Search - 2000

 
 
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2000

Defense Agency seeks new law to ensure military cooperation

The Defense Agency is planning to launch a study group by the end of August to research legislation ensuring that U.S. forces in Japan operate smoothly during domestic military crises, agency sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2000

World still sorting out MacArthur's legacy

When readers were asked a year ago, "Who was the most influential American in Asia in the 20th century?" the response was very lopsided.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 21, 2000

Yokohama student to champion environmental concerns of youth

Rieko Kubota, who is 20 years old and a second-year student majoring in economics at Yokohama City University, is not your average Japanese university student.
SOCCER / J. League
Aug 18, 2000

Japan walks over UAE 3-1

HIROSHIMA -- Another day, another facile victory against another substandard team. Japan cruised to a 3-1 victory over the United Arab Emirates in the Kirin Challenge 2000 at Hiroshima's Big Arch on Wednesday, though quite where the challenge was meant to come from was difficult to see.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2000

Top civil service test yields lowest pass rate in 15 years

The National Personnel Authority said Wednesday that 1,228 candidates passed the nation's top civil service exam for fiscal 2000, 24 fewer than last year and the lowest number since the current exam system took effect in fiscal 1985.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2000

Chemical safety plans urged by '05

An intergovernmental forum will call on governments to establish national plans by 2005 to safely manage hazardous chemicals, according to draft documents obtained by Kyodo News.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 16, 2000

The 'third way' goes via Japan

CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY IN MODERN JAPAN, edited by Ian Inkster and Fumihiko Satofuka. 2000, I.B. Tauris, 39.50 British pounds / St. Martin's Press, $59.50. THE JAPANESE AND EUROPE: Images and Perceptions, by Bert Edstrom. Japan Library, 35 British pounds / $55. In less than 150 years, Japan has changed...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 16, 2000

May this force be with you

THE MYSTERIOUS POWER OF KI: The Force Within, by Kouzo Kaku, translated by Roger Machin and Mami Nakamura. Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental, 2000, 154 pp., with b/w photographs, 14.95 British pounds. Despite the title of this book, there is nothing mysterious about "ki." It is a concept popularly...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2000

Fish agency allows catching of entire bluefin tuna quota

The Fisheries Agency will allow catches of southern bluefin tuna up to Japan's original quota of 6,065 tons this year following an international tribunal decision nullifying an interim ruling that cut the quota by about 1,500 tons, agency officials said Saturday.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 13, 2000

Getting interconnected at Kim's

Interconnectivity is a technology buzzword, but Kim Gordon -- rock star of Sonic Youth fame, originator of the X Girl label, and now artist and curator of "Kim's Bedroom," currently at Parco Gallery -- has presented it as the locus of her first curatorial foray. Gordon has assembled an eclectic group...
EDITORIALS
Aug 12, 2000

Preparing to welcome foreign students

Japan could soon see the long-expected increase in the number of foreign students attending its universities and specialized schools that the government has been promoting with only limited success. In a marked departure for this country's official development assistance policy, a new program scheduled...
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2000

Honda cites strong yen in profit drop

Honda Motor Co. on Thursday reported consolidated pretax profits of 101.7 billion yen for the first quarter of fiscal 2000, down 15.9 percent from the same period last year.
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2000

Mori reign remains shaky

It has been four months since Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori launched his coalition government. Mori's first Cabinet, inaugurated April 5, remained in office for less than three months before the general election was held June 25. He established his second Cabinet July 3.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2000

Foreign students in Japan to receive ODA-based loans

Taking a new direction in its official development assistance policy, Japan will introduce a multibillion-yen program using low-interest yen loans to provide financial assistance to foreign students here, government sources said Wednesday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 10, 2000

Japanese athletes owe debt to Chiba

In today's sporting world we are too often forced to see rebels without a cause trying to make a name for themselves by their outrageous actions on or off the field of play. They constantly try to attract attention by bullying, being obnoxious or condescending to opponents, teammates, coaches, fans and...
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2000

High school equivalency test to be offered twice annually

The Education Ministry decided Wednesday to hold the state-run "daiken" qualification examinations for university entrance exams twice a year as of fiscal 2001, ministry officials said.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2000

NTT East planning speedy DSL service

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corp. is planning to provide its integrated services digital network subscribers with a line that is more than 10 times faster than ISDN lines by the end of fiscal 2000, company sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2000

Construction firm Hazama seeks alliances to survive debts

Major construction firm Hazama Corp., in an attempt to convince major creditors to forgive some of its debts of 420 billion yen, is seeking tieups with other contractors, among them Niigata-based Fukuda Corp., industry sources said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 8, 2000

Think global, act local; or is it think local, act global?

LANDSCAPES AND COMMUNITIES ON THE PACIFIC RIM: From Asia to the Pacific Northwest, edited by Karen K. Gaul and Jackie Hiltz. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2000, 254 pp., $24.95 (paper). Lives are complex, and if this era of globalization has taught us anything, it is that this complexity extends beyond local...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 8, 2000

Japan: everything and more

THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE: A History of Japan from the Mythological Age to the Meiji Era, by William Elliot Griffis. A facsimile printing of the 1895 edition. New York, Tokyo, Osaka & London: ICG Muse, Inc. 2000, 462 pp., 1,300 yen. William Elliot Griffis, educator and clergyman, first came to Japan in 1870....
CULTURE / Books
Aug 8, 2000

White guys to the rescue

OUTPOSTS OF CIVILIZATION: Race, Religion and the Formative Years of American-Japanese Relations, by Joseph M. Henning. New York and London: New York University Press, 2000, 243 pp., $35 (cloth). U.S. foreign policy has a mission. Many American politicians or diplomats would be proud rather than hesitant...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 8, 2000

Japan's media watchdog is a lap dog

CLOSING THE SHOP: Information Cartels and Japan's Mass Media, by Laurie Anne Freeman. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000, 256 pp. $39.50 (cloth). This excellent book lays bare the mechanisms of the information cartels in Japan that prop up the state, insulate the elite from sustained critical...
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2000

If Europe can unify currency, why can't Southeast Asia?

The Southeast Asian economy has reportedly found the path to recovery after being crippled by the regional financial crisis of 1997.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 6, 2000

William Currie

At the end of last year, to say goodbye to 1999 and welcome in 2000, The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan held "a sing-along session of songs from the good old days." Playing the piano and leading the songs was William Currie. The Press Club billed him as "the renowned singing father from Sophia...
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2000

Truancy reaches record high

More than 130,000 elementary and junior high school students were truant for 30 or more school days during the 1999-2000 academic year, according to an Education Ministry survey released Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2000

Snow's sales plunged 80% in July

Snow Brand Milk Products Co.'s sales of milk products plunged 80 percent in July to 6 billion yen, following the recent outbreak of food poisoning attributed to the firm's goods, the president of the dairy products maker said Friday.

Longform

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