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JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Shirakawa urges firsthand science classes

Nobel laureate Hideki Shirakawa suggested Friday that elementary school children in Japan more firsthand experience in their science education.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

11 trillion yen plan gets official nod

The government adopted a comprehensive stimulus package Thursday worth nearly 11 trillion yen in its latest bid to place the long-stagnant economy on a full-fledged recovery track.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

GDP forecast rises to 1.5% for fiscal 2000

The Economic Planning Agency announced Thursday it has revised upward its economic growth projection for fiscal 2000 to around 1.5 percent in real terms from the original 1 percent predicted last December.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2000

Upper House chief Saito quits after mediation fails

House of Councilors President Juro Saito resigned Wednesday after he failed to mediate an agreement between the ruling and opposition camps over a plan to revise the way some of the chamber's members are elected.
EDITORIALS
Oct 18, 2000

The case of Bessie's gaur

Cloning is in the news again, as it has been regularly since the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep in Scotland in 1996. The last four years have seen a flurry of Dollies -- more sheep, cattle, pigs and mice -- and numerous bulletins on their progress, which has mostly proved surprisingly normal. In the...
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2000

HIV victim's mom rocks voters' boat

The outspoken mother of an HIV-infected man who became a symbol of citizens' fight for justice during the 1995-96 tainted blood scandal, is challenging established political parties in the Oct. 22 House of Representatives by-election in Tokyo's western suburbs.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2000

Newspapers seek exemption from privacy law

Newspaper publishers told the government on Monday that they should be made exempt from pending privacy legislation because its principles may discourage people from talking to the media.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 17, 2000

A celebration of interracial marriages

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER?, by Brenda Lane Richardson. Wildcat Canyon Press/Circulus Publishing Group, Inc., 2000, Berkeley, Calif., $14.95. Brenda Richardson is an award-winning African-American writer and partner in a 16-year marriage to a Swedish-American Episcopalian priest. She set out nearly...
EDITORIALS
Oct 16, 2000

A Nobel lesson for Japan

The selection of Mr. Hideki Shirakawa, professor emeritus of Tsukuba University, as a recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry is wonderful news. It has cheered up the nation in a difficult moment. We extend him our hearty congratulations. The prize is shared by two American professors, Mr. Alan...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 15, 2000

Former Carp farmhand making impact with Mets

It's always nice to see a player from Japan make it in the major leagues, whether it be a Japanese pitcher such as Hideo Nomo or Kazuhiro Sasaki, or a foreigner such as Matt Stairs, Rob Ducey or Lee Stevens getting another shot at the Bigs after spending time in the Central or Pacific Leagues in Dai...
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 15, 2000

Hawks pitcher Fujii passes away at 31

Daiei Hawks pitcher Masao Fujii died at a Fukuoka hospital Friday. He was 31, three days short of his 32nd birthday. Fujii had been hospitalized at the National Kyushu Medical Center for interstitial pneumonia.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2000

Lions pitcher faces scrutiny of prosecutors

Police on Friday sent papers to public prosecutors on Seibu Lions pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, accusing him of driving a car without a valid license last month in Tokyo and of other traffic offenses, they said.
EDITORIALS
Oct 13, 2000

Mr. Mori's misplaced priorities

Six months after an uncertain start, the administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is enjoying a period of stability, or so it seems. In contrast, immediately after the Liberal Democratic Party's defeat in June's Lower House election, the governing party was gripped by a feeling that it would not...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2000

Arrested man also suspect in Blackman case

A 48-year-old Tokyo man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of molesting a Canadian woman three years ago and will also be questioned in connection with the recent disappearance of a British bar hostess, police said.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2000

Nobel Prize surprises Tsukuba chemist

Hideki Shirakawa of Japan and Americans Alan Heeger and Alan MacDiarmid have been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their discovery that some plastics can conduct electricity. Shirakawa, 64, a professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, said the honor came as a total...
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2000

Japan 776.5 trillion yen in red . . . maybe

The government's liabilities exceeded its assets by as much as 776.5 trillion yen at the end of March 1999, according to the country's first-ever national balance sheet released Tuesday by the Finance Ministry.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2000

1970 hijacking still up in air

A recent joint statement issued by the United States and North Korea on international terrorism may not help resolve the 1970 hijacking of a Japan Airlines jetliner by Japanese Red Army members, who remain in North Korea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2000

Patient safety must come first

If the situation that is developing in many Japanese hospitals is not yet a national emergency, it soon will be. The frequency with which medication errors and other medical accidents are occurring has many people legitimately concerned about undergoing a hospital stay. Those fears can only be heightened...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2000

Palestinians fight decades of injustice

AL-BIREH, West Bank -- Areen, my 6-year-old daughter, has been unusually quiet. This normally energetic, very talkative child could not fully understand why school was canceled on Saturday after she was dressed and ready to go. On Sunday, during the news broadcast of the death of 12-year-old Mohammed...
COMMENTARY
Oct 9, 2000

A chicken in every pot, TVs in every home

WASHINGTON -- With a tough election looming in the United States, congressional Republicans have opened the Treasury to every interest group with a letterhead. Budget analysts Stephen Moore and Stephen Slivinski figure this Congress may end up as the biggest social spender since the 1970s.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2000

Localities urge Tokyo to lead on suffrage issue

Almost 50 percent of major municipalities believe the central government should determine whether foreigners are granted suffrage in local elections rather than leaving the decision to local authorities, a Kyodo News survey said Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 8, 2000

The Japanese people really are different

This year there were two Olympics. One was for the world generally. The other was for Japan, with audiences glued to events where hysterical announcers could declare a Japanese victory.

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