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JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Basics must still precede computer skills: teachers

While the government is actively promoting education on information technology starting in elementary school, some teachers question the wisdom of getting children started on computers at such an early age.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Transfer more tax authority to local governments: panel

A state panel on decentralization urged the central government Thursday to transfer more authority to local governments to secure their own tax revenues.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Transplant chief 'subsidized' founders

The head of Japan Organ Transplant Network, the nation's sole coordinator of organ transplants, gave 70 million yen to a professor and a hospital director who helped establish the network in 1997, according to sources familiar with the case.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2001

Backers of Chinese press in Malaysia mobilize to defend its freedom

KUALA LUMPUR -- Despite stringent mass media laws, Chinese newspapers in Malaysia have built a reputation for objective, balanced and accurate political reporting and analyses. This widely-held perception among all ethnic groups in multiracial Malaysia -- Malays, Chinese and Indians -- often stands in...
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2001

Vietnam trainees to study mining

A government advisory panel on coal mining approved a plan Thursday to invite 60 Vietnamese trainees to Japan in August as part of an attempt to transfer Japan's expertise in coal mining before it vanishes.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Teachers brave frontline of national IT offensive

SHIKI, Saitama Pref. — Sitting in pairs behind computer screens, 30 fifth-graders at Muneoka No. 3 Elementary School here try to catch an English word spoken by computer and select the corresponding picture by mouse.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

870,000 subscribers make Koizumi e-zine No. 1?

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday launched the inaugural edition of his e-mail magazine, which, with more than 870,000 subscribers, perhaps makes it one of the largest e-mail magazines in the world. The number of subscribers is ballooning by the minute, the government's public relations division...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Ministry has wine bonanza on public funds

The Foreign Ministry spent around 30 million yen on 4,427 bottles of wine in the three years beginning fiscal 1997, according to documents revealed by the ministry Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2001

The state's right to kill

America was riveted -- and riven -- this week by the execution of one of its least defensible mass murderers, Timothy McVeigh, the man responsible for the deaths of 168 people in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklohoma City six years ago. At the same time, Japan was traumatized...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Hackers hit 20% of firms, NPA says

About 20 percent of universities, companies and municipal governments have had their computer systems illegally accessed during the past year, but just 5.3 percent of them alerted police, according to a survey released Thursday by the National Police Agency.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2001

Electronic travel marketing enjoys boom

Dealings in electronic travel marketing surpassed 10 billion yen during fiscal 2000, with more than half of the total attributed to domestic hotel inquiries, the nation's largest travel agency said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Economy downgraded for fifth month

The economy is deteriorating and may be slipping into recession due to sluggish personal consumption and business investment, the government said Thursday, downgrading its assessment for the fifth straight month.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2001

Man-on-the-street economic outlook takes a downturn

The outlook for workers employed in jobs that are sensitive to business cycles worsened in May for the first time in four months, according to a government survey released Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Law revised to prevent minors from using phone dating clubs

In a bid to crack down on child prostitution, the Diet on Thursday passed a bill revising a law controlling the sex industry to prohibit people under 18 from using telephone dating clubs.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 15, 2001

Tigers drop Dragons 9-0

Shinjiro Hiyama cracked two homer runs and drove in four as the Hanshin Tigers blanked the slumping Chunichi Dragons 9-0 Thursday at the Osaka Dome.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Education key to Uzbekistan's future

Alisher Shaykhov, outgoing Uzbekistan ambassador to Japan, expressed gratitude Thursday for Japan's contribution to educational development in the Central Asian republic, which has been striving for economic reform since it became independent in 1991, following the Shaykhovbreak up of the Soviet Union....
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Jun 15, 2001

Japan owes Troussier a 'Merci'

Poor South Korea. Get blitzed 5-0 by France in the Confederations Cup opener, making Japan feel a whole lot better about life after Philippe Troussier's boys lost by the same score in Paris on March 25. Go out of the tournament on goal difference, while Japan finish top of Group B following wins over...
COMMUNITY
Jun 15, 2001

You're not leaving the table till you finish those vegetables

Some nights, I drift off to sleep feeling as smug as if I'd just outwitted the devil. My husband has clued in to my little G spot of contentment, so when he wants to get on my good side, he knows to whisper: "Rio ate lots of vegetables today."
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2001

Nomura to set up 401(k)-style pension

Nomura Securities Co. will withdraw from the securities industry's employee pension fund and use the money it saves to set up a 401(k)-style pension plan, company officials said Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 15, 2001

Venus, Capriati to play in Tokyo

Staff writer This year's Toyota Princess Cup tennis tournament will feature stars of the past and present, organizers announced Thursday in Tokyo. American Venus Williams is expected to make her debut in Japan, along with sister Serena who is the defending champion.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2001

Downward pressures on euro buoy yen

The euro remains under pressure, reflecting a shift in sentiment about the outlook for the euro-zone economy.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Hibakusha ruling to be appealed

The government will appeal a court ruling ordering the state to pay medical allowances to a Korean atomic bomb survivor who lives outside Japan, according to government sources.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2001

Corporate bankruptcies continue to rise

The number of corporate bankruptcies rose 12.8 percent in May from a year earlier to 1,724, increasing for the second consecutive month, a private research institute said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2001

Keidanren backs Koizumi's reform initiatives

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) pledged its "full support" Thursday for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reform initiatives, even if such steps bring a negative impact on the economy.

Longform

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