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JAPAN / Media
Mar 30, 2000

Medium is the message, no matter the language

The government's recent proposal to make English Japan's official second language has generally been met with approval. The proposal takes on quixotic overtones, however, when you consider the fact that almost no one in the government itself can actually speak English.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 29, 2000

Today amphibians, tomorrow maybe us?

Part 3 of a series
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2000

Prefectures to examine incinerator waste water

The Environment Agency on Tuesday sent off a letter asking prefectures to check waste water from incinerators similar to the one in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, that has been found to be spewing record levels of dioxin into a local river.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2000

Firms hoping for good changes in Putin's Russia

Senior Japanese businesspeople expressed hope Monday that Russia's newly elected President Vladimir Putin will create a favorable investment environment in Russia by realizing political and economic stabilization.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2000

Dioxin in Fujisawa river 16 times official standard

Samples taken from the Hikichi River in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, late last year showed dioxin levels up to 16 times the recently-set environmental standard, the Environment Agency announced on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2000

Ethanol: a green opportunity for Japan

Bad things can sometimes yield good. Loss of the Saudi Arabian oil-producing contract and the rise in the price of oil from $10 to $30 a barrel in the past year should therefore be a wakeup call to Japan to follow the United States' lead in investing in research and development of alternatives to petroleum-based...
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2000

Redress for 'karoshi' suicides eased

The Supreme Court's decision Friday upholding a lower court conclusion that an employer bore responsibility for its employee's suicide is a stamp of approval on a ruling that has led to revisions of labor administration policies.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2000

Entry to be made easier for legal foreign workers

Japan will aim to promote smoother acceptance of legal foreign workers, while at the same time taking stronger measures to weed out illegal aliens, according to a revised edition of the Basic Plan for Immigration Control to be released today by the Justice Ministry.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2000

Beijing all bark and no bite? Think again

Tensions over the Taiwan Strait are palpable after China did its best to intimidate Taiwanese voters in the runup to last weekend's election. First, the Cabinet released a white paper that drew an unmistakable line -- thickened with a new condition -- regarding the limits of acceptable Taiwanese behavior...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 23, 2000

In the realm of the culinary senses

Some people celebrate the cherry-blossom season in doggedly internationalist mode: Aoyama cemetery or the Tamagawa embankment; a few bottles of bubbly with cheese and crackers; maybe even some beluga roe if they're feeling flush. Others prefer to stagger down the well-worn path of traditionalism: Ueno...
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2000

More female politicians key to gender equality, Swedish politician says

Increasing the number of female politicians may be the key to encouraging Japanese women to continue working after marriage and creating a gender-equal society in Japan, Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Lena Hjelm-Wallen said.
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2000

Power industry to get a jolt of competition

Competition emerging from ongoing market reforms ranging from the financial "Big Bang" to telecommunications deregulation is taking many of Japan's industrial dinosaurs to the verge of extinction.
COMMUNITY
Mar 19, 2000

Unique team wiring the disabled for work

OSAKA -- A rare collaboration of the central and local governments and a nonprofit organization is promoting computer education here for the disabled.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2000

Cohen dismisses 15-year limitation on U.S. military use of new heliport

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen on Friday rejected the 15-year time limit proposed by the mayor of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, for a new heliport to relocate the helicopter operations at Futenma Air Station.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2000

ADB sharpens focus on the poor

MANILA -- Economic growth is a must but not the end-all in eliminating poverty and the Asian Development Bank is now determined to get to the very heart of the problem, ADB President Tadao Chino says.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2000

Protect wildlife at dam site: groups

More than 30 environmental groups demanded that the government adequately survey and protect endangered species living near the site of a dam slated to be built on the Kawabe River in southern Kumamoto Prefecture, in a petition submitted Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2000

GMO standards talks kick off amid protests

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- A four-day conference opened here Tuesday to discuss international standards for genetically modified organisms and foods, bringing together some 300 participants from 36 countries.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

Tokyo budget sidesteps asbestos

After having recently provoked outrage in the trucking industry over a controversial plan to regulate diesel cars, "environmentally friendly" Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has just submitted a budget proposal to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly that has one less allocation for green initiatives: that for asbestos...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 12, 2000

Day of reckoning

The question of sexual harassment -- "seku hara" -- has, after years of neglect, become one of the hottest media topics. Not that suddenly men are beginning to harass women. It is that women are making accusations while before many tended to view it as inevitable, something that went along with employment...
COMMENTARY
Mar 11, 2000

A concession to North Korea

The Japanese government announced March 7 it would resume food aid to North Korea, offering 100,000 tons of rice through the United Nations World Food Program. Following the decision, the two countries agreed to resume Red Cross talks on humanitarian issues March 13 in Beijing and reopen the ambassadorial-level...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 11, 2000

Scorched in the fires of Iga

The influence on contemporary Japanese pottery from medieval kilns is still profound and deep, even though we have one foot into the 21st century. These high-fired unglazed stonewares can be found in potting centers commonly referred to as the Six Old Kilns (rokkoyo) -- the only problem is that this...
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2000

Ministers to work on Atsugi dioxin case

Three Cabinet ministers reconfirmed Friday their plan to cooperate closely to resolve an air pollution problem at a U.S. military base in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 11, 2000

Installation launches attack on grandma

There are those who get a warm fuzzy feeling when they are reminded of the trappings of their middle-class childhood: the lace curtains over the sitting room window that wafted in the afternoon breeze; the old wooden wardrobe that sat in a corner of a bedroom; the bowl of peppermints at Grandma's.

Longform

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