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JAPAN
Sep 27, 1999

Storm-delayed MOX ship docks amid tight security

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 27, 1999

MOX ships said prone to attack, accident

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 27, 1999

Top Iranian official to begin six-day visit next week

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 27, 1999

Groups finagle free flights home for Taiwan students

A Kobe-based group of volunteers said Monday they will support and encourage Taiwanese exchange students in Japan with financial difficulties to return to Taiwan so that they can assist with the recovery from last Tuesday's earthquake there.
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 1999

Cold War leftovers

"There's no such thing as retirement, really," John le Carre's secret pilgrim muses in the 1991 spy novel of that name. A few old spies in Britain and the United States have been sharply reminded of the truth of that aphorism this month following sensational revelations that the Cold War espionage web...
JAPAN
Sep 24, 1999

Toyota unveils remodeled Crown series

In an attempt to stimulate the market for large passenger cars, Toyota Motor Corp. on Friday launched a fully remodeled lineup of its flagship luxury sedan, the Crown.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 1999

Finance officials, entrepreneurs hit it off in rare meeting

It could have been an odd combination: Financial Ministry officials -- who are often criticized for mismanaged economic policy -- and the nation's leading entrepreneurs like Softbank Corp.'s Masayoshi Son -- who don't want government intervention.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 1999

PC giants to merge monitor operations

In a move to compete against Taiwanese and South Korean rivals, NEC Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. will merge their domestic and overseas computer monitor operations next January, officials of the two firms announced Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 1999

MOX ships may dock next week

International Greenpeace activists and local antinuclear groups said Friday that two British ships carrying mixed uranium-plutonium fuel for nuclear power plants would likely dock at their offloading points on Sept. 27 and Sept. 30.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 1999

Typhoon season rattles Chubu

For many residents of the Chubu region, the typhoon season brings with it a sense of trepidation.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 1999

Pyongyang thaw tied to missile freeze

Japan is ready to lift sanctions against North Korea once Pyongyang clarifies its moratorium on missile tests, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi reiterated Friday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 1999

No mandate for Mr. Obuchi

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi has been re-elected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party by warding off the challenge from former LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato and former LDP policy chief Taku Yamasaki. Many LDP Diet members have been quick to see his impressive victory as a vote of confidence...
JAPAN
Sep 23, 1999

Man held in theft of 3.5 million yen

Tokyo police on Thursday arrested a 36-year-old man for allegedly using a stolen bank card to withdraw around 3.5 million yen from a stranger's savings account.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Sep 23, 1999

Chill out with the right white

With Japan's summer still parching throats as it turns its muggy-hot head toward autumn, let's turn our thoughts, and our thirsts, to wines for refreshment as the heat lingers on.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 1999

Translator bridges Japan-Spain gap

SEVILLE, Spain -- Seville in the summer is so hot, they say, that even the dogs don't go outside. The athletes didn't at the recent World Championships, at least from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. The white walls of the city reflect the southern Spanish sun down the narrow corridors that resemble wintry Alpine passes...
JAPAN
Sep 23, 1999

'Tako-yaki' tentacles grip Kanto region

OSAKA -- "Tako-yaki," the dumplings with octopus chunks that many people consider a traditional Kansai treat, are gaining popularity in other parts of the country, including the Kanto region, according to Osaka-based Zojirushi Corp.
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 1999

Tenure in bronze for Todai's foreign professors

The number of outdoor statues of foreigners (five) on the campus of the University of Tokyo might seem unusually high for a Japanese institution.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Sep 23, 1999

Osaka still has reasons to be proud of its brewing culture

Osaka has long been a great center of commerce and activity, but likely doesn't stand out as a major brewing center in the minds of most people. True, it has never been nearly as significant as its Kansai cousins -- Kyoto, Hyogo and Nara -- but the sake brewing culture was, and still is, strong there....
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 23, 1999

Through the lens of kyogen

Mansai Nomura gave his first kyogen performance at age 4, appeared in Akira Kurosawa's "Ran" at age 17 and began lecturing in aesthetics at Tokyo University when he was 25. No wonder he hadn't much time for my tardiness.
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 1999

A woman on the narrow road

One might not imagine that Lesley Downer -- author of books on Basho's travels, Japan's richest family and now geisha -- started out in the culinary arena.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Nonaka says he won't join the next Cabinet

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka on Wednesday told Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi that he intends to resign when the new Cabinet is formed.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

High waves hamper MOX fuel delivery

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Obuchi talks of a mandate for coalition

One day after winning re-election in a sweeping victory as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said he is confident that his plan to form a new tripartite coalition with the Liberal Party and New Komeito has been endorsed by his party colleagues.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Sep 22, 1999

Where the women are

No presses need to be stopped to inform you of the growing number of women on the Internet in Japan. And the sizes of our headlines won't increase to tell you that number will continue to rise steadily, if not dramatically, over the next few years
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Japan grabs for promise of MOX

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Measures sought to seize more Aum assets

Court-appointed administrators for Aum Shinrikyo will seek legislative measures to enable them to seize additional assets from the religious cult, their representative said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Ruling party slams BOJ over policy decision

A top economic adviser to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi harshly criticized the Bank of Japan's decision Wednesday not to ease its monetary policy, a matter he said Obuchi took "very seriously."
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 1999

'Advance Australia fair' takes on a whole new meaning

"There goes another shiftless Aboriginal," said the Pioneer bus driver to those of us taking the half-day tour of Alice Springs. "We give them cars, they drive them till they're out of petrol, then, bloody hell, they just leave the bloody things by the side of the road."
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Court rejects Chinese war victims' damages case

The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday dismissed claims from 10 Chinese demanding a formal apology and 100 million yen from the state over suffering they endured due to Japan's wartime activities in China.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Typhoon-triggered landslide kills two

A landslide triggered by heavy rain killed two people Wednesday morning in the city of Oita as a major typhoon headed north-northeast over the sea southwest of Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, hitting Okinawa's main island with wind up to 90 kph.

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it