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LIFE / Travel
Apr 15, 2001

Grand Imperial Palace tour offered gratis

Cut off from the outside world by wide moats and high stone walls, the Imperial Palace is an especially mysterious place for us "commoners." But it doesn't have to be.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 15, 2001

Style as something you buy rather than cultivate

I always leaf through Katei Gaho in my dentist's waiting room. In fact, it's the only place I've ever had a chance to peruse it. Printed on the heaviest glossy paper money can buy, the magazine is more notable for its heft than its content, which is beautifully photographed clothing and household goods...
SUMO
Apr 15, 2001

Free sumo stable visits available

One explanation for the genesis of Japan's national sport, sumo, can be found in Japanese mythology, which says that the gods used to wrestle one another. One wonders if they bothered to do so at 5 a.m., when the modern-day gods of the dohyo get a most rude wake-up call.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 15, 2001

Yamato: Notes from the underground

Call it the B1 syndrome, if you will, or perhaps the bargain-basement phenomenon. But the sad truth is, you don't dine well at the bottom of a building.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

Minister criticizes climate proposal

Environment Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on Friday criticized a new proposal to pave the way for key climate change talks in July, saying it is little different from its predecessor and will not help bring the United States back to the negotiating table.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

Gadget guy puts ideology over profit

On a cluttered desk in a dimly lit office in central Tokyo lies a golden, cylindrical object you can't find in any store. It's a combination lock that would take 3.2 trillion years to crack, about 160 times the age of the universe.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

LDP rivals back approval of textbook

All four candidates vying for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency are defending the government's recent approval of a junior high school history textbook that critics say glosses over Japan's wartime aggression in Asia.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

New rules to trim public organizations

The Cabinet on Friday approved a set of guidelines to reform public organizations financially aided by the government or conducting charity, academic or other work on behalf of the state.
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2001

Economic mission bound for Russia

Japan will send a 150-strong economic mission to Russia late next month for talks with Russian officials and business leaders on expanding bilateral economic exchanges, Foreign Ministry officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

Obara's Osaka condos searched

Tokyo police investigating the slaying of Lucie Blackman on Friday searched three condominiums in Osaka linked with the man accused of killing the 21-year-old Briton in July.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

Workers to get more days off for Golden Week

Employees of major companies in Japan will get an average of 7.3 consecutive days off work during the Golden Week holiday season, according to a Labor Ministry survey released this week.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

Obituary: Masakazu Horiuchi

Masakazu Horiuchi, a pioneer of abstract sculpture and a professor emeritus at Kyoto City University of Arts, died of pneumonia Friday at his home in Tokyo, his family said. He was 90.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2001

Russia's dark clouds have silver linings

LONDON -- Forty years ago Thursday, Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to go into space. Last month, the decrepit space station Mir plunged back into the atmosphere, incinerating among other things the photograph of a youthful, happy Gagarin (he died in a plane crash in 1968) that had hung on...
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

State downgrades economy

The economy is weakening, the government said Friday, downgrading its assessment for the third consecutive month mainly due to reduced production and worsening business sentiment.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

Man charged with aiding Shigenobu

A longtime acquaintance of Japanese Red Army founder Fusako Shigenobu was indicted Friday on charges of harboring the terrorist in Japan in 1998 and later helping her to escape capture.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2001

A Japanese PM as seen from abroad

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- It is beyond the parameters of this column to plunge into the murky waters of Japanese domestic politics. But the case of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori -- and the ways this case has generally been reported in the foreign media -- calls for some scrutiny, especially since it automatically...
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2001

Troubled retailer Mycal jolted by 87.3 billion yen loss

OSAKA -- Troubled retailer Mycal Corp. said Friday that it incurred a consolidated net loss of 87.29 billion yen in the year that ended in February, leaving it in the red for the third straight year.
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2001

Foreigners stay net buyers

Foreign investors were net buyers of Japanese stocks for the third straight week last week.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 14, 2001

Hawks hit six homers in 18-3 win over Orix

Kenji Jojima drove in seven runs with three homers to highlight the Daiei Hawks' 18-3 batting romp over the Orix BlueWave on Friday night at Green Stadium Kobe.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 14, 2001

Capital solution by accident rather than design

Asked whether she is surprised to find herself ruling the roost in corporate splendor on the 18th floor of the Shin-Nikko Building in Toranomon, Sakie Fukushima nods emphatically. Very surprised, she says. "I've never planned a single step of my career. Basically I'm not a very confident person."
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

New proposal sees stalled beltway built underground

In a move that could lead to lifting a three-decade-old freeze on building, the Construction Ministry and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Friday proposed that a section of a controversial beltway will be built underground.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

NGO to offer Thai children support for heart disease

A Japanese nongovernmental organization dedicated to medical support for developing countries will launch a project to save Thai children suffering from congenital heart diseases.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

Steel giants NKK, Kawasaki to join

NKK Corp., Japan's second-largest steelmaker, and Kawasaki Steel Corp., No. 3 in the field, announced Friday that they have agreed to integrate their operations in October 2002 under a joint holding company.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

Huge discrepancy in Obuchi assets

The late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi left behind some 600 million yen in taxable assets when he died in May at the age of 62, a Gunma Prefecture tax office said Friday.

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