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BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2001

Arabian Oil pumps red ink for third consecutive year

Arabian Oil Co. said Wednesday it marked its third consecutive year in the red for the business year that ended Dec. 31, citing damage from one-off losses.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2001

Tax reform bills enacted by Diet

The Diet on Wednesday enacted a set of tax revision bills for fiscal 2001 featuring extended tax breaks for home loans and withholding taxes on capital gains.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

HIV-hit hemophiliacs fight on

When the government began allowing hemophiliacs to self-inject blood-clotting agents in 1981, Satoru Ienishi thought "spring had finally come" to a life plagued by problems stemming from the condition.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Worker's comp urged for train station hero

The parents of a South Korean man killed by a train in Tokyo on Jan. 26 have applied to the government for workers' insurance, the man's former employer said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Surprise ruling won't wash with the victims

Contrary to widespread expectations, the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday acquitted Takeshi Abe, former vice president of Teikyo University in Tokyo, of professional negligence resulting in the death of one of his patients.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Fukutoku Bank execs cleared

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court found two former executives of the now-defunct Fukutoku Bank not guilty Wednesday of aggravated breach of trust in connection with some 8.2 billion yen in loans illegally extended in a bid to realize the smooth merger between the bank and another financial institution....
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2001

MMC facing 350 billion yen net loss

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Wednesday it will post 350 billion yen in parent-only net loss for fiscal 2000, far higher than the 130 billion yen loss estimated earlier.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 29, 2001

Report: Yoshii waived by Rockies

Japanese pitcher Masato Yoshii failed to make the Colorado Rockies' 40-man roster and was waived by the team, Kyodo News Service reported Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2001

Both sides of Pacific sidestep weak yen stand

The yen has remained under downward pressure in recent weeks, fueling speculation that it will soon test its 1999 low of 124.75 to the dollar.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Mar 29, 2001

Bodegas Bilbainas -- an estate of grace

I couldn't have asked for a better location to write the last Wine Ways: on a sun-bathed veranda, caressed by a soft spring breeze, overlooking the broad, bustling Ramlas, Barcelona's magnificent promenade.
COMMUNITY
Mar 29, 2001

The bubble rises skyward again, carrying a doughnut

This balloon's gondola is 6 meters in diameter and shaped so passengers can move around freely.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 29, 2001

The ABCs of Japanese sportsu

As I'll be heading back to Canada next month, this will be my last Sports Scope. I thought I'd write some sort of reflection on what covering sports in Japan has meant to me, but all I kept coming up with were buzzwords and catchphrases.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

NGOs urge state to revise upcoming recycling law

Citizens' groups urged the government on Wednesday to revise a home appliances recycling law that will go into effect Saturday, and called for manufacturers to be compelled to include recycling costs in the prices of their products.
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2001

Mr. Bush's 'new thinking'

The U.S. decision to expel 50 Russians for "activities incompatible with their status as diplomats" -- spying to the layman -- is being roundly decried as a sign of the Cold War mentality that dominates the administration of President George W. Bush. But it is far from it. The suspicions of those days...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2001

Australians try to sort good economic news from bad

SYDNEY -- With the government of Prime Minister John Howard still reeling from a by-election humiliation, along comes a morale booster -- a corporate deal that makes Australia the dominant player in global-resources trade. Comeback Kid Howard has done it again, although his chances of staying prime minister...
COMMENTARY
Mar 28, 2001

Understanding 'leadership' in Japan

An American scholar who recently proposed writing a book about leadership in Japan was told by his colleagues, "A book? You'll be lucky to find enough material to write a chapter, or more likely a newspaper article, on the subject!"
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

Carrefour to open store in Osaka

OSAKA -- Carrefour Japan Co., the Japanese unit of French retailer Carrefour, on Tuesday won approval from the Osaka Prefectural Government to open a shop in the Rinku Town business zone in the city of Izumisano, a company spokeswoman said.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

IHI, Voith to form paper machine venture

said Tuesday that it will set up a joint venture with German paper machine manufacturer Voith Paper Holding GmbH next Monday for the design and installation of paper manufacturing equipment in Japan. To be capitalized at 490 million yen and headquartered in Tokyo, Voith IHI Paper Technology will be owned...
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 28, 2001

Cash, traditions standing between elderly and proper care

For 61-year-old Nayako Yamaguchi, taking care of her 66-year-old sister, Etsuko, is a job she does 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

Japan wary about pushing U.S. on controversial Byrd law

Japan looks just like a knight throwing down the gauntlet without being fully prepared to actually fight.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2001

Teito workers face charges over fatal subway crash

Five Teito Rapid Transit Authority employees who were in charge of maintenance at the time of a deadly train crash last March were accused of professional negligence on Tuesday as police handed the case over to prosecutors.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2001

Agriculture Minister vows to open Isahaya floodgates

Agriculture Minister Yoshio Yatsu on Tuesday announced that he will open the water gates of a dike closing off a large part of Isahaya Bay to see if it improves water quality in the Ariake Sea.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

100 trillion yen in stimulus yet to bear fruit

In a policy shift, the Bank of Japan has decided to give more weight to commercial banks' reserves in adjusting its monetary policy than to interest rates.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2001

Study pinpoints loss of nutrients in Ariake Sea

An abnormal presence of phytoplankton in Kyushu's Ariake Sea has reduced the amount of nutrients available for seaweed, lending credence to the theory that this was a major factor in this year's disastrous nori harvest, an Environment Ministry study showed Tuesday. However, officials stopped short of...
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

Vehicle exports plummet 10.5%

The nation's 11 automakers exported 339,271 cars, trucks and buses in February, down 10.5 percent from a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

Government waters down bills for breaking NTT phone monopoly

The government will impose looser regulations than previously planned on Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. according to a new outline of two amendments to laws governing the dominant carrier's operations, government sources said Tuesday.

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