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JAPAN
May 14, 2000

Banned gray whale meat sold in Japan: N.Z. researchers

Kyodo News In the report, researchers at the University of Auckland determined that the meat, sold in August and October as minke whale at shops in Taiji and Nachikatsuura, both in Wakayama Prefecture, was in reality gray whale.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2000

Dull markets spell slow recovery for yen

The yen opened the new fiscal year on a lower note last month, replaying its weak showing in January. It could take time to turn higher.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2000

BOJ mulls end to zero-interest policy

Policymakers at the Bank of Japan are close to concluding discussions on when to terminate the bank's zero-interest rate policy, the central bank's deputy governor told a parliamentary committee Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2000

Honda to improve safety with multiple crash tests

Honda Motor Co. will improve the safety of its cars through realistic crash tests involving multiple cars colliding at various angles, Hiroyuki Yoshino, president of the major Japanese automaker, said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 11, 2000

Mori denies being caught in a brothel

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Wednesday denied a magazine report that he was detained when he was a university student for violating an ordinance prohibiting prostitution, suggesting that he may take legal steps against the magazine.
BUSINESS
May 9, 2000

Nasdaq Japan to debut with eight companies

The Osaka Securities Exchange announced Monday that eight firms will be listed on the Nasdaq Japan market when it debuts June 19.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 9, 2000

Kafu's sure but fleeting touch

AMERICAN STORIES, by Nagai Kafu. Translated and with an introduction by Mitsuko Iriye. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000, 240 pp., unpriced. In 1903, the young man who was to become one of Japan's finest writers left for the United States. He did not particularly want to go -- he would have...
JAPAN
May 8, 2000

Carbon tax is needed to cut CO2 levels: panel

A carbon tax is vital for curbing emissions of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming, according to the draft of a report being compiled by an Environment Agency panel.
JAPAN
May 8, 2000

Cult may have paid to get religious status

The Honohana Sampogyo religious group paid several million yen to a then member of the Fuji city assembly in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1986, one year before the prefectural government certified it as an authorized religious corporation, cult sources said.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 8, 2000

Orangutans smuggled in underwear

You're flying back from a week in Indonesia and the guy next to you seems unusually twitchy. Considering all he's had to drink, he ought to be adequately sedated, but he's just ordered another Scotch.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 7, 2000

All good things

Here is good news for all Kenny Endo fans, and if you aren't a fan you will be once you attend one of his performances. Kenny is a master of the taiko. Most of you know that taiko is drum, and then there is "odaiko," a huge drum. In general, taiko is to drum like the tea ceremony is to a tea bag. It...
COMMUNITY
May 5, 2000

Two Murakamis mull quake in Japanese life

A look at recent best-seller lists reveals several familiar faces. "Eien no Ko," a two-volume novel about the long-term effects of child abuse, is back with the broadcasting of a TV dramatization (Monday nights on NTV). There's another mystery by Nishimura Kyotaro and a book for improving one's English,...
JAPAN / History
May 4, 2000

MacArthur pondered Showa conversion

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, supreme commander during the Allied Occupation of Japan, once considered attempting to convert Emperor Showa to Christianity, a diary of the U.S. secretary of the Navy shows.
BUSINESS
May 4, 2000

B2B firm opens for business

WizOffice.com Japan, a business-to-business e-commerce company providing a wide range of services via the Internet, officially opened for business in Japan in May. The firm aims to be a one-stop solution provider enabling small and medium-size companies to streamline and outsource their back-office functions...
JAPAN
May 2, 2000

Daiichi Mutual ordered to shut down

The Financial Supervisory Agency ordered financially troubled Daiichi Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co. to suspend its operations Monday. It is the first bankruptcy in the nation's nonlife insurance sector.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2000

A literary love affair: Graham Greene's brief encounter with Shusaku Endo

LONDON -- For oddly different reasons the names of two not so long dead Catholic novelists from East and West are prominently, simultaneously, in the news. Because of two books dealing with his sexuality and the release of a quirky film based on "The End of the Affair," the ambivalent nature of Graham...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 24, 2000

Whales, ivory, orangutans and Japanese wildlife policies

The argument goes something like this: Developing countries are just trying to feed their teeming poor and hungry. All they want is a chance to sell what is rightfully theirs to sell. Carefully managed, of course, to ensure "sustainable use."
EDITORIALS
Apr 20, 2000

Russia votes for nuclear sanity

After years of resistance, Russia's Duma finally ratified the START II Treaty last week, thereby sending a statement that President-elect Vladimir Putin wants improved relations with Western nations rather than confrontation.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 20, 2000

Kaigo hoken throws spotlight on life in 'nursing care hell'

A few weeks ago I submitted a proposal for an April Fool's story to a local publication. The piece would have been a news report about Japanese airline companies taking advantage of "Japan's rapidly aging society" by offering "nursing care miles" to frequent flyers in order to attract middle-aged travelers....
EDITORIALS
Apr 18, 2000

Drawing the line in Peru

In most countries, a runoff ballot in a presidential election is unwelcome. It means the public is divided, and it delays the crucial business of putting together a government. In Peru's case, news of a runoff is a positive sign. It means that President Alberto Fujimori is heeding the concerns of international...

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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?