search

 
 
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2000

PlayStation2 order site has info security breach

Customer information was accidentally made accessible to anyone entering the Japanese Web site of a Sony group company handling sale reservations of PlayStation2 game consoles, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2000

Complimentary consoles to link Dreamcast retailers

Major Japanese video-game maker Sega Enterprises Ltd. said Thursday it is planning to use the Dreamcast game console to link some 5,000 retailers online by this spring to provide marketing information quickly.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2000

Fundamentals to be key yen-dollar factor

The euro's tumble against the dollar has helped shore up the yen. After hitting a six-month high of 111.73 yen at one time Feb. 22 in Tokyo, the dollar has given up much of its recent gains.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2000

Aum computer firm got list of 3,000 Honda execs

Aum Shinrikyo obtained a list of some 3,000 officials of Honda Motor Co. through a computer software company linked to the cult, the Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 3, 2000

Don't believe the hype, just cue up the record

You can tell because it's become a staple of boy bands and television commercials, selling everything from hair dryers to soft drinks. Even the least offensive manifestations of hip hop's mainstream acceptance, Dragon Ash, has all the substance of white bread.
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2000

Gone, but not forgotten

Mr. Joerg Haider, the controversial leader of Austria's Freedom Party, has resigned as head of the party. The move is intended to quiet the firestorm of international criticism that followed the decision to include Freedom in the new coalition government in Vienna. In fact, it changes very little. Although...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Consortium buys up all LTCB shares

The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan on Wednesday came under the control of New LTCB Partners CV (NLP), a consortium of U.S. and European financial institutions, after all the bank's shares were sold to the group.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Agencies examine software supplied by Aum-linked firms

Government agencies and major companies opted to double check various computer systems Wednesday after it was discovered that some of the the software may have been developed by a firm controlled by Aum Shinrikyo.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Sofia seeking EU membership by 2006, visiting minister says

Bulgaria will strive to become a full member of the European Union as early as 2006 by implementing far-reaching economic reforms, according to a senior Bulgarian diplomat who was recently in Japan.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2000

Diverse portfolio key to 401(k)

Deutsche Bank Group sees itself as uniquely qualified to usher in the planned new 401(k)-type of pension programs in Japan, but an official of the Frankfurt-based financial giant has reservations about how well the system will be received.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Kepco punishes VP, five other executives

OSAKA -- Kansai Electric Power Co. announced Wednesday that it has taken punitive measures against Vice President Hajimu Maeda and five other executives for announcing false test data on plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel, which delayed Japan's planned use of the fuel for nuclear power generation.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 2, 2000

Major League Baseball teams in Japan an improbable dream

Last week former Yokohama BayStars executive Tadahiro Ushigome spoke at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on a wide range of baseball issues, including the possibility that Japan may one day be home to one or two major league teams.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2000

New vehicle sales rise for second month running

Sales of new vehicles rose 1.5 percent in February from a year earlier to 362,830 units, the first two consecutive year-on-year monthly increases since the April 1997 consumption tax hike, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

World-cyclist goes on school circuit

OSAKA -- A 31-year-old Japanese man who has gone around the world by bicycle has begun a series of lectures at junior high schools to tell students about his experiences in the 43 countries he visited.
LIFE
Mar 2, 2000

Breaking from shame into song

When Tama Ozaki left for India at 19, she felt that she would never want to come back to Japan. "I was in a real emergency situation at the time," she says in a warm but powerful voice. "I was eating compulsively, and drinking too. I was completely unhappy."
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 2, 2000

Harajuku tea shop kicks that Seattle habit

Serene and calm, Saikolee Tsukamoto's piano project, "Museum of Plate," is music to kick back and relax to. With a dollop of Erik Satie and a hint of ambient electronica of the gentlest kind, her latest album "Saon (Music for Tea)" is, as the name implies, inspired by tea drinking. Listen to the record...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Dai-Tokyo, Chiyoda announce merger

Midsize nonlife insurers Dai-Tokyo Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and Chiyoda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. announced Wednesday they will merge in April 2001.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2000

Machinery orders presage smooth sailing

The latest batch of encouraging economic and corporate earnings reports could presage a more stable stock market in the near term.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2000

Japan needs a new, better Constitution

At long last, deliberations on the Constitution have started at both Houses of the Diet. It is not clear, however, what kind of conclusion will be reached and when. Indications are that the participants in those deliberations want to draw up a conclusion by 2003 at the latest. But this is by no means...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

U.S. expresses opposition to China's presence at G8

The United States expressed its opposition Wednesday to Japan's unofficial proposal to invite China to the Group of Eight major nations' summit in Okinawa in July, Japanese officials said.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Health Ministry panel asked to review hospital fee system

Health Minister Yuya Niwa asked an advisory panel Wednesday to look into changing a system in which hospital fees are reduced according to the length of a patient's stay, a practice causing doctors to discharge people too early, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Police-watchers earn 26 million yen

Four of the six members of the National Public Safety Commission, the body that oversees the National Police Agency, each earns a salary of 26.67 million yen a year, although the commission meets only once a week, NPA sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Sea charts to be revised with GPS

The Maritime Safety Agency plans to fully revise Japan's nautical charts by the summer of 2002 because they are oriented 400-500 meters too far southeast agency officials said Wednesday.
COMMUNITY
Mar 2, 2000

All in the name of the perfect cut

We live in an age where technology pushes us to be faster, more efficient and more connected than ever. We make phone calls while walking down the street. We send e-mail messages from handheld electronic organizers. We have oceans of informations just on the other side of a mouse click.
JAPAN / Media
Mar 2, 2000

Never mind public health; insiders rule

It will be interesting to see how "The Insider" is promoted when it opens here in May. If it wins a bunch of Academy Awards, then the campaign will be easy, but if it doesn't then the PR people will have to be creative. Most Japanese ad campaigns for foreign films rely on stars, but Russell Crowe, who...

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