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BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2001

Industry all for farm goods curbs: ministry

The number of farmers and farm products sellers who support import curbs on three agricultural products overwhelmed those against the action in written comments sent to the government, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2001

S&P assigns BBB rating to $1 billion in Sanwa notes

Standard & Poor's Corp. has assigned a BBB long-term credit rating to the $1 billion subordinated notes due in June 2011 that Sanwa Bank will issue in June.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2001

Tokyo drafts guidelines to protect historical sites

In the first move of its kind in Japan, Tokyo has drawn up guidelines aimed at preserving the area around buildings and other structures that have been designated historically significant.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2001

Major banks' dud loans soar 1.7 trillion yen

The combined balance of the 16 major banks' bad loans, classified as requiring "special attention" for recovery, soared by 1.73 trillion yen in fiscal 2000 to 6.3 trillion yen, according to a Financial Services Agency report released Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2001

Overtime at manufacturers off 3.5%

Employees in the nation's manufacturing sector worked less overtime in April than a year earlier for the second consecutive month, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 1, 2001

Japanese rat snake

* Japanese name: Aodaisho
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2001

Housing starts fall for fourth month

Housing starts fell 7.2 percent in April from the year before to 99,556 units, down for the fourth straight month, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2001

Court approves psychiatric exam for hijacker

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday approved lawyers' requests for a psychiatric examination of a 30-year-old man charged with hijacking an All Nippon Airways jumbo jet and stabbing its pilot to death in July 1999.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2001

Investors shun directionless Tokyo market

The idle Tokyo stock market could spend weeks searching for direction amid concerns over corporate earnings and economic prospects.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2001

Discrimination suit against golf club fails

An ethnic Korean resident in Tokyo lost a damages suit Thursday seeking compensation from a Chiba golf club operator for denying him membership because of his nationality.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 1, 2001

Japan debuts with 3-0 victory

NIIGATA -- Japan got off to a good start in the Confederations Cup, beating Canada 3-0 in a Group B game Thursday night at Big Swan Niigata Stadium.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2001

Sick building chemical haunts recently built homes

About 37 percent of homes built four to five years ago have a higher concentration of a chemical that apparently causes the so-called sick building syndrome, according to the results of a study conducted by the Infrastructure Ministry.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2001

Lawmakers pushing for day-care center in Nagata-cho

A nonpartisan group of lawmakers is calling for a day-care center to be established in or near the Diet building for the benefit of politicians and government officials with kids. The day-care center should also be set up for mothers with small children who want to sit in on Diet sessions or lobby politicians,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2001

Chances for new trade round grow dim

GENEVA -- With only a few months left before the go or no-go decision has to be made, it is looking less and less likely that a new round of international trade negotiations will be launched when world-trade ministers meet in November in Doha, Qatar.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2001

Koizumi urges adoption of 'e-voting' in local polls

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi urged a government information technology panel Thursday to consider ways to introduce electronic voting in local elections, officials said.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2001

Drugstore goes to court to lift supplier's embargo

OSAKA -- Drugstore chain Daikoku said Thursday it has asked the Tokyo District Court to issue a provisional ruling to get drugmaker Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. to resume supplying products to its stores.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2001

Shiokawa eyes abolition of capital gains levies

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa plans to call on the ruling parties to consider an early abolition of the withholding tax on stock transactions.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

Soon-to-merge insurers report increased profits

Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance Co. -- two major nonlife insurers scheduled to merge in October -- on Wednesday reported higher group profits for fiscal 2000.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Italy wants Japanese to take in its countryside

The Italian tourism industry hopes to bring more Japanese visitors to less-traveled destinations in the country's rural areas, a senior official of the Italian State Tourism Board said.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

IMF chief urges expanded disclosure of bad loans

International Monetary Fund chief Horst Koehler encouraged the Financial Services Agency on Wednesday to step up disclosure of its assessments of banks' problem loans.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

Balance of shares on credit rises for third week in a row

The balance of shares bought on credit rose for the third consecutive week last week.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

Kamisu picked as fifth LPG site

The governmental Japan National Oil Corp. said Wednesday it has picked the town of Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, as the site for a storage tank it will build to store liquefied petroleum gas under the nation's 1.5-million ton LPG stockpiling program.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Work of Canada's 'tragic historian' now regaining spotlight in Japan

The life and work of Edgerton Herbert Norman, a Canadian diplomat and researcher of modern Japanese history who committed suicide in the 1950s amid allegations that he was a communist sympathizer, is now being spotlighted.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Time ripe for collective defense: panelists

Panelists at a symposium on Japan-U.S. relations held in Tokyo this week agreed that Japan should lift its ban on engaging in collective defense as both nations seek to strengthen security ties.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

Kumagai Gumi stays in red despite loans being forgiven

Struggling construction firm Kumagai Gumi Co. said Wednesday it remained in the red for the year ended March 31, with a group net loss of 2.65 billion yen after the previous year's loss of 4.62 billion yen.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

Disappointing euro's effect on markets has been tangible

While the beleaguered euro has been a real letdown, there can be no denying that its January 1999 launch has had a significant impact on the world's currency markets.

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