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LIFE
Mar 2, 2000

Breaking from shame into song

When Tama Ozaki left for India at 19, she felt that she would never want to come back to Japan. "I was in a real emergency situation at the time," she says in a warm but powerful voice. "I was eating compulsively, and drinking too. I was completely unhappy."
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Lebanon refuses to send Red Army rebels home

The Lebanese government decided Wednesday to deport five Japanese Red Army members to a third country after they are released from prison on Tuesday, government officials said. The decision effectively means Lebanon has rejected Japan's request for the four men and one woman to be extradited to Japan....
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 2, 2000

Harajuku tea shop kicks that Seattle habit

Serene and calm, Saikolee Tsukamoto's piano project, "Museum of Plate," is music to kick back and relax to. With a dollop of Erik Satie and a hint of ambient electronica of the gentlest kind, her latest album "Saon (Music for Tea)" is, as the name implies, inspired by tea drinking. Listen to the record...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Dai-Tokyo, Chiyoda announce merger

Midsize nonlife insurers Dai-Tokyo Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and Chiyoda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. announced Wednesday they will merge in April 2001.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2000

Machinery orders presage smooth sailing

The latest batch of encouraging economic and corporate earnings reports could presage a more stable stock market in the near term.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2000

Japan needs a new, better Constitution

At long last, deliberations on the Constitution have started at both Houses of the Diet. It is not clear, however, what kind of conclusion will be reached and when. Indications are that the participants in those deliberations want to draw up a conclusion by 2003 at the latest. But this is by no means...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

U.S. expresses opposition to China's presence at G8

The United States expressed its opposition Wednesday to Japan's unofficial proposal to invite China to the Group of Eight major nations' summit in Okinawa in July, Japanese officials said.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Health Ministry panel asked to review hospital fee system

Health Minister Yuya Niwa asked an advisory panel Wednesday to look into changing a system in which hospital fees are reduced according to the length of a patient's stay, a practice causing doctors to discharge people too early, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Police-watchers earn 26 million yen

Four of the six members of the National Public Safety Commission, the body that oversees the National Police Agency, each earns a salary of 26.67 million yen a year, although the commission meets only once a week, NPA sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Sea charts to be revised with GPS

The Maritime Safety Agency plans to fully revise Japan's nautical charts by the summer of 2002 because they are oriented 400-500 meters too far southeast agency officials said Wednesday.
COMMUNITY
Mar 2, 2000

All in the name of the perfect cut

We live in an age where technology pushes us to be faster, more efficient and more connected than ever. We make phone calls while walking down the street. We send e-mail messages from handheld electronic organizers. We have oceans of informations just on the other side of a mouse click.
JAPAN / Media
Mar 2, 2000

Never mind public health; insiders rule

It will be interesting to see how "The Insider" is promoted when it opens here in May. If it wins a bunch of Academy Awards, then the campaign will be easy, but if it doesn't then the PR people will have to be creative. Most Japanese ad campaigns for foreign films rely on stars, but Russell Crowe, who...
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2000

How not to liberalize trade

LONDON -- Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once famously described -- or is alleged to have described -- the Japanese language as an unfair obstacle to trade. How, she is said to have demanded, could foreign suppliers possibly penetrate the rich Japanese market when it was protected by an impenetrable...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Terrorists tease press from cells

BEIRUT -- With just days left before five Japanese Red Army members are due to be released here, local and foreign press interest in the captives is heating up.
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2000

Who is policing the police?

Two high-ranking police officials resigned Tuesday as an expression of responsibility for their misconduct amid a public outcry that they deserved even heavier punishment. In fact, such was the degree of public disgust that the resignations of the disgraced officials, Mr. Yoshiyuki Nakada, head of the...
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2000

Seven-Eleven joins nursing market

Seven-Eleven Japan Co., the nation's biggest convenience store chain, and three other companies on Tuesday announced plans for a joint venture in the nursing-support business, a lucrative sector amid the country's rapidly aging population.
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2000

Local corporate tax may start in '02

An across-the-board local corporate tax may be introduced in all prefectures as early as fiscal 2002, the head of an advisory panel to the prime minister indicated Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2000

eBay launches Web site geared toward Japanese

U.S. online person-to-person trading community eBay Inc. announced the launch Monday of a Japanese-language Web site with more than 800 merchandise categories. eBay Japan ( ebayjapan.co.jp ) follows the eBay business model, with the company charging a nominal fee for listing an item on the site and receiving...
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Advisers, clients face tax fraud complaints

Tax authorities have filed complaints with prosecutors against three business consultants and three of their clients over concealment of some 1.5 billion yen in income.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

State agencies dealt with Aum

A police raid of eight facilities related to Aum Shinrikyo on Tuesday revealed that major companies and government agencies had placed orders with a computer software company believed to be a major source of funds for the cult, investigators said.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 1, 2000

Shimizu's Perryman knocks Troussier's methods

Shimizu S-Pulse's English manager Steve Perryman admitted on the weekend that he gets exasperated when his players come back from international duty low on confidence, accusing Japan coach Philippe Troussier of "playing mind games." "If you play mind games with a player and destroy him, you can just...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2000

Handling the bugaboo of post-POW stress

It is well-known that U.S. presidential aspirant John McCain, a former U.S. Navy pilot, was struck by North Vietnamese fire over Hanoi during the Vietnam War and subsequently spent five and a half years in various prisoner-of-war camps. He still bears physical scars from the experience, notably the fact...
COMMUNITY
Mar 1, 2000

In quest of Amelia Earhart

Ric Gillespie has been chasing the same lady for more than 12 years. Now he reckons he knows where she is. If he's right -- and the evidence his foundation has collected is pretty compelling -- then one of the longest-running mysteries in the history of aviation has been solved.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Police laxity in Niigata inexcusable, Obuchi says

(Kyodo) The new chief of the Niigata Prefectural Police took office Tuesday, replacing a disgraced Koji Kobayashi who failed to interrupt a drinking and mah-jongg session upon reports a girl missing for nine years had been found.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2000

Tough new laws stir outrage in Australia

SYDNEY -- Johnno, a 15-year-old Aboriginal boy, steals a few pencils and some paint. The magistrate has no option but to send him to prison for four weeks. After three weeks behind bars, Johnno hangs himself.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Leap day efforts not enough: Aoki

A leap day computer glitch affected some systems and automatic teller machines Tuesday, but the government did not found any severe malfunctions, Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Low-cost cruises are reeling them in

Singapore-based Star Cruises, the leading ocean cruise line in the Asia-Pacific region, is enjoying an overwhelming response after it recently announced the operation of low-priced luxury cruises.
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2000

Cabinet looks to ease taxi, bus rules

In a bid to boost competition in the city bus and taxi industries, the Cabinet approved a bill Tuesday to ease regulations on operators starting new businesses.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Mar 1, 2000

Take this job ...

I like my job. I even enjoy going to the office -- most days. That's why I'll probably continue the trudge to Tamachi, even though this job is one of the most suited to telecommuting.
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2000

Wall Street downturn dampening dollar

After climbing past the 111 yen level for the first time in six months early last week, the dollar has come under fresh downward pressure amid worries about volatile moves on Wall Street.

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