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JAPAN
Jan 29, 1999

BOJ to pare luxuries

The Bank of Japan announced Friday it will sell all but one of the houses it maintains for its branch managers and all of its resort and golf club memberships as part of restructuring efforts.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1999

Nagano bribe suspicions spoiling Osaka's Games plan

As the International Olympic Committee extends its investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption during Nagano's bid for the 1998 Winter Games, Osaka officials wonder what the effect will be on their bid for the 2008 Summer Games.
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 1999

A new political map in the Middle East

Even by the standards of Middle Eastern politics, it has been a tumultuous week. Former Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai has been engaged in a ferocious war of words after being sacked by his boss, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On the other side of the River Jordan, King Hussein announced...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1999

AGS strives for clean, sustainable world

Born on a farm in Switzerland, Jakob Nuesch was tormented by a question while studying agriculture at a vocational school — how is yogurt made?
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1999

Agency revives Fujimae reservation plan

The Environment Agency decided Thursday to revive a plan originally articulated three years ago to make Nagoya's Fujimae tidal flats a special nature reserve, following local authorities' decision Tuesday not to turn the site into a landfill.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1999

U.S. policy, experts called obstacle to stable foreign exchange

U.S. trade policy and influential American economists are obstacles to creating a system to enforce a trading band for yen-dollar exchange rates, according to Kenichi Ohno, an advocate of such a system.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 1999

Most nerve gas victims still in suffering

A majority of surviving victims of the March 1995 sarin gas attack, for which members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult stand accused, still suffer from physical problems as well as posttraumatic stress disorder, a police survey released Thursday shows.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 1999

Asahi Chemical to sell food operations to JT

Asahi Chemical Industry Co. and Japan Tobacco Inc. have reached an agreement to transfer Asahi's food business operations to the tobacco giant, including Asahi Foods Corp. and seven other subsidiaries, on July 1, the two firms announced Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jan 27, 1999

Links you can trust

In the past few months, this column has addressed the trend of "portals," those jump-station sites where you're supposed to begin your journey onto the Web. Although Wired.com hasn't officially become a portal, it is where I often begin my Web sessions. I go to read Wired's superior tech features, but...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 1999

Obuchi miffed over 'Super 301' move

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said Wednesday he is "seriously concerned" over the U.S. reinstating its retaliatory "Super 301" trade provision and a revised "Buy American" law.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 1999

Poll Preview: Celebrity governors in need of new shtick

Four years ago, comedian and Upper House member "Knock" Yokoyama entered the Osaka gubernatorial race three days before the official campaign started, saying he was angry about the collusion in the non-Communist ruling coalition in the prefectural assembly.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 1999

Europe's democracy deficit

The "European project" -- the continent's gradual evolution toward greater integration -- took a giant step forward this month with the launch of the euro. The single currency is a bold initiative, but it is merely the latest manifestation of a time-tested European strategy: Economic integration has...
JAPAN
Jan 26, 1999

Japan, Iran agree to debt-refinancing plan

Japan and Iran have agreed in principle to refinance $500 million of $2.6 billion in debts owed by the Persian Gulf country to private Japanese companies, to help strengthen bilateral economic relations, government and industry sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 1999

Tokyo seeks foreigners for advisory council

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is looking for candidates to sit on its new Foreign Advisory Council.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 1999

Iranian envoy urges deeper relations

Iranian Ambassador Manouchehr Mottaki, in Tokyo since 1995, wants to see Japan further deepen its relations with Iran and other Persian Gulf countries by promoting relations in various fields, not only trade.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 1999

Free short-term parking aims to appease violators

In a bid to help solve Osaka's notorious parking woes, city authorities said they will offer 30 minutes of free parking at public lots near JR Osaka Station on weekdays.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 1999

Fujimae dump plan to be scrapped

NAGOYA — The city of Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture have jointly decided to scrap their plan to convert the environmentally sensitive Fujimae tidelands into a landfill, informed sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 1999

Osaka floods in own disaster movie

Imagine the following: During a particularly wet rainy season, runoff water flows into tributaries of the Yodogawa River faster than a series of dams, built to avoid such a problem, can handle it.
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 1999

The state of the union is good

U.S. President Bill Clinton has done it again. Last year, against the backdrop of revelations of his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, Mr. Clinton presented a State of the Union message that managed to transcend the scandal already swirling around the presidency. This year, the president...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1999

Nakajima pleads guilty to all charges

Former Lower House lawmaker Yojiro Nakajima, currently standing trial for vote-buying, pleaded guilty Friday before the Tokyo District Court to falsifying statements on the use of political subsidies, taking bribes from Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. and defrauding the state of 10 million yen.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1999

Health gadgets calculate body fat, 'ideal shape'

Appealing to the health-crazed masses, a new crop of portable health gadgets is proving popular with consumers.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1999

Miyazawa suggests restraint to avoid steel trade row

Japan should make efforts to prevent its increasing exports to the United States from developing into a political issue, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Friday.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 22, 1999

Jordan wasn't NBA's 'greatest'

This column originally ran in the print edition of The Japan Times on Jan. 22, 1999, approximately nine months before Wilt Chamberlain died.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1999

Cheap yen loans may finance Cambodian port

Japan is considering extending about 4 billion yen in yen loans to Cambodia during fiscal 1999, which begins in April, for repairs and expansion of the capacity of Sihanoukville port, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1999

Obuchi vows to push merchandise coupons

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi pledged Friday that the government will do all it can to promote a merchandise coupon scheme and help revitalize local economies.
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 1999

Another massacre in Kosovo

Yugoslavia's contempt for international opinion has been made perfectly clear over the last week. Last week, Serbian police, backed by the heavy weapons of the Yugoslav Army, allegedly massacred 45 civilians in the Kosovo village of Racak. When news of the attack leaked out, Yugoslav authorities were...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 1999

Daiwa may join Asahi, Tokai in super-regional bank tieup

Daiwa Bank may join a "super-regional banking" alliance being planned by Asahi Bank and Tokai Bank, industry sources said Wednesday night.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 1999

Mitsubishi Chemical to absorb Tokyo Tanabe

Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., the nation's largest comprehensive chemical firm, and Tokyo Tanabe Co., a medium-size medicine maker, announced Thursday they will merge Oct. 1, a development that could trigger a realignment of the nation's pharmaceutical industry.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 1999

Justice panel urges prosecutors for juvenile hearings

The Justice Ministry's Legislative Council on Thursday proposed that prosecutors be conditionally allowed to attend family court hearings in serious juvenile crimes.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 1999

Teen takes boy hostage at knifepoint

A teenager held a 9-year-old boy hostage at knifepoint for more than two hours on a street in Tokyo's Minato Ward Thursday before being arrested by metropolitan police.

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