Search - 2000

 
 
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2001

Move to change electoral system decried

A move by the ruling bloc to partially change the House of Representatives electoral system has been widely criticized as a political compromise by the Liberal Democratic Party to please coalition partner New Komeito.
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2001

Former Tokyo Shogin boss gets new warrant over loans

A former head of the failed credit union Tokyo Shogin was served a fresh arrest warrant for alleged breach of trust in connection with illegal loans of 1.6 billion yen to a business owner, prosecutors said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2001

Yamaichi chief escapes 30-month prison term

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday overturned a lower court ruling sentencing Atsuo Miki, a former president of the now-defunct Yamaichi Securities Co., to 30 months in prison with no suspension for business misconduct, and instead gave him a suspended three-year term.
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2001

Supermarkets down, department stores up

Supermarket sales fell in September from a year earlier for the 34th straight month, but department stores saw increased business for the first time in three months, industry groups said Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 25, 2001

Swallows a win away from fifth Series title

The big guns drew blanks for the Yakult Swallows on Wednesday, but a role player picked up the slack.
JAPAN / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Oct 25, 2001

Foreign equity funds' ways changing face of Japan Inc.

When hunting for a company to buy out, Kenji Ueda doesn't wait to be introduced. The Ripplewood Holdings LLC executive director makes his phone calls cold.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2001

Tokyo Shogin illegal loan case deepens

The former head of failed credit union Tokyo Shogin, already under arrest on suspicion of embezzlement and extending 1.62 billion yen in illegal loans, provided another 3 billion yen in illegal loans to a Tokyo business group, investigative sources said Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 25, 2001

Cedar cull may still leave pollen victims fuming

This week's column is about air pollution, principally emissions from diesel engines. But first, the forest and cedar trees.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2001

Curbs urged on South Korean DRAM

Four major electronics makers may ask the government to impose punitive duties on what they call unfairly cheap semiconductor imports from South Korea, industry sources said Wednesday.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2001

His turn to talk

I interviewed Hideyuki Hirayama in the summer of 2000 at Nikkatsu Studio, after spending a morning inside a dim, dank soundstage, watching him film Riho Makise. Makise was working on an etching and was padding silently about her house -- an early scene in "Turn," but one of the last in the shoot.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2001

Air dioxin levels exceed limits near Atsugi base

Air samples taken near the U.S. Naval Air Station at Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, exceeded the national tolerable standard of dioxin concentrations, the Environment Ministry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2001

Two sentenced for smuggling boats

The Tokyo District Court sentenced two men Tuesday to two-year prison terms suspended for three years and fines of 500,000 yen for smuggling secondhand fishing boats to North Korea in August last year.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 24, 2001

Life's odd journey and the wonder of Y

With the press conference and vernissage just hours away, workers were hurriedly making final adjustments to the Hara Museum's big new Tadanori Yokoo show when one of them turned to me and said, "You know, many curators were trying for this exhibition." At least that's what I thought she said. As Yokoo,...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2001

First meeting of Asian city leaders outlines 15 projects to boost region

Leaders of major Asian cities issued a declaration Thursday, outlining 15 joint projects that include the development of the region's air industry, online education and environmentally friendly vehicles.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2001

U.S. needs to engage China in wake of terror attacks, security expert says

The United States should try to improve relations with China under the new security environment following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and that will require "careful and realistic diplomatic management on many fronts," an American expert on East Asia told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2001

KSD exec gets suspended sentence

The Tokyo District Court sentenced Kimiyasu Koseki to a suspended 18-month prison term Thursday for causing financial damage to KSD, a mutual aid organization for small businesses that is embroiled in a bribery scandal.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2001

How will terrorist atrocities in U.S. affect business elsewhere?

The terrorist attacks on the United States last month will cause economic hardship across North America, but experts discussing the outlook for east Asia's major economies at the Brookings Institution-Keizai Koho Center Regional Forum were divided on the knock-on impact here.
BUSINESS
Oct 19, 2001

Bosch units set to merge on July 1

Bosch Automotive Systems Corp. and Bosch Braking Systems Co. -- both Japanese affiliates of German auto parts maker Robert Bosch GmbH -- on Thursday signed an agreement to merge July 1.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2001

'Juku' owner held in kidnapping

A manager of a "juku" cram school was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of kidnapping a 7-year-old boy from Tokyo's Itabashi Ward as the first-grader was on his way to school.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2001

Corporate failures resumed rise in September

The number of corporate bankruptcies rose 4.4 percent in September from a year earlier to 1,568, up for the first time in three months, a credit research agency said Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2001

Asylum-seekers face tough time in Japan

Gol Ahmad Bahador does not want to go back to Afghanistan.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2001

Daihatsu to build SUVs in Venezuela

Toyota Motor Corp. subsidiary Daihatsu Motor Co. said Monday it will start manufacturing in mid-November the Terios 1.3-liter sport utility vehicle at its plant in Venezuela.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2001

Domestic violence law in effect, despite criticisms

A new law designed to combat domestic violence by allowing courts to impose restraining orders went into effect Saturday, despite a number of experts pointing to shortcomings in the legislation.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 14, 2001

The truth about the 'enemies of the people'

For the past month there's been a lot of talk about how much our sense of the world has changed since the events of Sept. 11. Actually, it's mainly changed for Americans, but as someone once said: When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 14, 2001

Flash points along the road to recognition

ASIAN AMERICAN DREAMS: The Emergence of an American People, by Helen Zia. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000, 319 pp., $26.00 (cloth) The book to read to get up to speed on Asian and Pacific Island Americans (APAs) is Helen Zia's "Asian American Dreams." Part personal memoir, part history, part...

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