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BUSINESS
May 27, 2000

NTT group's robust earnings belie deregulation rhetoric

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. on Friday released its first consolidated financial statement since its group reorganization in July, posting pretax profits of 825 billion yen on the group sales of 10.4 trillion yen for fiscal 1999.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2000

Japan retains world's top creditor slot

Japan probably remained the world's top creditor nation in 1999 for the ninth straight year, with net external assets of 84.74 trillion yen at the end of December, despite a plunge in assets due to reduced overseas loans by Japanese banks.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2000

Secret four-party talks to steer toward new WTO round

Senior officials from Japan, the United States, Canada and the 15-nation European Union will hold secret talks in Ottawa next month to coordinate policy toward a new round of global trade liberalization negotiations, government sources said Friday.
CULTURE / Art
May 27, 2000

Issey Miyake: artist, sculptor or fashion designer?

"Issey Miyake Making Things," Miyake's current offering, presents the master in three different aspects. Broadly speaking, of course, sculpture, painting and fashion design are related, but no one else has such ability to convince us that these three arts can be made one.
JAPAN
May 27, 2000

State universities to be independent

The Education Ministry on Friday announced its final decision to turn Japan's 99 national universities into independent administrative institutions, a move that will streamline the management of colleges and give them greater autonomy in budget and personnel matters.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2000

Politicians don't create jobs, people do

As Japan's leaders do battle against the ravages of deflation and recessionary conditions that grip their economy, unemployment rates are at a postwar high. Government data indicate the unemployment rate set a record high for the second consecutive month in March and now stands at 4.9 percent.
JAPAN
May 27, 2000

Green energy nearing takeoff in Japan

Movements to promote so-called green energy, such as wind and solar power, are gaining momentum in Japan as opposition to the use of nuclear power increases following last year's fatal nuclear accident and rising pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
COMMENTARY / World
May 27, 2000

Wars drag on in an interconnected world

LONDON -- Two wars should be ending this month, for the Tamil separatists have all but won in Sri Lanka, and Ethiopia has already won in the Horn of Africa. Neither result is wonderful, but -- at least in the past -- outcomes as decisive as these used to end the fighting and let ordinary people get on...
EDITORIALS
May 26, 2000

Out of the Lebanese mud

The familiar sounds of war were heard in southern Lebanon this week, but this time the bombs were falling and the artillery was firing for a different reason. Israel was ending its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon, and as the troops withdrew, they were destroying positions and materiel to ensure...
JAPAN
May 26, 2000

'Divine' comment to stand

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said Thursday that he will defy calls for him to withdraw a controversial remark that Japan is a divine country centering on the Emperor at a press conference scheduled for this afternoon.
JAPAN
May 26, 2000

Three arrested over 22 billion yen fraud case

OSAKA -- Public prosecutors said Thursday that they have arrested a former employee of trading house Yuasa Trading Co. and two executives of a machinery company on suspicion they swindled firms out of more than 20 billion yen by forging contracts using Yuasa's name.
JAPAN
May 26, 2000

U.S. pushes global child custody pact

In order to prevent children from being forcibly taken to another country by a parent in an international marriage, Japan should sign an accord to provide a legal framework for settling international child custody cases, a U.S. State Department official said Thursday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
May 26, 2000

Mori under attack for wedding speech

Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, criticized Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Thursday for attending a wedding in 1995 at which a gang boss was present.
JAPAN
May 26, 2000

State to pay for reading letters of accused

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court ordered the state Thursday to pay 2 million yen in damages for allowing prosecutors to read letters that two men accused of robbery and injuring a woman had written to their lawyers while in the Osaka Detention House.
JAPAN
May 26, 2000

Revisions to Juvenile Law questioned

The spate of heinous crimes committed by teens in recent years is driving the public to call for young offenders to be strictly punished under a revised Juvenile Law, the spirit of which now focuses instead on correcting troubled youth.
JAPAN
May 26, 2000

EPA in hot water for fudging GDP

The Economic Planning Agency said Thursday it will likely slice its gross domestic product data for the October-December quarter of 1999 to around minus 1.6 percent from a preliminary figure of minus 1.4 percent.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2000

Introduction of hydrogen filling stations to get fast start

The launch date for hydrogen filling stations has been bumped up to accelerate the development of pollution-free vehicles that will run on the gas, officials of a semigovernmental body said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2000

Domestic auto output rose 11.1% in April

Domestic production of cars, trucks and buses in Japan increased 11.1 percent in April from a year earlier for the third consecutive monthly gain, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Thursday.
JAPAN
May 26, 2000

Taiwan demands apology, redress for war sex-slaves

A group of Taiwan legislators made a request Thursday to their Japanese counterparts that Japan pass an opposition-proposed bill that would offer apologies and redress to former sex slaves of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
JAPAN
May 26, 2000

Chinese spy ship traverses Tsugaru Strait

A Chinese Navy surveillance ship passed through the Tsugaru Strait in northern Japan this week, according to Japan Coast Guard officials.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2000

KDD pushes net balance into black for '99

KDD Corp. said Thursday that its consolidated net balance returned to the black in fiscal 1999, due to brisk earnings from domestic phone services and a number of one-off factors, including mammoth gains from securities sales.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2000

TSE aiming to be Asia's top bourse

The new president of the Tokyo Stock Exchange said Thursday he will push to make the Tokyo stock market one of the core markets in the world, ahead of other Asia exchanges.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2000

Osaka approves bank tax but decision rests with Ota

OSAKA -- The Osaka Prefectural Assembly's General Affairs Committee gave its approval Thursday to a controversial bill to impose a 3 percent tax on the gross profits of large banks operating in the prefecture.

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