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JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

Accused tot killer fed up with other mom

A housewife arrested in the strangling of a 2-year-old girl last month said she committed the crime because she could not bear to have to spend three more years with the child's mother if the toddler was accepted to the same local kindergarten as her own child, sources close to the case said Friday....
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

LDP panel to discuss suffrage for minorities

A Liberal Democratic Party panel said Friday it will hold a series of sessions to study a proposal to give permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local elections, party officials said. But the ruling coalition -- the LDP, Liberal Party and New Komeito -- is unlikely to submit a bill to this...
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 1999

Corporate Japan turns the corner

The latest midterm earnings reports from Japanese companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange offer a qualified but positive message: Corporate Japan appears to be finally recovering from its protracted slump. Pretax current profits for the six months to September held level with profits from the same...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

Delegation urges resumption of talks with Pyongyang

Representatives of a nonpartisan mission that returned from a trip to North Korea on Friday urged Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi to work toward a quick resumption of normalization talks with the Stalinist country. Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who headed the delegation, and two other representatives...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

Hino, Isuzu to unite ailing bus operations

Hino Motors Ltd. and Isuzu Motors Ltd. said Friday they will integrate their unprofitable bus businesses into an equally owned joint venture to be established next year. Hino Motors President Hiroshi Yuasa and Isuzu President Takeshi Inoh told a news conference in Tokyo that joint production will begin...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

Health bureaucrats' investment prowess questioned

Staff writer One of the world's largest institutional investors with pension assets worth 140 trillion yen will come into being if a package of pension reform bills currently under deliberation is approved by the Diet. The main pillar of the pension reforms, being pushed by the ruling coalition in...
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 1999

Bully politics back in vogue

Many important bills are pending in the current extraordinary Diet session that closes Dec. 15, and the government and the ruling tripartite coalition no doubt are considering an extension of the session. The three opposition parties, meanwhile, are gearing up to quash the bills and present a no-confidence...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

Neon no aurora for flyboy cabby

Staff writer Tokyo's nighttime neon casts a flickering rainbow through Masaharu Satoh's taxi -- a poor substitute for his former life, but it will do for now. Putting on his sunglasses and cap, with a tug of the steering wheel, Satoh takes off into the clouds, the hustle and bustle and high-rises reduced...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

Taya named to BOJ Policy Board

Teizo Taya, former managing director of Daiwa Institute of Research, was appointed to the Bank of Japan's nine-member Policy Board Friday. Taya, 54, served as an economist with the International Monetary Fund for 5 1/2 years before joining DIR in 1983. In the past he has advocated that the BOJ increase...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

Rights advocates cite stalling on U.N. torture convention

Staff writer Human rights advocates voiced concerns over Japan's compliance with the U.N. convention on torture at a public hearing held by the Foreign Ministry and other ministries Friday. The session was held to hear opinions from nongovernmental organizations on what issues should be included in...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

Cult feeling the heat as crackdown laws debut

Staff writer Friday's enactment of two laws specifically targeting Aum Shinrikyo may give investigative authorities new ammunition with which to battle the cult, and Aum's leadership will have to perform a balancing act between self-preservation and public acceptance. The swiftness with which the Diet...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

Bimetallic 500 yen coin set to be issued in August

A 500 yen coin made with a new mix of metals will debut in August to combat a vending machine con in which altered 500-won South Korean coins are redeemed for the more valuable domestic coin, the Finance Ministry announced Friday. It will be Japan's first reminting of a coin as an anti-counterfeiting...
EDITORIALS
Dec 2, 1999

Citizen 'subversives' in our midst?

One person's definition of public security will not be the same as another's. Concepts of what constitutes the peace, safety and order of society -- and perhaps more importantly, what endangers them -- also change at different periods of history. With the Cold War long over, however, most unbiased observers...
JAPAN
Dec 2, 1999

Ballplayers, 'Buchi' year's wordsmiths

"Revenge," "buchi-phone" and "zasso damashii" were selected as this year's best hip phrases by a Tokyo-based publishing company at a ceremony this week.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 1999

Kumamoto Family makes official funds request

Capital-depleted Kumamoto Family Bank formally applied Thursday to the Financial Reconstruction Commission for 30 billion yen in public funds, the bank said. The Kumamoto-based second-tier regional bank also submitted to the FRC a management improvement plan, including a 14 percent personnel cut and...
JAPAN
Dec 2, 1999

Y2K poll finds homes wary but unprepared

Roughly two out of three households responding to a recent survey said they were unconcerned about possible computer problems related to the start of 2000 and nearly 50 percent said they would not stock up on food and water as suggested by the government. With less than a month to go before the fated...
JAPAN
Dec 2, 1999

Filipino teen recalls sexploitation, Japanese tricks

KAWASAKI -- A 15-year-old Filipino girl told a group of Japanese high school students of her experiences of being sexually exploited by foreign travelers and called for a world in which children's rights are not abused. Raised by poor relatives, of whom she only remembers "shouting and slapping," after...
JAPAN
Dec 2, 1999

GM in talks to buy stake in Fuji Heavy

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. is negotiating with General Motors Corp. of the United States for a broad strategic tieup that includes a capital tieup, the Japanese automaker confirmed on Thursday. Sources close to the negotiations said the two firms are discussing the possibility of GM obtaining a 10 percent...
JAPAN
Dec 2, 1999

DPJ giving up its 'well mannered' style

Staff writer In an effort to turn itself from a "well-mannered" party into an "aggressive" force, the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party, is beginning to square up to the ruling coalition. "We used to work hard to provide counterproposals (to the ruling alliance) because we thought...
JAPAN
Dec 2, 1999

Corporate donations to parties elude revision

The ruling triumvirate agreed Thursday to delete an article from the Political Funds Control Law that would oblige them to review corporate donations to political parties. They also agreed not to take any legal measures to ban such donations. The agreement came at a meeting of the secretaries general...
EDITORIALS
Dec 1, 1999

ASEAN's confidence returns

Southeast Asia is back. That is the message sent by leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last weekend after their annual two-day summit. With member economies set to expand between 2 and 3 percent this year and looking forward to "higher and sustainable growth" in the future, the heads...
JAPAN
Dec 1, 1999

Beethoven concert to fete students' wartime sendoff

Staff writer
JAPAN
Dec 1, 1999

Cult manual resembles scare tactic bible

Honohana Sanpogyo's so-called foot diagnosticians used a manual to persuade people to undergo the religious sect's expensive "training" sessions, informed sources alleged Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 1999

Grocers' group aids family businesses

Staff writer
JAPAN
Dec 1, 1999

Foot-reading cult raided over scam to fleece flock

Police raided offices and gathering spots Wednesday linked to Honohana Sanpogyo over allegations that the religious sect duped thousands of people into paying large sums to cure serious illnesses it diagnosed through reading the soles of their feet.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Dec 1, 1999

The top of the world

Tengboche Monastery is the oldest Buddhist monastery in Nepal. Founded in 1916 by Lama Gulu, the building itself has been destroyed and rebuilt twice. Today it is home to 50 monks and hosts about 22,000 visitors each year
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 1, 1999

With time, players learn the house rules

When in Rome, do as the Romans do . . . Jaywalk. Anyway that's what I did on my sole trip to the Eternal City some years back, cautiously following snappy Italian shoes here and there across the Via del Corso and elsewhere.
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 1999

Dreaming of a posh X-mas

How was your Christmas last year? Midnight Mass by candlelight in a 12th-century chapel? Convivial gatherings of friends and family around old oak tables laden with turkeys and rich, dark, steaming puddings? After-dinner strolls through frost-crisp fields and woodlands? Roaring fires?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 1, 1999

Kawabata and great truths

FIRST SNOW ON FUJI, by Yasunari Kawabata. Translated by Michael Emmerich. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 227 pp., $24. This collection of stories, plus an essay and a dance-drama, was originally published in 1958 as "Fuji no Hatsuyuki." It is late Kawabata -- most of the major works had already appeared,...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 1, 1999

Built to last long winters of discontent

One of the most fascinating crossroads on earth lies to the northeast of Japan. The ancient Bering land bridge used to span the current Bering Straits, connecting the land masses of Siberia and Alaska into one vast continent and enabling a traffic of plants, animals and even people to exchange across...

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