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JAPAN
May 21, 2000

Cult used Unzen to solicit followers in Nagasaki

The founder of the Honohana Sanpogyo religious group met with the governor of Nagasaki Prefecture in the spring of 1992 and maintained that a "voice from heaven" said the eruption of Mount Unzen would stop by the year's end if prefectural residents "awaken to the real way of life," it was learned Saturday....
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 21, 2000

Dreams come true

Today I am happy to tell you about one of this column's most successful accomplishments. It began last October when I received a heartfelt letter from Chip Bozek, a teacher in Hokkaido. He wanted to find someone who could give him a "chonmage" haircut like the old-time samurai wore. He had asked his...
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2000

Making mountains out of molehills

SYDNEY -- China's opening to the world amid its economic reform and modernization has brought immeasurable benefits to many of its citizens who are being enriched through growing trade linkages. Trading with the rest of the world and even the lukewarm welcoming of foreign investment capital have improved...
JAPAN
May 18, 2000

Ministry to enhance law covering forgery

The Justice Ministry is considering drafting a bill that would criminalize the possession of forged prepaid cards and gift certificates, according to ministry officials.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 17, 2000

Wild and free, within certain restrictions

"Wildlife," "natural," "wild" and "free" are terms that are loaded with meaning, redolent with atmosphere. They are words that may transport you mentally to the tundra, patrolled by polar bears, to the acacia-dotted African savanna across which herds of buffalo, gazelle, elephant and giraffe roam, or...
COMMENTARY
May 16, 2000

Failing youth and the victims of crime

The whole nation was shocked by the hijacking of a bus in the middle of the "Golden Week" holiday season. And it was a 17-year-old boy who seized the bus and killed one passenger.
CULTURE / Books
May 16, 2000

Japan still has its strengths

PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT: How Japanese Enterprises Meet the Challenge, by Hirotoshi Shibuya and Hideyuki Kamiryo. The Japan Times, 2000, 209 pp., 3,000 yen (cloth). While corporate philosophies and principles may change from country to country, the basics of finance are constants. "Productivity Improvement"...
BUSINESS
May 15, 2000

Constructive advice for launching multilateral talks with the WTO

the summit of major industrialized countries kicks off in July, one of the things the world will be waiting to see is whether the leaders of these nations will be able to launch a new round of multilateral trade liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2000

A layman's view of the ADB meeting

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- A high-profile meeting of ministers, financiers and bankers at a venue known as the cultural capital of Thailand represented quite a change here last week. The 33rd annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank's Board of Governors was not only a novelty for exotic Chiang Mai,...
BUSINESS
May 13, 2000

Panel looks to ease new tax burden on small firms

The Tax Commission's subpanel on local corporate taxation wrapped up re-examination of its new local corporate-tax proposal Friday, adding a few technical ideas to its earlier report released last July.
JAPAN
May 11, 2000

School has an ear for Korean language

Every eye in the classroom is fixed on Shinji Kurosawa's lips. " 'Pul gogi,' repeat after me," instructs the Korean language teacher.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2000

BOJ mulls end to zero-interest policy

Policymakers at the Bank of Japan are close to concluding discussions on when to terminate the bank's zero-interest rate policy, the central bank's deputy governor told a parliamentary committee Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2000

Foreign reserves get IMF lift

The nation's foreign exchange reserves totaled $338.58 billion at the end of April, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2000

Dubai: the Mideast's global village

DUBAI -- Last month, Gen. Sheikh Muhammad bin Maktum, minister of defense of the United Arab Emirates, announced at a press conference that the Internet revolution and the "new economy" were coming to the government of Dubai. It was an incongruous spectacle, so traditional a figure, in distinctive black...
JAPAN
May 10, 2000

Feeding G8 press a tall order

It's said that too many cooks can spoil the broth. But for those charged with feeding the thousands at the upcoming Okinawa summit of the Group of Eight, it's likely a dash of diplomacy will be a key ingredient along with local flavors.
JAPAN
May 10, 2000

Bad parents to be denied access to their kids

The Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday endorsed a government-proposed draft of a bill that calls for restricting the rights of parents who abuse their children to see or talk with them.
JAPAN
May 9, 2000

Takashimaya enters Nagoya on quest for piece of the pie

NAGOYA -- For 20 years, the city with the nation's highest private savings rate had only four major department stores.
JAPAN
May 9, 2000

39 court districts have no practicing lawyers

Japan's lawyers are disproportionately concentrated in Tokyo, leaving 39 district court jurisdictions out of 253 nationwide with no practicing lawyers, according to a report issued Monday by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
COMMENTARY
May 9, 2000

Hold the line with Russia

The St. Petersburg summit held April 29 between Japan's new prime minister, Yoshiro Mori, and Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin marked a new stage in bilateral negotiations on signing a peace treaty. The two nations had earlier agreed to settle their territorial dispute on the Northern Territories...
JAPAN
May 8, 2000

Cult may have paid to get religious status

The Honohana Sampogyo religious group paid several million yen to a then member of the Fuji city assembly in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1986, one year before the prefectural government certified it as an authorized religious corporation, cult sources said.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2000

European sports play by their own rules

It is said that the military is always prepared to fight the last war and never the next. In the economic domain the same is true of politicians, who are generally at least a generation or two out of date. In Britain in 1913, there were 1.3 million miners, meaning that almost one in 10 men were working...
SUMO
May 7, 2000

Trio of favorites for Natsu Basho

The Natsu Basho is shaping up as a three-man struggle among yokozuna Takanohana, yokozuna Akebono and sekiwake Miyabiyama, with two other would-be favorites, yokozuna Musashimaru and new ozeki Musoyama, nursing injuries and unable to compete this time around.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 7, 2000

All good things

Here is good news for all Kenny Endo fans, and if you aren't a fan you will be once you attend one of his performances. Kenny is a master of the taiko. Most of you know that taiko is drum, and then there is "odaiko," a huge drum. In general, taiko is to drum like the tea ceremony is to a tea bag. It...
COMMUNITY
May 5, 2000

Two Murakamis mull quake in Japanese life

A look at recent best-seller lists reveals several familiar faces. "Eien no Ko," a two-volume novel about the long-term effects of child abuse, is back with the broadcasting of a TV dramatization (Monday nights on NTV). There's another mystery by Nishimura Kyotaro and a book for improving one's English,...
BUSINESS
May 5, 2000

Bluetooth wants bite of mobile market

Portable computers' claim to fame is that they allow you to access and send information anytime and anywhere. But what if you leave a cable at home or bring the wrong one on a business trip?
BUSINESS
May 5, 2000

Fashion chain Uniqlo aims at global casualization

With the resounding success of its Uniqlo casual fashion chain in Japan, Yamaguchi-based Fast Retailing Co. now has its eye on overseas markets with hopes of becoming the world's No. 1.
CULTURE / Music
May 5, 2000

Santana keeps the flame -- with a little help from friends

Eric Clapton's appearance halfway through Carlos Santana's April 28 concert at the Budokan, the last date on his recent Japan tour, was unexpected but, in hindsight, not surprising.

Longform

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