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JAPAN
Jul 30, 1999

Jobless rate ascends to record 4.9%

The unemployment rate hit a record-high 4.9 percent in June, with the rate for men reaching an all-time high of 5.1 percent, the Management and Coordination Agency reported Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 1999

FRC to probe banks' links to Credit Suisse

Financial Reconstruction Commission chief Hakuo Yanagisawa said Friday he will ask the 15 financial institutions that received public fund injections to voluntarily report if they had dealings with the Credit Suisse group.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 1999

Sanwa-led alliance to rival financial giants

Sanwa Bank and five other financial institutions will form a comprehensive alliance to cooperate in areas such as retail marketing and asset management, the six firms announced Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 1999

Service helps toothbrush maker clean up

Staff writer
COMMUNITY
Jul 30, 1999

First-rate solutions for grammar blunders

Too often a translator of Japanese to English will complete a perfectly good translation and then deliver it to a customer without a careful spell-check.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 1999

Analysis: Credit Suisse case seen as a warning

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 30, 1999

Two-way translation headed for PCs

OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and a governmental research firm said Friday they have developed a two-way Japanese-English speech translation system usable on notebook PCs.
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 30, 1999

'Y5K' travels a sacred journey through levels of self-realization

The Hopi Indians have a prophecy based on an ancient icon thousands of years old called "The Sacred Rock." On the rock is an etching that represents the cycle of mankind's journey, depicting the development and eventual destruction of civilization.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 1999

Cabinet establishes Y2K team

The government established a crisis-management task force Friday within the Cabinet to cope with the Year 2000 computer problem and fully prepare itself for the worst, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Muneo Suzuki said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 1999

New Komeito makes an about-face

A tripartite coalition among the Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and New Komeito has become a fait accompli. At a special party convention last weekend, New Komeito adopted a basic policy that prepared the second-largest opposition party for participation in the bipartisan ruling alliance...
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

Industrial output rose 3% in June

Monthly industrial output grew 3 percent in June, marking the first month-on-month rise in three months, according to a preliminary report released Thursday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

Namitei: small, but able to take the pressure

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

Japan Telecom targets Nissan's Tu-Ka shares

Japan Telecom Co. is in negotiations with Nissan Motor Co. over purchasing the automaker's equity stakes in six Digital Tu-Ka cellular phone companies, a spokesman for the Tokyo-based major carrier said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

Tax bureau fines Energy Life chairman

OSAKA -- Tax authorities have fined the chairman of a social welfare institution about 200 million yen for concealing about 310 million yen in income related to construction of a nursing home, sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

Nakabo vows RCC will nail bad-loan kings

Kohei Nakabo, departing president of Resolution and Collection Corp., vowed Thursday that the state-backed collection body will continue efforts to hold the banks that helped create the nation's bad-loan mess liable.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

Lymphocyte quack, 65, sentenced to prison

The Tokyo District Court sentenced a 65-year-old man to a two-year prison term Thursday for administering lymphocyte to cancer patients without having a doctor's license -- a violation of the Medical Practitioners Law and Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

UNSC urged to prevent nuclear proliferation

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

Acquitted wife-killer Miura loses appeal in libel suit

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by Kazuyoshi Miura, a businessman convicted of trying to murder his wife in the early 1980s for insurance money, upholding a lower court decision against his 190 million yen libel claim against a magazine company.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

Dumping claims stifling steel exports, Tokyo says

Japan aired its concerns Thursday to the United States that the recent series of antidumping claims by the U.S. steel industry against steel imports has substantially paralyzed Japanese exports of most major steel products, government officials said.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 1999

Osaka man brings color to a gray industry

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 28, 1999

U.S.-Japan steel negotiations get under way today

Tokyo and Washington will hold bilateral talks today on Japan's steel exports to the United States in a bid to avert a further rise in protectionist sentiment in the U.S, a Japanese government official said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 1999

Hiroshima message falls on deaf earth

Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said that survivors of the atomic bombing on Aug. 6, 1945, played an important role in the struggle against nuclear weapons in the past half century, but he feels that the world does not fully appreciate their message.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 1999

Quintet of major firms to hawk single brand

Five major companies from different industries, including Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., are set to unite under a common brand name in a new marketing ploy, informed sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 1999

Minister to honor slain ANA pilot

Transport Minister Jiro Kawasaki decided Wednesday to officially commend All Nippon Airways pilot Naoyuki Nagashima, who was fatally stabbed by a hijacker Friday, ministry officials said Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jul 28, 1999

The little claimer that could

While companies, especially computer makers, have been eager to promote the Internet as a global bazaar and amusement park rolled into one, they are quickly learning that there's a little more to it than that. The tools that are supposed to help the customer are the same ones that can empower the unhappy...
JAPAN
Jul 28, 1999

Honor your notes: Taiwan lawmaker

A Taiwanese politician criticized the Japanese government Wednesday for refusing to honor wartime military bank notes and former German marks that Japan distributed in Taiwan when it colonized the area during World Wars I and II.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 1999

Cohen wants cooperation

The United States, Japan and South Korea want cooperation -- not confrontation -- with North Korea, visiting U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said Wednesday, urging Pyongyang to show restraint in attempting to launch another missile.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 1999

Arms talks participants slam Tokyo Forum report

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 28, 1999

Second extra budget may be needed: Miyazawa

The government may have to prepare a second supplementary budget even if the 0.5 percent growth target for this fiscal year looks certain to be achieved in September, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa indicated Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 1999

U.S. to share tracking data if Pyongyang fires missile

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Defense Agency Director General Hosei Norota agreed Wednesday to share information if North Korea test-fires a ballistic missile.

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