named new Japan rugby coach

Former Toshiba Fuchu manager Shogo Mukai has been named coach of the Japanese national rugby team, taking over from Seiji Hirao who resigned late last month, officials of the Japan Rugby Football Union said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2000

Japan will be short 35,000 nurses in 2001

Japan will be short some 35,000 nurses in 2001 as demand for their services rises in line with the new nursing-care insurance system, a Health and Welfare Ministry report says.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2000

An era of U.S. superficiality

The year 2000 was marked with flamboyant, highly symbolic peace accords. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited North Korea; U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Vietnam. Most symbolically of all, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak visited Washington, D.C.,...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 30, 2000

Shadow between abstract and concrete

The geometrical dreams of Omar Rayo are awaking at Shinjuku Park Tower.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2000

Falling victim to U.S.-Chinese diplomacy

A 46-year-old man named Zhang Hongbao from Harbin, China is facing an uncertain fate in a cramped U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services detention cell in the U.S. territory of Guam. On one hand he is just another illegal immigrant, joining thousands of other Chinese who have attempted to settle...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 30, 2000

'Discovering' Heinrich Vogeler

With most Tokyo galleries closed during the New Year's break, it can be difficult to find an interesting contemporary art show in the city.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2000

Plans for naturalization panel hit impasse

A ruling coalition proposal to ease the nation's cumbersome naturalization process has hit a morass of political conflicts between the Liberal Democratic Party and its principal partner, New Komeito.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2000

New Year's travelers head out of the city

The New Year's rush began Friday, with vacationers mobbing airports, railroad stations and highways.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2000

The right man for the Korean problem

SEOUL -- Now that U.S. President Bill Clinton has decided not to go to Pyongyang before his term expires, Colin Powell, U.S. secretary of state-designate in the new Bush administration, inherits the Korean problem. With it comes a golden opportunity to do something that has eluded statesmen for 50 years:...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 30, 2000

Simple tea, the soul-soother

Japan , a hectic, densely-populated country, has always been guilty of overloading the senses. It is only natural that here too an ameliorating aesthetic should have developed. This is best expressed by the calmness and simplicity of the tea ceremony.
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2000

A good year for democracy

In a triumphant conclusion to a tumultuous year, reformers concluded their rout of the old order in Yugoslavia. In parliamentary elections held last weekend, an alliance of democratic parties won nearly two-thirds of the vote, crushing former President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party which took...
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2000

UFJ Holdings to consolidate asset management into two firms

Sanwa Bank, Tokai Bank and Toyo Trust & Banking Co., due to combine forces in a joint holding company called UFJ Holdings Inc. in April, will consolidate their asset management business into two firms, the three banks said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2000

FSA orders suspension for errant Nomura unit

Japan's financial watchdog said Thursday it has ordered a unit of Nomura Securities Co., the country's largest brokerage, to suspend part of its operations for two months from Jan. 9 as punishment for trading securities on behalf of foreign clients without contracts.
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2000

Spring recovery may see the yen rebound

The dollar has climbed past the 114 yen level for the first time in a year and four months amid growing skepticism about Japan's economic recovery.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 29, 2000

New contract gives Ono option to move abroad

Urawa Reds midfielder Shinji Ono on Wednesday signed a new contract with the newly promoted J. League side, which includes a clause allowing the Japan international to move abroad in midseason, Urawa officials said.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

DPJ puts off opposition coalition plan

Naoto Kan, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, said his party will postpone plans to push for a coalition government with two other opposition parties -- the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

20 held, 86 warned over stalking so far

Police have arrested 20 men and warned 86 other people for stalking offenses since an antistalking law took effect Nov. 24, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2000

Downsizing victims to open second pub

A union comprised mainly of middle-aged Japanese who lost their jobs due to restructuring drives is set to open its second pub in February, union members said.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

Prius hybrid to challenge Paris-Dakar

A group of six Japanese plan to drive a low-emission vehicle along almost the same course as the 2001 Paris-Dakar rally to promote public awareness of environmental issues, project supporters said.
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2000

100 yen stores now the shopping craze

Relatively new to a Japanese retail scene long dominated by now-suffering high-priced department stores and supermarket chains, 100 yen shops are catching on.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

Shopping district tour shakes Mori's belief in full recovery

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori recently confessed that his goal of realizing a full economic recovery has yet to be achieved.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

Police report Obara-Blackman link

Hair found in a condominium belonging to accused rapist Joji Obara may be that of missing Briton Lucie Blackman, a flight attendant-turned bar hostess who disappeared in July, police said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

Number of municipalities could be slashed by 81%

The number of Japan's cities, towns and villages could be slashed from the current 3,229 to as few as 600 if merger plans that some two-thirds of all prefectures have drawn up are fully implemented, and if the remaining prefectures compile similar plans, a Kyodo News survey showed Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

State urged to improve understanding of Islam

A study group set up by Foreign Minister Yohei Kono earlier this year is urging the government to improve its understanding of Islamic thinking to deepen ties with Muslim states.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

'Pachisuro' firm hit with penalties for unpaid taxes

Aruze Corp., Japan's largest manufacturer and seller of "pachisuro," a cross between pachinko and a slot machine, has been accused by tax authorities of concealing about 4 billion yen in income between fiscal 1996 and fiscal 1998, industry sources said Thursday.

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