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JAPAN
May 19, 1999

Seattle execs gauge economy, hit local third-sector projects

KOBE -- The Japanese economy is still at least two years away from recovering and there are some signs things are bottoming out. But local governments that continue to push third-sector projects mired in red ink and a lack of leadership remain major problems.
JAPAN
May 18, 1999

Restrictions on chemical exports to ease

The government plans to ease controls on exports of general-purpose high-tech communications equipment, cryptographic products and chemicals in accordance with deregulation undertaken by two multinational watchdogs on arms and chemical transfer worldwide, officials said Monday.
EDITORIALS
May 15, 1999

More legal help for Japanese citizens

Critics have charged for years that government policies deliberately aimed at discouraging the public from resorting to the courts to resolve disputes have also worked to artificially limit the number of lawyers and judges in this country. Now, in a welcome if belated step aimed at increasing the number...
JAPAN
May 14, 1999

Miyazawa wants economic bills in June

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Friday called for drawing up a comprehensive package of measures by mid-June to strengthen industrial competitiveness and tackle growing unemployment.
JAPAN
May 14, 1999

APEC to address crisis prevention

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 14, 1999

Honda posts record sales, profits for fiscal '98

Thanks to growing sales in the North American market, Honda Motor Co. set new record highs both in consolidated sales and profits in fiscal 1998, despite dwindling sales at home, Honda officials said Friday.
EDITORIALS
May 13, 1999

President Kim takes up the challenge

Among Asia's crisis-hit economies struggling for recovery and reform, South Korea may well claim it leads on both counts. Interest rates, the currency and equity prices have markedly improved from the depths of a year and half ago. A return of market confidence is also in evidence as foreign capital...
JAPAN
May 13, 1999

Okuda takes Nikkeiren post, pledges better employment

Toyota Motor Corp. President Hiroshi Okuda assumed the post of chairman of the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (Nikkeiren) on Thursday amid expectations he will reinvigorate the nationwide employers' group.
LIFE / Travel
May 13, 1999

Myanmar's Chinese connection

To the millions of Myanmar Buddhists who still visit it, Mandalay symbolizes, nominally at least, the Rome of this "Golden Land." It is a royal "City of Gems."
CULTURE / Books
May 11, 1999

Dazzling portrait of the Occupation

EMBRACING DEFEAT: Japan in the Wake of World War II, By John W. Dower. New York: WW Norton, 1999. 676 pp. $29.95 History does not get any better than this. The award-winning author of "War Without Mercy," (1986) an exploration of racism and the Pacific War, is in peak form in this sparkling evocation...
JAPAN
May 10, 1999

Hyogo opens support center for foreign firms

KOBE -- The Hyogo Investment Support Center held its opening ceremony Monday afternoon at the Kobe International House in central Kobe.
JAPAN
May 10, 1999

Landowners delay second Narita runway

The Transport Ministry officially dropped plans Monday to build a second runway at Narita airport by March 2001 after failing to break an impasse with landowners opposed to the expansion.
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 1999

Beethoven's global harmony ballet

Ludwig van Beethoven is not the composer that springs to mind when trawling the classics for a composition to accompany dance, but in "The Ninth Symphony" choreographed by Maurice Bejart, the doughty chords are given a vivid and fresh life with mid-century choreography.
JAPAN
May 6, 1999

Questioned LTCB vice president found hanged

Takashi Uehara, a former vice president of the failed Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, was found hanged Thursday in a hotel room in Tokyo's Suginami Ward, police said.
COMMENTARY
May 5, 1999

A game plan for Ishihara

I was not surprised at all by Shintaro Ishihara's overwhelming victory in the April 11 Tokyo gubernatorial election. Several journalist friends of mine and I had correctly predicted the election results, including the order of all the major candidates by the number of votes. More than anything else,...
JAPAN
May 4, 1999

Daiei says aloha to Ala Moana for $810 million

Debt-ridden supermarket chain Daiei Inc. has finished negotiations to sell the upscale Ala Moana Center mall in Hawaii to major U.S. shopping mall operator General Growth Properties Limited Partnership, company officials said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 1999

India rightly resists the Chinese model

India has often been advised to follow the path of China in public investment in human capital. China has done well in the last decade, but it would be a disaster if India were to follow her example. China's approach can be called "two quick steps forward, one slow step back." India's approach, in contrast,...
JAPAN
May 3, 1999

Kan's policy quest undeterred despite party's slump

Staff writer
COMMUNITY
May 2, 1999

Relaxation therapy for busy people

Shiatsu, acupuncture and moxibustion are for older men -- at least, that's what was believed.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 1999

Sega slammed by poor Dreamcast sales

Electronics game machine maker Sega Enterprises Ltd. said Wednesday that it will suffer net losses of 32.8 billion yen for fiscal 1998, a sharp deviation from a projected 4.6 billion yen net profit.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 1999

Obuchi sees chance to bolster ties with U.S.

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Wednesday called for reinforced security ties and an overall partnership with the United States, underlining Japan-U.S. relations as the main pillar of Japanese diplomatic policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 1999

NATO steps into a quagmire

Call it the first humanitarian empire. For a moment, look beyond the horrific slaughter and the terrible plight of ethnic Albanian refugees. The immediate crisis obscures a host of profound long-term -- and largely unintended consequences -- of the current Balkan intervention that will impact U.S. foreign...
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Apr 24, 1999

Combing through antiquity for quality

Unlike in those days when everyone wore kimono, Tsutomu Takeuchi's customers today are somewhat limited in number: hairdressers for sumo wrestlers, theatrical coiffeurs and makers of Japanese coiffure bridal wigs, and a few longtime aficionados.
EDITORIALS
Apr 21, 1999

MOF by any other name

The long-running debate over breaking up the Ministry of Finance has ended with a compromise that will keep the ministry more or less as it is -- the most powerful of Japan's government offices. The MOF will be renamed the "Treasury Ministry," and will be charged mainly with fiscal and budgetary affairs,...
EDITORIALS
Apr 20, 1999

Foot-dragging in South Korea

The signs from South Korea are promising. After shrinking 5.8 percent in 1998, the economy registered 3.1 percent growth in the first quarter of 1999. Analysts now forecast that the economy will expand nearly 4 percent this year, twice the original predictions. In one indication of the new mood, government...
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 20, 1999

Nakamuras highlight double-suicide plays

During the month of April, the Kabukiza in Ginza is offering its annual Nakamura-kai program, featuring such major actors as Kichiemon, Jakuemon, Ganjiro, Tomijuro and Baigyoku, who belong to the Nakamura line of kabuki actors.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 1999

East Timor reveals West's hypocrisy

Two places on opposite sides of the world share similar circumstances: innocent people killed and displaced by government forces and paramilitaries. The violence on one side of the world begets harsh condemnation and a series of threats from Western powers, followed by a massive bombing campaign. The...
JAPAN
Apr 20, 1999

Coupons fail to spur shopping, but 'dango' sales up

Although municipalities have finished distributing the central government's shopping coupons to the public, the result of the hard-fought effort to boost domestic demand seems as flat as the vouchers themselves.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 1999

U.S. trade policy all at sea

When Pat Buchanan launched his third campaign for the presidency of the United States, the protectionist candidate visited the archetypal steel town of Weirton, West Virginia. Buffeted by a surge in imported steel, Weirton offered a natural backdrop for Buchanan's xenophobic fulminations.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Fukuoka's megamall to let you shop till you drop

Combining a huge cinema complex, a membership wholesale warehouse and a number of specialty shops and restaurants, an American-style megamall -- the largest in Japan -- will open Friday in a suburb of Fukuoka.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat