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BUSINESS
Mar 26, 2000

Paper firms to merge operations in 2001

Nippon Paper Industries Co., Japan's second largest paper maker, and Daishowa Paper Mfg. Co., the fourth largest, are negotiating to integrate their operations by jointly setting up a holding company by April 2001, industry sources said Saturday.
COMMUNITY
Mar 26, 2000

Lebanese Marie-Rose has a lot to say on love

Last Tuesday Marie-Rose Ishiguro was at odds with her handbag. Dressed in a bright red suit, with gold jewelry and matching buttons, she looked every inch the power executive. But her battered brown leather bag -- more a holdall really, handles secured with string and spilling papers, books and clothes...
COMMUNITY
Mar 26, 2000

So many blossoms, so little time

The last flower viewing of the century will be here and gone in a matter of weeks.
BUSINESS
Mar 26, 2000

DaimlerChrysler, Mitsubishi agree on capital tieup

DaimlerChrysler AG and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. of Japan have formally agreed on a capital tieup, auto industry sources said Saturday night.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2000

Obuchi puts G8 before election

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi indicated Saturday that he will not dissolve the Lower House for elections before the Okinawa summit of the Group of Eight major nations in July.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 26, 2000

Impressions of an overlooked artist

In February 1866, three young artists tramped along the frosty paths of Fontainebleau, declaring that nature would ever be their muse. One, handsome, rich and carefree, would follow that muse until he lost everything except the respect of his friends. He died in poverty, in a home stacked with unsold...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 26, 2000

Once around again

Except for a few well-seasoned apartment buildings, the street I moved to 10 years ago was lined with old-style houses. Now only one remains. It is still a quiet street in an upscale neighborhood, but nearby are several small industry suppliers engaged in cutting, shaping and shipping metal forms. They...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 26, 2000

Vast private collection housed in London's 'unofficial attic'

LONDON -- Museums in Britain are nervously awaiting the results of the Internet publication of an official inventory of 350 works of art in British national collections whose provenance in the period between 1933 and 1945 is unclear. More than half belong to the National Gallery and the Tate, 109 and...
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2000

El Salvador's chief of police turns to Japan for advice on trustworthiness

In spite of the barrage of public criticism that Japan's scandal-plagued police have recently been the target of, they may have found an unexpected ally abroad: El Salvador.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 26, 2000

Music with the romantic touch

Each year, the City of Tokyo invites the Japan Federation of Musicians to organize a 10-week festival of concerts, opera, ballet, popular and traditional music -- the Tokyo Performing Arts Festival. It presents all the city's major performing companies, including concerts by each of the city's nine symphony...
COMMUNITY
Mar 26, 2000

A fighting chance in the ring

VIENTIANE, Laos -- While tourists settle at the outdoor eateries along the levee beside the Mekong River to catch another stirring Vientiane sunset, a handful of Laotians nearby gawk equally intently at a middle-aged Caucasian man punching a local youth.
SUMO
Mar 26, 2000

Triumph still within grasp for Takatoriki

Yokozuna Akebono turned the tables on nemesis Takatoriki on Saturday, denying the No. 14 maegashira a chance to win his first-ever Emperor's Cup at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 26, 2000

Yoshihiko Ueda

People often ask Yoshihiko Ueda why he became a photographer. He replies that he has no clear memory of the beginning. "Perhaps it was almost coincidental," he said. His wife offers the explanation that his sister gave him a camera to console him when he was disappointed at failing boyhood examinations....
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2000

Five die in head-on collision

Five members of a family from Hokkaido were killed and another seriously injured in a head-on collision early Saturday between a station wagon and a trailer truck in the village of Kajikawa, Niigata Prefecture, police said. The accident involving the station wagon, which was being driven by Takahiko...
BUSINESS
Mar 26, 2000

68% of Japanese executives believe economy is recovering

The majority of top executives at major Japanese companies nationwide believe the domestic economy is recovering, according to a recent survey conducted by Kyodo News.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2000

13-story project spells doom for Fuji view

There is, it seems, an unwritten law on Fujimizaka slope that every conversation must start with the following question: "Can you see it?"
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2000

All 47 prefectures in the red in '98 for first time

The financial situation at prefectural and municipal governments continued to worsen in fiscal 1998, according to a government white paper released Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2000

Saudi official to join Arabian Oil meeting

Abdul Aziz, Saudi Arabia's deputy minister for petroleum and mineral resources, will attend a shareholders' meeting of Arabian Oil Co. set for Thursday in Tokyo, industry sources said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2000

The day the Muzak dies

"If music be the food of love, play on..." The famous opening line of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," despite its wary "if," became a cliche for a reason. It draws on the common human experience of music as something associated with good things: in this case, as Duke Orsino surmises, with romance, but...
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2000

Four held in scam involving murder and fake marriages

A financier in Honjo, Saitama Prefecture, and three women have been arrested on suspicion of arranging bogus marriages between two Filipino hostesses and Japanese men in an alleged murder-for-insurance scheme, police said. The four people arrested Friday were named as Shigeru Yagi, 50, Mayumi Take, 32,...
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2000

Bill to protect investors approved

The Cabinet approved a bill Friday designed to tighten controls on the sale of financial products and better protect investors against the risks involved in their investments, government officials said.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2000

Ethanol: a green opportunity for Japan

Bad things can sometimes yield good. Loss of the Saudi Arabian oil-producing contract and the rise in the price of oil from $10 to $30 a barrel in the past year should therefore be a wakeup call to Japan to follow the United States' lead in investing in research and development of alternatives to petroleum-based...
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2000

LDP, Liberal Party electoral cooperation talks collapse

Working-level electoral cooperation talks between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Liberal Party broke down Friday, arousing speculation that Liberal Party leader Ichiro Ozawa might again threaten to break away from the coalition before the next general election.
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2000

FSA set to probe insurer bad loans

The Financial Supervisory Agency plans to oblige life and nonlife insurance companies to disclose the same information on their bad loans as banks are required to, agency sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2000

EU OKs sale of BNFL unit

The European Commission has approved the joint acquisition of F2 Chemicals Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels PLC, by Japan's Asahi Glass Co. and Mitsubishi Corp., European Union officials said Thursday. The executive body of the 15-member EU approved the deal earlier this week...
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2000

Redress for 'karoshi' suicides eased

The Supreme Court's decision Friday upholding a lower court conclusion that an employer bore responsibility for its employee's suicide is a stamp of approval on a ruling that has led to revisions of labor administration policies.
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2000

Obuchi talks of investment mission

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi told former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos on Friday that Japan would be willing to send an investment promotion delegation to the Philippines under the Japan External Trade Organization.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2000

Former Iran diplomat accused in arms case

Police sent papers to prosecutors accusing a former Iranian ambassador to Japan and a former embassy staff member of being directly involved in illegal weapons exports to Iran, Metropolitan Police Department officials said.
SUMO
Mar 25, 2000

Maru deals Takatoriki first defeat

OSAKA -- Veteran No. 14 maegashira Takatoriki saw his miracle run at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament come to an end Friday after suffering his first loss of the 15-day meet at the hands of yokozuna Musashimaru.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2000

Amerasian pupil gets diploma

A 15-year-old boy attending the Amerasian School in the city of Okinawa has received an official diploma from a Japanese junior high, even though his school is not recognized by the local board of education. Ricky Agarijo received his diploma from Okinawa's municipal Misato Junior High School after his...

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