Search - 2000

 
 
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2000

Consumers spoil speedy recovery scenario

Expectations of a strong pickup in consumer spending toward the close of 1999 have failed to materialize.
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2000

Time for demand-, not export-driven focus

After climbing past the psychologically important 20,000 barrier for the first time in more than 2 1/2 years early last month, the 225-issue Nikkei average now is languishing at around 19,500.
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2000

Predictions cautious on economic recovery

The gross domestic product data for October-December released Monday sent mixed signals, with higher plant and equipment investment coupled with dismal consumer spending.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

Leader's informal dinner meet secures Hori's future

The heads of the three ruling parties agreed Monday to keep National Public Safety Commission Chairman Kosuke Hori in office despite opposition demands that he resign over his responsibility for a Niigata Prefectural Police scandal.
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2000

Bank industry slams tax plan anew

The chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association on Monday again criticized a Tokyo draft ordinance that aims to tax the gross profits of large banks in the metropolis as "unfair and undemocratic."
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

LDP leaders concur on post-G8 election

OSAKA -- Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi should wait at least until after the Group of Eight summit to dissolve the Lower House for a general election, senior Liberal Democratic Party leaders appeared to have agreed over the weekend.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 12, 2000

Jubilo, Grampus crash in openers

J. League champions Jubilo Iwata, winners of the season-opening Xerox Super Cup last week, came down to Earth with a bump Saturday when they were beaten 1-0 in extra time at home to Kashiwa Reysol.
COMMENTARY
Mar 12, 2000

Timing the general election

All proceedings in the current ordinary Diet session are going smoothly. The lull is in stark contrast to a period of turmoil from late January to early February triggered by the opposition boycott of the Diet over the ruling bloc's railroading of a bill for cutting the number of Lower House seats by...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 12, 2000

Dutch design innovations for the future

NAGOYA--"I designed a new way of living," says Jill Marie Hanssen, by way of introduction. She is a 1999 product design graduate from the Academy of Visual Arts Maastricht, so the hyperbole may have been the unintended result of speaking in English, her third language, but I took the 22-year-old Dutch...
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2000

Landfill seen dooming Edo fishing tradition

The fish that used to throng in the Edo-mae shallows of Tokyo Bay haunt fishermen today.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2000

Reactor cutback eyed in energy policy shift

The government will overhaul the nation's energy policy and probably cut back on its plan to build 16 to 20 new nuclear plants by fiscal 2010 in the wake of mounting opposition to such facilities and a fatal atomic accident last September, trade chief Takashi Fukaya said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2000

Yen gearing up to flex its muscles again

The yen is pulling out of its corrective phase.
COMMENTARY
Mar 9, 2000

Telecommunications matters

Telecommunications has long been a contentious issue between the United States and Japan. This is because although Americans believe that the U.S. has the most advanced and most competitive telecommunications system in the world, market penetration in Japan for U.S. equipment suppliers and service providers...
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Chronology of MOX falsification

* Aug. 20, 1999 -- BNFL discovers MOX data falsification related to fuel being produced for Takahama No. 3 reactor.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2000

Sometimes it's best to follow your toe

If it's possible to have a "green thumb," as some grape growers fortunately do, can one also possess a "golden toe" -- a knack for stumbling onto serendipitous discoveries? I've begun to think so. In fact, I'm keeping notes for what could be titled "The Little Book of Serendipitous Slip-Ups," "Glorious...
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2000

Recovery mood to yield brisk April activity

Much of the uptrend in share prices has run out of steam as corporate investors stepped up sales to take profits and unwind cross-shareholding ties.
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2000

Toyota to purchase 5% stake in Yamaha's motorcycle unit

In a bid to improve cooperation in the development of engines, Toyota Motor Corp. will soon purchase from Yamaha Corp. an equity stake of about 5 percent in motorcycle maker Yamaha Motor Co.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 7, 2000

J. League boss Kawabuchi defends format of two-stage championship

The chairman of the J. League, Saburo Kawabuchi, believes last season's dramatic penalty shootout between Jubilo Iwata and Shimizu S-Pulse has increased the "worldwide appeal" of Japanese soccer.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2000

Five life insurers outsource asset management to cut costs

Five Japanese life insurance companies will have a common asset management administration system in place by the end of fiscal 2001, company sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2000

'Amakudari' practice thriving

Two-thirds of the 375 former high-ranking officials who left the government in 1998 have obtained posts in public corporations tied to their former government ministry or agency, according to official documents.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 5, 2000

Who's afraid of August Strindberg?

If a single metaphor could speak for the career and life of Sweden's greatest playwright and author, it would be the following taken from one of his novels: "We were dancing on the edge of the volcano."
COMMUNITY
Mar 5, 2000

Researcher dives deep, flies high, blows bubbles

Minoru Yamada thinks there is something rather beautiful -- poetic even -- about the location of the headquarters of JAMSTEC (Japan Marine Science and Technology Center) in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. And this has nothing to do with being right beside the sea, with a great view across Tokyo Bay to...
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2000

IOC wining-dining ban puts Games bid in bind

OSAKA -- Enthusiasm for Osaka's 2008 Olympic bid continues to fade after the International Olympic Committee announced strict conditions on candidate cities.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 4, 2000

Olympic wrestler fights for money to fuel dream of reaching Sydney

Dan Henderson wishes he didn't have to compete in last weekend's King of Kings no-holds-barred tournament in Tokyo. But the stocky American has an Olympic dream, and if he wants to realize it he needs money.
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2000

China menaced by corruption

In the runup to the National People's Congress that opens Sunday, Chinese authorities have intensified their crackdown on corruption and smuggling. Chinese leaders, who see 2000 as a milestone in their anticorruption drive, are gripped by a sense of crisis: They will lose the trust and support of the...
COMMUNITY
Mar 3, 2000

Heavy and light in minority fiction

The first Akutagawa Prizes of the year 2000 have been awarded to two works about minority life in Japan. "Kage no Sumika" by Gengetsu, a second-generation Korean-Japanese, deals with life in Osaka's Korean community, while "Natsu no Yakusoku" by Fujino Chiya sketches the daily life of a group of young...
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Budget's passage puts focus on polls

The Lower House approval Tuesday of the fiscal 2000 budget, a major hurdle in the ongoing 150-day regular Diet session, is expected to give Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi a freer hand in dissolving the chamber for a general election.
JAPAN
Feb 29, 2000

With budget set, elections may be next

Lower House approval of the fiscal 2000 budget, a major hurdle in the ongoing 150-day regular Diet session, is expected to give Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi a freer hand in dissolving the chamber for a general election.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 29, 2000

Anti-glamor Idevian Crew hit the stage

Shigehiro Ide is back on stage with his dance company Idevian Crew after all too long an absence from performing. His comeback in "Which," the piece he choreographed to open the Next Dance Festival at Shinjuku Park Tower Hall Feb. 18, establishes him as the most promising dancer/choreographer on the...
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2000

Road ahead clears for Tokyo stock market

After struggling to find its direction for weeks, the Tokyo stock market appears poised to test higher ground.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan