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BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2000

Economic news shines, but many remain in the shade

The latest batch of economic reports has given the public reason to take heart. The Finance Ministry's quarterly business survey, released last week, found busi- ness-fixed investment rose 3.3 percent in the January-March term, the first year-on-year rise in nine quarters.
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2000

Relief for the workaholic headache

Nearly everyone has heard of sick leave, the time that people are allowed off from work to recover from an illness, whether real or feigned. More people also are becoming aware of child-care leave, the time off that companies are supposed to allow to mothers or fathers of a newborn child. Now the Osaka-based...
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2000

16% of pollees will back LDP in proportional vote

Sixteen percent of people surveyed say they will vote for the Liberal Democratic Party in the proportional representation section of the June 25 House of Representatives election, according to a Kyodo News poll released Monday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2000

A positive precedent for pets

Pet shops are proliferating, reflecting the demand for companionship among lonely urban dwellers. Yet animal-protection agencies note a growing tendency for people with busy lives to physically abuse their pets in frustration over the routine care and feeding they require, or even to abandon them when...
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2000

Nonaka demands faster cuts in NTT fees

Hiromu Nonaka, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, called on NTT Corp. Monday to quickly reduce the interconnection fees it charges other carriers to access its network.
COMMUNITY
Jun 11, 2000

Cybird flies big plans for mobile Net future

Kazutomo Robert Hori It came as a very pleasant surprise when an old friend rang from Osaka to tell me that her son's business had taken off like a rocket. The last time I saw Robert was at his wedding seven years ago -- a spectacular if crazy event held on top of a mountain in Hiroshima Prefecture....
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2000

Sakura to purchase Minato Bank in 'friendly takeover'

Sakura Bank said Friday that it will acquire a controlling stake in Minato Bank, a second-tier Kobe-based regional bank -- the first takeover bid in the Japanese banking sector.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2000

Japan to register expo bid in August

Japan will register its bid to host the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi Prefecture with an international expo body by late August, International Trade and Industry Minister Takashi Fukaya said Friday.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 10, 2000

A thick Kyoto sound, with all the right elements

"Thick," "intense," "heavy." These are the words people use to describe the new "Kyoto sound." The Kyoto band Elements is at the forefront of this movement, shown by the sellout sales of their latest recording, "Singular Sky," upon its release last month.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2000

DEHP-laced food hidden by ministry

The Health and Welfare Ministry kept secret a report compiled in February that revealed a high concentration of a hormone-disrupting substance has been detected in boxed lunches sold at convenience stores, sources close to the case said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2000

IT emphasis sees Mori order 2001 budget quota

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Monday instructed the Finance Ministry to get ready to introduce a special quota for information technology projects in the fiscal 2001 budget, government officials said.
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2000

NCB deficit grows 50.7 billion yen to 3.24 trillion yen

The capital deficit of Nippon Credit Bank, which is currently under state control, for the year that ended in March increased by some 50.7 billion yen over levels reported in September, the bank's earnings report showed Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 2, 2000

Reality hits Hyundai

South Korea has staged a remarkable recovery since its economy virtually collapsed in 1997. The economy is expanding at a blistering pace, and unemployment is at its lowest point since the crisis hit. While the recovery has won plaudits from international observers, there has been concern that it would...
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

DPJ vows to raise taxes in 15-pillar election plan

The Democratic Party of Japan announced Thursday its 15-pillar election pledge that includes increasing income tax — a move that has previously won support from Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

Official or not, English a must for Japan leaders: symposium

The proposal to make English Japan's official second language has been hotly debated over the past few months, but panelists at a recent symposium say it is Japan's leaders — not necessarily the general public — who need to master the language.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2000

Daiwa Bank group picked to buy Namihaya by FRC

The government's Financial Reconstruction Commission on Wednesday decided to sell the collapsed Namihaya Bank to the Daiwa Bank group, commission sources said.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2000

Motion to censure Mori voted down

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, immediately after fending off a censure vote submitted by the opposition in the Upper House, was hit with a no-confidence motion in the lower chamber Wednesday over his controversial remark that Japan is a "divine nation centered on the Emperor."
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2000

Daihyaku Life told to cease operations

The Financial Supervisory Agency announced Wednesday that it has ordered Daihyaku Mutual Life Insurance Co. to suspend operations -- the third collapse in the nation's life insurance sector.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
May 31, 2000

Environmental links

[email protected]/pressreleases/toxics/2000may19.htmlFour Greenpeace activists were recently thrown in a Tokyo jail on trespassing charges; they had unfurled a banner from a water tower proclaiming Tokyo to be the world's dioxin capital. Here the group explains why it wants to decloak the Japanese government's...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 31, 2000

Musical festivals

It's time again for the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto. The first was held nine years ago when many outstanding Japanese musicians gathered together, as they have every year since, to honor their teacher, Hideo Saito, with a combined musical performance.
JAPAN
May 30, 2000

State denies Okinawa deals with U.S. ever took place

The government on Monday denied a report by a major Japanese daily that Japan paid about $200 million to the United States in clandestine deals over the May 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japanese rule.
JAPAN
May 30, 2000

Global warming to strike hard: IPCC

Global warming may cause large-scale flooding after 2100, leading to water shortages and the spread of infectious diseases, according to the draft of a report to be issued next year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2000

Dollar likely to weaken against yen this week

Kyodo News The U.S. dollar is likely to weaken against the yen this week, helped by the return of market bulls expecting a stronger Japanese economy.
JAPAN
May 29, 2000

G7 finance ministers to back creation of Internet sales tax

Finance ministers of the Group of Seven economic powers will agree on the need to tax the sale of data such as software, music and other digital information via the Internet, at their meeting scheduled for July in Fukuoka, sources close to negotiations told Kyodo News on Sunday.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2000

Job outlook rosy for 2001: survey

Employment prospects for students graduating in spring 2001 have improved for the first time in three years, thanks to a mild recovery in the economy, according to a survey by Kyodo News.
JAPAN
May 28, 2000

Miyazawa prayed at Yasukuni

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa broke the taboo of worshipping at Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to Japan's war dead, in 1992 or 1993 when he was prime minister, sources close to family members of the war dead told Kyodo News on Saturday.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2000

Nichiei in red for fiscal 1999 after loan collection outcry

OSAKA -- Nonbank moneylender Nichiei Co. said Friday that its group net balance sank into the red in fiscal 1999 for the first time since its founding in 1970, due largely to a public outcry over its loan collection methods.

Longform

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