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JAPAN
May 17, 2001

Tanaka apologizes to bureaucrats

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka apologized Wednesday to bureaucrats in her ministry, saying some of her comments during Tuesday's session of the Lower House Budget Committee may have been "misunderstood."
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2001

Ukraine says 'yes' to missile defense

KIEV -- The Bush administration is reviewing U.S. security policy, including deployment of a national missile defense. Washington's decision should be made easier by Ukraine's offer to help turn NMD into a reality.
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2001

Hanging up on 3G

Information anytime, anywhere: That is the promise of the IT revolution. The next step in the march toward the networked world was supposed to take place this month, when NTT DoCoMo and British Telecommunications launched the world's first third-generation (3G) cellphone services. We are marching in...
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2001

Tactical genius, strategic fool

In less than a year, the image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has gone from one of an erratic bon vivant and playboy to that of a wily statesman. But as North Korea braces for yet another winter of starvation and North-South reconciliation grinds to a halt, it may be time to reappraise the "Dear...
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

Japanese firms strive to ride out global IT tsunami

With the global economy becoming increasingly Net-oriented, leading Japanese companies are trying to ride out the information technology wave in a desperate bid to survive ever-intensifying competition.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Corporate bankruptcies soared in April

The number of corporate bankruptcies in April hit 1,631, climbing 4.4 percent for the first year-on-year rise in two months, a private research institute said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

Softbank chief No. 3 taxpayer

Softbank Corp. President Masayoshi Son ranked as Japan's third-largest individual taxpayer in 2000, up from 16th in 1999, the National Tax Administration said Wednesday in an annual report listing the top 100 taxpayers.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Promise chief invited to share wisdom at Harvard University

Harvard Business School last month invited Hiroki Jinnai, president of major Japanese consumer moneylender Promise Co., to field student questions in a forum on the firm's growth strategy.
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

72,000 eager graduates jobless in late March

An estimated 72,000 of this year's crop of high school and university graduates looking for immediate employment had not secured jobs as of late March, according to two recent government surveys.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Bad timing for painful reform: report

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's "No Pain, No Gain" approach to mending the economy will accomplish little more than a surge in bankruptcies and unemployment, Teikoku Databank warned in a report released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Government may tap road-construction funds to alleviate debt burden

The government is looking to make legal changes to allow special road-building revenue to be used for alternative purposes, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Wednesday.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
May 17, 2001

Time for the young ones to leave the nest

Philippe Troussier on the J. League: "The Japanese are soft and the players are soft and the referees are soft. One little bump in a game and it's a foul. These would never be fouls in Europe, in Spain or England."
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

Toyota's 972 billion yen profit sets Japan corporate record

Toyota Motor Corp. on Wednesday reported a 22 percent rise in group pretax profit to 972.2 billion yen for the business period that ended in March, the highest ever posted by a Japanese company.
SOCCER / J. League
May 17, 2001

Jubilo soccer star Nanami sidelined after knee surgery

Jubilo Iwata and Japan midfielder Hiroshi Nanami has suffered a semilunar cartilage injury in his right knee and will sit out for four weeks, the J. League club said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Explosive stock market rally stirs investors' buying spree

The balance of shares bought on credit turned higher last week, with investors reacting positively to the explosive stock market rally the previous week.
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

Princess has first outing in a month

The Crown Princess made her first public appearance Wednesday since the official announcement the day before of her long-awaited pregnancy, joining the Crown Prince on a morning visit to a shrine dedicated to his grandmother.
ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM
May 17, 2001

Shi-ran (wild orchid)

"How pitiful it was, This thin weak orchid But it has budded!"
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Optimism, foreign investors fuel rebound

The initial trigger for the Tokyo share price rally in recent weeks was foreign investors' stepped-up purchases.
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

Japan, South Korea seek tourism boom

Tourism officials from Japan and South Korea, looking to capitalize on the 2002 World Cup soccer finals, are mulling ways to double the number of tourists from overseas.
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

IOC: Osaka can continue bid

From wire and staff reports The IOC late Wednesday decided in Lausanne, Switzerland, to let Osaka and Istanbul, Turkey, stay in the race for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

Jailed Red Army Faction hijacker meets daughter

Three daughters of former Red Army Faction members who hijacked a Japan Airlines flight in 1970 visited the Tokyo Detention House on Wednesday to see one of the trio's father, who is being held there.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Kyocera's profits surged in 2000

OSAKA -- Kyocera Corp. on Wednesday announced sharp increases in both group sales and pretax profit for fiscal 2000 but predicted declines in both sales and profits for the current fiscal year, citing the slowdown in U.S. growth.

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