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JAPAN
Oct 5, 2000

Food aid to North Korea gains approval

A key Liberal Democratic Party panel approved a plan Wednesday to send 500,000 tons of rice as food aid to North Korea, effectively paving the way for an aid program the government hopes will add impetus to normalization talks.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Firms continue to be optimistic: 'tankan'

The outlook of the nation's corporations -- particularly large manufacturers -- continued to improve over the past three months, according to the latest quarterly "tankan" business sentiment survey, released Tuesday by the Bank of Japan.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Oct 4, 2000

Who's your buddy?

Last week, AOL and DoCoMo announced a major strategic alliance, but few techno-journos were blindsided by the news. Rumors had been floating since early summer, and the potential benefits were fairly easy to digest. Savvy scribes had probably already put together rough drafts. It was just a matter of...
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2000

'IT cards' dropped from supplementary budget

The government decided Monday that the supplementary budget for fiscal 2000 will not cover "IT cards" that would have subsidized tuition for Internet-related courses, government officials said.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2000

MacArthur's audacious landing at Inchon astounded everyone -- except Mao

HONG KONG -- Sept. 15 was the 50th anniversary of the famous Inchon amphibious landing by U.S. forces under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, which so decisively turned the tide of battle in the early stages of the Korean War.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2000

Three insurers announce tieup

In the latest round of consolidation in the insurance sector, Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co., Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. and Nichido Fire & Marine Insurance Co. announced Monday they have agreed to a comprehensive tieup, with a view toward integrating their management in the future.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2000

Koreans welcome 'cultural invasion'

SEOUL -- The Japanese are coming -- but this time they're being welcomed with open arms.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2000

Diplomat in spy scandal leaves Japan

A Russian military attache at the Russian Embassy in Tokyo left Japan on Saturday after a senior officer of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force was arrested early Friday for allegedly passing defense secrets to him.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2000

Mori, Putin make little progress

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded their two-day summit in Tokyo on Tuesday, agreeing to continue peace treaty negotiations toward the yearend deadline but with a territorial dispute stuck at an impasse.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2000

Top LDP faction set to back Mori: Aoki

Mikio Aoki, a key member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's most powerful faction and the chief Cabinet secretary to two prime ministers, said his faction will support Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori until the Upper House election next summer.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2000

Analysis: State upbeat despite lack of progress

Japan seems to have managed to clear the lowest conceivable hurdle during the latest round of peace treaty negotiations with Russia that ended Tuesday: convincing the other side to confirm its resolve to continue negotiations on the basis of past agreements.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Sep 6, 2000

America enters the election homestretch

At long last, it is time for the U.S. presidential campaign of 2000 to begin. The Labor Day weekend (Sept. 2-4) marked the unofficial end of summer, the start of school and the traditional kickoff of the political campaigns.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Sep 6, 2000

Bits and bites of Tokyo

www.abbotts-web.com/shop/index.html These are the four most important maps on the Web for anyone living in Japan. They guide you to the latest U.S. fast-food chain mining the country for franchise locations. And if you were happy when Starbucks and Tully's jumped across the Pacific, wait till you try...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2000

Crackdown keeps online China in line

The arrest of poet Huang Beiling in Beijing on Aug. 12 was reported by his brother Huang Feng, an independent publisher, who was himself arrested a week later. Going after writers and publishers with "political problems" is not a new sport in China, but an unfair one. Civil society has not yet produced...
BUSINESS
Sep 2, 2000

NHK begins real-time test of digital BS

NHK on Friday started trial broadcasts for its digital satellite service, which provides data and images on demand, three months ahead of the Dec. 1 start of full-scale programming.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2000

Insurance industry group to manage Taisho Life

The Life Insurance Association of Japan on Tuesday accepted a request by the Financial Services Agency to become administrators for Taisho Life Insurance Co., which collapsed Monday, the association president said.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2000

Inamine reiterates stance on new U.S. base time limit

Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine on Friday reiterated the prefecture's demand that the central government work toward imposing a 15-year limit on the use of a new facility for the U.S. Marine Corps to be built in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, that will take over the helicopter operations of the Futenma Air Station...
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2000

Yen looks poised to restart upward march

The yen has come largely unscathed through a recent spate of unnerving economic and corporate news, including the collapse of Sogo Co.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 24, 2000

Handling of Kursk fiasco belies Putin's promise of change

"Shameful and disgraceful" -- these are the words many Russians are using now to describe the attitude of their government toward the sunken nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea. Slow and incompetent rescue attempts, an inability to assess the scope and nature of the damage and, above all, a stubborn...
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2000

Hatoyama has no competition in DPJ race

Yukio Hatoyama was assured Monday of remaining leader of the Democratic Party of Japan after hopeful contenders failed to file their candidacies due to the lack of sufficient backing.
EDITORIALS
Aug 20, 2000

Et in Arcadia too much ego

Maybe it's just a result of the August doldrums, when heat and inactivity combine to make one feel peevish with the world, but there is a pattern of behavior evident in the cloud-cuckoo-land of the news makers that is getting downright annoying.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 17, 2000

IAAF playing it for laughs with Sotomayor decision

"We're all created equal. Some are just more equal than others."
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2000

Markets unfazed by interest hike, Hayami says

The financial markets have been calmly viewing the Bank of Japan's lifting of its controversial "zero-interest-rate" policy last Friday, BOJ Gov. Masaru Hayami said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2000

Finance chief may fight interest rate hike

The Finance Ministry will probably oppose raising interest rates during the Bank of Japan's Policy Board meeting Friday, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2000

Eight ministers plan to visit Yasukuni Shrine

Eight members of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's Cabinet said Tuesday they will visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine to mourn Japan's war dead on the 55th anniversary of the country's surrender in World War II next Tuesday.

Longform

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