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BUSINESS
May 29, 2001

Isuzu to cut jobs, close Kawasaki plant

Isuzu Motors Ltd. announced Monday that its group of companies will cut one-quarter of its 38,000 workforce over three years to help ease its debt burden.
LIFE / Travel
May 29, 2001

France's last wilderness

"No one is born in the Camargue, and no one dies in the Camargue." -- Rhone Delta saying
LIFE / Travel
May 29, 2001

Thai bases offer a taste of military life

LOP BURI, Thailand -- Where else in the world can a tourist be a soldier for a day or two, shoot off an M-16, jump from a parachute tower, climb rocks, ford streams and hike through the jungle?
JAPAN
May 29, 2001

Opponents pleased with anti-MOX vote

Villagers in Kariwa, Niigata Prefecture, opposed to introducing plutonium mixed oxide fuel in a local nuclear reactor expressed their happiness Monday after a majority of voters turned thumbs down on the plan in a plebiscite the day before.
JAPAN
May 29, 2001

Appliance dumping rises 25% month after new law

Illegal dumping of home appliances increased 25 percent year-on-year in April, the first month after a new recycling law took effect.
SOCCER / World cup
May 29, 2001

Spirits banned for Confederations Cup

Spirits such as whisky and sake have been banned from being brought into stadiums at the upcoming Confederations Cup and beer will be the only alcohol to be sold, the Japanese World Cup Organizing Committee announced Monday in Tokyo.
Events
May 29, 2001

Tranquilized bear preferable to dead one, residents growl

KYOTO -- The shooting of a bear earlier this month at a bustling Kyoto tourist spot prompted a flood of protests from outraged residents who felt the animal should have been tranquilized and returned to the wild.
JAPAN
May 29, 2001

State holds memorial service for unidentified war dead

The government held a memorial service Monday for unidentified Japanese who died overseas in World War II and whose remains were returned to Japan last year.
LIFE / Travel
May 29, 2001

Playing with bulls

T he "course Camarguese," held in local village bull rings throughout the spring and summer, are events unlikely to upset even animal-rights groups.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
May 29, 2001

Confederations Cup another step on the ladder

On Oct. 29 last year, Philippe Troussier sat, drenched in champagne, at his post-match press conference after Japan's nail-biting 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the Asian Cup final. The oversized fruit bowl of a trophy beside him, the Frenchman grinned like a Cheshire cat while he tried to collect his...
BUSINESS
May 29, 2001

Petrochemical firms will have to disband price cartel

The Fair Trade Commission will order seven major petrochemical firms to scrap a polypropylene price cartel and pay billions of yen in penalties, sources familiar with the case said Monday.
LIFE / Travel
May 29, 2001

Feeling festive in the company of Gypsies

Pilgrimages provide an extra dimension to the Camargue and a chance to see and participate in some of its surviving spectacles. Many of these events are more popular than religious in character, as the number of tourists attending them testifies. Christian, pagan and secular elements are the ingredients...
JAPAN
May 29, 2001

MSDF divers may help raise Ehime Maru

At the request of the U.S. Navy, the government is considering sending divers from the Maritime Self-Defense Force to help raise the fisheries training ship accidentally sunk off Hawaii on Feb. 9 by a U.S. submarine, government officials said Monday.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 29, 2001

Giants gain revenge on Tigers

Yusaku Iriki pitched 62/3 effective innings and Toshihisa Nishi and Kazuhiro Kiyohara chipped in with a pair of RBIs each as the Yomiuri Giants eased past the Hanshin Tigers 7-3 at Koshien Stadium on Sunday.
EDITORIALS
May 28, 2001

Mr. Wahid's time is running out

Indonesia continues its descent into the political maelstrom. The threats and manipulations of beleaguered President Abdurrahman Wahid seem to have failed and Parliament looks set to launch the impeachment process this week. It is hard to contest the charges. Mr. Wahid, Indonesia's first democratically...
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2001

A sham antismoking program

On May 31, World No-Tobacco Day as designated by the World Health Organization, a variety of commemorative meetings are scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Shiga Prefecture and other places under the sponsorship of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. WHO's slogan is: Secondhand Smoke Kills. Let's Clear...
JAPAN
May 28, 2001

Police hand Sogo chief to prosecutors

Tokyo police on Sunday sent Hiroo Mizushima, former chairman of the failed Sogo Co. department store chain, to prosecutors on suspicion of concealing personal assets to avoid court-ordered seizure by creditors.
JAPAN
May 28, 2001

Tokyo wards move toward same-day counts for July poll

Officials in some of Tokyo's 23 wards who were planning to count ballots for the Upper House election the day after the vote are now leaning toward conducting same-day counts.
JAPAN
May 28, 2001

Two die as loaded van flips during U-turn

OSAKA -- Two high school students were killed and seven other people injured early Sunday after a van they were riding crashed into a lane divider in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, police said.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
May 28, 2001

Progress made in how Japan sees Korea

The latest instance of textbook controversy has reminded me of the changing descriptions in the entry on Korea in different editions of a well-known Japanese-language dictionary. Reports have it that the South Korean government was so upset by a certain textbook that its protests brought on a diplomatic...
BUSINESS
May 28, 2001

Dollar likely to fall against yen this week

The U.S. dollar is expected to ease against the yen this week due to possible declines in the euro against the yen, dealers said.
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2001

Junichiro Koizumi: Can stardom become success?

LOS ANGELES -- Quality political leadership is so frequently conspicuous by its absence that even the slightest whiff of its sudden presence can electrify a political region. Is Japan finally experiencing the dynamic quality leadership it deserves? That's the question intriguing Asia.
JAPAN
May 28, 2001

Man arrested in platform beating; victim dies

Police arrested a vocational college student early Sunday after he turned himself in for assaulting a railway passenger at a Tokyo train station Saturday afternoon. The passenger later lost consciousness and died.
JAPAN
May 28, 2001

Nakasone predicts five-year run for Koizumi team

Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone predicted on a television program aired Sunday morning that the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will last about five years.
JAPAN
May 28, 2001

Niigata village says no to MOX fuel use at nuke plant

KARIWA -- A majority of residents of the village of Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture objected Sunday to a plan to use plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel at a local nuclear power plant, in Japan's first plebiscite on use of the controversial fuel, early returns showed.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji