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JAPAN
Aug 16, 2000

Ministry to launch new lifestyle survey next year

The Health and Welfare Ministry will launch a survey next year to track the lives of newborns and certain groups of adults in a bid to better understand social problems such as the dwindling birthrate, ministry sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2000

Four fishermen back from Russia

OSAKA -- Four Japanese fishermen returned to Japan on Tuesday from Russia, where they were released last week by Russian authorities after being charged with fishing without a permit in Russian economic waters.
COMMENTARY
Aug 16, 2000

Japan, logic and the bomb

This year's August end-of-war anniversaries have seen yet another round of Japanese appeals for nuclear disarmament. Past atomic bomb sufferings give Japan a special moral authority in this area, it is claimed.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 16, 2000

Making a run for the horse mackerel

Abundant, easy to catch and good to eat: an apt description of the scrappy little Japanese horse mackerel. Records show that the fish has been a Japanese favorite since the Nara Period, over 1,000 years ago, and it still has its aficionados today. Many Japanese anglers pursue this popular fish in preference...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 16, 2000

Fat a question of feathers for shearwaters

The fact that young animals and birds not only start off small, but remain smaller than their parents for a long time, seems to be a dominant rule of life. Think of fox or badger cubs, think of young sparrows or bulbuls -- from birth, or hatching, and for some time after they remain smaller than their...
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2000

Torashima plans more Okinawa base talks

Defense Agency chief Kazuo Torashima said Tuesday he will make another visit to Okinawa Prefecture to discuss issues concerning U.S. military bases in the prefecture with local officials.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 16, 2000

Of Rubber Ridley and his Gardens

The Gardens: That is how many locals refer to them. Just The Gardens. As if there were no other, as Bonnie Tinsley wrote in "Visions of Delight."
CULTURE / Books
Aug 16, 2000

China stays focused on the big picture

INTERPRETING CHINA'S GRAND STRATEGY: Past, Present, and Future, by Michael D. Swaine and Ashley J. Tellis. RAND 2000, Project Air Force, 2000, 283 pp., $35 (cloth), $20 (paper). Dealing with China is the chief foreign-policy challenge of the 21st century. Governments in Tokyo, Washington and elsewhere...
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2000

Japanese, U.S. travel giants in negotiations to form business alliance

Japan Travel Bureau Inc. said Tuesday it is in talks with Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the largest travel agency in the United States, on forming an alliance on business trips and a joint venture in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2000

Australia splits on single mothers' rights

SYDNEY -- Sex and the single woman: This unlikely topic has suddenly become a political cause celebre in Australia. Even the Olympics are taking a temporary back seat to the debate on unmarried women's right to motherhood.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 16, 2000

Taking a seat in the no-joking section

Smoke, as they say, gets in your eyes. Not to mention your clothes, hair, nose, lungs, taste buds, teeth, gums and (if you are a smoker) your pocketbook.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 16, 2000

May this force be with you

THE MYSTERIOUS POWER OF KI: The Force Within, by Kouzo Kaku, translated by Roger Machin and Mami Nakamura. Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental, 2000, 154 pp., with b/w photographs, 14.95 British pounds. Despite the title of this book, there is nothing mysterious about "ki." It is a concept popularly...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 16, 2000

Meiji era portraits put a human face on history

ANGLO-JAPANESE CONNECTIONS: Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits III, edited by J.E. Hoare. Richmond, Surrey, England: Japan Library, Curzon Press Ltd., 1999, 397 pp., 45 British pounds. Most of the 27 portraits in this volume are of 19th-century characters. They are interesting, nonetheless;...
LIFE / Digital
Aug 16, 2000

Online content migrates offline into book sales

In the era of the Internet, self-publishing online is easy. Yet for those who still want the added legitimacy (and legacy) of hard copies, there is good news.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2000

Yachiyo Bank takes over operation of Kokumin

Yachiyo Bank on Monday took over the operations of Kokumin Bank, a collapsed second-tier regional bank based in Tokyo, in a deal involving the use of more than 180 billion yen in public money to settle Kokumin's bad loans.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2000

Panel takes up privacy in genome talks

A governmental panel charged with drawing up guidelines on research into the human genome addressed privacy issues in its first meeting Monday, panel members said.
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2000

Hands off the Bank of Japan

The Bank of Japan, at a policy meeting last Friday, lifted its controversial zero-interest rate policy, which was adopted in February last year amid mounting deflationary pressures. The decision is overdue, given that the economy has shown growing signs of recovery in recent months. The good news for...
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2000

Okinawa conservation plan in works

The Environment Agency will draft a two-year plan to help protect biological diversity in Okinawa Prefecture's unique subtropical ecosystem, agency officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2000

Summer heat triggers car trouble

More than 280,000 drivers requested emergency roadside assistance in July, a record high for the reporting month, the Japan Automobile Federation said Monday.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2000

Corporate bankruptcies set postwar record in July

Corporate bankruptcies in Japan continued to grow in July with combined liabilities topping 4 trillion yen, the largest on record in postwar Japan, a private credit research agency said Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2000

Police asked DoCoMo to help with wiretapping technology

The National Police Agency asked NTT DoCoMo Inc. in March to develop technology to help investigators wiretap cellphone conversations, agency sources said.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2000

Astronaut Mukai appointed NASA mission scientist

The National Space Development Agency of Japan on Monday announced that astronaut Chiaki Mukai will serve as mission scientist during a 2001 NASA mission involving the space shuttle Columbia.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2000

28 die in water-related accidents

Twenty-eight people died and two remain missing in water-related accidents throughout Japan on Saturday and Sunday, the National Police Agency said Monday.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2000

Realtor Hiei fails, leaving debts of 650 billion yen

Tokyo-based real estate company Hiei Sangyo has filed with the Tokyo District Court for special liquidation, becoming the sixth largest corporate bankruptcy this year with about 450 billion yen in liabilities, a private credit research institute said Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2000

Dental test question allegedly leaked

A question contained in the National Dentistry Examination conducted in March was leaked to dentistry department students at Ohu University, a private university in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Health and Welfare Ministry officials said Monday.

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