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MORE SPORTS
Apr 21, 2001

Japan's top sprinter to retire

Former national record-holder Satoru Inoue, who represented Japan at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, announced his retirement Thursday after a comeback attempt failed due to a series of injuries.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2001

Chiyoda Life returns as AIG unit

Failed insurer Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co. started anew Friday as AIG Star Life Insurance Co., with regaining customer confidence as the first order of business.
COMMENTARY
Apr 21, 2001

Koizumi takes an early lead

Political turmoil is brewing as the governing Liberal Democratic Party gears up to elect its next president April 24. Whoever is elected will replace the unpopular Yoshiro Mori as prime minister.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Asian city chiefs to meet in October

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will host a meeting involving the figureheads of several major Asian cities on Oct. 17 and 18, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 21, 2001

Jane Best Cooke

In Queen Elizabeth II's New Year's honors list, Jane Best Cooke was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire. She was awarded this distinction in recognition of her contribution to the promotion in Japan of British culture, and to a wide range of charitable and international friendship activities....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 21, 2001

A time of rapid change and slow speech

Are you, or have you ever been, a member of the Japanese workforce? Like cards, you have been shuffled and dealt out to a different department or location within your company, as if you worked for Trump.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2001

Cheap leek imports from China seen as a problem Japan helped to create

Last summer, Toichi Ubukata stood aghast before vast fields of leeks in the village of Shalingzhen in Shandong Peninsula, about 500 km southeast of Beijing.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

'Metal fatigue' threatens LDP's power: Nakasone

The decline in the power of the Liberal Democratic Party is a key reason behind the string of short-lived administrations over the past decade, according to former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2001

Mitsui to buy up Brazil mining firm

Trading house Mitsui & Co. said Friday that it will acquire all the shares of Caemi Mineracao e Metalurgia SA (CMM), a leading Brazilian mining firm, with an eye to selling half later to another Brazilian firm.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Judge avoids trial for giving wife investigative info

A Diet committee considering the impeachment of judges said Friday that it will not take action against a senior Fukuoka judge who received information on a police investigation into death threats allegedly made by his wife.
COMMENTARY
Apr 21, 2001

U.S. must seek three-way balance in Asia

LOS ANGELES -- China is about to get a new U.S. ambassador. But will it get a new U.S. China policy?
EDITORIALS
Apr 20, 2001

Use agriculture safeguards sparingly

Japan is set to impose emergency restrictions on three Chinese agricultural products, imports of which have risen markedly in recent years: leeks, shiitake mushrooms and rushes for tatami matting. It is the first time Japan has decided to invoke "safeguards," temporary import curbs recognized by the...
BUSINESS
Apr 20, 2001

Overall trade surplus down, but rises with U.S.

The nation's trade surplus in fiscal 2000 fell 20.6 percent from the previous 12 months to 9.61 trillion yen, marking the second consecutive year of decline, the Finance Ministry said Thursday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Apr 20, 2001

Mitsubishi Motors changing gears under new three-year turnaround plan

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is banking on a three-year restructuring effort to change its traditional corporate culture and become a more market-oriented company.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

LDP's Tokyo politicians voice dissent

They are closely watching the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race. In fact, they will be the first to receive the verdict of voters on the party under its new leader.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

Teen arrested over counterfeit cash

A 16-year-old Tokyo high school student was arrested Tuesday for using a counterfeit 10,000 yen bill at a lottery booth in the Shibuya district, police alleged Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 20, 2001

Arianespace eyes H-IIA as 'partner'

Japan's H-IIA rocket should be a "partner" rather than a competitor, to increase flexibility in meeting customer needs, such as a shift in the launching date, Jean-Marie Luton, visiting chairman and chief executive officer of Arianespace said during a news conference Thursday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

Japan set to issue visa to Lee if he pledges to avoid politics

Japan is likely to issue an entry visa to former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui if he agrees to a condition set by Tokyo that the visit be solely for medical treatment, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

Woman guilty of phone-call trauma

The Toyama District Court handed a suspended prison sentence Thursday to a woman who made 12,000 harassing phone calls to another woman, ruling that the posttraumatic stress disorder caused to the victim constituted criminal injury.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

Imperial couple to tour Yamanashi

The Emperor and Empress will visit Yamanashi Prefecture from May 19 to May 21 to attend a tree-planting ceremony and visit a number of places, the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

Seoul sends back ambassador after textbook protest

South Korean Ambassador Choi Sang Yong returned to Japan on Thursday and urged Foreign Minister Yohei Kono not to spoil bilateral relations, a Foreign Ministry official said.
BUSINESS
Apr 20, 2001

LDP panel agrees on tax breaks for investors

The tax panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party agreed Thursday on its draft tax revision proposals in response to the government's emergency economic package compiled April 6.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

Video testimony in court approved for sex cases

A draft government ordinance was adopted at a meeting of top bureaucrats Thursday to allow video monitoring in courts from June 1 to protect sex crime victims and others giving testimony, government officials said.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

Politicians plan to help A-bomb victims abroad

About 30 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition camps organized a suprapartisan Diet group Thursday to help survivors of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who live outside Japan.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb