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EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2001

The dangers that lie ahead

One of the biggest holiday gifts last year was the Sony PlayStation2 video game console. Good luck trying to find one. Hundreds of thousands of gamers around the world are still waiting to get their hands on the elusive item. But, according to news reports, one customer managed to collect about 4,000...
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2001

Unresolved issues linger for Japan

Japan greets the new century with two major diplomatic issues unresolved since the end of World War II -- concluding a peace treaty with Russia and normalizing diplomatic relations with North Korea.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 3, 2001

Kicking up a stink about smelling as natural as a skunk

While beauty traditionally belongs to the beholder's eye, correct hygiene might be better ascribed to his or her nose.
BUSINESS
Jan 1, 2001

Cellphones may bridge 'digital divide'

While the past year may be remembered for the surge in use of the Internet-capable cellphone, it remains to be seen whether this technology will thrust Japan to the forefront of the digital revolution as policy and industry experts hope.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 1, 2001

Much ado about nothing

In a fierce fit of free-market commercialism, ads in Moscow subway insist that the real new millennium will start today. With the economy weakened by crisis, revenues from the advent of Y2K were not as impressive as in the West, and now Russian boutiques, travel agencies and software stores are trying...
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2000

North Korea-linked credit union ruled insolvent

The Financial Reconstruction Commission on Friday declared insolvent Chogin Kinki Shinyo Kumiai, the largest pro-Pyongyang credit union in Japan, and decided to send in state-appointed administrators.
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2000

A good year for democracy

In a triumphant conclusion to a tumultuous year, reformers concluded their rout of the old order in Yugoslavia. In parliamentary elections held last weekend, an alliance of democratic parties won nearly two-thirds of the vote, crushing former President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party which took...
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

DPJ puts off opposition coalition plan

Naoto Kan, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, said his party will postpone plans to push for a coalition government with two other opposition parties -- the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

Number of municipalities could be slashed by 81%

The number of Japan's cities, towns and villages could be slashed from the current 3,229 to as few as 600 if merger plans that some two-thirds of all prefectures have drawn up are fully implemented, and if the remaining prefectures compile similar plans, a Kyodo News survey showed Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

Mori eyes February trip to Russia

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is aiming to visit Russia in early February for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a peace treaty, Liberal Democratic Party member Muneo Suzuki said Thursday.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 28, 2000

Japan Sports Awards 2000

Driver of The Year: Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 28, 2000

Looking back at the future

In honor of that particularly Japanese custom of creating instant tradition ("Since 1999"), this last column of the year peers forward by looking back. Here are just three of the many new places we have visited and enjoyed during the past 12 months but never got around to writing up.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

Japan falling; U.S. slipping; euro on a roll

Worries linger over slowing U.S. economic growth.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

Tieup agrees to focus on broadband Webcasting

Sony Corp., Tokyu Corp., Kansai Electric Power Co. and Itochu Corp. said Tuesday they have agreed to begin content-distribution services on a commercial basis via broadband Webcasting.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

FRC official named to head FSA

Shoji Mori, secretary general of the Financial Reconstruction Commission, will become the head of the Financial Services Agency on Jan. 6, succeeding Masaharu Hino, who will retire, government officials said Tuesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 26, 2000

Korean baseball owners under fire as support for players union grows

SEOUL -- The continuing saga of the Korean pro baseball players union has taken another series of twists and turns as players, many of whom were livid at the firing of six key members of the union, have started signing up as an act of solidarity with their fellow professionals.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 25, 2000

World fisheries collapsing as technology and demand soar

As this is the season of giving, here is a gift, a riddle:
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2000

Town's win against dam had a cost

KITO, Tokushima Pref. -- This remote village lies along the upper stream of the 125-km Naka River.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

World's stock markets battling pessimism

Pessimism abounds in stock markets worldwide. New York share prices have taken a beating amid concern over corporate earnings and economic prospects. The tumble in New York quickly spilled over to Tokyo, sending key market gauges to their year-to-date lows.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2000

TSE dives to 13,500 in high-tech sales spree

Tokyo stock prices continued to take a beating Thursday, as sharp declines on Wall Street overnight coupled with indications of a faltering economic recovery at home depressed the benchmark stock index to below the 13,500 mark, the lowest closing in over 23 months.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

Expectant brides on the rise in Japan

For the increasing number of Japanese brides facing the challenge of slipping into a wedding dress in the middle of a pregnancy, a Tokyo rental clothing shop is ready to help with a variety of maternity gowns for the big day.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2000

Outline of 82.7 trillion yen budget for 2001 unveiled by Miyazawa

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Tuesday unveiled the outline of the ministry's 82.65 trillion yen draft general-account budget proposal for fiscal 2001.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?