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JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

Imperial Couple return from tour

The Emperor and Empress returned to Tokyo on Thursday morning after a 13-day, four-nation European tour.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2000

DoCoMo tieup eyes i-mode-friendly ads

Mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo Inc. and major ad agency Dentsu Inc. announced Thursday they have jointly set up an agency specializing in ads to be posted on DoCoMo's i-mode wireless Internet service.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

New school brings outsiders to town

BEPPU, Oita Pref. — "A friend of mine began using some hair cream and perfume after he was asked for directions by a young lady. He is too old to attract coeds, though," chuckled Kiminori Kumada, in a leisurely local dialect.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

Japan plans G8 disease fund

Japan has proposed that the Group of Eight nations jointly establish a $100 million fund to fight AIDS and other infectious diseases when they meet for their July 21-23 summit in Okinawa, G8 sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2000

Unclear rules hinder day trading in Japan

Hajime Mabuchi is an early riser. After sobering up in a hot Jacuzzi at his home in a Seattle suburb, he takes some vitamins and drives to a nearby Starbucks coffee shop. He arrives at 6 a.m.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2000

Law to compensate foreign war veterans

The Diet enacted landmark legislation Wednesday that will provide a one-off payment to foreign veterans who fought for Japan during the war but are currently barred from receiving pensions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2000

Democracy vs. ethnicity in Fiji

LONDON -- There are rare occasions when a military takeover may be the least bad solution to a country's problems. Monday's military coup in Fiji may be one of them.
JAPAN
May 31, 2000

Cabinet likely to feel nicotine jitters

Some Cabinet members may get particularly edgy as they are temporarily deprived of a habitual means of relaxation during a weeklong no-smoking campaign that kicked off Tuesday as part of a government health plan.
JAPAN
May 31, 2000

Murayama gives eulogy for Obuchi in Diet

Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama offered a eulogy Tuesday in the Diet for the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, expressing his sorrow and regret over Obuchi's death earlier this month.
JAPAN
May 31, 2000

No payoff to U.S. for Okinawa, Kono says

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono on Tuesday denied a report that Japan secretly paid $200 million to the United States over the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japanese rule, saying he has checked it directly with the official allegedly involved.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2000

Japan beats antidumping drum at APEC

Japan will join forces with other members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in its upcoming trade ministers' meeting to pressure the United States to help strengthen global regulations to prevent the abuse of antidumping measures, trade chief Takashi Fukaya said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2000

DoCoMo mulling stake in U.S. mobile carrier

NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest mobile phone group, is negotiating to take a 10 percent to 20 percent equity stake in VoiceStream Wireless Corp., a U.S. mobile phone carrier, for several hundred billion yen, sources familiar with the deal said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2000

Risking death with every step, every day

"We are full of love for you, but cannot take care of all." -- from a notice to Karen villagers that mines would be set on their land
COMMENTARY
May 31, 2000

Japan-Taiwan ties are not China's affair

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara attended the May 20 inaugural ceremony for Taiwan's new president, Chen Shui-bian. While in Taipei, Ishihara talked with Chen and his predecessor, Lee Teng-hui, about various issues between Japan and Taiwan. This was good for Japan-Taiwan relations.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
May 31, 2000

The Net impact of giving

Last week I looked at the power of bulk buying that is being unleashed on Web sites such as Mercata and Mobshop. I genuinely like the concept, particularly because I like new models of e-commerce that push the Web's potential. If the aggregated consumer trend takes off like eBay, the wired consumer might...
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2000

When political expression leads to jail

Bo Kyi speaks English in a soft voice. He learned it the hard way, unable to see his teacher. They were political prisoners in adjoining cells in Myanmar's Thayawaddy Prison . His teacher whispered to him while the guards were away. Then Bo Kyi used a piece of brick to write out new words on his cell...
JAPAN
May 30, 2000

Spoiled kids reared on expectations, not values

Young people today are taught to expect things but are not taught their value or how to secure them, and adults are at fault for overprotecting and spoiling their offspring, according to psychiatrist Shizuo Machizawa.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2000

Trouble in paradise

Fiji is tiny cluster of islands about 3,600 km east of Australia. With a population of fewer than a million people scattered across some 300 islands, it is sometimes considered the South Pacific ideal, offering secluded beaches, crystal-clear waters and a relaxed lifestyle that beckons to visitors from...
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

Foot cult founder, seven senior members indicted

Prosecutors on Monday indicted Hogen Fukunaga, founder and former leader of the Honohana Sanpogyo cult, and seven of its senior members on charges of fraud.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 30, 2000

Kyoto, Basho, a mouse and you

KYOTO GARDENS: A Virtual Stroll through Zen Landscapes. CD-ROM (Apple Macintosh). Yorba Linda, Calif.: Lunaflora. Distributed by Mercury Software Japan. 4,000 yen. You stride your mouse and gallop off on a tour of two dozen of Kyoto's most famous gardens. If, that is, you have slipped this CD-ROM into...
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2000

Whose Constitution is it?

At a recent meeting of the Diet's Constitutional Review Council, Americans who participated in the drafting of the Japanese Constitution 54 years ago during the Occupation gave testimony. Their statements provided valuable clues to an understanding of the circum- stances that led up to the establishment...
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2000

A brief reprieve for the nuclear club

NEW DELHI -- The five original nuclear powers have won a much-needed reprieve at the first review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty since its indefinite extension five years ago. That reprieve, however, could serve as the lull before the storm.
COMMENTARY
May 29, 2000

Mori does Japan no favors

LONDON -- When I read the brief report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun about Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's remarks at the meeting of the Shinto Association of Diet Members, I was surprised not to see any reports of reactions to his reported statement. I wondered whether he had been correctly quoted and whether...

Longform

The building of new high-rise residential buildings has some alarmed that they could empty and fall into disrepair as Japan's population shrinks.
The high cost of letting Japan's condos crumble