search

 
 
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Tanaka approves ambassadorial posts

After a monthlong standoff with bureaucrats over personnel matters, Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Monday lifted a freeze on transfers of 18 ambassadors who had been unofficially assigned new positions before she took office in late April.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2001

Firms report they had more workers than needed last month

Companies had more employees than they needed in May but are willing to hire mid-career prospects and graduates fresh out of high school or college for the current business year, according to a survey released Monday by the health ministry.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Shiokawa wants amount of secretly used funds reduced

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Monday his ministry will consider reducing the amount of special funds set aside for classified government activities in the fiscal 2001 budget.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Australian foreign minister denies saying he'd tattle on Tanaka

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Monday denied news reports that he told the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Ryutaro Hashimoto he would convey Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka's remarks over the missile defense plan to the United States.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Aide to DPJ lawmaker receives suspended sentence for drug use

A former top secretary to Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yukihiko Akutsu was sentenced Monday to a suspended two-year prison term for possessing and using stimulant drugs earlier this year.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Saikyo Line to test female-only cars

As part of its efforts to stop the problem of groping on commuter trains, East Japan Railway Co. announced Monday that it will introduce female-only cars on its Saikyo Line trains on an experimental basis next month.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Advisory panel starts discussing postal privatization

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi launched an advisory panel Monday to discuss the privatization of postal services.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2001

Hiranuma to hold talks with Taiwanese official

Trade chief Takeo Hiranuma will meet Thursday in Shanghai with Taiwan Economic Affairs Minister Lin Hsin-yi to discuss bilateral economic relations, a top Japanese trade official said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2001

Matsushita to market car-nav with detachable screen

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Monday it will launch a portable car-navigation system with a detachable display on July 1.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

New Zealand offering Japan 'soft trade' alternative: envoy

New Zealand is better-placed than other English-speaking nations to help Japan's goal of internationalizing its citizens, according to Ambassador Phillip Gibson.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Glass-maker Hoya aiding nuclear arms facility, U.S. scientist says

A U.S. scientist and former employee of a U.S. Energy Department institute, to which Japanese glass maker Hoya Corp. ships materials, says the institute is conducting nuclear weapons research.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Company president arrested over driver's license forgeries

Police arrested a Tokyo company president Monday on suspicion of forging international driver's licenses and put his brother in California on the wanted list for alleged collusion.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2001

The trial of Unit 731

KHABAROVSK, Russia -- Late in December 1949, Soviet Communist Party leaders began distributing tickets in factories and institutes for an upcoming trial. Twelve Japanese physicians and military officers -- former researchers at a secret facility near Harbin, China known as Unit 731 -- stood accused of...
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Kubota hit with back tax for payoffs, false outlays

OSAKA — Tax authorities have determined that farm machinery maker Kubota Corp. disguised 450 million yen as legitimate expenses, including some 100 million yen in illegal payoffs to "sokaiya" corporate extortionists, over the past several years, industry sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2001

Liquidity fails to fuel growth

Money is more available than needed by economic activity.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Ethnic Koreans get home spin on history

OSAKA — "Imperial Japan pillaged our country and instituted a cruel, repressive colonial regime. This went beyond acquiring food, resources and labor, and developed into a policy of obliterating the Korean people from the face of the Earth."
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2001

Toyota launches Brevis luxury sedan

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it has begun marketing what it calls an active-lifestyle luxury sedan and hopes to sell 2,500 units.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Tanaka knocked Bush, missile plan in talks with Australian diplomat, Fukuda says

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday that Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka criticized U.S. plans for a National Missile Defense system when she met with her Australian counterpart last week.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2001

Major life insurers feel pinch

Low interest rates, a sluggish stock market and a steady stream of policy terminations continued to squeeze major life insurers, according to results for the 2000 business year released Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

'Foreign looking' intruders shoot man dead, hurt wife

A man was shot dead and his wife was seriously wounded apparently by two intruders in the couple's home in Tokyo's Katsushika Ward early Monday, police said.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 5, 2001

Hawks leapfrog into PL's top spot

Pedro Valdes singled two runs home in the third inning and Hiroshi Shibahara drove in a pair of insurance runs in the eighth Monday as the Daiei Hawks notched their 30th victory of the season, 6-3 over the Nippon Ham Fighters.
COMMENTARY
Jun 5, 2001

Labor's win, democracy's loss

LONDON -- It is possible that in some dark cavern by the River Thames, or wherever it is that Labor's inner circle does its thinking, party planners are already plotting who is going to do what in government for the next five years. Labor is confident of winning the election on June 7: Its lead in the...
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Poison toads threaten rare Iriomote cats

The endangered Iriomote wildcats on Okinawa Prefecture's Iriomote Island face a new threat from an invasion of poisonous marine toads, the Environment Ministry said Monday.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Jun 5, 2001

Suzuki, Ono, Kawaguchi looking good

KASHIMA, Ibaraki Pref. -- When you have success in a soccer tournament, you often have a player or two who shine on your side.
COMMENTARY
Jun 5, 2001

America's diplomatic passage to India

LOS ANGELES -- While there was scarcely any American media coverage of the visit of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to India last month, the Bush administration's gesture, as well as the prior one made by Clinton, was intended to be profoundly significant. The Clinton state visit represented...
MORE SPORTS / THE DUKE OF HAZARDS
Jun 5, 2001

Hogan's 'home' course set to host U.S. Open

Summer in Tulsa, Okla., is hot and humid. The golf season's second major of the year, the U.S. Open, will be held at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa from June 14-17. The defending champion, of course, is Tiger Woods.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jun 5, 2001

Risking your life at Victoria Falls

While Zambia's side of Victoria Falls is sedate, a little backward, but calming, the Zimbabwe banks of the Zambezi River draw adrenaline addicts from across the world.

Longform

The students at Mitaka Municipal No. 7 Junior High School have access to various cooling devices for when they play sports.
Japan's extreme heat is causing a rethink of school sports