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SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 16, 2000

NBA meets 'The Truman Show'

"And for tonight's halftime entertainment, Marv, let's go to the Blazers locker room and catch a glimpse of Detlef Schrempf undressing."
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2000

GMO standards talks kick off amid protests

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- A four-day conference opened here Tuesday to discuss international standards for genetically modified organisms and foods, bringing together some 300 participants from 36 countries.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2000

Russian writes about postwar Japanese prisoners

At the end of World War II, Soviet troops imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers and civilians in Asia, sending them to labor camps in Siberia. Tens of thousands subsequently died in brutal conditions.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2000

Dental exam questions possibly leaked

Questions to be used in today's state license examination for dentists may have been leaked, the Health and Welfare Ministry revealed Tuesday.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Mar 15, 2000

Baseball fantasies

www.padres.com/ballpark/index.html Larry Lucchino has been busy conceiving another baseball stadium, and this time he's convinced the city of San Diego to foot most of the bill and flesh out his dreams. The last time he turned on his charm, the result was Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He says A Ballpark...
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2000

Consumers spoil speedy recovery scenario

Expectations of a strong pickup in consumer spending toward the close of 1999 have failed to materialize.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

Global rules for GM foods to be debated

Members of an international commission on food standards are expected to clash on safety standards for genetically modified foods during a four-day meeting beginning today in Chiba Prefecture, government sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2000

Time for demand-, not export-driven focus

After climbing past the psychologically important 20,000 barrier for the first time in more than 2 1/2 years early last month, the 225-issue Nikkei average now is languishing at around 19,500.
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2000

Predictions cautious on economic recovery

The gross domestic product data for October-December released Monday sent mixed signals, with higher plant and equipment investment coupled with dismal consumer spending.
COMMENTARY
Mar 14, 2000

In praise of market heretics

During the 1980s and 1990s, waves of neoconservatism swept the world. The movement was sparked by two politicians: Margaret Thatcher, who became the prime minister of Britain in 1979, and Ronald Reagan, who became president of the United States in 1981. In Japan, a neoconservative administration headed...
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

GDP drops for second quarter running

The nation's economy shrank a real 1.4 percent during the October-December term compared with the previous quarter, logging negative growth for the second consecutive period, the Economic Planning Agency said Monday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 12, 2000

Day of reckoning

The question of sexual harassment -- "seku hara" -- has, after years of neglect, become one of the hottest media topics. Not that suddenly men are beginning to harass women. It is that women are making accusations while before many tended to view it as inevitable, something that went along with employment...
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2000

Electronics makers to offer 500 yen increase in base wage

The base monthly wage for workers at Japan's 17 major electronics appliance manufacturers is likely to increase by 500 yen starting April 1, the first time in three years that the pay hike has matched the year-earlier level, labor union sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2000

Nursing care more democratic

The public nursing-care insurance system due to start next month is a steppingstone toward a citizen-oriented society where everyone can participate in the decision-making process, according to Professor Keiko Higuchi of Tokyo Kasei University.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 11, 2000

Scorched in the fires of Iga

The influence on contemporary Japanese pottery from medieval kilns is still profound and deep, even though we have one foot into the 21st century. These high-fired unglazed stonewares can be found in potting centers commonly referred to as the Six Old Kilns (rokkoyo) -- the only problem is that this...
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2000

Department store chains study distribution merger

The nation's two leading department store chains, Takashimaya Co. and Mitsukoshi Ltd., announced Thursday they will study the integration of their distribution and information networks.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2000

IT sector leads way for huge gains in corporate pretax profits

A triple-digit surge in the pretax profits of personal computer makers and telecommunication companies more than offset a steep decline in other sectors as the combined figure jumped 41.8 percent in the October-December quarter.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

MOX OK with Kepco, scandal or no

OSAKA -- After five months of denial and public assurances that nothing was wrong, Kansai Electric Power Co. has admitted it failed to properly investigate charges of data falsification at a British manufacturer of uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel intended for use in Fukui Prefecture nuclear reactors....
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2000

JR East joins Lawson in e-commerce

East Japan Railway Co. announced Tuesday that it will launch a full-scale Web site to sell and deliver more than 10,000 items in cooperation with major convenience store chain operator Lawson Inc.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2000

NTT expecting 119 billion yen profit in 2000

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. expects unconsolidated pretax profits of 119 billion yen on operating revenues of 364 billion yen for fiscal 2000.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2000

Market ready to take off

The key Nikkei average is hovering around 20,000, shrugging off worries about corporate sales to unwind cross-shareholding ties.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2000

The risks of banking on Japan's future

SYDNEY -- The near-zero interest-rate policy pursued so doggedly by Japan's government and central bank has created an incentive structure for corporate managers that encourages bank borrowing rather than turning to security markets for investment funds. In so doing, corporate borrowers face less pressure...
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2000

Taisho Life ordered to recapitalize

The Financial Supervisory Agency has ordered Taisho Life Insurance Co. to recapitalize and improve its management after an agency inspection found the small life insurer to be financially weak, industry sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2000

Debit cards aim to break spending habits

Full-scale use of the debit card system, which allows consumers to pay for purchases with ordinary bank cards, is to begin in Japan on Monday amid hopes that it will alter the deeply ingrained habit of consumers paying in cash and also become an effective business tool.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2000

Legislation sought to ban gene-based discrimination

The government should enact legislation to ban discrimination based on genes, according to a draft report compiled by a subcommittee of the Council for Science and Technology, an advisory panel to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2000

Game fans snap up PlayStation2

More than 7,000 stores nationwide started selling at 7 a.m. Saturday an advanced version of the popular PlayStation game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2000

A new dawn for marketing in Japan

and MASAAKI KOTABE The Japanese market holds much promise for U.S. firms as new forms of doing business evolve. Mail-order and nonstore retailing are becoming part of the daily consumer landscape. Likely to be even more prominent is the ability to conduct business in "market space" rather than the traditional...
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2000

Farm ministry searched after arrest

Police searched the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and several dozen other places Friday in connection with charges that a former ministry official received about 500,000 yen in cash for helping an agricultural cooperative receive favors related to government-backed projects.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2000

Parents sue to learn truth of son's death

The parents of a 14-year-old boy who was killed in what a family court deemed to have been a one-on-one fight with another boy are to file a damages suit next week against the state and Ibaraki Prefecture, claiming the investigation was unfair, it was learned Friday.

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