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JAPAN
Mar 10, 2000

More support daylight savings time

Nearly 60 percent of people are in favor of introducing a daylight savings time program in Japan, according to a government survey.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 10, 2000

Still much to savor in PPM

Take three vintage bottles of wine. Ignore every rule about proper storage. Open them about 40 times a year and serve them to whomever you meet. Within moments of tasting them, everyone is certain to experience the same thing: a deep, warm glow guaranteed to last a lifetime.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2000

IT sector leads way for huge gains in corporate pretax profits

A triple-digit surge in the pretax profits of personal computer makers and telecommunication companies more than offset a steep decline in other sectors as the combined figure jumped 41.8 percent in the October-December quarter.
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2000

Pyongyang's intransigence must end

The Japanese government on Tuesday formally announced that it will provide 100,000 tons of rice to North Korea through the U.N. World Food Program. Japan is taking humanitarian action to follow up an agreement that the countries recently reached to resume the normalization talks -- which broke down in...
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Fall in Obuchi's popularity blamed on recent scandals

Public support for Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's Cabinet has fallen to 41 percent, down 4.6 percentage points from December, an indication of discontent over scandals involving government officials, according to a Kyodo News public opinion survey.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Passengers describe the sudden impact

Police, firefighters and subway workers shouted instructions to each other Wednesday as they attempted to rescue injured commuters and get them to hospitals in the immediate aftermath of a subway collision that ruptured Tokyo's morning rush hour.
COMMENTARY
Mar 9, 2000

Telecommunications matters

Telecommunications has long been a contentious issue between the United States and Japan. This is because although Americans believe that the U.S. has the most advanced and most competitive telecommunications system in the world, market penetration in Japan for U.S. equipment suppliers and service providers...
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2000

BOJ makes dollar jump 1.5 yen but settles below expectation

The dollar shot up almost 1.5 yen at one point Wednesday in Tokyo as the Bank of Japan intervened to head off the yen's rise, but the intervention failed to have a lasting effect on the market.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Rail firm told to inspect all similar subway cars

A special committee under the Transport Ministry ordered the Teito Rapid Transit Authority to inspect all subway cars of the same type as the one that was involved in the fatal accident near Tokyo's Nakameguro Station on Wednesday morning.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Chronology of MOX falsification

* Aug. 20, 1999 -- BNFL discovers MOX data falsification related to fuel being produced for Takahama No. 3 reactor.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Subway crash claims four

Four passengers were killed and 33 others injured when a Tokyo subway train derailed and sideswiped a packed commuter train running in the opposite direction during rush hour Wednesday morning, police said.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Court lifts ban on transsexual going back to school

The Tokushima District Court has overturned a decision by the prefectural education board to bar a transsexual man in his 30s from re-enrolling in high school, court officials said Wednesday. Presiding Judge Hisashi Matsumoto said in the ruling, "It is a fact that the man has already graduated from junior...
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2000

Oversupply to stunt dollar's comeback

The dollar-yen rate is struggling to find direction.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2000

Cell phone users to eclipse subscribers to fixed lines

Mobile phone subscribers in Japan are likely to outnumber fixed-line subscribers this month, ending the dominant role of conventional phones in telecommunications, the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Efforts to cut nuclear arms agreed upon

Japan and the United States agreed Wednesday to step up joint efforts to enhance international measures to prevent proliferation of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2000

Softbank's Son set to pace Gates

Softbank Corp. Chairman Masayoshi Son could become the world's richest man, dethroning Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, as Softbank shares have surged in the past year, a U.S. biweekly business magazine said in its latest edition. "By the time you read this, Bill Gates may no longer be the richest...
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Obuchi comes to defense of embattled NPSC chief

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi dismissed Wednesday growing calls from the opposition camp for Kosuke Hori, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, to be sacked for his responsibility for the Niigata police sandal.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2000

BOJ decides not to change policy -- again

The Bank of Japan decided Wednesday to leave its ultra-easy monetary policy unchanged. The decision was made by a majority vote at a meeting of the BOJ's nine-member Policy Board.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Kidnapper 'kin' dupes girl's kindergarten

A 50-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a 5-year-old girl in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and demanding a ransom of 8 million yen. The girl was rescued unharmed Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Japanese Red Army five to remain in Lebanon while deportation eludes

Five Japanese Red Army members will probably stay in Lebanon for the time being even though their three-year prison terms expired at midnight Tuesday, Lebanese officials said. A Beirut court has ordered that the five -- Kozo Okamoto, 52, Masao Adachi, 60, Kazuo Tohira, 47, Haruo Wako, 51, and Mariko...
COMMUNITY
Mar 9, 2000

Alley cats not just a local problem

For over 15 years, Bruno Ruggeri fed abandoned cats near his home in Kamakura daily.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 9, 2000

FIFA's unified calendar needs flexibility

The problem for people who come up with good ideas is that these pearls of wisdom are often put into practice by people with no idea.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2000

Adventures in global dining with Tokyo's restaurant king

From stand-and-slurp ramen shops to authentic French cuisine, Tokyo is a diner's paradise. Certainly, finding places that appeal to your palate isn't a problem; hoping they'll be there the next time around is. Tokyo restaurants go out of business faster than Shibuya girls change their nail colors.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2000

An Australian ethnic model for Japan?

Sophisticated and exquisite, the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia was my home for the month of February. I have been coming to this city since 1976, and I now see it as a clear symbol of the profound transformation that has overtaken a country that was once a backwater of various repugnant...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2000

No stereotypes in 'the House of Weeds'

So you think Korean food is all smoky yakiniku, meat-laden stews and fiery, spicy kimchi? That's a bit like saying Chinese people eat nothing but ramen and gyoza; or that Thai cuisine begins and ends with tom yam kung. Or that there's nothing to eat in Japan except sushi, tempura and sukiyaki.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2000

Sometimes it's best to follow your toe

If it's possible to have a "green thumb," as some grape growers fortunately do, can one also possess a "golden toe" -- a knack for stumbling onto serendipitous discoveries? I've begun to think so. In fact, I'm keeping notes for what could be titled "The Little Book of Serendipitous Slip-Ups," "Glorious...
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Falun Gong branch fails to gain metro NPO nod

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has rejected an application to grant nonprofit organization status to the Japanese branch of China's outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement, officials said.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2000

Ryohana: brilliantly competent, and proud of it

The late Jerry Garcia, former Grateful Dead lead guitarist, was once asked in an interview if he would like to be considered a great musician. With characteristic modesty, he waved the idea off as something in which he had no interest. After a moment of thought, however, he responded: "I would like to...
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

MOX OK with Kepco, scandal or no

...
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2000

The right connections

Market watchers worldwide are all abuzz about the "globalization of the American economic model." By that they mean the rising contribution of the information-technology sector to economic growth, the soaring valuations of Internet-related stocks and the use of those shares to finance highly leveraged...

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