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EDITORIALS
Nov 3, 2000

Amazon flows into Japan

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has declared that he wants to build an "e-Japan." He may find that his wish comes true sooner than he thinks. This week's launch of Amazon.com's Japanese Web site will push the electronic envelope as much as any government initiative. But the Amazon.com venture also highlights...
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2000

Secrecy and greed behind BSE tragedy

LONDON --I am stunned at the awfulness of being British at the moment. A report written by Lord Phillips into the BSE tragedy has just been published. Though it does not roar with horror or screech with condemnation, its quiet steady tone fills me with anger and horror at Britain's farming, veterinary...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 3, 2000

Behind the rush to Pyongyang

SEOUL -- Some journalists profess to know more than they ought to. While President Bill Clinton insists a decision regarding a possible visit to North Korea has not been taken, some media have already published details of the president's itinerary. According to one report, Clinton's two-day visit to...
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2000

Mori says Police Law prohibits him ordering probe into Nakagawa

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Wednesday dismissed demands from the opposition that an investigation be launched into allegations that Hidenao Nakagawa, his former chief Cabinet secretary, leaked police information to warn his alleged mistress that she was going to be the target of a drugs bust.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2000

Opposition camp wants summons for Nakagawa

Opposition parties said Sunday they will demand former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa be summoned to the Diet to respond to allegations that he leaked police information to his former mistress and is closely tied with a rightwing extremist.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Oct 27, 2000

'Tis fall, and the brewers gather around their vats

In sync with the new colors and cooler weather of fall, the brewing season begins. Except for a few dozen brewing factories operated by the largest sake-brewing companies, sake is brewed in the colder months, generally from the end of October to the beginning of April. Larger brewers' facilities keep...
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Internet site helps blind to connect

Being blind doesn't slow Osamu Miyazono down much -- the Internet was still untested water for most Japanese when he started logging on five years ago. Now he gets some 50 e-mails a day.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2000

Free trade agreement with Singapore targeted for 2001

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and visiting Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong agreed Sunday to formally launch negotiations on a bilateral free-trade agreement in January and conclude the negotiations by the end of 2001.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2000

Mori criticized over kidnap-resolution plan blunder

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's remarks Friday that a secret proposal was made to North Korea in 1997 over the alleged kidnapping of Japanese nationals by Pyongyang have baffled the Foreign Ministry and drawn criticism both from the opposition camp and leading members of the ruling coalition.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Mitsubishi Motors makes bid to regain customer trust

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced a set of measures Friday that it said it will implement in an effort to improve the quality and information-management of its product-recall system.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Transport council urges more IT use

Japan should shift its now-expansionary national transport policy and focus instead on environmental protection, information technology use and safety, a government advisory panel said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2000

Tanaka to investigate bid for Nagano Games

Gov.-elect Yasuo Tanaka NAGANO (Kyodo) Nagano Gov.-elect Yasuo Tanaka said Monday he will question officials responsible for destroying account books for this city's successful bid to host the 1998 Winter Olympics.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2000

APEC panel recommends action to spread IT in Asia

An APEC advisory panel on Monday called for action plans that would promote information technology as a tool to enhance trade liberalization.
EDITORIALS
Oct 16, 2000

A Nobel lesson for Japan

The selection of Mr. Hideki Shirakawa, professor emeritus of Tsukuba University, as a recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry is wonderful news. It has cheered up the nation in a difficult moment. We extend him our hearty congratulations. The prize is shared by two American professors, Mr. Alan...
COMMUNITY
Oct 14, 2000

Japan-Scottish Highland Games celebrates Scottish sport and culture

The 18th Japan-Scottish Highland Games, featuring music, sports, dancing and other entertainment, will take place 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Soka campus of Ueno Gakuen.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2000

Commercial Code to undergo sweeping decontrols

The government on Thursday unveiled a package of structural reforms, including frontloading some proposed revisions to the Commercial Code.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2000

Hit SDF spies harder: LDP

A Liberal Democratic Party project team on national defense proposed Thursday that stiffer penalties be imposed on people who leak classified information from the Self-Defense Forces, LDP officials said.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2000

Nikkei sinks to 19-month low

The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average plunged to a 19-month low Wednesday, dragged down by weakness on Wall Street.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2000

Classroom rankings could go

An Education Ministry panel proposed Friday that elementary and junior high schools scrap relative ranking of students' academic achievements within a classroom in favor of absolute criteria.
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.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Mobster's 'suicide' raises questions

The official account of how a gangster died during questioning at a Yokohama police station in 1997 is being challenged in court by the victim's daughter, who says Kanagawa Prefectural Police are hiding crucial evidence that could disprove the alleged suicide.
EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2000

Don't shortchange young readers

Despite all the talk about the need for educational reforms, little serious attention is being paid to a fundamental way in which Japan's schoolchildren are being shortchanged. Except among the educators directly involved, few have expressed concern over the Education Ministry's announcement that libraries...
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2000

Nation remains at risk to nuclear disaster

A year after Japan's worst nuclear power disaster struck the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, a nuclear safety critic said Friday that sufficient measures have yet to be taken to prevent a similar accident from occurring.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2000

Warmer ties do not signal U.S. tilt toward India

NEW DELHI -- It may be still too early to conclude that there is a definite American tilt toward India, but there are strong signs that Washington is fed up with Islamabad's obsession with Kashmir that has has forced Pakistan to throw logic and caution to the wind.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2000

Blackman refuses to give up on daughter

Tim Blackman is frustrated, in turns optimistic and pessimistic, but above all adamant that he will find out what happened to his daughter.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2000

Mystery benefactor increases Briton's reward to 77 million yen

The mystery businessman who put up a reward for information about missing British hostess Lucie Blackman has upped the ante -- increasing the reward to a cool half a million pounds, more than 77 million yen.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2000

Mori starts extra Diet with 'e-Japan' pitch

Employing a new catchword, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori opened the 72-day extra Diet session Thursday pledging to create an "e-Japan" that would enrich people's lives and make the nation's industries more competitive.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2000

Chairman of Osaka city arrested over bid-rigging

OSAKA -- Osaka Prefectural Police on Thursday arrested the chairman of the Osaka City Assembly and two others for allegedly disrupting the smooth execution of bidding for contracts for city-ordered public works projects in 1997.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2000

Auto execs face the music at ministry

Executives from 12 major domestic automakers and 17 vehicle importers were summoned to the Transport Ministry in Tokyo on Wednesday and ordered to report on how they operate their recall systems for defective products.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go