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JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Keidanren execs vocal over Asian interests

OYAMA, Shizuoka Pref. -- Several corporate executives of Japan's most powerful business lobby voiced concerns Friday over the nation's declining economic status in Asia and called for measures to further stabilize financial and currency exchange systems in the region.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Low-key ivory sale served more than craftsmen

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

LDP may have to walk political tightrope

Staff writers
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

ANA pilot slain during skyjacking

The captain of an All Nippon Airways jumbo jet bound for Sapporo was stabbed to death Friday by a knife-wielding hijacker who flew the plane for a short time after the stabbing, police said.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Business leaders urged to tap younger generation

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JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Lower House approves M&A bill

The Lower House gave its approval Friday to a bill intended to encourage much-needed corporate realignment through mergers and acquisitions.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Yosano declares Japan ready for steel talks

Japan is ready to hold talks with the United States over the contentious issue of steel trade, International Trade and Industry Minister Kaoru Yosano said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Banks claim problem loans dropping off

Self-assessed problem loans at the nation's 910 deposit-accepting financial institutions totaled 80.6 trillion yen as of March 31, down slightly from a year earlier, the Financial Supervisory Agency said Friday.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 23, 1999

Foreigner rock scene blooms in city's pubs

Shaft is pumping up another Saturday night gathering in a cranny of Tokyo. Just as the five musicians lope to the end of the first verse of their self-proclaimed rock anthem "Shaft of Light," the infectious dribble of sticks across bass drums reels the audience into the chorus.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Mazda to end austerity days with new engine line

Mazda Motor Corp. said Friday it will set up a production line for new types of engines with displacements of 2,000cc to 3,000cc at its Ujina plant in Hiroshima.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Tokyo-Mitsubishi in talks to repay public funds

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is negotiating with financial authorities over the earlier-than-scheduled repayment of 100 billion yen in public funds it received in March 1998, bank officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Nonproliferation forum kicks off

An international forum on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament began Friday in Tokyo to discuss ways to step up measures to strengthen the global regime to prevent nuclear arms races.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jul 23, 1999

Under the sway of Petty Booka

Picture this: Two girls, cousins, growing up in the lush, tropical paradise of Hawaii, learn the ukulele at their father's knee. Singing the old, mournful island love songs with their mother, harmony and melody come as naturally as the hula.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Economy not so rosy: EPA chief

The economy most likely contracted in the April-June period, despite logging remarkable growth of 1.9 percent during the first three months of the year, Economic Planning Agency chief Taichi Sakaiya said Friday at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Computerized speech interpretation takes new strides

KYOTO -- Connecting online to three institutions in the United States, Germany and South Korea, the Interpreting Telecommunications Research Laboratories (ITL) on Thursday conducted experiments on a speech translation system in four languages.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Literary critic Eto, 66, commits suicide

Renowned literary critic Jun Eto was found dead Wednesday night in an apparent suicide at his home in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, police said. He was 66.
EDITORIALS
Jul 22, 1999

Pointless and reckless in Taipei

It is still unclear why Mr. Lee Teng-hui, the president of Taiwan, said earlier this month that relations between his government and China's mainland government should be conducted on a "special state-to-state" basis. (Any hopes that he had been misquoted were shattered when he repeated the comments...
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Expert testifies on Aum head-twisting

A Teikyo University medical professor testified Thursday at the Tokyo District Court on the death of Aum Shinrikyo follower Shuji Taguchi, who died in an alleged lynching in February 1989.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Airbus predicts Japan will need 660 planes by 2020

Japan needs to buy some 660 aircraft, amounting to $92 billion, during the coming 20 years to meet growing passenger demand, Airbus Industrie said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

'Kimigayo' controversy leaves students indifferent, confused

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Cultist gets 18 years for multiple murder attempts

Senior Aum Shinrikyo figure Masahiro Tominaga was sentenced to 18 years in prison Thursday for trying to kill an anticult lawyer with sarin gas in 1994, sending an injurious letter bomb to Tokyo's governor and planting cyanide gas in Shinjuku Station.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Flag, anthem march through Lower House

Breaking a long-standing political taboo, the Lower House, by a vote of 403-86, approved a bill Thursday to legally recognize the Hinomaru as the national flag and "Kimigayo" as the anthem.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

No national consensus on national symbols

Staff writers
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Elderly traffic fatalities up 1.9%

The first half of 1999 saw 4,190 traffic accidents deaths, 0.9 percent fewer than the same period last year. But traffic fatalities among people aged 65 and older increased by 1.9 percent to 1,425, according to a National Police Agency report released Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Ship inspection bill postponed

The Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and New Komeito agreed Thursday that there is not enough time to submit during the current Diet session a bill allowing Japan to inspect unidentified ships, sources said.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Keidanren voices support for controversial bills

OYAMA, Shizuoka Pref. -- The head of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) on Thursday expressed support for almost all politically sensitive bills sent to the Diet for deliberation -- including one to legally adopt the de facto national flag and anthem and another to allow police...
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Uzbekistan still needs help from Japan: ambassador

Uzbekistan regards Japan as its No. 1 strategic partner, the ambassador to Japan, Alisher Shaykhov, said Thursday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jul 22, 1999

Ishikawa sake guaranteed to give you summer chills

One of the more interesting things about the sake world is that interspersed between long-famous sake-brewing regions, such as Fushimi, Nada and Niigata, are locales that have well-established sake traditions all their own. Places such as Yamagata, Shizuoka, Shimane and Tottori have well-defined styles...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 22, 1999

The new alfresco hits the pavement

It was not so long ago that alfresco dining here meant choosing between a raucous, roof-top beer garden or the cosy, elbow-rubbing confines of a funky pavement yatai. And if oden or ramen and a glass of cheap sake was not quite what you had in mind for a romantic evening out, too bad.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Kanzaki meets Ozawa as wheeling and dealing deepens

New Komeito head Takenori Kanzaki met Liberal Party leader Ichiro Ozawa on Thursday to seek understanding now that his party is moving toward joining the coalition.

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