search

 
 
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Mitsubishi Motors makes bid to regain customer trust

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced a set of measures Friday that it said it will implement in an effort to improve the quality and information-management of its product-recall system.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Business leaders to mark '51 accord

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty next year, a group of Japanese business leaders unveiled Friday a series of projects including a scholarship fund for American scholars specializing in Japanese studies.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 21, 2000

Songs and sausages in Balkan backwoods

KOPRIVSHTITSA, Bulgaria -- Bulgaria may be one of the worst places to visit in Europe if you're looking for an advanced level of economic development, but it is a great place to go if you want a music festival where you can take off your shirt.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Shirakawa urges firsthand science classes

Nobel laureate Hideki Shirakawa suggested Friday that elementary school children in Japan more firsthand experience in their science education.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Oct 21, 2000

Koto reclaims place of honor in Japanese cultural parlor

Just as every cultured Western household during the early 20th century was expected to have a piano in the parlor, almost all Japanese upper-class households, until well past World War II, had a koto. Training on this lovely 13-stringed zither, originally imported into Japan from China as part of the...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Web schoolmate-finder flourishes

If you are Japanese and want to "meet" your old schoolmates, try accessing www.yubitoma.co.jp on the Internet, a virtual alumni association Web site with more than 1.3 million members.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Mourning Empress refuses to celebrate 66th birthday

The Empress turned 66 on Friday, but no celebrations are scheduled to mark her birthday as the Imperial family is still mourning the passing in June of the Empress Dowager, the Imperial Household Agency said.
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2000

Keep the victims in mind

Criminal activity in Japan is at a postwar peak -- the police reported 2.9 million violations of the Penal Code in 1999, 7.9 percent more than in the previous year. In the same period, the arrest rate fell to a postwar low. The Justice Ministry has just confirmed this bleak picture in a white paper submitted...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

North Korea resort open to tourists

Mount Kumgang, a celebrated but up to now highly restricted tourist site in North Korea, will have its first Japanese visitors Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

11 trillion yen plan gets official nod

The government adopted a comprehensive stimulus package Thursday worth nearly 11 trillion yen in its latest bid to place the long-stagnant economy on a full-fledged recovery track.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

GDP forecast rises to 1.5% for fiscal 2000

The Economic Planning Agency announced Thursday it has revised upward its economic growth projection for fiscal 2000 to around 1.5 percent in real terms from the original 1 percent predicted last December.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Electoral bill takes another step

Upper House members of the ruling coalition ignored fierce opposition protests and voted for a contentious bill to revise the chamber's electoral system during a plenary session Thursday afternoon.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 20, 2000

World Sports Awards name 75 finalists for 2000

LONDON -- The year 2000 has been good to many of the world's top athletes. For a select few, it just got even better. The World Sports Awards 2000 announced the names of 75 finalists at a press conference in London on Wednesday. Athletes such as track star Marion Jones, golfing sensation Tiger Woods...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Crime victims demand rights

A group of people whose children died at the hands of juveniles submitted a written request Thursday to Justice Minister Okiharu Yasuoka, urging the state to improve the rights of crime victims and their relatives under the Juvenile Law.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Cops to use paint balls to bag thieves

OSAKA -- Osaka Prefectural Police launched a campaign Thursday to crack down on bag-snatchers by marking them with paint balls.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Transport council urges more IT use

Japan should shift its now-expansionary national transport policy and focus instead on environmental protection, information technology use and safety, a government advisory panel said Thursday.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 20, 2000

On living in the best of all possible worlds

In "Modern Man in Search of a Soul" (1933) Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) remarks: "The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him . . . To perform this difficult office it is sometimes necessary for...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Kawaguchi justifies CO 2 effort

Environment Agency chief Yoriko Kawaguchi has praised Japan's global warming measures and hinted at the need for more action by the United States going into international climate change negotiations next month in the Netherlands.
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2000

Still no respite from turmoil

The world is reeling from severe turmoil. The Middle East situation remains volatile after an emergency summit in Egypt ended with a shaky pact to halt violence between Israelis and Palestinians, skyrocketing crude-oil prices are threatening a new oil crisis and the U.S. economy is showing signs of trouble...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2000

Peace far away under fragile coalition

NEW DELHI -- Peace seems to be eluding Sri Lanka. The latest parliamentary elections there has caused disquiet and confusion after the electorate failed to give a clear mandate to either Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance (PA) or Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP).
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 20, 2000

Bloodthirsty tales of revenge

The Kabukiza's October afternoon program features Seika Mayama's 1940 masterwork "The Hama Detached Palace" and Segawa Joko's well-known 1853 sewamono (realistic play) "Genjidana." Nizaemon Kataoka takes lead roles in both plays, while Tamasaburo Bando appears as Otomi in "Genjidana."

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