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JAPAN

Feb 18, 2000

Ministry to finance cram school envoys

Pupils don't have to study English at elementary school yet. But over the next year, the Education Ministry plans to spend 180 million yen to help children study the language outside of school on the weekend. Using the requested budget for the next school year starting in April, the ministry plans to...

JAPAN

Feb 18, 2000

Early start on spoken English seen as 'advantage'

By Junko Takahashi

Last of two partsStaff writer Many public elementary schools are expected to start teaching English in April when the trial period begins for "comprehensive studies," a new curriculum under the Education Ministry's revised teaching guidelines, that take effect in 2002. From the third grade, schools...

JAPAN

Feb 17, 2000

Japan experts' departure leaves U.S. in lurch

WASHINGTON -- Two Japan experts in the U.S. administration will leave their office, raising concern about the impact on efforts to resolve a host of bilateral issues. Kurt Campbell will quit as deputy assistant secretary of defense and join the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S....

JAPAN

Feb 17, 2000

Abandoned pet surprises Seibu store guard

A 1.5-meter python was found curled up in a knapsack left at a department store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward earlier this week, it was learned Thursday. According to local police officials, the reptile was found by a security guard at the Shibuya branch of Seibu department store at around 11 a.m. Monday. The...

JAPAN / Media

Feb 17, 2000

Tarnished shields reflect on justice

By Philip Brasor

Because the public has been conditioned not to believe anything it doesn't see on TV or read in the paper, a problem is not considered a problem until the media says it is. This realization brings up the question: What was it before?

JAPAN

Feb 17, 2000

DDI cuts cash flow to bankrupt Iridium

DDI Corp. President Yusai Okuyama said Thursday that the company would not make an additional investment in Iridium LLC, the financially troubled U.S. satellite telecommunications company. Okuyama also told a regular news conference that Nippon Iridium Corp., which provides satellite phone services...

JAPAN

Feb 17, 2000

Japanese team set to sell Mexico unprecedented investment pact

By Hisane Masaki

Staff writer After five months of preliminary talks, Japan and Mexico will launch full-scale negotiations in mid-March on a pact aimed at protecting and facilitating Japanese investment in the Latin American country. The Japanese negotiating team will visit Mexico for the first round of full-scale negotiations...

JAPAN

Feb 17, 2000

Hatoyama accused of pocketing 50 million yen

The leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, Yukio Hatoyama, denied allegations Thursday that he received around 50 million yen in shady donations and from fundraising party tickets about a decade ago. Speaking at a hastily arranged press conference, Hatoyama criticized the controversial magazine article...

JAPAN

Feb 17, 2000

MITI fines Kyocera over misuse of subsidy

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry on Thursday ordered Kyocera Corp. to pay about 12.7 million yen to the state for misappropriating a subsidy for a project to develop a solar-powered car. On top of the fine, the Kyoto-based major electric appliance maker will be ineligible for subsidies...

JAPAN

Feb 17, 2000

Teenagers arrested in killing

Two teenage boys were arrested late Wednesday night for allegedly robbing and murdering a man whose battered body was found in a park in Tokyo's Koto Ward last week, police officials said Thursday. The suspects told investigators last Thursday that they had also mugged other people in the park to gain...

JAPAN

Feb 17, 2000

Aum gas attack driver gets life term

A former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for driving a getaway car for one of the cultists convicted of releasing sarin in the March 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attack. Kiyotaka Tonozaki, 36, was also found guilty by the Tokyo District Court of harboring another Aum fugitive. Judge...

JAPAN

Feb 17, 2000

Quest on for firm English footing

By Junko Takahashi

First of two partsStaff writer Do all Japanese need to speak English? And will they? Yes, says an advisory panel to the prime minister that recently outlined Japan's goals for the 21st century. In the past, Japan has taken steps to improve English education by reportedly making textbooks more communication-oriented...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.

A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan

By Hanako Lowry

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