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JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

171 fires per day in 2000: agency

There were 62,418 fires in Japan last year, up 3,892, or 6.7 percent, from 1999 for a second straight year of increase, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Snow Brand execs sent to prosecutors

OSAKA -- Police on Friday sent papers to prosecutors on nine officials of Snow Brand Milk Products Co. on suspicion of professional negligence in connection with the massive outbreak of food poisoning that hit western Japan last summer.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Obituary: Isao Okawa

Sega Corp. President Isao Okawa died Friday of heart failure, the company said. He was 74. Okawa, concurrently honorary chairman of CSK Corp., died at a Tokyo hospital. In 1984, he assumed the chairmanship of Sega Enterprises Inc., the predecessor of Sega. Okawa, a graduate of Waseda University's engineering...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Confession made under duress: woman

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BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Sanwa to offer mortgages by cellphone

Sanwa Bank will begin accepting mortgage applications through mobile phones on Wednesday in a service that will be the first of its kind for commercial banks in Japan.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Dealers cautious on bourse plan

The head of the Japan Securities Dealers Association said Friday that the industry should not contribute funds to a share-buying body proposed by the ruling coalition.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Retailer Mycal names new chief

OSAKA -- Troubled retailer Mycal Corp. on Friday formally named Osamu Shikata, former chief of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters, as its new president, replacing Kotaro Utsunomiya, who is to become an adviser.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Komura plans poll on spouse names

In a move that is likely to rekindle political debate, Justice Minister Masahiko Komura instructed his ministry Friday to conduct a public opinion poll on a possible revision of the Civil Code to enable a married couple to retain separate family names.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

New law to enable deaf, blind to be doctor, nurse

The Cabinet endorsed bills Friday to amend 27 laws that ban blind and deaf people from becoming doctors, nurses, pharmacists or assuming many other professional positions, government officials said.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2001

Sadly, conflicts make sense

Conflict is sometimes said to be the normal condition of human society; peace is the exception that requires explanation. Many of today's conflicts are peculiarly resistant to efforts at resolution because a set of contradictory logics tilts the balance toward their perpetuation. For example, while most...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Okinawans told to remain indoors while Mir descends

Crisis Management Minister Bunmei Ibuki said Friday he will ask local governments in Okinawa Prefecture to instruct residents to stay indoors on the day the abandoned Russian space station Mir is expected to pass over the region.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Japan to ratify child labor pact

The government on Friday decided to seek Diet ratification of an international treaty intended to eliminate the worst forms of child labor around the world.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 17, 2001

Upon further meditation . . .

Sometime after Gus Van Sant had released "Goodwill Hunting," he took a trip to India. During his stay, he was faxed a screenplay from Sony Pictures. Written by an unknown anchorman called Mike Rich, "Finding Forrester" had everything that prompted Van Sant to cut off his journey and return to LA. Three...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Successor before new stimulus, Mori hints

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori indicated his support Friday for holding the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race before compiling emergency measures to boost the ailing economy, effectively indicating he is not trying to hold onto power.
COMMENTARY
Mar 17, 2001

Two old allies, two visions

LOS ANGELES -- Remember how the senior George Bush, when he was president, admitted to having trouble with "the vision thing." Has that deficiency been passed on to his son?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2001

Taliban fanaticism is not typical of Islam

LONDON -- The problem is that the world is actually a very provincial place. Most people in the non-Muslim parts of the world have never been in any Muslim country, so if Muslims anywhere in the world do something really stupid, they will readily believe that those actions are typical of Islam -- and...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Russian envoy does summit spadework

A Russian envoy visited Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Friday to lay the groundwork for an upcoming summit between Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Miyazawa will not draft extra budget

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa reiterated Friday that he has no plans to draw up a supplementary budget for fiscal 2001, which starts April 1.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Foot cult leader failed to declare 750 million yen in income

The founder and former leader of the Honohana Sampogyo foot-reading cult failed to declare some 750 million yen in taxable income for four years until 1999, sources close to the case said Friday.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 17, 2001

Taking the Watanabe optional tour

Few of us can understand why the Taliban in Afghanistan is destroying the awe-inspiring giant Buddhist statues at Bamiyan instead of turning them into profitable tourist sites generating millions of dollars in T-shirt and other souvenir sales. Someone who might, however, is Satoshi Watanabe, whose own...

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