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JAPAN
Dec 28, 2000

$1.36 million pledged to Eritrean refugees

Japan has pledged $1.36 million in emergency grants to support Eritreans who have suffered as a result of their country's two-year conflict with Ethiopia over a border dispute, the Foreign Ministry said.
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2000

Monex to absorb Saison Securities

Online brokerage Monex Inc. said Wednesday it plans to absorb Saison Securities Co. of the Seibu Saison retail group next year to become Japan's No. 3 online brokerage service provider in terms of number of accounts managed.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Dec 28, 2000

Terrific turkey dish fit for a robust red

Season's greetings as the Year of the Snake, 2001, prepares to slither in. By this time of year, some of us have eaten so much turkey in so many guises that we'd gladly throttle the next bird we see and pray for a fowl-free New Year. Banish the thought! Before you curse the very mention of roast fowl,...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2000

Protecting Japan's right to freedom of navigation

HONOLULU -- Japan's economic security depends on safe and secure passage of its oil imports and trade through the Malacca/Singapore Straits and the South China Sea. Yet a recent upsurge in piracy, "creeping" jurisdiction and possible conflict between rival claimants in the Spratly Islands threaten these...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 28, 2000

Down's diagnoses defied

Hope was not in the prognosis that doctors gave to Chie Myo, after examining her first son, Shunsuke, at the age of 3 months. They diagnosed the baby as having been born with Mongolism, a derogatory term previously used for Down syndrome, and predicted that he would not live long, saying a mere cold...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 28, 2000

Looking back at the future

In honor of that particularly Japanese custom of creating instant tradition ("Since 1999"), this last column of the year peers forward by looking back. Here are just three of the many new places we have visited and enjoyed during the past 12 months but never got around to writing up.
EDITORIALS
Dec 27, 2000

Learning the wrong lessons

Japan's basic law on education, enacted after the end of World War II to replace the Imperial Rescript, should be reviewed -- that is a key recommendation from Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's advisory panel. The final report, released last week, calls for a set of reforms. The report is in marked contrast...
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Education panel hits individuality, stresses Japanese-language focus

An Education Ministry advisory panel is calling for increased Japanese-language study and reading opportunities for children, saying a good command of the language provides a solid platform for education and cultural literacy.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Evacuees face New Year gloom

The dawn of the 21st century will be little cause for celebration for some 3,800 evacuees from Miyake Island.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

TTNet accelerates rate cut for city calling

Tokyo Telecommunication Network Co. (TTNet) said Tuesday it will reduce its city call rates in the Tokyo area next month, four months ahead of schedule.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

Tech firms plan Bluetooth venture

Toshiba Corp., Taiyo Yuden Co. and IBM Japan Ltd. said Tuesday they will form a joint venture that will authorize the use of a trademark for the new Bluetooth wireless technology.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

Computer demand up 4% for fiscal 2001

Domestic shipments of computers and computer peripherals are projected to total 6.852 trillion yen in fiscal 2001, up 4 percent from the 6.606 trillion yen projected for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2001, an industry group said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

Japan falling; U.S. slipping; euro on a roll

Worries linger over slowing U.S. economic growth.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

OSE agrees to absorb Kyoto bourse

OSAKA -- Members of the Osaka Securities Exchange and the Kyoto Stock Exchange on Tuesday held separate extraordinary meetings and approved an agreement to merge the two bourses March 1.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

SDF contracts lack transparency: report

Irregularities were found in 73 procurement contracts, worth 39.1 billion yen, concluded by the Maritime and Air Self-Defense Forces in 1998, the Management and Coordination Agency said in a report released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Samsung rapped over illegal exports

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry on Tuesday warned Samsung Japan Corp. against repeating an action it took in the 1990s involving the illegal export of goods that could be diverted for military use.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Yamamoto may get 30-month stretch

Prosecutors demanded a 21/2-year prison sentence Tuesday for Joji Yamamoto, a former House of Representatives lawmaker and ex-member of the Democratic Party of Japan accused of fraud for misappropriating public money paid to his secretary.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

Household spending declines second month

Spending by Japan's wage-earning households fell an inflation-adjusted 2.3 percent in November from a year earlier to an average 312,376 yen per household, the Management and Coordination Agency said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

Tieup agrees to focus on broadband Webcasting

Sony Corp., Tokyu Corp., Kansai Electric Power Co. and Itochu Corp. said Tuesday they have agreed to begin content-distribution services on a commercial basis via broadband Webcasting.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Blind, deaf may become doctors soon

The Health and Welfare Ministry aims to amend laws banning blind and deaf people from becoming doctors, dentists or nurses, in line with advisory panel recommendations submitted Tuesday, ministry officials said.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

New framework for economic ties with U.S. eyed

With the launch of the new U.S. administration coming next month, Japan is considering introducing a new framework for bilateral economic talks, which would include the participation of experts from the private sector.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

Chiyoda's debts likely much higher

Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co.'s liabilities are estimated to have exceeded its assets by some 500 billion yen, about 15 times higher than its earlier publicized negative net worth of 34.3 billion yen, industry sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Vice ministers named for merging ministries

The Cabinet on Tuesday named the career bureaucrats who will take up posts as vice ministers at the Cabinet Office and the seven ministries to be created under sweeping reforms that will take effect Jan. 6, when the current 23 government entities will be reduced to 13.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

FRC official named to head FSA

Shoji Mori, secretary general of the Financial Reconstruction Commission, will become the head of the Financial Services Agency on Jan. 6, succeeding Masaharu Hino, who will retire, government officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Jobless rate rose to 4.8% in November

The nation's jobless rate in November climbed 0.1 percentage point from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted 4.8 percent, its first increase since September, the Management and Coordination Agency said Tuesday.

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