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COMMENTARY
Mar 14, 2000

In praise of market heretics

During the 1980s and 1990s, waves of neoconservatism swept the world. The movement was sparked by two politicians: Margaret Thatcher, who became the prime minister of Britain in 1979, and Ronald Reagan, who became president of the United States in 1981. In Japan, a neoconservative administration headed...
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

Sanwa, Asahi, Tokai to merge

Sanwa Bank, Tokai Bank and Asahi Bank are expected to create Japan's second largest financial group through a merger, and an announcement could come as early as today.
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2000

Bank industry slams tax plan anew

The chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association on Monday again criticized a Tokyo draft ordinance that aims to tax the gross profits of large banks in the metropolis as "unfair and undemocratic."
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

LDP leaders concur on post-G8 election

OSAKA -- Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi should wait at least until after the Group of Eight summit to dissolve the Lower House for a general election, senior Liberal Democratic Party leaders appeared to have agreed over the weekend.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

Tokyo budget sidesteps asbestos

After having recently provoked outrage in the trucking industry over a controversial plan to regulate diesel cars, "environmentally friendly" Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has just submitted a budget proposal to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly that has one less allocation for green initiatives: that for asbestos...
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

Proposed law would make plebiscites binding

Public-drafted legislation was unveiled Monday that would require local governments to hold a plebiscite if at least 10 percent of local voters petition for one, and make the results binding if they reflect the will of over a third of the registered voters.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

GDP drops for second quarter running

The nation's economy shrank a real 1.4 percent during the October-December term compared with the previous quarter, logging negative growth for the second consecutive period, the Economic Planning Agency said Monday.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 14, 2000

Celtic music takes a sure-footed stand in Tokyo

For anyone interested in "world music," gigs in Japan have been comparatively thin on the ground during the last five years or so, compared to the first years of the '90s. This is a situation that is perhaps set to change.
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2000

BOJ says low prices aren't 'bad'

The Bank of Japan's Policy Board agreed that consumer price declines resulting from structural changes in Japan's distribution system are "not a bad thing" and should be distinguished from deflationary drops, according to the minutes of their Feb. 10 meeting released Monday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 12, 2000

New Fighters skipper Oshima faces foreign slugger dilemma

Nippon Ham Fighters freshman manager Yasunori Oshima will be faced with a dilemma of sorts when the 2000 Pacific League baseball season begins April 1. He's got three quality foreign hitters but, once the exhibition schedule comes to an end, he'll only be able to play two of them. Japanese baseball rules...
SUMO
Mar 12, 2000

Osaka to see yokozuna battle

For the first time ever, the four current yokozuna -- Takanohana, Akebono, Musashimaru and Wakanohana -- are expected to compete in the same basho when the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament (Haru Basho) gets under way in Osaka today.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2000

Sumitomo Bank, Hosei University on Aum-related PC firms' client list

Sumitomo Bank and Hosei University were among the clients of computer software companies believed to be under the control of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, it was learned Saturday.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2000

165,000 graduates seeking jobs: survey

An estimated 165,000 university, junior college and high school students graduating this spring had not found jobs by the end of January, according to a survey by the Labor and Education ministries.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2000

Technical trouble mars Hikari Rail Star debut

A new bullet train model, the Hikari Rail Star, suffered a technical problem with the acceleration system on its debut run on the Sanyo Shinkansen line, arriving at its destination 45 minutes behind schedule.
COMMUNITY
Mar 12, 2000

Retailer joins big boys with Little Me for kids

If there was one thing Ron Kessler was sure of growing up in Chicago, he was not the corporate type. Yet surrounded by uncles in business, he really liked the idea of being an entrepreneur, working for himself. The irony, he said, is that "success forces you to become a manager. Starting up something...
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2000

Domestic uranium plan hits snag

A 1992 plan to produce up to a fourth of the fuel required by Japan's power plants at a uranium enrichment plant in Aomori Prefecture is in jeopardy, with problems arising over technology and cost, power industry sources said Saturday.
COMMUNITY
Mar 12, 2000

Deal sparing city from invasion set in stone

The stakes could not have been higher when two men met on March 13, 1868, to determine the fate of Edo and its 1.5 million inhabitants.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 12, 2000

Jubilo, Grampus crash in openers

J. League champions Jubilo Iwata, winners of the season-opening Xerox Super Cup last week, came down to Earth with a bump Saturday when they were beaten 1-0 in extra time at home to Kashiwa Reysol.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 12, 2000

Day of reckoning

The question of sexual harassment -- "seku hara" -- has, after years of neglect, become one of the hottest media topics. Not that suddenly men are beginning to harass women. It is that women are making accusations while before many tended to view it as inevitable, something that went along with employment...
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 12, 2000

Worries balanced with hope in 'State of the World 2000'

Attempting to evaluate the state of our world is an absurdly complex task. Nevertheless, that is what the Worldwatch Institute has done every year since 1984, and has done once again this year with "The State of the World 2000."
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2000

'Classroom collapse' prompts charter school quest

While various kinds of private free schools are sprouting up in Japan to provide alternative education, a group of teachers and parents in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, are trying to set up a public free school -- a Japanese version of chartered schools in the United States.
COMMENTARY
Mar 12, 2000

Timing the general election

All proceedings in the current ordinary Diet session are going smoothly. The lull is in stark contrast to a period of turmoil from late January to early February triggered by the opposition boycott of the Diet over the ruling bloc's railroading of a bill for cutting the number of Lower House seats by...
EDITORIALS
Mar 12, 2000

Here comes the cashless society

The experts may be right that e-commerce and online shopping represent the unstoppable wave of the future. But with all the media attention being lavished on cybermarketing, perhaps not enough attention is being paid to other new ways in which determined merchants are trying to get reluctant consumers...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 12, 2000

Dutch design innovations for the future

NAGOYA--"I designed a new way of living," says Jill Marie Hanssen, by way of introduction. She is a 1999 product design graduate from the Academy of Visual Arts Maastricht, so the hyperbole may have been the unintended result of speaking in English, her third language, but I took the 22-year-old Dutch...
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2000

Landfill seen dooming Edo fishing tradition

The fish that used to throng in the Edo-mae shallows of Tokyo Bay haunt fishermen today.

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