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CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Dec 28, 1999

Flying first class around the globe

Since this is my last column of the year, I'll look back instead of forward.
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 1999

Nuclear program under fire

Japan's nuclear power program is at a critical moment. Earlier this week, Mr. Hisashi Ouchi died as a result of exposure to massive doses of radiation during an accident three months ago at the Tokaimura uranium processing facility. He is the first Japanese to die in a nuclear accident. That tragedy...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1999

New game rides in the slow lane

Staff writer After test-driving a simulation game and ramming right into a curb, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced Wednesday, "I guess I wasn't meant to be a bus driver." "Tokyo Bus Guide," created for Sega Enterprises Ltd.'s Dreamcast game console, focuses on an ungainly, slow-plodding mode of...
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 1999

Much ado about shopping

There is a lot of buzz this year about the rise and rise of online shopping. E-retail giants like Yahoo Shopping and Amazon.com have already broken season al sales records, and the air is ringing with merry predictions that this holiday period will see the world's first online-retail profits.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Dec 8, 1999

May we help you?

They say this might be the year that online Christmas sales in the U.S. actually live up to past promises of e-commerce's ascendancy. Hurrahs could be heard when it was reported that online transactions over Thanksgiving were up 10-fold (and groans could be heard as servers started overloading with the...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Dec 8, 1999

Beyond coping

Certain products come in many shapes and sizes, and a reader must thank the Italian Trade Commission in Tokyo for the successful ending of her search. She was looking for a special kind of Italian support hose made by IBICI and she wondered where she could buy them in Japan. It could be an endless search,...
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1999

Isuzu nears agreement on China bus venture

Staff writer GUANGZHOU, China -- Isuzu Motor Co., a Japanese truck and bus maker, will reach a basic agreement with local authorities, possibly by the end of the month, over a joint venture to produce large buses here, a local government official said Tuesday. Zhang Guang-nin, deputy mayor of Guangzhou,...
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Dec 4, 1999

Drumming up business for 300 years

The first musical instruments humans ever invented were believed to be those of percussion. The oldest drum, discovered in Moravia, dates back to 6000 B.C.
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 1999

Corporate Japan turns the corner

The latest midterm earnings reports from Japanese companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange offer a qualified but positive message: Corporate Japan appears to be finally recovering from its protracted slump. Pretax current profits for the six months to September held level with profits from the same...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

Hino, Isuzu to unite ailing bus operations

Hino Motors Ltd. and Isuzu Motors Ltd. said Friday they will integrate their unprofitable bus businesses into an equally owned joint venture to be established next year. Hino Motors President Hiroshi Yuasa and Isuzu President Takeshi Inoh told a news conference in Tokyo that joint production will begin...
CULTURE / Art
Nov 20, 1999

Indigo dyers singing the artisan blues

The deep blue color of aizome (indigo dyeing), is often referred to as the color of Japan. Made from the ai (indigo) plant, a type of tade (smartweed) grown in Japan, aizome has also gained a great deal of popularity worldwide. Although indigo comes in an array of hues, the most popular is one that is...
JAPAN
Nov 18, 1999

Efforts afoot to woo foreign tourists

Staff writer
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Nov 11, 1999

Whatever the varietal, the grape has to be great

Had any good wine lately? I'm sure you have, but make a note of Baron de Ley Reserva 1995. It is aged in oak for 24 months and is a typical yet wonderful Rioja red that's characteristic of those made from the elusively flavorful tempranillo grape, an indigenous Spanish varietal noted for its plummy,...
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Nov 10, 1999

Soaring voice of modern Africa unifies the world music scene

Youssou N'Dour, one of Africa's (and the world's) greatest singers, makes a welcome return to Japan this month. The last time he was in Japan was for the 1994 WOMAD festival in Yokohama. World music was still on a roll back then, with some African artists such as Papa Wemba becoming genuinely "big in...
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Nov 10, 1999

Brighten up your balcony with spring bulbs

No garden, no matter how small, is complete unless it has some spring bulbs, and this is the time to buy and plant your garden or container with your favorites. Bulbs are inexpensive, especially considering the joy they give. In recent years more and more bulb varieties have become available in garden...
JAPAN
Nov 9, 1999

NCB's deficit expands to 3.1 trillion yen

The government-backed Deposit Insurance Corp. said Tuesday that the capital deficit of the failed Nippon Credit Bank has widened to some 3.1 trillion yen -- 110 billion yen more than an earlier estimate.
JAPAN
Oct 29, 1999

Public urged to stockpile food ahead of Y2K

The government recommended Friday that the public stockpile several days' worth of food and water at the year's end as a precaution against the Year 2000 computer problem.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 1999

HP, Oracle plan Internet business push

Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd. and Oracle Corp. Japan announced Thursday that they have formed a comprehensive alliance to promote Internet business in Japan.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 1999

Fiat shareholder sees strength in alliances

Staff writer
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 1999

Jospin rides high, blessed by luck and skill

PARIS -- When Lionel Jospin was appointed prime minister of France in June 1997, there were not many people willing to bet on his longevity in office. The "plural left" majority on which he had to rely looked too divided on most issues, from Europe to immigration, to enable him -- or so it seemed at...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1999

Tokyo Motor Show: GM to expand Asia-Pacific presence

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1999

Peugeot sets target; Mazda displays concepts

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- Automobiles Peugeot hopes to sell 10,000 units in Japan within the next two years and 20,000 units within the next five, Managing Director Frederic Saint-Geours said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

JCO president apologizes to lawmakers

Looking pale and worn and sitting with his head bowed, the president of JCO Co. on Tuesday appeared before Diet members and repeatedly apologized for the nuclear accident 19 days earlier that was Japan's worst.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

New bank-rescue plan would relieve depositors

An advisory panel to the finance minister on Tuesday said that healthy banks should be brought in to buy failed banks after a revised deposit protection system takes effect in April 2001.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 1999

Aum fills a spiritual need

Special to The Japan Times It has been more than four years since key members of the Aum Shinrikyo religious sect carried out sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system. With its principal facilities closed and its guru and his cohorts arrested, the cult has received a crushing blow. Reports say, however,...
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Nissan Motor to cut five factories, 21,000 jobs

Nissan Motor Co. revealed Monday a drastic restructuring plan that includes closing five factories and slashing 21,000 jobs worldwide.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Negotiations stall over sale of Toho Mutual

The Life Insurance Association of Japan has given up on its plan to sell the failed Toho Mutual Life Insurance Co. by the end of this year, association chairman Tomijiro Morita said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1999

Yasuda joins Direct Line on variable-risk auto insurance

Major life insurer Yasuda Mutual Life Insurance Co. and U.K.-based Direct Line Group announced Wednesday they will form a joint venture to sell automobile insurance through direct channels.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Oct 13, 1999

Not just for kids anymore

I was never much of a video-game player, although I did have a brief infatuation with Missile Command. (It ended when a pal proceeded to stomp me every time we went head to head.) I must be one of the few: Video games are reckoned to be a $20 billion-a-year industry and revenues now outpace movie-ticket...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Kofuku knowingly lent to ailing firm

OSAKA -- Documents from a Finance Ministry inspection of the defunct Kofuku Bank in 1995 showed a real estate firm with which the bank had ties was "saddled with a myriad of problems," it was learned Thursday.

Longform

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