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EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 1999

Victims in their own homes

One of Japan's best-kept secrets is the extent to which many of its children are subjected to violence or other abuse inside their own homes. The results, announced this week, of a survey conducted earlier this year by the Tokyo-based Center for Child Abuse Prevention among 500 young mothers of children...
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Daiwa group launches holding firm operations

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. kicked off operations as a holding company Monday, placing four separate firms under its wing.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

MITI defends trade practices

A senior trade ministry official said Monday that Japan has no trade practices that need to be placed on an upcoming U.S. list of items subject to unilateral trade sanctions under its "Super 301" trade law provision.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Analysis: Defense changes dodged public debate

Staff writers
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Reception chilly for Obuchi's 'souvenir'

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi met separately with top officials of various political parties Monday and received a less-than-warm response from opposition leaders to compromises made within the ruling camp over key defense bills.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Main points of revised bills

Following are the main points of revised bills on the updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines: 1) "Situations in areas surrounding Japan" that would require the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces are defined as situations in which the peace and safety of Japan are gravely threatened, for instance,...
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Lower House panel OKs guidelines bills

A Lower House special committee approved three controversial bills Monday to implement the updated Japan-U.S. defense guidelines, which will enable Japan to provide more military support to U.S. forces.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Japan to play multifunctional agro theme at global talks

Japan will stress the importance of the "multiple functions" of agriculture to ward off tariff reduction demands from the United States and other major agricultural exporters at global farm trade talks next year, government officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Automakers miss 10 million mark, ready axes

Domestic production of cars, trucks and buses fell to 9,968,440 units in fiscal 1998 slipping below the 10 million level for the first time in 20 years, an industry group said Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Teacher held in bombing admits prior blast, anger

A 42-year-old mathematics teacher in custody over a Tokyo high school bombing in March was served a new warrant Monday in connection with the bombing of a metropolitan government education official's home, officials said.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Ready for 2000?: Expert questions official Y2K stats

Fourth in an occasional series on Japan's Y2K preparedness
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 1999

Mixed feelings greet U.S. aid in Russia

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- A cloud of wheat billows across the Sea of Japan as the U.S. freighter Juneau vacuums its hold and unloads 80 tons of grain onto a smaller Russian vessel capable of navigating shallow ports in the region.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 25, 1999

Shake and bake with Guido's kitchen aerobics

There's a little man inside my oven. I call him Guido. He lives in the LCD display on my new Sharp convection oven. Guido can do all sorts of things, such as juggle apples, chop giant radishes and do aerobics. Guido has become my kitchen aerobics partner.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 1999

NATO steps into a quagmire

Call it the first humanitarian empire. For a moment, look beyond the horrific slaughter and the terrible plight of ethnic Albanian refugees. The immediate crisis obscures a host of profound long-term -- and largely unintended consequences -- of the current Balkan intervention that will impact U.S. foreign...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Apr 25, 1999

Getting around

Last week, when I wrote a few paragraphs about the new Getty Museum in Los Angeles, I thought, How inadequate! There is so much more, and so brief a mention cannot begin to give even the concept of so huge a complex. Perhaps all I can do is make you want to go, and perhaps that is enough. Fortunately,...
EDITORIALS
Apr 24, 1999

Big hopes for small business

The latest government annual report on small enterprises bears out an important fact that is often overlooked amid news-breaking moves by big businesses: Small corporations continue to play a vital role in the Japanese economy. The report, submitted this week to the Cabinet by the Ministry of International...
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 1999

Test Pyongyang's sincerity

Senior officials from North and South Korea, China and the United States reassemble in Geneva April 24 for the fifth round of four-party talks aimed at replacing the existing 1953 Korean War armistice with a permanent peace treaty. The odds of a breakthrough appear slim, however, given North Korean Deputy...
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 24, 1999

Royal Ballet showcases core repertory

The Royal Ballet is currently touring Japan with the productions "Swan Lake," "Manon" and "La Fille Mal Gardee," showcasing the lyrical Royal Ballet style.
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Apr 24, 1999

Combing through antiquity for quality

Unlike in those days when everyone wore kimono, Tsutomu Takeuchi's customers today are somewhat limited in number: hairdressers for sumo wrestlers, theatrical coiffeurs and makers of Japanese coiffure bridal wigs, and a few longtime aficionados.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 1999

Support, not coercion, for Indonesia

What Indonesia needs from the United States and the rest of the West is more "carrot" and less "stick." Devastated by an economic crisis not unlike the Great Depression, its principal requirement right now is leadership.
EDITORIALS
Apr 23, 1999

Another senseless tragedy

Tuesday, two students in an affluent suburb of Denver, entered their high school and calmly and methodically proceeded to kill 12 classmates and a teacher. After the rampage, they exchanged gunfire with the police and then killed themselves in an apparent double suicide. Our profound sympathy goes out...
JAPAN
Apr 23, 1999

Falsified autopsy blames straitjacket

A group of doctors at the Tokyo Medical Examiner's Office falsified a forensic report on an intoxicated man who died of a heart attack in February 1997 to claim he suffocated after police put him in a straitjacket, it was learned Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 1999

Ready for 2000?: ANA plugging away at 'millennium bug'

Third in an occasional series on Japan's Y2K preparedness
JAPAN
Apr 23, 1999

The Asahara Trial: Guru ordered gassing, disciple claims

One-time Aum Shinrikyo biologist Seiichi Endo told the Tokyo District Court on Friday that he believes cult founder Shoko Asahara ordered the June 1994 sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, although other top cultists claimed the late cult scientist Hideo Murai ordered it.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 1999

Yosano criticizes auto 'green tax'

The proposed introduction of fuel-efficiency-oriented car tax is "not quite rational," Trade chief Kaoru Yosano said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 1999

Blue book notes '98 foreign policy 'unique'

In response to a variety of threats to international peace and security, Japan last year carried out foreign policies characterized by top-level initiatives, according to the Foreign Ministry's diplomatic blue book for 1999 released Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 1999

Women in power still few in number: white paper

Japanese women's participation in the decision-making process is still far lower than that of women in other developed nations, according to a white paper released by the government Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 1999

Vote on defense bill could come Tuesday

The Lower House Special Committee on Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation decided Friday the committee will wrap up its debate Monday and vote on the bills, committee members said.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 1999

Mom, 92, daughter, 65, found slain

A 92-year-old woman and her 65-year-old daughter were found stabbed to death in their apartment in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, police said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 1999

Miyazawa to state position on debt-relief at G7 meeting

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa will attend a Monday meeting of the Group of Seven industrial nations in Washington to put forward his ideas to prevent a financial crisis in emerging market countries.

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