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CULTURE / Books
Oct 19, 1999

Simple testimony to tragedy

COMFORT WOMAN, A Filipina's Story of Prostitution and Slavery under the Japanese Military, by Maria Rosa Henson, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., Lanham, MD, USA, 1999, 120 pages, $19.95 (paper). Here is yet another witness to World War II atrocities committed by Japanese forces. Maria Rosa Henson...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

Air pollution not improving

Air pollution levels around the nation remained little changed in 1998 from the year before, with nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants known to cause respiratory disorders still a problem in major cities, according to an Environment Agency report released Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Oct 19, 1999

The 'Moscow Blues Monster' seen rocking Tokyo's streets

For Yuji and Tatsuya it was just another night at Club Metro in Kyoto -- sinking tequila shots, fretting over the future of their jazz band and occasionally taking to the floor to shake their booty to the bouncy bossanova beats blasting from the sound system -- when in walked that girl again.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

Dioxin levels fall but benzene still above limits

Dioxin levels in air throughout Japan improved in 1998, but levels of benzene -- a potent carcinogen found in automobile exhaust -- are still above government safety levels, according to the government's most comprehensive survey of harmful airborne chemicals.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 19, 1999

A celebration of sacred sex

THE COSMIC EMBRACE: An Illustrated Guide to Sacred Sex, by John Stevens. Boston/London: Shambhala, 1999, 190 pp., 120 b/w photographs, $18.95. The notion that sexual relationships are honorable, fulfilling and beneficial is obviously true, yet this truth has experienced the greatest difficulty in...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 19, 1999

An unnerving glance into the abyss

DESTROYING THE WORLD TO SAVE IT: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism, by Robert Jay Lifton. Holt/Metropolitan, 374 pp., $26. A prominent scholar in the psychology of genocide has good and bad news for those who feel paranoid about random, mass killings by fanatics:
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

Officials of seven oil firms held in bid-rigging scandal

Nine officials of seven leading oil wholesalers were arrested Tuesday for allegedly rigging bids on fuel contracts with the Defense Agency, according to prosecution sources.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Kajima trash plant turns leftovers into electricity

Major construction firm Kajima Corp. announced Monday that it has succeeded in building a facility that can generate electricity directly from leftover food and other organic waste.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Illegal workers, families petition Justice Ministry

A group of foreign nationals who have remained in Japan past the expiration of their visas submitted a petition to the Justice Ministry on Monday, urging the ministry to issue special permission for them to stay in Japan.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Nissan Motor to cut five factories, 21,000 jobs

Nissan Motor Co. revealed Monday a drastic restructuring plan that includes closing five factories and slashing 21,000 jobs worldwide.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

A dream to revive the woolly mammoth

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Woman stabbed, left for dead in fire

A 68-year-old woman was found stabbed at her apartment in Tokyo's Toshima Ward after firefighters put out an early morning blaze, police said.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Aoki to make first Okinawa trip

Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said Monday that he will pay a two-day visit to Okinawa beginning Friday for the first time since he was appointed to his post early this month.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

ANA ordered to take back dismissed stewardess

OSAKA -- All Nippon Airways was ordered Monday by the Osaka District Court to rescind its decision to dismiss a female flight attendant who had taken four years off due to work-related injuries.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Usui to monitor Dow's effect

The Finance Ministry intends to keep a careful watch on how Friday's plunge in the New York stock market could affect the Japanese economy, Vice Finance Minister Nobuaki Usui said Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Global sports body promotes 'sacred unity'

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Priest held in fatal attack on transient

A 23-year-old Buddhist priest in Tokyo's Chuo Ward was arrested Monday on suspicion of fatally assaulting a homeless man whom he accused of stealing cash from the temple's offertory box, police said.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

ANA pins survival hopes on global alliance

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Oct 18, 1999

First bigger, then better

Another Japanese megabank is in the making. Sumitomo Bank and Sakura Bank have just agreed to merge by April 2002, which will create the world's second-largest banking group, with assets of about 99 trillion yen. Earlier this year, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan announced...
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Hubs top priority among airline alliances

Battles in the global aviation market no longer pit only airlines against one another. Today's players are multilateral alliances.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Fukaya says a united front crucial at WTO trade talks

Trade chief Takashi Fukaya reiterated his determination Friday to seek a united front with the European Union and other economies against Washington's agriculture-oriented strategy in upcoming trade liberalization talks, scheduled to start in Seattle late next month.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Groups host Canada education fair

An education fair will be held at the Canadian Embassy today and Sunday in Tokyo's Akasaka district. The fair will be the first sponsored by the Canadian Education Centre Network in conjunction with the Canadian Education Alliance, two nonprofit organizations officially supported by the embassy.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Press upholds newspaper deliveries, discount ban

UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Pref. -- Representatives of the nation's media services adopted a resolution Friday saying they would strive to maintain the current ban on newspaper discounts and preserve the home delivery system.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Osaka slaying suspect cleared; police apologize

OSAKA -- A man arrested in August on suspicion of being involved in a slaying in June in Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture, was released after three days when an investigation determined his innocence, police said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

State stand on Korean veterans may be unconstitutional: court

OSAKA -- Refusing a state pension to Korean residents of Japan simply because they are not Japanese nationals might run counter to the constitutional principle of equality under the law, the Osaka High Court said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 15, 1999

The shortsighted U.S. Senate

The United States Senate this week voted down the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. This is the first time since the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 that the Senate has rejected a major international agreement. We can only hope that the results of this shortsighted move will not be as great. Still, the vote...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Negotiations stall over sale of Toho Mutual

The Life Insurance Association of Japan has given up on its plan to sell the failed Toho Mutual Life Insurance Co. by the end of this year, association chairman Tomijiro Morita said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Aoki sees coalition gaining public support

Staff writer
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 15, 1999

Kim Itoh puts the future on the map

This year's Tokyo International Festival of Performing Arts, ongoing through Oct. 31, is a scaled-down version of previous festivals, with only six official participants and few of international interest. While this shifts the onus to domestic dance companies such as Min Tanaka and Kenshi Nomi, expectations...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

'No more friction' with BOJ, Miyazawa says

The apparent friction between the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Japan over monetary policy has ended following the bank's clear announcement Wednesday on monetary easing, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Friday.

Longform

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