search

 
 
JAPAN
Sep 14, 1999

Chretien praises Kansai links as 'Team Canada' tours

OSAKA -- Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien praised the Kansai region's efforts to promote regional exchanges and said Canada wants to work with Japan in several different areas, from education to environmental technology.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 1999

BOJ sticks to near-zero interest rate policy

The Bank of Japan voted on July 16 to stick to its near-zero interest rate policy on grounds that deflationary pressure has not dissipated, according to minutes of the board meeting released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 1999

Japan, China consider upgrading security forum

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 14, 1999

BOJ attempts to slow yen's ascent

The yen soared to a 40-month high against the dollar Tuesday, prompting the Bank of Japan to step in to block it from advancing further.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 1999

RCC to buy collateralized land on the cheap

The state-run Resolution and Collection Corp. has decided to buy real estate put up as collateral for loans that soured from 35 financial institutions at one-twentieth combined book value.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Work starts on contentious Kobe airport

KOBE -- Nearly 30 years after it was first proposed, construction of the controversial Kobe airport officially began Monday morning off Port Island amid protests and doubts about its economic feasibility.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

FRC approves public funds to four banks

The Financial Reconstruction Commission formally approved plans Monday to pump 260 billion yen in public funds into the depleted capital bases of four regional banks.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Japan Foundation announces prize winners

The Tokyo-based Japan Foundation on Monday announced the 1999 winners of two prizes awarded annually for contributions to cultural exchange and mutual understanding between Japan and other countries.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Hayami warns firms to prepare for forex fluctuations

Corporations should take measures to become less vulnerable to fluctuations in the yen-dollar exchange rate, Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami reiterated Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Taiwanese youths becoming Japan fans

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

BOJ senses revival in exports, output

The economy is showing some improvements in exports and production, but clear signs of a self-sustained recovery have yet to be observed, the Bank of Japan said in its monthly report released Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Japan Tobacco to send smokes to seniors on Aged Day

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Japan welcomes Pyongyang proposal, offers talks

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka expressed willingness Monday to resume talks with Pyongyang toward normalizing relations between Japan and North Korea.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Honda's luxurious Avancier set to roll into wagon market

Honda Motor Co.'s spacious luxury wagon Avancier will debut Wednesday on the domestic market, the automaker announced Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Schools want laws for conversion plan

The Japan Association of National Universities said Monday special laws should be established that set various conditions if national universities are to be converted into independent public corporations as proposed by the government.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Man arrested over bogus bank accounts

OSAKA -- Osaka police have arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion he used forged health insurance certificates to open bank accounts under false names, officials said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 1999

Fashion and its victims

How does one get inside a girl's head? This rueful question must have occurred to many people recently on hearing reports of the death of a 25-year-old woman in Kanagawa Prefecture after she tripped and fell while wearing sandals with 10-cm-high cork soles. To observers of the elevated-shoe fad over...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 1999

Canberra's WTO diplomacy saves the day

SYDNEY -- Sturdy Mike Moore, the new director general of the World Trade Organization, knows how to appreciate the privileges of office that became his due last week when he took on the powerful role of world's free-trade czar. After the bruising battle he fought to get the job, he deserves them. The...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 1999

Permanent bureaucracy in Washington

WASHINGTON -- There is nothing as permanent in Washington as a federal agency. Once created, government bureaucracies are almost impossible to kill, no matter how outdated. Consider the desperate attempt of the Selective Service System and its allies to reverse the House Appropriation Committee's decision...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 12, 1999

Three cheers for Respect for the Aged Day

There's a naked lady in my "genkan." I was upstairs in my office just now, when I heard someone calling my name. I went downstairs and there was 88-year-old Yamakawa-san, standing there naked.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Sep 12, 1999

Praiseworthy

My earliest memories of Honolulu include my introduction to Japanese food; it had not yet become a cuisine. It was at a tiny Waikiki restaurant where each day a cook created four or five special lunches on two gas burners. One was for sauteing and frying, the other for simmering, steaming and warming....
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 1999

Australia's tragic Timor role

Australia fears the fallout from the East Timor chaos. But Canberra helped create that chaos.
EDITORIALS
Sep 11, 1999

Lost along the Third Way

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has pledged to remake his Social Democratic Party along the lines of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's "new" Labor Party. Those plans suffered a rude setback last weekend when the SPD lost two state elections to its conservative rival, the Christian Democratic Union....
EDITORIALS
Sep 10, 1999

Protect Japanese workers abroad

It has been two weeks since four Japanese mining engineers were abducted in the central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan. The four men are among the dozen hostages being held by Islamic guerrillas. As things stand, it is not clear when, or even whether, a reasonable solution will be found, although the Muslim...
JAPAN
Sep 10, 1999

BOJ steps in to stem yen's 'violent' rise

Japanese monetary authorities stepped into the Tokyo currency market Friday morning to sell yen for dollars to stem the yen's "violent" appreciation, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 1999

Analysis: Kan's fading star may reflect DPJ's fate

Staff writers
JAPAN
Sep 10, 1999

Diplomacy central to Obuchi's APEC agenda

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 10, 1999

Kan secures required nominations

Naoto Kan, incumbent leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, secured endorsements from more than 20 DPJ lawmakers Friday and met supporters to prepare for the party's presidential race.
EDITORIALS
Sep 9, 1999

An end run in Okinawa

The long-stalled government attempt to find a new home for the U.S. Marine Futenma Air Station in Okinawa is coming back to life. The Okinawa Prefectural Government has apparently narrowed down the candidate sites to a couple of locations on the eastern shores of the main island. The government of Prime...
JAPAN
Sep 9, 1999

Experts differ over forces behind positive GDP data

Staff writers

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals