Search - 2000

 
 
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2000

Nasdaq Japan celebrates positive start for issues

OSAKA — Nasdaq Japan, Japan's version of the tech-heavy U.S. Nasdaq market, celebrated its launch Monday morning with three of its four startup issues closing above their initial public offering prices.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 20, 2000

Shallow pits and rabbit hutches

JAPANESE HOMES AND LIFESTYLES: An Illustrated Journey through History, by Kazuya Inaba and Shigenobu Nakayama. Translated by John Bester. Kodansha International, 2000, 144 pp., $32. Do you curse costly rents, cramped quarters and cluttered cupboards? Do you think tatami are terrific, futons fabulous...
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2000

Yokohama sin tax prompts cries of no fair

YOKOHAMA — After Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced his controversial plan to impose a local tax on the city's banks earlier this year, other local governments have been searching for new revenue sources to replenish coffers drained by recession.
CULTURE / Books / POETRY MIGNETTE
Jun 18, 2000

Cafe's tempting literary brew

Cafe Independent, a "rattle-bag collection of poetry, art, pearls of prose . . . ," is produced by Oliver Kinghorn and Shannon Smith in Kyoto.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

Microsoft, Hitachi tie on systems solutions

Major Japanese electronics maker Hitachi Ltd. and U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. said Thursday they have agreed to cooperate in the systems solutions business.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

Hewlett-Packard, Softbank planning PC joint venture

Hewlett-Packard Co. of the United States will be entering the Japanese personal computer market by setting up a joint venture with Softbank Corp. and selling home-use products on the Internet, the U.S. firm's chief executive officer announced Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2000

Party chiefs launch campaigns

Official campaigning kicked off Tuesday for the June 25 general election, which will determine the fate of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and his three-party coalition government.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2000

Nissan scholarships 'investing in the future'

In a ceremony earlier this week to mark the third anniversary of a Nissan Motor Co. scholarship program, Chief Operating Officer Carlos Ghosn described the program as an investment in the future.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 14, 2000

How Japan's JET program got off the ground

IMPORTING DIVERSITY: Inside Japan's JET Program, by David L. McConnell. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000, 328 pp. (paper). Stung by international criticism that Japan was too insular, the government decided in August of 1987 to initiate "one of the largest educational programs in the...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 14, 2000

Japan's path from imitator to world-beating innovator

CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY IN MODERN JAPAN, edited by Ian Inkster and Fumihiko Satofuka. London/New York: Tauris, 2000, 169 pp., unpriced. The relationship between culture and technology is complex and multilayered. Technological innovations that had profound effects on culture are easy to find: Think of...
CULTURE / Art
Jun 11, 2000

Public art goes to the grass roots

In the golden bubble days, when public money flowed like wine at an alcoholic's banquet, the urban landscape of Japan was colonized by sculptural objects of such widely differing quality that some areas took on the appearance of a garage sale. The public was not fooled and has treated these objects with...
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2000

Sakura to purchase Minato Bank in 'friendly takeover'

Sakura Bank said Friday that it will acquire a controlling stake in Minato Bank, a second-tier Kobe-based regional bank -- the first takeover bid in the Japanese banking sector.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 10, 2000

Filmmaker lights a fire under corruption

Well known for kaiju (monster) films populated by giant luminaries such as Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan, Toho Inc. now brings us "Cross Fire," an sf thriller about a pyrokinetic office lady at odds with Japanese corruption. Adapted from a novel by best-selling author Miyuki Miyabe, the movie is directed...
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2000

Machinery orders record fourth month of decline

Core private-sector machinery orders in Japan shrank a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent in April from March, marking the fourth consecutive month of decline, the Economic Planning Agency said Thursday.
COMMUNITY
Jun 8, 2000

Pageants losing face with public

Mari Nishihama, 20, a native of Oshima, an island located 100 km south of Tokyo, had always lived a peaceful, if somewhat uneventful, life in the small tourist resort town. But all that suddenly changed last fall, when town celebrities voted the local bank clerk Miss Oshima 2000.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Japan's faith rising in Indian software

Isamu Nitta, a former Japanese diplomat in Sri Lanka and the United States, clearly enjoys setting out a map of the world and pointing out where Japanese strategic interests lie.
COMMENTARY
Jun 8, 2000

U.S. presidential candidates use 'soft money' campaign funds to stock war chests

WASHINGTON -- With still six months to go, the U.S. presidential campaign of 2000 is in the doldrums. Neither candidate really has much wind in his campaign sails. Texas Gov. George W. Bush is still out in front -- 47-41 -- of Vice President Al Gore. That is about the same margin his dad was behind at...
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2000

G8 chiefs' wives to pray for peace at memorial

The wives of the leaders of the Group of Eight nations will visit a peace memorial in Okinawa while in the prefecture for the G8 summit slated for July 21-23, government sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2000

Seven parties election pledges released

Election pledges presented by seven major political parties show that the ruling and opposition blocs differ markedly on fiscal policies, the taxation system and ways to finance social security schemes.
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2000

IT emphasis sees Mori order 2001 budget quota

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Monday instructed the Finance Ministry to get ready to introduce a special quota for information technology projects in the fiscal 2001 budget, government officials said.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 6, 2000

Diplomat to a bygone era

A DIPLOMAT IN JAPAN, by Ernest Satow. New York/Tokyo: ICG Muse, Inc., 2000, 424 pp., 1,300 yen. This is a welcome reissue of the long-out-of-print 1921 edition of Ernest Satow's memoirs. Its contents are indicated in his original subtitle: "The inner history of the critical years in the evolution of...
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 6, 2000

Inspecting society's 'little people'

Ever since the first performance of Nikolai Gogol's "The Inspector" took place on April 19, 1836, Russia and the world have been fascinated by Khlestakov, a character in the play who poses as a government inspector and gets away with murder.
SOCCER / J. League
Jun 4, 2000

Troussier unfazed by focus on fate

Japan will launch a four-game international campaign Sunday against France in the opener of the King Hassan II Cup in Casablanca, Morocco. More than victories or losses, however, the upcoming contests should determine the fate of Japan manager Philippe Troussier, who has been on the verge of dismissal....
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2000

Large-scale mergers rose in 1999

The number of large-scale mergers of business companies as defined by the Antimonopoly Law increased in fiscal 1999 over the previous 12 months, the Fair Trade Commission said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

Kiriyenko urges isle flexibility

Japan should not set a time limit on the settlement of its territorial row with Russia so that the people of both countries can be fully satisfied with the final resolution, according to former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2000

New JAMA chief wants taxes untangled

Hiroshi Okuda, new chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, is determined to push the government into rectifying the vehicle tax system and reducing the burden on car owners.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2000

Prudential to buy Kyoei shares

Kyoei Life Insurance Co. stands to gain up to 30 billion yen from Prudential Insurance Co. of America, which will buy new shares in the firm. The two companies said Thursday that they have signed a memorandum of understanding, which if realized, would see Prudential purchase a minority interest in the...
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2000

Tokio, Yasuda see double-digit profit gains

Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co., two major Japanese casualty insurance firms, on Wednesday reported double-digit net profit increases for their group businesses in fiscal 1999.
LIFE / Style & Design / SIMPLY DEVINE
Jun 1, 2000

Armpits come out from undercover

Get your pits out for the boys. Japan's largest beauty company is hoping to launch a new trend focusing on an often ignored erogenous zone -- the armpit.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.