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BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2000

Current account surplus up 8.8%

Japan's current account surplus, the broadest measure of trade, expanded 8.8 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier, due to a shrinking deficit in services, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2000

Farm households' income drops again

The average annual income of farming households in Japan dropped 2.5 percent to 8.46 million yen in 1999 for the third consecutive year of decline, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2000

Nowhere for tyrants to hide

Old age for Chile's former strongman Augusto Pinochet and Indonesia's former President Suharto looks much different from anything they had probably envisaged. These two distinguished men, each of whom fashioned himself as the savior of his country, are now rethinking their retirement plans. Instead of...
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2000

BOJ holds cards in 'zero-rate' maneuvers

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami is likely to urge the central bank's Policy Board to terminate the nearly 18-month-old "zero-interest-rate" policy at its policy-setting meeting today, monetary sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2000

Japan, U.S. plan security talks in New York

Japan and the United States plan to hold a meeting of their foreign and defense ministers in New York around Sept. 11, Japanese government officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2000

Panel says payment ceiling must rise

Payments by the state to crime victims should be increased substantially to match current wage levels, a private advisory body to the head of the National Police Agency's secretariat said in an interim report released Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2000

Singapore free-trade talks to open

In a significant departure from its traditional trade policy, Japan will open formal negotiations with Singapore by the end of this year on concluding a free-trade agreement between the two Asian countries, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2000

Agreement signed in 'Nishi-Tokyo'

Faced with a declining birthrate and falling tax revenues, officials of the cities of Hoya and Tanashi in western Tokyo signed an agreement Thursday to launch the merger of the two municipalities.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2000

Pyongyang agrees to more visits

Japan and North Korea have agreed to a long-delayed third round of homecomings by Japanese women who married North Koreans, the two countries said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2000

PCCW to take 81% stake in Jaleco

Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd., a Hong Kong-based multimedia company, will pay 27 billion yen to acquire an 81 percent stake in Jaleco Ltd., a Japanese video game software maker, senior officials of the firms announced Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2000

Mount Oyama erupts again, forcing residents to flee

Miyake Island's Mount Oyama erupted Thursday morning for the fourth time in just over a month, forcing nearby residents to evacuate, the Meteorological Agency said.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2000

Osaka's Yokoyama gets by with suspended sentence

OSAKA -- Former Osaka Gov. "Knock" Yokoyama was sentenced Thursday to an 18-month suspended prison term for molesting a 22-year-old female campaign worker during his re-election bid in April 1999.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2000

Tepco gets green light for MOX nuclear fuel

The Agency of Natural Resources and Energy approved Thursday the use of plutonium-uranium mixed-oxide fuel at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s No. 3 nuclear reactor at the No. 1 Fukushima plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2000

NTT Communications, U.S. firm announce DSL tieup

NTT Communications Corp. said Thursday that it will tie up with a U.S. firm to enter the Japanese broadband data market and offer Internet access over on digital lines.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2000

Aum rulings set line between life and death

While the trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara continues at a snail's pace more than five years after his arrest in 1995, a series of court rulings handed down this year has drawn a clear line between who among the cult's senior figures will live and who will die.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2000

All must help clean the pork barrel

The government is planning to introduce a policy appraisal system in January in a move apparently aimed at cutting wasteful spending.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2000

Economy grew a real 2.5%: EPA

Japan's economy grew a real 2.5 percent in the January-March quarter from the previous three-month period, revised upward from a 2.4 percent rise announced in June, the Economic Planning Agency said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2000

Time for Delhi to show trust in Kashmiris

NEW DELHI -- The Kashmir problem defies solution. Three recent developments have even compounded the impasse.
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2000

Mori reign remains shaky

It has been four months since Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori launched his coalition government. Mori's first Cabinet, inaugurated April 5, remained in office for less than three months before the general election was held June 25. He established his second Cabinet July 3.
EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2000

Keep the nonnuclear faith

The anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki always evokes frustrations among the Japanese people. This was especially true of the latest anniversary -- the 55th and the last of this century. The reason is simple: The goal of a nuclear arms-free world seems distant even as the new...
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2000

Foreign students in Japan to receive ODA-based loans

Taking a new direction in its official development assistance policy, Japan will introduce a multibillion-yen program using low-interest yen loans to provide financial assistance to foreign students here, government sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2000

Japan aims to rely on 'sinks' to cut CO2 emissions

The government unveiled a proposal Tuesday that would allow the country to meet more than half of its greenhouse gas emission reductions simply by maintaining and managing its forests.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2000

Military incursions end China loans

In response to recent Chinese naval operations near Japanese territorial waters, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday decided not to extend around 17.2 billion yen in special loans to China, LDP officials said.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 10, 2000

Hawks tame Lions

Lefty Masahiro Doi combined with reliever Shuji Yoshida on an eight-hitter as the Pacific League front-running Daiei Hawks defeated Seibu 6-2 at the Fukuoka Dome on Wednesday, widening their lead over the second-place Lions to 2 1/2 games.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2000

Mentally disabled getting short shrift in court

Public concern is increasing that Japan's criminal justice system is more worried about the rights of defendants rather than those of victims.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2000

Confidence among firms improving

A quarterly business and investment survey released Wednesday by the Economic Planning Agency shows confidence among Japanese companies about the domestic economy improved considerably in the April-June period.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2000

LDP panel proposes tax to cut CO2 emissions

A Liberal Democratic Party panel in charge of energy policy recommended in a report released Wednesday the introduction of an environmental tax on gasoline and other fossil fuels to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

Longform

The students at Mitaka Municipal No. 7 Junior High School have access to various cooling devices for when they play sports.
Japan's extreme heat is causing a rethink of school sports