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BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2001

Matsushita joins with U.S. firm on broadband phone

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. has teamed up with Jetstream Communications Inc. of the United States to launch a phone system that carries multiple phone numbers on a single line equipped with Internet access, the company said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2001

Chiba sees needs for press clubs

Chiba Gov. Akiko Domoto, a former TV reporter, said Wednesday that the prefectural government needs a press club due to the need for speed and accuracy in media coverage.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2001

Koizumi, Khai pledge continued ties

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai agreed Wednesday to maintain economic cooperation between the two countries, a Foreign Ministry official said.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 7, 2001

Kamamoto learns to live with cohosting

Kunishige Kamamoto was the Hidetoshi Nakata or the Kazu Miura of his day.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 7, 2001

Dragons hand Giants seventh straight loss

Hirokazu Ibata singled home the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning as the Chunichi Dragons won their third straight by beating the Yomiuri Giants 5-3 at the Tokyo Dome on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2001

Can democracy live in the Muslim Mideast?

LONDON -- "No stable system of government can be established unless it is popular." It would be an unremarkable statement in most parts of the world, but in Iran it is a subversive remark faxed by a man who has been under house arrest since 1997. The fact that he is Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, one...
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2001

Imported vehicle sales rose 3.8% in May

Sales of imported vehicles in May increased 3.8 percent from a year earlier to 20,455 units, with Volkswagen spearheading the mild gain, the Japan Automobile Importers Association said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2001

Secret-use funds to be cut, scrutinized

The Foreign Ministry, in the wake of an embezzlement scandal involving a senior bureaucrat, will cut its discretionary diplomatic funds, step up its inspections and let the foreign minister have the final say on spending, it announced Wednesday.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 7, 2001

Troussier warns against complacency

YOKOHAMA -- Brace yourselves, Australia is not an easy team to play. This was the warning message given by Japan manager Philippe Troussier to the fans, the press and his team not to underestimate Australia, which Japan will play in a semifinal on Thursday at Yokohama International Stadium.
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 7, 2001

In Asia, the swiftlet nest comes before the egg

Due to a belief in the high medicinal value of bird's nest soup, heavy Chinese demand for swiftlet nests has resulted in a multibillion-dollar industry that may be endangering the bird.
MORE SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 7, 2001

Minding your P's and Q's

"F*** your mother"
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 7, 2001

Whose theory was it, anyway?

In 1835, Charles Darwin became the first of a long line of scientists to make a study of the Galapagos Islands. Now, on entering the research station there that bears his name, visitors come face to face with a bronze of the Englishman as a very much older and far more famous man than he was when he...
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2001

GDP cap sought for public works

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Wednesday that the government should reduce Japan's ratio of public works spending to gross domestic product to between 1 percent and 2 percent in the next 10 years to match the level of such spending in western countries.
COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM
Jun 7, 2001

Japan's efforts to responsibly manage southern bluefin tuna resources bear fruit

HONOLULU-- Australia, New Zealand, and Japan recently agreed to jointly launch an experimental fishing program for southern bluefin tuna. Quotas for southern bluefin tuna, along with Japan's unilateral experimental fishing programs, have been sources of diplomatic contention among the three countries....
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2001

Carriers at a loss as railway violence accelerates

Tokyo commuter trains have suffered a recent spate of violent incidents — two of them fatal — involving total strangers and minor confrontations that got out of hand.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2001

IHI in turbo charger joint venture

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. said Wednesday it has set up a joint venture with DaimlerChrysler AG in Germany to develop and manufacture turbo chargers for automobiles.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2001

Why NMD is good for Asia

CANBERRA -- There have been many objections to America's plan for a national missile defense system.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2001

Men in 30s, 40s getting fat

Men in their 30s and 40s are increasingly becoming overweight and are also increasingly likely to have hyperlipemia, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 7, 2001

Good intentions jinx the 'living dead'

Doom and gloom this week for those who believe in the essential goodness of the human race, with two papers in the journal Science that implicate humans in mass extinctions of mammals in North America and Australia.
ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM
Jun 7, 2001

Dokudami (lizard's tail)

"Only the very richest people could afford to call the doctor out to visit them if they were sick. Country people used to pick plants like green gentian, cranesbill and lizard's tail when they went up into the mountains to avoid, as much as possible, having to rely on the services of a doctor."...
EDITORIALS
Jun 6, 2001

Will Koizumi play his trump card?

The idea of holding simultaneous elections for both Diet Houses persists among "not a few" Liberal Democrats. There is more than one reason for this. Despite the unprecedented popularity of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his Cabinet, his Liberal Democratic Party does not enjoy equally high approval...
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2001

Mexico's Fox calls for more economic ties

Mexican President Vicente Fox on Tuesday called on Japanese businesses to promote more trade with and investment in his country to strengthen economic ties between the two nations.
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2001

Crayfish decides to end alliance with Synconix

E-mail and Internet services provider Crayfish Co. said Tuesday it has decided to terminate a tieup agreement with Synconix Technologies Inc., a Tokyo-based hardware and software developer.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2001

Tanaka to pay for cancelling room

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said she will pay about 276,000 yen out of her own pocket for canceling a hotel suite and switching to a less expensive room during an official trip to Beijing in late May, Foreign Ministry sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2001

Market turbulence will keep yen volatile

With the weak euro dragging down the dollar, the yen has gained strong upward momentum in recent weeks.

Longform

Construction equipment sits idle in a park near Shiba Toshogu shrine in Tokyo's Minato Ward. While Japan has a history of treating its trees with reverence, green coverage is said to be lacking in most of the major cities.
Do Japan's trees no longer occupy the sacred space they used to?