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BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

Classes help individuals learn about stock market

With the devastatingly low interest rate available on deposits and the prospect of the introduction in Japan of U.S. 401(k)-style pension plans, more people are studying stock market investment.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

Sumitomo swings into black

Trading house Sumitomo Corp. said Wednesday that its 1999 group business swung into the black for the first time in two years, posting a consolidated net profit of 26.05 billion yen.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

NTT, builders plan Net-based procurement

Three major building contractors and NTT Data Corp. have agreed in principle to set up, possibly by the end of the year, an Internet market for the procurement of construction materials and machinery, officials close to the talks said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 18, 2000

Mori apologizes for remark

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori apologized before the Diet on Wednesday for having invited a barrage of criticism by saying earlier this week that Japan is a "divine nation centering on the Emperor," but he refused to retract the remark.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

Corporate bankruptcies rose 34% year-on-year in April

Corporate bankruptcies surged 34 percent in April from a year before to 1,562, the second-largest figure for the month since the asset-inflated bubble economy burst in the early 1990s, a private credit research institution said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2000

Ambivalence, hope greet Korean summit

YANJI, China -- When Eun-byol crossed the Tumen River from North Korea into China three years ago, she was nearly bald from malnutrition after subsisting on a diet of grass and bark mixed with an occasional spoonful of rice.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

Extra budget depends on GDP figures

The government will decide whether to compile a large-scale auxiliary budget for fiscal 2000 after examining gross domestic product figures for the April-June quarter, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

Reimbursed wages hit record high

The number of cases involving reimbursement of workers' unpaid wages due to bankruptcy hit a record-high 2,773 in fiscal 1999, with recipients numbering 46,402, the Labor Ministry said in a report released Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 18, 2000

Ishihara to attend inauguration in Taipei

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara will visit Taiwan beginning Friday to attend the inauguration of new Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, a trip that is likely to be condemned by China.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
May 18, 2000

The facts you should know before trying to take it all off

More people than ever are overweight, and I would guess that the percentage of people on diets has gone up proportionally as well. Add the number of dieters who really do need to lose weight to those who diet out of some misguided desire to be skeletal, and you've got a lot of people. Weight loss is...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 18, 2000

'Sports executive' a misnomer in Japan

I don't know if it's just my imagination but in recent weeks the incompetence of Japan's alleged "sports executives" seems to have reached an all-time low.
JAPAN
May 18, 2000

Family court gets papers on boys in extortion case

Two more of the 10 youths arrested on suspicion of extorting about 54 million yen from a 15-year-old boy in Nagoya were transferred to a family court Wednesday, prosecutors said. One is a high school student and the other is a construction worker. The youths, both 16, were one year ahead at the same...
BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

Intel joins Mitsubishi on cell phones

U.S. microchip maker Intel Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Wednesday they have agreed to jointly develop a chip set for next-generation cellular telephones that can tap into the Internet.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

Toyota's profits, sales up in '99

Toyota Motor Corp. on Wednesday reported the first increases in two years in both pretax profits and sales on a consolidated basis for fiscal 1999, which ended March 31.
JAPAN
May 18, 2000

India, Pakistan expand nuclear sites: scientists

New satellite photos of Indian and Pakistani military facilities show the two countries are bolstering their nuclear weapons and missile programs, the Federation of American Scientists said Tuesday. The federation, a Washington-based private advocacy group on global security, predicted that India and...
BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

Profit, not size, best for banks: LTCB head

Banks must increase profitability -- rather than merely their size -- in order to survive, the chairman and chief executive officer of the newly-privatized Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 18, 2000

Hijacker felt deserted by parents

The 17-year-old Saga Prefecture boy arrested in a bus hijacking has told police he "felt deserted" by his parents when he was put into a mental institution two months before the incident, police sources said Wednesday. Police the same day handed the youth over to prosecutors in connection with the Golden...
BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

JETRO sees 2000 GDP growing 1.5%

The chairman of the Japan External Trade Organization said Wednesday that his group projects Japan's gross domestic product to grow by more than 1.5 percent in fiscal 2000, eclipsing the government's forecast of 1 percent. Noboru Hatakeyama also said Japan's imports from East Asia have been increasing,...
JAPAN
May 18, 2000

Religious groups condemn Mori's 'divine nation' remark

Religious groups in Japan on Wednesday blasted Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's remark that people should recognize Japan as a divine nation with the Emperor at its core.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 18, 2000

Kudo sharp for Giants in win over Carp

Toshihisa Nishi and Akira Eto homered, and Kimiyasu Kudo pitched seven strong innings Tuesday to power the Yomiuri Giants to a 5-1 victory over the Hiroshima Carp.
JAPAN
May 18, 2000

Polio vaccine suspected in death of girl aged 3

A 3-year-old girl died April 27 of fulminant encephalitis and a 1-year-old boy is suffering slight paralysis in his right leg after both were vaccinated for polio at a Fukuoka Prefecture hospital, according to prefectural officials. Prefectural authorities are investigating the possibility that the vaccine...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 18, 2000

You too could be the target market of a new drug

Every time I visit the United States, I am increasingly alarmed at the number of TV commercials for prescription drugs, which is something I never saw when I was a child. As a matter of fact, between 1994 and 1998, drug manufacturers increased their spending on direct-to-consumer advertising in the U.S....
BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

Europeans showing concern about ill euro

In an apparent departure from a policy of benign neglect, European monetary authorities have openly begun expressing concern about the ailing euro.
JAPAN
May 17, 2000

Half of top Japan taxpayers earned income from stocks

More than half of Japan's top 100 taxpayers last year earned income from stock transactions, with many making windfall profits from the listing of companies in which they have an interest, the National Tax Administration said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 17, 2000

4,500 mourn at Obuchi's private funeral

Some 4,500 mourners paid their respects Tuesday at a private funeral for former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who died Sunday at a Tokyo hospital six weeks after he suffered a stroke and fell into a coma.
JAPAN
May 17, 2000

Stalking bill passed by Upper House

A panel of the House of Councilors approved Thursday a bill to combat stalking, paving the way for its enactment later this week.
JAPAN
May 17, 2000

Miyazawa cannot recall 3 million yen Nakamura admits getting as payoff

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Tuesday that he has no recollection of handing a paper bag containing 3 million yen to Kishiro Nakamura, a politician who was convicted of accepting bribes, in 1991 to buy his support to raise antitrust fines.
JAPAN
May 17, 2000

Sherpas say G8 agenda to include IT, arms control

The Group of Eight major nations will establish a coordination mechanism on information technology when their leaders gather for the July 21-23 summit in Okinawa Prefecture, G8 officials said Tuesday. The eight nations also intend to highlight conflict prevention based on an initiative to be hammered...
JAPAN
May 17, 2000

Extorters face trial as adults

Prosecutors on Tuesday turned over to a family court two 16-year-old Nagoya boys accused of playing key roles in allegedly extorting 54 million yen from a 15-year-old boy, attaching a rare opinion that the accused deserve to be tried in a criminal court rather than in a family court. The Juvenile Law...
BASEBALL / MLB
May 17, 2000

Salaries in Japanese baseball on the rise

The average yearly salary for Japanese pro baseball players has reached an all-time high this season, according to the results of a survey released Monday by Yakult Swallows catcher Atsuya Furuta, the head of the players' association.

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