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BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2000

NEC, Toshiba to tackle space market together

NEC Corp. and Toshiba Corp. announced Wednesday that they have agreed to integrate their space business operations by establishing a joint venture in April in an effort to boost their presence in the global aerospace market.
COMMUNITY
Dec 14, 2000

Pyrotechnic artists reach for the sky in international contest

"Sky Concert: The World Fireworks Grand Prix," an international fireworks competition which took place last month in Yokohama, was a rare opportunity to view cutting-edge displays from some of the world's best pyrotechnic artists.
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2000

Panel backs use of relatives' seeds to solve infertility

A Health and Welfare Ministry committee has compiled a final report proposing that close relatives be allowed to provide sperm or ovum to infertile couples, ministry officials said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 14, 2000

Dining out in year-end style

With Christmas a mere 10 days away, it is unlikely that anyone has failed to make their arrangements for celebrations, either on the day itself or during the Yuletide run-up. However, just in time for the season of good cheer, overeating and loosening of purse strings, here are two places (opened in...
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

29 nations placed on list of banned cattle products

The Health and Welfare Ministry has decided to ban the use of ingredients taken from cattle in 29 mainly European countries for medicines and other products in light of growing concern over mad cow disease, ministry officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2000

Olympus plans foray into genetics

Olympus Optical Co. will begin supplying genetic medical support systems and related services in April in the hope of generating 30 billion yen in sales in the new field in 2005, it announced Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Deregulation deemed key to keep up with other nations

Japan should adopt a variety of deregulation measures, including the dismantling of the current holding company structure of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and permitting companies that issue stocks to run hospitals, a government advisory panel recommended Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Narita-Haneda role reversal not in offing, Ogi assures

The current rules on the roles of Haneda and Narita airports will not change in the immediate future, Transport Minister Chikage Ogi said Tuesday in an apparent effort to fend off stronger-than-expected protests from Chiba Prefecture.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Fujimori a Japanese, can stay: Kono

The government has officially confirmed that ousted Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has Japanese citizenship and that there is no problem with him staying indefinitely, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono announced Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

1,549 people died in fires in first nine months of 2000

A total of 1,549 people died in fires in Japan in the first nine months of the year, one less than during the same period last year, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Victims know true justice will elude

Although the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery that ended Tuesday has no legal power, it provided victims of sexual violence by Japanese soldiers a forum where they could experience a sense of justice.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Japan, OSCE pledge cooperation in Asia

Japan and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Tuesday agreed to cooperate in helping build political and economic stability in Central Asian countries, government officials said.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2000

MITI to expand preferential duties to developing nations

In order to improve market access for imports from the least-developed countries, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry has decided to increase from April the number of industrial products to which preferential duties are applied, the ministry announced Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Kobe man says he was a spy for Pyongyang for 20 years

KOBE -- For nearly 20 years, Cho Ryu Un, a Korean resident of Japan born and raised in Kobe, lived a double life. To friends and business partners, he was a normal businessman, albeit connected with the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon).
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Tokio Marine to offer stalking insurance

Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. will offer an insurance product from January to help cover costs for women who find they have to seek protection from stalkers, the company said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Mock trial on sexual slavery finds Emperor Showa guilty

The late Emperor Showa was "guilty of crimes against humanity," judges ruled Tuesday at the end of a mock trial on Japan's role in forcing women into sexual slavery for its military before and during World War II.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2000

New auto pact talks set for Dec. 18

Japan and the United States will hold a third round of talks on extending the 1995 Auto and Auto Parts Pact on Dec. 18 and 19 in San Francisco, International Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2000

Growth forecast; correction to run its course

The higher they go, the farther they'll fall.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2000

Isuzu Motors names Ida as new president

Isuzu Motors Ltd. said Tuesday it will appoint Yoshinori Ida, 57, as its new president and chief operating officer, effective Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2000

Brewers must beat problems to diversify, Moody's reports

While Japanese brewers will diversify into other beverage products to cope with the new dynamics of the domestic market, numerous obstacles to becoming comprehensive drink providers could undermine this reorientation and hurt credit quality, Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Tuesday in a special report....
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2000

The EU makes nice in Nice

At its make-or-break summit last weekend in Nice, the European Union bent. Faced with the need to reform to accommodate new members and new responsibilities, European heads of state produced the inevitable compromises and fudges. Some choices were made; others, predictably, were put off. Still, the ground...
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Parents driven to 'kidnap' children

Dutchman Engel Nieman took his 2-year-old daughter to Osaka this fall to board a slow boat for the Netherlands to visit his dying father.
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2000

NTT announces new ADSL service for Tokyo, Osaka

NTT East Corp. and NTT West Corp. said Tuesday that they will launch Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line service on. Dec. 26. in parts of Tokyo's 23 Wards and in Osaka City.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 13, 2000

Deck the halls with boughs of games

Video games used to be the No. 1 gift request of preteen boys alone, but not anymore. With the release of sophisticated hardware such as Sony's PlayStation 2 console, the audience for games has expanded to include older gamers, both male and female.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Japan considering 3% cut in aid to developing nations

The government and the ruling coalition are considering a reduction of roughly 3 percent in Japan's official development assistance to developing countries for fiscal 2001, sources involved in ODA revision talks said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 13, 2000

Okinawa's Ota makes a case for redress

ESSAYS ON OKINAWA PROBLEMS, by Masahide Ota. Gushikawa City, Okinawa: Yui Shuppan Co., 2000, 302 pp., 1,600 yen (paper). Okinawa's history is essentially that of a poor ethnic group at Japan's southern extremity. The island has been continually exploited and abused for the interest and convenience of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 13, 2000

The willow world stripped bare

GEISHA: The Secret History of a Vanishing World, by Lesley Downer. London: Headline Books, 2000, 370 pp., 20 British pounds. A common question asked about geisha is: Do they or don't they? Their attraction seems balanced between artistic prowess and sex appeal, but just how often is the latter properly...
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 13, 2000

Slowing down to the pace of nature

Looking for an unusual vacation this winter? How about floating along a river deep in the jungles of Borneo?

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years