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BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2000

May sales of new minicars increase

Domestic sales of new minivehicles in May rose 1.3 percent from the previous year to 134,617 units, the first increase in two months, the Japan Minivehicles Association said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2000

Nikkei poised to see more ups than downs

The Tokyo stock market appears to be gathering steam for bursts of high-priced activity in the months ahead.
EDITORIALS
Jun 7, 2000

Looking for balance

U.S. President Bill Clinton has just concluded his fifth and probably last visit to Moscow. There he held a summit with his Russian counterpart, Mr. Vladimir Putin. As in all such recent meetings, the disparities between the two countries hung over the summit. Leadership dynamics have been added to the...
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2000

Windswept town realizes gusts can be a clean money-spinner

TOMAMAE, Hokkaido — They tower above the ocean on bluffs and farmland, spinning like otherworldly contraptions misplaced on Hokkaido's bucolic coast. But the livestock don't seem to mind.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 7, 2000

Giants won't release Galvez

The Yomiuri Giants are not ready to release disgruntled pitcher Balvino Galvez, the general manager of the Central League club said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2000

Japan's household spending up by 1.3% in April

Japan's household spending increased by a real 1.3 percent in April from a year earlier to average 335,364 yen, the Management and Coordination Agency said Tuesday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2000

NKK ready to hit retail electricity market

Major steelmaker NKK Corp. said Tuesday that it will begin to supply electric power to trading house Mitsubishi Corp. this summer, making it the first Japanese steelmaker to retail electricity.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 7, 2000

A beginning

A recent column question dealt with a problem that faces many parents today: Their children have completely lost interest in school. These are often bright, motivated students who are dissatisfied with the system. Foreigners tend to feel that Japanese kids are too occupied, that something is planned...
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2000

Key cult figure gets life term for role in subway gas attack

Aum Shinrikyo's intelligence chief, found guilty of involvement in the March 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system and other crimes, was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 7, 2000

Fathers just wanna be loved

The pressure builds. Feel it? I sure do. An annual tension that visits late each June and -- for a day at least -- smothers me with stress. The day? Why, the most anxious moment of the year -- Father's Day. What else?
LIFE / Travel
Jun 7, 2000

A magical world of wonder on the urban fringes

Hotaru (fireflies) are one of nature's smaller, yet sublime occurrences. The tiny, 15-mm-long bugs live only two weeks after hatching, but are blessed with phosphorescent rear ends which make clusters of them a captivating sight on summer nights. Their almost-fluorescent glow also ensures the continuation...
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2000

Lucent, Fujitsu tie up on Asian network

Fujitsu Ltd., a major Japanese computer maker, and Lucent Technologies Inc. of the United States said Tuesday that they have reached a basic agreement to jointly develop a new communications infrastructure in Asia.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2000

G8 chiefs' wives to pray for peace at memorial

The wives of the leaders of the Group of Eight nations will visit a peace memorial in Okinawa while in the prefecture for the G8 summit slated for July 21-23, government sources said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2000

Aiding Palestinian refugees aids peace

Fifty years ago this month, the United Nations began a unique humanitarian undertaking that continues today, unknown to most of the world, but still critically important to nearly 4 million Palestine refugees -- and to the cause of peace. There is no larger group of refugees anywhere else in the world;...
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2000

Drag racing finds new meaning with plow horses

ASAHIKAWA, Hokkaido — Skirting a fresh pile of manure, I settle in behind the well-muscled, veiny flanks of a Banei racehorse.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jun 7, 2000

Irrational tomatoes and criminal turnips

What do Abraham Lincoln, Dark Purple Beefsteak, a Giant Belgian and the Earl of Edgecombe have in common?
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 7, 2000

Chip off the new block

Bill Gates has argued throughout the U.S. government's antitrust suit against his company that Microsoft had to be aggressive because the slightest hesitation or complacency would jeopardize its status. Technology is moving so fast, he claims, that his empire could collapse tomorrow.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 6, 2000

Inoue blast knocks Giants out of first

Pinch-hitter Kazuki Inoue belted a three-run homer in the sixth inning and Leo Gomez doubled home another run in the seventh to power the Chunichi Dragons past the Yomiuri Giants 4-3 at the Nagoya Dome on Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2000

Mori denies that 'kokutai' carries Imperial connotations

Gaffe-prone Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Monday defended his use of the term "kokutai," which referred to a national polity centering on the Emperor before and during World War II, and said he has no plans to retract it.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2000

U.S. mulling Net tax, adviser to Bush says

Visiting Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, a special adviser on information technology to Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, suggested Monday that the United States may introduce some kind of Internet taxation.
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2000

Leading index falls following surge in January

Japan's key economic index for forecasting economic activity six to nine months ahead plunged below the boom-or-bust line of 50 percent in April for the first time in 14 months, the Economic Planning Agency said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2000

Swing voters, blacklist loom large for poll

Swing voters are increasing, posing a threat to the ruling camp — the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and New Conservative Party — because many of them are critical of the current administration, pundits say.
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2000

Failed LTCB reopens itself as Shinsei Bank

The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan relaunched itself as Shinsei Bank on Monday, about 19 months after it collapsed and was placed under state control.

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