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COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2000

A grim future for China's hinterlands

A sense of deja vu comes over me when I read the Chinese government's proposals for the development of China's western, or hinterland, provinces.
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2000

Rockets under review

There is no humor to be found in Japan's recent disappointing -- and expensive -- rocket failures. Nevertheless, the news that the spectacular crash of an H-II rocket last November may have been caused by design and planning errors does more than suggest that the nation's rocket scientists should go...
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Caribbean immigrants to sue Japan

At least 90 Japanese who immigrated to the Dominican Republic more than 40 years ago are preparing to sue the Japanese government next month to seek compensation for their hardships in the Caribbean country, their representatives said Monday.
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Hijacker served murder warrant

A 17-year-old boy in custody in connection with the May 3-4 hijacking of a bus was served warrants Monday accusing him of murder and attempted murder, police said. The teen, from Saga Prefecture, whose name is being withheld under the Juvenile Law, is suspected of fatally stabbing Tatsuko Tsukamoto,...
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Love-crazed stabbing leads to prison

An 18-year-old youth was sentenced Monday to a prison term of between five and 10 years at a district court here for stabbing a classmate to death after stalking her because she refused his advances. Judge Tsutomu Yasue, of the Okazaki branch of the Nagoya District Court, said the defendant had earlier...
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Obuchi's death is mourned

Some 3,000 mourners paid their respects Monday to former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who died Sunday at a Tokyo hospital six weeks after suffering a stroke and lapsing into a coma.
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Four cities accept East Indies war exhibit

An exhibition commemorating the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies in World War II is set to arrive in Japan later this year, but will not be held in either Tokyo or Osaka due to pressure from rightwing groups and certain bureaucrats.
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Radiation protection meeting begins

A five-day international conference on radiation protection, involving approximately 1,000 researchers from 58 countries and regions, began Monday in Hiroshima. The 10th International Congress of the International Radiation Protection Association will focus on a variety of radiation issues under the...
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Aging Dutch still waiting for redress

On the second Tuesday of every month, a group of elderly Dutch men and women gather in front of the Japanese Embassy here. They show up at its front gate to participate in a peaceful demonstration demanding an apology and financial compensation.
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

G7 to emphasize IT for the first time

The Group of Seven nations plan to discuss financial and economic aspects of advancing information technology as the key to world economic growth when their finance ministers hold a pre-summit meeting July 8 in Fukuoka, G7 officials said Monday. The IT issues are expected to focus on macroeconomics,...
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Mori hails new defense headquarters

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said Monday that the completion of the Defense Agency's new headquarters presented a good opportunity for him as chief commander of the Self-Defense Forces to talk about the nation's defense policies.
COMMENTARY
May 16, 2000

Failing youth and the victims of crime

The whole nation was shocked by the hijacking of a bus in the middle of the "Golden Week" holiday season. And it was a 17-year-old boy who seized the bus and killed one passenger.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2000

Special losses at DDI, IDO weigh down bottom line

Telecommunications firms DDI Corp. and IDO Corp., which plan to merge with international call operator KDD Corp. in the fall, released their 1999 earnings reports Monday showing lower pretax profits despite higher sales.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2000

Deutsche Securities faces penalty

The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission recommended Monday that financial regulators punish the Tokyo branch of Deutsche Securities Ltd. for illegal soliciting and two other financial violations.
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Activist's wife slams Japan for Greenpeace detentions

The wife of a Hong Kong environmentalist on Monday condemned Japanese authorities for having detained her husband and three other Greenpeace International campaigners in Tokyo since last Tuesday without bringing any formal charges against them. "It's inhumane," a sobbing Phoebe Lam told reporters after...
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Japan to push Balkan peace as chair of Okinawa summit

Japan intends to step up its efforts to promote peace and stability in Southeast Europe in an effort to become a leader in the field of conflict prevention as the chair of July's Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Monday.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2000

Correction cloud has bargain silver lining

Major factors driving the corrections last month on the Tokyo stock market were steep reactionary price falls in the information technology sector and foreign investors' sales following tumbles in New York stock prices.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2000

M2 indicator grew 2.9% in April

Japan's key indicator of money supply grew 2.9 percent in April from a year before, an acceleration from the 1.9 percent gain in March, the Bank of Japan said Monday in a preliminary report.
CULTURE / Books
May 16, 2000

Asia's storm clouds haven't dispersed

ASIAN STORM: The Economic Crisis Examined, by Philippe Ries. Translated by Peter Starr. Tokyo: Tuttle, 2000, 2,800 yen. The economic typhoons that swept though Asia in 1997 capsized regional economies, sent the misery index skyrocketing, wiped out colossal amounts of wealth, swept away an aging dictator...
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Medics add doubts to Aoki takeover

Remarks made by the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's doctors since his death Sunday are increasing suspicions among opposition parties concerning Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki's claim, reiterated Monday, that Obuchi asked him to step in as acting prime minister.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 16, 2000

Enchi's made-up 'monogatari'

A TALE OF FALSE FORTUNES, By Fumiko Enchi. Translated by Roger K. Thomas. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2000. Unpriced. The late Fumiko Enchi was, besides being a well-known novelist, a major scholar of Japanese literature. Like her father, Kazutoshi Ueda, she was a classicist. Her 1972-3...
BUSINESS
May 16, 2000

Current account surplus declined 16.8% in 1999

The nation's current account surplus in fiscal 1999 fell 16.8 percent from the previous year, its first decline in three years, as imports from the rest of Asia showed particularly high growth.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 16, 2000

Nagashima wins 900th

The Yomiuri Giants forged a two-run rally out of a walk and a pair of doubles in the eighth inning Sunday at Koshien Stadium to snare a 3-2 win from the Hanshin Tigers and climb into first place in the Central League standings.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2000

Economy hit bottom in early '99: EPA

The head of a study panel of economists for the Economic Planning Agency on Monday said that the Japanese economy hit bottom in spring 1999.
CULTURE / Music
May 16, 2000

A natural woman, yes, but a soul singer?

One of the more thought-provoking critical observations I've come across lately (Amy Linden's, to be exact) is the claim that the current crop of young black singers could learn something from the 22-year-old singer-songwriter Fiona Apple about soul. That's "soul" as in Soul, as in Gladys and Nina, as...
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Hattori mom joins anti-gun rally in U.S.

Hundreds of thousands of people from across the United States took to the streets of the U.S. capital on Mother's Day to demonstrate against gun violence that took the lives of some of their loved ones. Organizers said about 750,000 gun-control supporters attended the "Million Mom March" in the National...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
May 16, 2000

Blood and gore all over the floor

"Everyone thought I'd fallen on some broken glass by accident. But . . . I just couldn't stand myself anymore, so I went behind the amps with this piece of broken glass, having decided to cut my jugular vein. I just didn't have the guts, though . . . I was aiming for the vein, but I just couldn't make...
CULTURE / Books
May 16, 2000

Japan still has its strengths

PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT: How Japanese Enterprises Meet the Challenge, by Hirotoshi Shibuya and Hideyuki Kamiryo. The Japan Times, 2000, 209 pp., 3,000 yen (cloth). While corporate philosophies and principles may change from country to country, the basics of finance are constants. "Productivity Improvement"...
BUSINESS
May 16, 2000

APEC urged to promote e-commerce

Member countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum must endeavor to promote cross-border e-commerce and solve problems such as infringement of Internet security, International Trade and Industry Minister Takashi Fukaya said Monday.
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

New ministry targets quality of life

The new ministry to be created in January by a merger of the Construction and Transport ministries and the National Land and Hokkaido Development agencies will strive for public safety, environmental preservation and economic health, according to a draft policy.

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