Search - information

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2000

A Chinese teenager's dream of a better life ends in tragedy in the back of a truck

CHANGLE, Fujian -- Smartly dressed in a Calvin Klein T-shirt, jeans and white trainers, the teenager props up a motorbike in Changle, a city in the southern Chinese province of Fujian. His hair flopping over sunglasses, he flashes a shy grin at the camera. Jin Xicai hardly resembles the stereotype refugee,...
JAPAN / History
Jun 28, 2000

China's Korean War POWs find you can't go home again

BEIJING — In a hotel room in the Yangtze River port of Wuhan, a dozen elderly Chinese men fight back tears to sing a song written almost 50 years ago in a U.S. prisoner-of-war camp in South Korea. At the end of the song, their tears flow freely, for friends lost in the conflict and for their own harsh...
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2000

ACCJ calls for easier rules on domain registration

The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan said Tuesday that it has handed over a report to the Japan Network Information Center requesting a relaxation of rules for registering domain names -- the addresses for accessing pages on the Internet.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 28, 2000

Online education

A high school graduate who wants to wait a year before going home for her university education was invited to attend the University of Maryland University College graduation in April. There she heard reference to a program that provides online courses at a global university. She wonders if she could...
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2000

MITI plans minor reshuffle ahead of G8, trade talks

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry will announce Friday a reshuffle of its staff, with fewer major personnel changes than a year ago in view of pending trade issues and the regrouping of government offices scheduled in January, ministry officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2000

G7 to agree on reform of IMF lending process

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven economic powers are likely to agree on a set of reforms to International Monetary Fund lending mechanisms at their talks in Japan in July, a source in international finance said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2000

Execs, 'sokaiya' held over extortion

Police arrested a professional "sokaiya" and two businessmen Monday for allegedly attempting to extort 50 million yen from a Fujitsu Ltd. subsidiary.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 26, 2000

Is there free speech in Japan? Greenpeace activists arrested

"For the sake of good environmental policy, it is necessary to have freedom of expression which forms public opinion." These are the words of Sweden's environment minister, part of a press release issued in March 1999, following the arrest of several Greenpeace activists who were in Tokyo protesting...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 25, 2000

The do's and don'ts of business card etiquette

Please don't tell Mr. Watanabe that his business card is now in a million pieces strewn among the bras and underwear in my washing machine. This is just the latest faux pas in my history of malicious treatment of business cards.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2000

Making humanitarian aid more effective

NEW YORK -- One of the greatest challenges facing governments and international aid agencies today is how to respond better to humanitarian disasters.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2000

Korean summit remains a blank sheet

HONG KONG -- Perhaps it is in the nature of joint declarations that their merits tend to be exaggerated. The British did it with their joint declaration with China regarding Hong Kong, the Indians did it with their joint declaration with Pakistan at Lahore. Now the South Koreans, plus many foreigners...
CULTURE / Art
Jun 24, 2000

Glimpses of global tragedies on a long and winding road

A nameless road continues on for thousands of miles under thousands of different skies, wending its way through thousands of different landscapes. Along either side anonymous towns and cities flow by with regularity, like scenes in a photography album sorted by a methodical traveler.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2000: VOX POPULI
Jun 23, 2000

Dailies helping bureaucrats keep status quo: van Wolferen

Major Japanese newspapers are in league with bureaucrats to maintain the status quo and are the biggest obstacle to political reform, warns Dutch journalist Karel van Wolferen.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2000

7dream.com Web shop to open in July

7dream.com Ltd., a joint venture centered on convenience store chain Seven-Eleven Japan Co., announced Thursday that it will open one of the nation's biggest e-commerce shopping Web sites on July 1.
COMMENTARY
Jun 23, 2000

Victory predicted for LDP

The major Japanese newspapers that conducted polls on the June 25 Lower House election this week made these stunning forecasts:
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jun 23, 2000

Bad boys of summer and good vibes of fests

The influx of hip-hop style and substance into white America's musical consciousness has given pop music a series of bad boys who, in another era, would be hanging out at the nearest fraternity keg party.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2000

Restructuring putting a damper on recovery

Recent economic reports indicate the nation has finally pulled itself out of a decade of doldrums.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

May trade surplus plunges 29% as oil leads import surge

Japan's trade surplus plunged 29 percent in May from a year earlier as imports outpaced exports, following a 10.3 percent surge the previous month.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Shares bought on credit increase again

The balance of shares bought on credit rose for the second week in a row last week, with buying spreading to low- and medium-price stocks.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2000: VOX POPULI
Jun 22, 2000

Kin want focus on youth crime

While economic recovery may be the focal issue for the June 25 election, Ruriko Take, head of the Association for Victims of Juvenile Crimes citizens group, believes juvenile issues should be given more attention as they concern the people who will lead society in the future.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Talks address Japan, U.S. e-commerce

While it may appear that the United States is far ahead of Japan and the rest of the world in embracing e-business, the U.S. itself is a newcomer to the field, and tremendous challenges lie ahead, a U.S. business school educator told a symposium organized by Keizai Koho Center.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2000

Japan health systems ranked best

Japan's health systems are the best among the 191 member countries of the World Health Organization, according to a WHO survey in the World Health Report 2000, released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 21, 2000

Economy progressing toward self-sustained growth: EPA

Economic Planning Agency on Tuesday upgraded its assessment of the economy for the second consecutive month and said it is gradually approaching a self-sustaining recovery.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2000

TSE set for rally after bottoming out twice

The Tokyo stock market appears poised to stage a rebound after confirming a double bottom.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake