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JAPAN
May 31, 2000

Osaka lawmakers pass bill to tax banks

OSAKA -- The Osaka Prefectural Assembly approved a controversial bill Tuesday to impose a 3 percent tax on the gross profits of major banks operating in the prefecture.
JAPAN
May 31, 2000

No payoff to U.S. for Okinawa, Kono says

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono on Tuesday denied a report that Japan secretly paid $200 million to the United States over the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japanese rule, saying he has checked it directly with the official allegedly involved.
JAPAN
May 31, 2000

Motherly love a hurdle for teens

In today's society, families are having fewer children, fathers are working more and mothers are clinging to their children with greater intensity, hampering children's growth, according to psychologist Yoshiomi Takahashi.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
May 31, 2000

Environmental links

[email protected]/pressreleases/toxics/2000may19.htmlFour Greenpeace activists were recently thrown in a Tokyo jail on trespassing charges; they had unfurled a banner from a water tower proclaiming Tokyo to be the world's dioxin capital. Here the group explains why it wants to decloak the Japanese government's...
JAPAN
May 31, 2000

Censure motion seen as blow to Mori's Cabinet

Three opposition parties on Tuesday jointly submitted a nonbinding resolution of censure to the House of Councilors against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, claiming that his remark that Japan is "a divine nation centering on the Emperor" violates the Constitution.
JAPAN
May 31, 2000

Report suggests environment tax to combat global warming

The 2000 white paper on the environment released Tuesday called for the introduction of an environment tax so Japan can more vigorously combat global warming and waste dumping, government officials said.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2000

BOJ assets ballooned by 33% in fiscal 1999

The balance of the Bank of Japan's assets rocketed 33.2 percent higher to 106.2 trillion yen in fiscal 1999 due mainly to huge lending to the money market arising from its zero-interest rate policy, the BOJ said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY
May 31, 2000

Getting to know the mystics

In Japan yamabushi, or mountain mystics, are well known for their distinctive clothing and practice of using conch shells as horns, but who they are and what they do are not as widely known.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2000

Is calm or chaos in store for 'divine nation?'

With the July Group of Eight summit in Okinawa drawing near, the dollar appears likely to remain locked between 105 yen and 110 yen through much of the coming month and beyond.
JAPAN
May 31, 2000

Foreigners at record high

The number of registered foreign residents of Japan hit a record high 1.55 million -- or 1.23 percent of the population -- at the end of 1999, the Justice Ministry said Tuesday.
LIFE / Travel
May 31, 2000

Unclimbable peaks in Kuala Lumpur

In pictures, the Petronas Towers looked like ornamental salt and pepper shakers, or sometimes, taking into account the skybridge halfway up, they resembled rugby goalposts.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2000

Japan beats antidumping drum at APEC

Japan will join forces with other members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in its upcoming trade ministers' meeting to pressure the United States to help strengthen global regulations to prevent the abuse of antidumping measures, trade chief Takashi Fukaya said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 31, 2000

Passerby hurt as man leaps to his death from store roof

A man who jumped to his death Tuesday from the roof of a department store in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward seriously injured a passerby in the fall, police said.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2000

FRC outlines new banks' rules

The Financial Reconstruction Commission on Tuesday released its preliminary guidelines for granting licenses to new banks, emphasizing the need to shield them from potential business risks of their parent companies.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 31, 2000

A royal reserve of nature

It is a rare occasion, in a busy schedule, that allows me to spend a whole morning doing almost nothing, but this is one of those times. As I write, I am enjoying the sunshine and the view from the roof of a stone summer house. My sleeping quarters are down below, cool in the shade, but those I have...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 31, 2000

Musical festivals

It's time again for the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto. The first was held nine years ago when many outstanding Japanese musicians gathered together, as they have every year since, to honor their teacher, Hideo Saito, with a combined musical performance.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2000

Sogo explains debt plan to shareholders

Sogo Co. on Tuesday held its first shareholders' meeting since it released a restructuring plan that involves some 73 creditor firms forgiving the ailing department store operator some 639 billion yen in debts.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2000

DoCoMo mulling stake in U.S. mobile carrier

NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest mobile phone group, is negotiating to take a 10 percent to 20 percent equity stake in VoiceStream Wireless Corp., a U.S. mobile phone carrier, for several hundred billion yen, sources familiar with the deal said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 31, 2000

Attention: Sitting next to foreigners is forbidden

"Do I smell?"
CULTURE / Stage
May 31, 2000

Staged 'Dorian Gray' tours Japan

The International Theatre Company London is presenting a stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde's classic novella "The Picture of Dorian Gray" on tour in Japan until June 12.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2000

MHI, Hitachi enter alliance on steel

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. said Tuesday that they have reached an agreement to integrate their steelmaking machinery operations, a move that would create the world's second-largest manufacturer of such equipment.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2000

Risking death with every step, every day

"We are full of love for you, but cannot take care of all." -- from a notice to Karen villagers that mines would be set on their land
COMMENTARY
May 31, 2000

Japan-Taiwan ties are not China's affair

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara attended the May 20 inaugural ceremony for Taiwan's new president, Chen Shui-bian. While in Taipei, Ishihara talked with Chen and his predecessor, Lee Teng-hui, about various issues between Japan and Taiwan. This was good for Japan-Taiwan relations.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2000

Myanmar's ethnic patchwork

In terms of sheer social complexity, it has few rivals -- perhaps Lebanon, possibly the Balkans. But Myanmar's ethnic mix is truly diverse. There are some 100 languages and dialects. Major ethnic groups like the Karen, Shan, Mon, Chin and Kachin encompass others. The Chin alone have 40 subgroups. Even...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
May 31, 2000

The Net impact of giving

Last week I looked at the power of bulk buying that is being unleashed on Web sites such as Mercata and Mobshop. I genuinely like the concept, particularly because I like new models of e-commerce that push the Web's potential. If the aggregated consumer trend takes off like eBay, the wired consumer might...
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2000

When political expression leads to jail

Bo Kyi speaks English in a soft voice. He learned it the hard way, unable to see his teacher. They were political prisoners in adjoining cells in Myanmar's Thayawaddy Prison . His teacher whispered to him while the guards were away. Then Bo Kyi used a piece of brick to write out new words on his cell...
BASEBALL / MLB
May 30, 2000

Dragons top Giants 9-8

Leo Gomez belted a game-tying two-run run homer in the eighth inning and pinch-hitter Kazuki Inoue drove in the winning run Sunday as the Chunichi Dragons rallied for a 9-8 victory over the Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome.

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