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CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 22, 2001

Nina Persson: 'A Camp'

Not too many musical groups preface their name with the indefinite article, but A Camp doesn't describe a band so much as the state of mind that led to this album's recording. Promoted as a Nina Persson solo effort in fact, if not in name, the record of the same name is loose and uncluttered, dabbling...
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2001

S&P affirms credit ratings on TDK

Standard & Poor's Corp. said Tuesday it has affirmed major electronic parts maker TDK Corp.'s AA minus long-term and A-1 plus short-term corporate credit ratings, adding the outlook on the long-term rating remains stable.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2001

IT can cut power costs 20%: institute

The Energy Conservation Center said Monday that the use of information technology in home electricity networks has the potential to reduce home electrical power costs by 20 percent.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2001

Sakhalin to back Japan on fishery ban request

The governor of Russia's Sakhalin region, Igor Farkhutdinov, said he plans to propose that the central government ban fishing by foreign boats in waters around Russian-held islands claimed by Japan, Sakhalin Radio reported Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2001

NEC, Matsushita units tie up on 3G software

NEC Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. formally announced Tuesday an alliance to develop common software architecture for next-generation (3G) multimedia cellular handsets.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 22, 2001

Noda's kabuki brings the house down

The lobby of the Kabuki-za in Higashi Ginza -- the mecca of kabuki -- was swarming with people last week, ahead of the start of this year's noryo kabuki (summer festival of kabuki).
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Aug 22, 2001

Stock market woes a prelude to hard times

The Tokyo stock market has taken a severe beating in recent days.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 22, 2001

Wiggle

W iggle combine the hard, harsh beats of The Chemical Brothers with the noisy exuberance of The Boredoms and an occasional female vocal that sounds like Shonen Knife on speed. Bravely straddling the accessible and the arty, they would be worth going to see for the music alone.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2001

Hacked auction site causes headaches

Several dozen cases of computer problems have been reported since Saturday after users logged onto an Internet auction site that had earlier been hacked, the Information-technology Promotion Agency said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2001

Contractors may get job subsidies to hire engineers

The labor ministry may subsidize construction companies as part of a program to create jobs for construction engineers forced out of work as banks strive to dispose of their bad loans, ministry officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2001

Options over last rites sought

When a citizens' group scattered human ashes at sea 10 years ago, they revived a burial practice unseen in Japan for more than 400 years.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2001

Space agencies to be integrated

The science and technology ministry decided Tuesday to integrate three government-affiliated space agencies and create a new space development organization by fiscal 2003.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 22, 2001

'We all felt this could be a masterpiece'

Midway through the triumphant two-week run of his summer-festival kabuki classic "Togitatsu no Utare," cutting-edge director Hideki Noda took time to reflect on his remarkable crossover from contemporary theater to the Kabuki-za in Ginza (no less).
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2001

Tracking system to save climbers via cellphone waves

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency plans to develop a system to locate missing mountaineers using radio waves sent from their mobile phones, agency officials said.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 22, 2001

Rodney Hylton Smith: 'Run Come Save Me'

If you think the only thing Britain has to offer hip-hop is a bunch of arenas for the likes of Eminem and other Americans to fill when they make the short trip across the Atlantic, then it's time to listen to Rodney Hylton Smith and reconsider.
JAPAN / PRIVATIZING PAINS
Aug 22, 2001

Loss-riddled oil entity first to face privatization ax

Kyodo News The proposal by the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to scrap Japan National Oil Corp. and turn it into a private company as part of his structural reform scheme will leave the privatized firm with many problems unresolved.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 22, 2001

Ernest Ranglin: 'Gotcha!'

Ernest Ranglin has one of those split personalities. A native of Jamaica, he contributed his guitar work to countless ska sessions in the '50s and later played with famed Jamaican bands such as The Melodians and The Wailers and with Jimmy Cliff. The flip side is his love of jazz. As a genuine guitar...
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2001

Gaining our neighbors' trust

In his speech at the government-sponsored memorial service for the war dead Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi acknowledged that Japan had inflicted "tremendous damage and pain" on people in Asian nations, and expressed a strong determination...
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2001

IM services provide fast e-mail alternative

Free online communication services that allow users to exchange information more quickly and conveniently than e-mail are gaining popularity in Japan, with the number of users having shot past the 3 million mark.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2001

Misfortunes in tough times spur new breed of insurance plans

In May, Yamagata University disclosed that it had bungled its entrance exam grading, irretrievably altering the course of applicants' lives.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2001

Nearly half of households own minicars: report

At the end of March, roughly every 2.4 households in Japan owned a minicar, the Japan Mini Vehicles Association said Monday.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers