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BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2000

S&P expects rate cuts to slow NTT in long term

Standard & Poor's said Tuesday that last week's agreement between Japan and the United States to lower Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.'s interconnection fees may affect the telecommunication group's credit quality over the long term.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2000

Mourners attend Empress Dowager's funeral

About 1,000 people, including Imperial family members, government officials and foreign dignitaries, attended a Shinto-style funeral Tuesday for the late Empress Dowager at two locations in Tokyo, with the Emperor, her eldest son, as chief mourner.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2000

Cabinet approves 500 billion yen for public works

The Cabinet on Tuesday endorsed early use of a 500 billion yen reserve fund set aside for public works under the fiscal 2000 budget to help rev up the economy.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2000

Female civilians get intro to SDF boot camp

NARASHINO, Chiba Pref. -- The First Airborne Brigade is widely known as Japan's toughest Ground Self-Defense Force unit. But a recent two-day training session for "new recruits" did not appear to be as rigorous as its reputation.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2000

Translation of young soldiers' letters shows other side of war

Two U.S.-based scholars have recently published the first full-scale English version of a longtime Japanese seller, featuring letters written by Japanese student soldiers during World War II.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2000

Toyota diesel system slashes emissions

Toyota Motor Corp. has developed a basic technology for a new diesel engine purification system that can drastically reduce harmful emissions from diesel vehicles, Toyota President Fujio Cho said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2000

Replace pre-'90 diesel vehicles, panel urges

A government study group on measures to reduce exhaust emissions from diesel-powered vehicles has compiled a midterm draft proposal calling for the replacement of older vehicles with new models, group sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2000

Aum figure to hang for Sakamoto killings

An Aum Shinrikyo figure was sentenced to death Tuesday for taking part in the November 1989 murders of an anti-Aum lawyer and his family and the deadly June 1994 nerve gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
COMMUNITY
Jul 26, 2000

The homesick cycad tree of Myokokuji Temple

On a hot August day last year I took the train and tram to Sakai City in the south of Osaka. I wanted to see the ancient Japanese sago palm (sotetsu, Cycas revoluta), a member of the Cycad family, which grows in the grounds of Myokokuji Temple. The temple was first built in 1562 by a wealthy merchant...
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2000

MMC to update Nagoya factory to produce Z car

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will renovate its Oe factory in Nagoya to launch a new production line in 2002 for a small next-generation vehicle jointly developed with DaimlerChrysler AG, company officials said Tuesday.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 26, 2000

Itsy-bitsy, teeny-tiny . . . camera

oceankey.com/cam.htm The surfcam pointing out from the Ocean Key Resort in Key West, Fla., gives glimpses of leisure boats as they make wakes, and then, as it refreshes every couple minutes, makes them disappear. It's a beautiful seascape even on a CRT, but Sleepyspud just can't wake up in time to catch...
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2000

J-pop group to sing in Seoul

Japanese pop duo Chage & Aska will perform live in Seoul on Aug. 26 and 27, the group announced Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2000

Hiranuma told to oversee revised plan for World Expo

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori instructed Trade Minister Takeo Hiranuma on Tuesday to do his utmost so Japan can have its revised plan for the 2005 World Expo in Aichi Prefecture submitted to the Paris-based Bureau of International Expositions in September.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2000

Disappearance of Masanobu Tsuji remains a mystery

Kyodo News -- An entrance ceremony for the University of Tokyo was only eight days away in April 1961 when Takeshi Tsuji, excited about starting life as a student at the nation's most prestigious school, saw his lawmaker father off on a Southeast Asian "mission."
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Jul 26, 2000

Seattles's Best has just joined the rest

It must be something in the water. What else could account for the fact that three of the most popular gourmet coffee chains in Japan originate in Seattle, Wash.? First there was Starbucks, then Tully's and now Seattle's Best Coffee has brought its "pleasing to the palate" brew to Shinjuku, minutes from...
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2000

Tokyo to compensate those poisoned by Suginami waste facility

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will compensate victims of hydrogen sulfide poisoning caused by the operation of a waste-processing facility in Suginami Ward, officials announced Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2000

Russia gets back into the Korean fray

At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union re-established itself as a major player on the Korean Peninsula largely as a result of U.S. initiatives in dividing the country, for administrative convenience, between two zones of military occupation. In doing so, the Americans displayed great ignorance...
LIFE / Travel
Jul 26, 2000

Summertime and the offshore angling is easy

Summer is here and with it the most exciting angling adventure Japan has to offer -- catching dolphinfish. Not to be confused with the sea mammal of the same name, this is the middle-weight champion of offshore angling. These fish have power, speed and will aggressively strike lures, flies or bait.
COMMENTARY
Jul 26, 2000

Ethics for a turbulent age

There is much justifiable concern in Japan and Britain about rising levels of crime and bad behavior, especially among young people. The responses have been varied, including the usual calls for heavier punishments combined with "zero tolerance" policing. Yet few have much idea how this is to be enforced...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2000

Testing times for Sino-Pakistani friendship

ISLAMABAD -- There was a familiar ring to recent allegations in U.S. newspapers, reportedly based on intelligence sources, that China is continuing to aid Pakistan's plans to build long-range nuclear-capable missiles. It is not the first time such allegations have surfaced in the United States, especially...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2000

Swastikas under the onion domes

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia It is a muggy Wednesday afternoon in the nation's largest Pacific seaport, and as people meander home, a handful of men and boys position themselves around the central square, an asphalt plaza decorated with a monument to the communist revolutionaries who conquered the Far East.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2000

Nuclear weapons here to stay, A-bomb survivors say

More than half of the survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki who responded to a recent poll said they expect nuclear weapons will not be abolished in the 21st century.
EDITORIALS
Jul 25, 2000

G8 shapes up for a new century

Despite presummit speculation about possible exchanges of views on issues not on the summit agenda, the leaders of the Group of Eight countries generally focused their debates over the past three days on issues contained in the scenario developed by working-level officials. Such speculation had preceded...
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2000

G8 summit boosts Nago businesses

The summit boosted business for many in Nago, but fishermen voluntarily stopped working. NAGO, Okinawa Pref. (Kyodo) Some businesses in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, saw their sales triple before and during the three-day Group of Eight summit, which ended Sunday.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2000

Former prosecutor files for review of dismissal

A former prosecutor who was arrested for allegedly molesting a woman on a train and later fired, on Monday filed a complaint with the National Personnel Authority, requesting a review of his dismissal.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2000

Education Ministry urges teachers to curb unruly kids

An Education Ministry research council called on kindergarten and elementary school teachers Monday to cooperate to control unruly students and halt a breakdown in classroom order that has plagued Japan in recent years.

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