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CULTURE / Art
Mar 12, 2000

'50 Masters' help to retune the eye

Compelling textures, mysterious forms and incredible skill: These are the vivid impressions of a visit to the exhibition "50 Masters of Contemporary Japanese Crafts," at Mitsukoshi's Nihonbashi store. Here are a hundred works in ceramics, textiles, lacquer, metal, wood, bamboo and the newer field of...
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2000

Upper House says childbirth is reason to be absent

The House of Councilors on Friday voted overwhelmingly in favor of allowing members who are about to give birth to be officially excused from attending the legislature.
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

Antique restorer teaches old furniture new tricks

Western antique furniture has an ambivalent reputation. Some people are so enchanted with it that they become collectors, while others simply think of it as old, dirty -- and often unreasonably expensive.
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2000

45% food self-sufficiency targeted for 2010

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry plans to increase Japan's food self-sufficiency in terms of caloric intake to 45 percent in fiscal 2010, ministry officials said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2000

Pyongyang's intransigence must end

The Japanese government on Tuesday formally announced that it will provide 100,000 tons of rice to North Korea through the U.N. World Food Program. Japan is taking humanitarian action to follow up an agreement that the countries recently reached to resume the normalization talks -- which broke down in...
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Subway crash claims four

Four passengers were killed and 33 others injured when a Tokyo subway train derailed and sideswiped a packed commuter train running in the opposite direction during rush hour Wednesday morning, police said.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Obuchi comes to defense of embattled NPSC chief

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi dismissed Wednesday growing calls from the opposition camp for Kosuke Hori, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, to be sacked for his responsibility for the Niigata police sandal.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2000

Falun Gong branch fails to gain metro NPO nod

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has rejected an application to grant nonprofit organization status to the Japanese branch of China's outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement, officials said.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2000

Insurance policyholder safety-net bill approved

The Cabinet endorsed a bill Tuesday to rewrite the insurance business law with a view to creating a safety-net system to protect policyholders in the event of a life insurer's collapse.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2000

Pyongyang food deal aims to help relations

The government announced Tuesday that it will resume food aid to North Korea, setting the stage for full-fledged talks on normalizing diplomatic relations.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2000

Cash, cops keep officer's stalking quiet

OSAKA -- An Osaka police officer paid 1 million yen to a woman two years ago to privately settle a complaint that he harassed her by repeatedly asking her to go out with him, prefectural police revealed Tuesday.
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 7, 2000

Pyongyang abductees' kin hold sit-in

About 50 relatives and supporters of Japanese believed to have been abducted by Pyongyang agents and taken to North Korea staged a sit-in Monday in front of the Foreign Ministry to protest the government's plan to resume food aid to the Stalinist state.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2000

N. Korea diplomatic talks set for April

Japan and North Korea have agreed in principle to launch negotiations in early April on normalizing diplomatic relations, resuming talks that collapsed in 1992, Japanese government sources said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 2000

Tide turning against coalition

Only three weeks ago, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's tripartite coalition was in a celebratory mood after the opposition forces ended their boycott of the Diet and all proceedings returned to normal.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2000

Niigata cop scandal puts heat on NPA

The National Police Agency was to consult Thursday evening with the National Public Safety Commission on whether NPA head Setsuo Tanaka should be reprimanded for failing to adequately supervise a senior NPA official at the center of a scandal involving Niigata Prefectural Police, commission sources said....
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Agencies examine software supplied by Aum-linked firms

Government agencies and major companies opted to double check various computer systems Wednesday after it was discovered that some of the the software may have been developed by a firm controlled by Aum Shinrikyo.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

U.S. expresses opposition to China's presence at G8

The United States expressed its opposition Wednesday to Japan's unofficial proposal to invite China to the Group of Eight major nations' summit in Okinawa in July, Japanese officials said.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Terrorists tease press from cells

BEIRUT -- With just days left before five Japanese Red Army members are due to be released here, local and foreign press interest in the captives is heating up.
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2000

Who is policing the police?

Two high-ranking police officials resigned Tuesday as an expression of responsibility for their misconduct amid a public outcry that they deserved even heavier punishment. In fact, such was the degree of public disgust that the resignations of the disgraced officials, Mr. Yoshiyuki Nakada, head of the...
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Leap day efforts not enough: Aoki

A leap day computer glitch affected some systems and automatic teller machines Tuesday, but the government did not found any severe malfunctions, Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2000

Arabian Oil loses drilling rights; Saudi aid canceled

The 40-year-old oil drilling rights of Arabian Oil Co., Japan's largest oil producer, in a major oil field in Saudi Arabia expired Monday morning as last-minute negotiations with Riyadh over the weekend ended in failure. Trade chief Takashi Fukaya expressed deep regret after the oil concessions officially...
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2000

The Constitution's honorable origins

For the first time in more than half a century, the postwar Constitution came up for formal and substantial discussion in the Diet on Thursday. To begin, the Constitutional Review Council solicited expert opinions from two constitutional scholars and examined how the current Constitution came into being....
EDITORIALS
Feb 25, 2000

Beijing's bombast backfires

Subtlety has never been the Chinese government's strong suit. Unfortunately, the government in Beijing has unleashed its latest broadside against Taiwan, which it considers a renegade province, at perhaps the worst possible time: weeks ahead of the island's second democratic presidential election and...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2000

Tokyo backing Arabian Oil to very end, Fukaya says

Trade chief Takashi Fukaya underlined Wednesday the government's determination to support Arabian Oil Co. until its negotiations with Saudi Arabia over the renewal of the firm's rights to a major oil concession there are exhausted. Despite media reports on the apparent pessimism of some government officials,...
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2000

Port transport business targeted for deregulation

The Cabinet approved a bill Tuesday to deregulate the harbor transport business in a bid to boost the competitiveness of Japanese ports. The government was to submit the bill to the Diet later in the day, aiming for enforcement this year. The bill, which would revise the Port Transport Business Law,...
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2000

State drops effort to sway Ishihara

The government issued a statement Tuesday that spells out its position on Tokyo's controversial new tax plan and at the same time washes its hands of the issue. "The government sees that the plan includes problems and asks the prefecture to deal with the issue carefully," the statement says. It also...

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.