Search - member

 
 
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Great changed witnessed in her life

The Empress Dowager, who died Friday afternoon aged 97, saw firsthand the sweeping changes that engulfed the Imperial system after World War II as the wife of Emperor Showa.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2000

Second-tier banks regained profits in '99

Second-tier regional banks returned to profitability in fiscal 1999 for the first time in four years due largely to a substantial drop in bad-loan writeoffs and profits from share sales, an industry association said Friday.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jun 17, 2000

A tribute to Japanese world music

In two previous columns (Feb. 5 and May 20) I wrote about recently established live-music houses, WAON in Nippori and Manabiya in Yokohama, where one can hear hogaku. The familiar settings of these spaces allow for an intimate connection with the music, which ranges from relatively unknown young musicians...
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

OECD to tell Japan to keep easy-money policy

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will recommend that Japan maintain its easy-credit policy and avoid fiscal tightening to strengthen its fragile economic recovery.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

NTT to offer untimed Net access

Two local Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. group firms said Thursday that they will launch July 17 a full-scale flat-rate Internet connection service for integrated service digital network subscribers.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2000

Woman drops libel suit against media companies

A woman whose husband and daughter were found shot dead in California in May 1996 has dropped a libel suit she filed against Kyodo News and 31 of its member newspapers.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2000

Chinese leadership sows seeds of democracy in the neighborhoods of Beijing

BEIJING -- On a cold January morning in the Caoyuan (Grass Garden) neighborhood of east Beijing, residents huddled together to watch the hustings. Yang Guiying stepped up to speak. "If I am elected, our committee will think for the residents here, help them when they are in need and provide the best...
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2000

Vision said key to campaign

It's all about the vision thing, or the lack of it, thinks Keio University economics professor Heizo Takenaka about the campaign for the Lower House election.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2000

Ripples from Assad's death will extend far

So the Lion of Damascus is, at last, no more. For some people, he has been an unconscionable time dying. I remember when, back in 1983, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his loyalist guerrillas were fighting a desperate rearguard action against the Syrian Army in the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli....
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 14, 2000

Growing in the shadows and shady corners

Your condominium may have a north- or east-facing balcony, or the building next door may block out the sun for the best part of the day. Even if you are lucky enough to have your own garden, there will always be some corner that is shady. Finding plants that will thrive in these areas can be tricky,...
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2000

DPJ offers bitter medicine as poll strategy

Yukio Hatoyama, head of the Democratic Party of Japan In campaigning for the Lower House election, the Democratic Party of Japan will push policies that may seem to voters like "bitter medicine," such as lowering the minimum taxable income level, to show the party is thinking seriously about the nation's...
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2000

BOJ board again maintains ultra-easy monetary policy

The Bank of Japan decided Monday to leave its "zero-interest-rate" policy unchanged, the central bank said.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 11, 2000

High jinks dropped as orchestra grows up

Budapesti Festivali Zenekara May 31, Ivan Fischer conducting in Suntory Hall -- Variations on a Theme of Haydn, Op. 56a (Johannes Brahms, 1833-97), Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 (Bela Bartok, 1881-1945) and "Zigeunerweisen" for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 20 (Pablo Martin Militon de Sarasate...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2000

A summit of little consequence

The recent summit held by U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin resembled a rendezvous of two ships moving in opposite directions. Putin has just reached the epicenter of power, Clinton is departing. Putin has just begun his historic record, Clinton is finishing his. Putin...
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2000

Pakistan urges Japan to lift nuclear sanctions

Shafi Niaz, a senior member of the Pakistani National Security Council, urged Japan on Friday to lift sanctions against his country, saying it is abiding by a unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests, a Japanese official said.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2000

Wind storm hurts 17 in Kanto, Tokai

Strong winds brought on by a low pressure system hovering over Japan hit the nation's eastern and central regions Friday, injuring 17 people and disrupting transportation services in the Kanto and Tokai regions, officials said.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2000

Mori unveils IT aid plan to visiting ASEAN leaders

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has unveiled a new assistance program to promote the use of information technology in Southeast Asia as part of Japan's efforts to focus on the IT issue at the Okinawa Group of Eight summit, a Foreign Ministry official said.
COMMENTARY
Jun 10, 2000

A Russian game of chess

LONDON -- U.S. President Bill Clinton has just been visiting Russia, stopping on the way in Western Europe to collect the Charlemagne Prize for his contribution to European unity.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2000

Prince, Princess to visit Mongolia

Prince Akishino and his wife, Princess Kiko, will make an official visit to Mongolia from June 28 to July 7, the government announced Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2000

DAVID HOWELL: A Russian game of chess

LONDON -- U.S. President Bill Clinton has just been visiting Russia, stopping on the way in Western Europe to collect the Charlemagne Prize for his contribution to European unity.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 9, 2000

Japan's Kirin squad named

NARITA, Chiba Pref. -- Japan manager Philippe Troussier decided to form an Olympic-focused team for Sunday's Kirin Cup match against Slovakia in Sendai, the Frenchman announced Thursday at a Narita hotel.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2000

6,000 attend Obuchi's funeral

Some 6,000 mourners, including dignitaries from more than 100 countries, paid their final respects Thursday to the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi at an official funeral at Nippon Budokan hall in central Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2000

Brief campaign period keeps voters out of reach: ACCJ

Japan's election campaign period is too short for candidates to develop policies and make them known to voters, according to Robert F. Grondine, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and a longtime Japan watcher.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2000

Cultist 'glad' to help Asahara by releasing sarin

A former Aum Shinrikyo member who was 17 when she was involved in the 1994 sarin gas attack on an anti-Aum lawyer testified in court Thursday that at the time she was "glad" she could help cult leader Shoko Asahara.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Poll to pit Young Turks against old nepotism

Minoru Fujimoto, 31, has wavy, dyed brown hair. He is one of the new breed of "smiling" Japanese Communist Party members, whose appearance may surprise longtime party supporters who are used to more traditional-looking candidates.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Foreign exchange reserves at record high $341 billion

Japan's foreign exchange reserves grew to a record $341.14 billion at the end of May from the previous month, topping the old record of $338.58 billion set in April, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2000

LDP's Kajiyama dies at 74

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama died Tuesday afternoon at a Tokyo hospital, ruling Liberal Democratic Party officials said. He was 74.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat