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BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Sogo wants more debt forgiven

Sogo Co., a financially troubled department store chain, said Wednesday that it will ask its main creditor bank, the Industrial Bank of Japan, to waive 9.2 billion yen more debt than initially planned to bring the sum to 189.3 billion yen.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Politicians get 3.42 million yen for two days

House of Representatives lawmakers who have just given up their seats will be paid 6.31 million yen Thursday in salary and bonuses — some 3.42 million yen of which was for the two days' work before the chamber was dissolved — officials of its secretariat said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Poll to pit Young Turks against old nepotism

Minoru Fujimoto, 31, has wavy, dyed brown hair. He is one of the new breed of "smiling" Japanese Communist Party members, whose appearance may surprise longtime party supporters who are used to more traditional-looking candidates.
COMMUNITY
Jun 8, 2000

Pageants losing face with public

Mari Nishihama, 20, a native of Oshima, an island located 100 km south of Tokyo, had always lived a peaceful, if somewhat uneventful, life in the small tourist resort town. But all that suddenly changed last fall, when town celebrities voted the local bank clerk Miss Oshima 2000.
COMMUNITY
Jun 8, 2000

A mouthful of Crazy English goes down very well in Japan

Li Yang seems an unlikely proselytizer for internationalism through English language study. Not only is he not a native speaker of English, but prior to last week he had never even set foot outside of mainland China.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Japan's faith rising in Indian software

Isamu Nitta, a former Japanese diplomat in Sri Lanka and the United States, clearly enjoys setting out a map of the world and pointing out where Japanese strategic interests lie.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Nissho Iwai sees profits quintupling in five years

Restructuring trading house Nissho Iwai Corp. is hoping to increase its annual group pretax profit to 100 billion yen in five years, more than a fivefold increase from the 18.2 billion yen it registered in fiscal 1999, company sources said Wednesday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 8, 2000

Epic upset by Warriors still greatest in NBA history

It's been 25 years now but I remember it like it was yesterday.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Foreign exchange reserves at record high $341 billion

Japan's foreign exchange reserves grew to a record $341.14 billion at the end of May from the previous month, topping the old record of $338.58 billion set in April, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2000

Taxing time for the environment

A report recently released by the Environment Agency is certain to give further impetus to the debate on environmental taxation. The report, compiled by an expert panel that studies economic methods of implementing environmental policy, says the so-called carbon tax is effective in reducing carbon dioxide...
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Illegal date club undoes ministry man

An official of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry has been arrested on suspicion of running a telephone date club without a permit, police said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Mori, Kono meet VIPs ahead of funeral

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko confirmed Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Japan in late August, a Foreign Ministry official said.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Online market for electronics eyed

Eight international electronics and communications firms said Wednesday that they will form a joint venture in the United States in July to operate an Internet-based market for trading electronic parts.
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 8, 2000

Oscar Wilde's 'Earnest' to be performed

This month the Nagoya Players will present four performances of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," to mark the company's 25th anniversary and the 100th anniversary of the playwright's death.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Service allows cellphones to replenish debit cards

NTT DoCoMo Inc. plans to experiment from next March with a service that will allow mobile-phone users to transfer money from their bank accounts to plastic cards used for electronic commerce, company officials said Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 8, 2000

Lions' 'little' Matsui has big night at plate

Lions shortstop Kazuo Matsui went 4-for-4 and hit for the cycle, helping Pacific League-leading Seibu beat the Kintetsu Buffaloes 10-4 at the Seibu Dome on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Dollar to stay locked in 105-110 yen range

The dollar appears likely to remain locked in a relatively narrow 105-110 yen range through much of this month.
COMMENTARY
Jun 8, 2000

U.S. presidential candidates use 'soft money' campaign funds to stock war chests

WASHINGTON -- With still six months to go, the U.S. presidential campaign of 2000 is in the doldrums. Neither candidate really has much wind in his campaign sails. Texas Gov. George W. Bush is still out in front -- 47-41 -- of Vice President Al Gore. That is about the same margin his dad was behind at...
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Dentsu to pay off dead worker's parents

Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency, plans to offer an out-of-court settlement to a deceased employee's parents, who sued the firm claiming their son's suicide was caused by overwork, according to lawyers for the parents.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jun 8, 2000

A taste of brewers' best

The 88th New-Sake Tasting Competitions were held in Hiroshima May 16.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 8, 2000

Fresh innovations at home in Tsukiji

Urban dining myth number one: The closer you eat to Tsukiji, the better quality the fish must be.
COMMENTARY
Jun 8, 2000

Hope for the two Koreas

All eyes will focus next week on Pyongyang for the June 12-14 historic summit between South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong Il. Last week's surprise visit to Beijing by the reclusive North Korean leader has added to the drama. While these events provide cause...
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Capital investment at firms rises 3.3%

Corporate investment in plants and equipment rose 3.3 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier, marking the first year-on-year increase in more than two years.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 8, 2000

Jagr's Penguins to take on Predators in Japan

Hockey's been called the best-kept secret in pro sports.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2000

Russian women turn to the Net for love and a life abroad

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Yelena Sokolova was in a deep depression after she divorced her husband, and some friends decided to lift her spirits. They scanned a picture of her and placed it with a personal ad on an Internet site for those seeking marriage.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2000

Resurgent Honda sticks to the high road

As a global wave of consolidation sweeps through the automotive industry, Honda Motor Co. is taking the road less traveled in its search for greater market share.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2000

Volcano leaves Lake Toya in limbo

ABUTA, Hokkaido — Lake Toya is silent. The smell of sulfur is heavy in the air.

Longform

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What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji