Search - 2000

 
 
JAPAN
May 5, 2001

Number of kids in Japan falls for 20th year in row

The number of Japanese children who were under 15 years old as of April 1 fell from a year earlier, reflecting the continuing decline in the nation's birthrate, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 5, 2001

Foreign firms vie to crack drugs, distribution markets

Despite Japan's moribund economy and stagnant consumption, many foreign firms are still keen to enter the Japanese market, with some eyeing the pharmaceutical and distribution industries.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
May 4, 2001

Heresy of Koizumi key to his Cabinet's soaring popularity, Fukuda says

It is the heretical style of new Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that has sent his Cabinet's approval ratings soaring, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda.
JAPAN
May 4, 2001

Work-related deaths fell in 2000

Fatalities from work-related accidents came to 1,889 last year, down 103, or 5 percent, from the year before, according to a government report released Thursday.
JAPAN
May 3, 2001

LDP to promote Koizumi on TV

The Liberal Democratic Party will use images of Junichiro Koizumi, the party's new president and Japan's new prime minister, to promote its policies on TV.
JAPAN
May 2, 2001

Koseki admits embezzlement, breach of trust as KSD chief

Tadao Koseki, former president of mutual aid foundation KSD, pleaded guilty Tuesday to embezzling about 81 million yen from the organization and to breach of trust that caused it to incur losses of 168 million yen.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
May 2, 2001

Power Puffy girls

Is America ready for Puffy? The pop duo's record label, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), apparently thinks so. Sony Music Imports released Puffy's most recent album, "Spike," in the U.S. on May 1, in the hope that Americans will go gaga over Ami and Yumi in the same way Japanese and other Asians have....
LIFE / Travel
May 1, 2001

'Talking rot and taking the bull by the horns'

The events of June 1855 at Speakers' Corner inspired Karl Marx to declare that the English proletariat had begun their inexorable rise and that social revolution leading to a communist state was under way.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2001

Postal savings center fails to tax

OSAKA -- A postal savings center in Kyoto has been ordered to pay about 1.1 billion yen in penalties and back taxes for failing to properly tax about 4.3 billion yen in interest on the savings it handles, sources close to the case said Sunday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 29, 2001

Pets in the big city

After a long, grueling day at the office, there's nothing better than returning home to a warm welcome. For some that means a freshly cooked meal, for others, a warm hug. For many, though, it's the excited bark of a dog and the affectionate nuzzle of a cat.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 29, 2001

Japan's 'grand strategy' for the new millennium

JAPAN'S SECURITY POLICY FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, by Talukder Maniruzzaman. Dhaka: The University Press Limited, 2000, 78 pp., $4. Japan, the world's second-largest industrial economy, often finds itself labeled an "economic superpower" -- a fulsome category that differs from the traditional "superpower."...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 29, 2001

Revisit the glory and the pathos of the 47 ronin

KUNIYOSHI: The Faithful Samurai, by David R. Weinberg. Translations and essay by Alfred H. Marks. Foreword by B.W. Robinson. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000. 192 pp., map, pictures, color plates, 12,000 yen. In 1701, one of the feudal lords in attendance to the shogun in the Edo castle was called upon...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 29, 2001

Seeing guide dogs through society's eyes

Chap can't help sniffing around the camera, while Ace and Yayoi are eager to play.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2001

Blackman death probe almost complete

The 10-month probe into the death of Briton Lucie Blackman moved toward its end Friday, when investigators indicted Joji Obara on charges of raping and fatally drugging the former hostess in July 2000.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2001

Hayami might resign in May

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami intends to resign as early as May after three years at the helm of the central bank, sources close to him said Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2001

Falling trend in output called 'very rare'

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Friday downgraded its assessment of industrial production activities for the fourth consecutive month, saying they are on a "falling trend."
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2001

Japanese firm helping detect mines, restore villages

A Tokyo-based venture has played a key role in creating a new device to detect land mines that will soon be used on the Thai-Cambodia border.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2001

Is Asia's little dragon awakening at last?

CAMBRIDGE, England -- When Vietnam set out on the path of economic liberalization in the early 1990s, everyone expected another Asian miracle, Chinese-style. The liberalization program adopted by the country, known as Doi Moi, was expected to bring about the same radical reforms of economic policy that...
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2001

North Korea seeks 4 billion yen for its atomic bomb survivors

North Korea has asked Japan for 4 billion yen in compensation for victims of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, government sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2001

Profits soar at NEC, Fujitsu

NEC Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. enjoyed soaring group pretax profits in fiscal 2000, thanks to brisk global sales of electronic devices and telecommunications equipment, according to their earnings reports released Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2001

Sanwa, Tokai merger ahead of schedule

Sanwa Bank and Tokai Bank will form UFJ Bank by Jan. 15, completing their merger two and a half months earlier than planned, due to better-than-expected progress toward computer systems integration, Sanwa and Tokai presidents said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2001

Koizumi dons many hats, fancies a good hairdo, too

Junichiro Koizumi, the Liberal Democratic Party's new president, has been dubbed by fellow lawmakers a maverick, an eccentric, a heretic and "the Don Quixote of the political world."
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Hidden Gems

'Straight-to-video" is a term that carries a stigma, and deservedly so. So much of what emerges without theatrical release is either slasher, sleaze or sly made-for-TV imitations of a bigger-budgeted film (e.g., "Asteroid," released just prior to "Armageddon"). But here in Japan there is a surprisingly...
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2001

Foreign Ministry panel urges discretionary funds be reduced, monitored

A Foreign Ministry panel of outside experts on Tuesday urged the ministry to reduce the amount of secret diplomatic funds and strengthen its inspection system in order to regain public trust in the wake of a fraud scandal involving a former ministry official.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 25, 2001

A-Cab gettin' it done for Seibu

Boomer Wells, former slugger with the Hankyu Braves, Orix Braves, Orix BlueWave and Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (1983-92) used to say his goal was to hit 10 home runs by Golden Week. More often than not, he would reach double figures before the April 29 Emperor's Birthday (now Greenery Day) start of the seven-day...

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?