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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2001

Has cycle of peace begun?

NEW DELHI -- Sri Lanka's 18-year-old bloody ethnic crisis between Tamils demanding an independent homeland and the government has always been marked by hope. Even during some of the darkest days of the strife a little over a decade ago, there was always a glimmer of light. Then, New Delhi interfered...
EDITORIALS
Mar 16, 2001

'The enemy of my enemy . . .'

That seems to be the principle guiding foreign policy in Moscow and Tehran. Those two governments have much to be dissatisfied with in international politics, and have decided that together they have a better chance of getting the rest of the world to pay attention to them. It is an alliance of convenience...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 16, 2001

Cinnamon girls are forever

There have been a lot of odes to the '70s on film lately, but director Cameron Crowe ("Say Anything," "Jerry McGuire") certainly has a unique tale to tell. As a 15-year-old rock journalist for music magazines like Creem and Rolling Stone, Crowe spent his formative years in the mid-'70s on tour with stadium...
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Top academic criticizes university 'privatization'

University of Tokyo President Shigehiko Hasumi on Thursday criticized the government's move to turn national universities into quasi-independent agencies, calling it a political gambit.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2001

Solutions sought to employment mismatch

The government and representatives of both employers and unions agreed Thursday to cooperate in solving the growing mismatch between job seekers and job offers, labor ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Gene find could harness power of photosynthesis

A team of Japanese researchers has identified a gene in the mustard plant Arabidopsis that controls the movement of light-gathering cells in leaves. The discovery could lead to the construction of artificially enhanced plants, they say.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2001

Failed experiment haunts Jakarta

SINGAPORE -- As Indonesia assesses the carnage from the recent ethnic violence in its province of Kalimantan, a poignant legacy of the failure of its transmigration policy slowly but surely emerges.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Stock market crisis may prolong Mori's tenure

Speculation is growing that Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori may remain in his post beyond April, partly because of the recent decline in share prices and the confusion over just who would succeed the unpopular leader.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Death sentence stands for killer of five

OSAKA -- The Osaka High Court on Thursday upheld a lower court-imposed death sentence against a man convicted of murdering five people from Osaka Prefecture in 1992 and 1993.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2001

EPDC to invest in Thai power firm

Electric Power Development Co., a semipublic Japanese company, said Thursday it will invest 620 million yen in a Thai power company to help pay for the construction of a combined cycle gas plant.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Ex-KSD officials' trial to begin May 1

The trial of Tadao Koseki, the founder and former chief of mutual aid foundation KSD, and two other former KSD officials will begin May 1, the Tokyo District Court said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2001

UFJ Group banks go into red

The three banks that will form the UFJ Group in April announced Thursday they will post pretax losses of 289 billion yen for fiscal 2000 due to writing off 1.13 trillion yen in nonperforming loans, around twice the amount they had earlier predicted.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

44% of firms targeted by gangsters

Nearly 44 percent of Japanese companies nationwide say they have been the target of "sokaiya" corporate extortionists and the mob, according to a survey released Thursday by an antigang organization affiliated with the National Police Agency.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Sumitomo execs to pay redress for losses

OSAKA -- Former executives of trading house Sumitomo Corp. reached a court-mediated settlement Thursday on a lawsuit filed by one of its shareholders over huge losses the firm sustained due to a rogue copper trader.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2001

All told, a strong rebound is in the offing?

There has been mounting alarm around the world that a global stock market rout might be developing.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Rise in shares stems fears of rout

Tokyo share prices rebounded strongly toward the close of trading Thursday, shrugging off worries about a global stock market rout.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Diesel woes spur truck firms to seek out alternative fuels

Delivery companies are starting to use trucks that run on compressed natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas in the face of stricter regulations on diesel-powered vehicles.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Prince's daughter ends nursery days

Kako, the 6-year-old daughter of Prince Akishino and his wife, Princess Kiko, graduated Thursday from her kindergarten in Tokyo's Toshima Ward.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Miyazawa proposes stock fund guarantee

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa presented a scheme Thursday that would extend a government guarantee to a proposed private-sector fund that would purchase cross-held shares from ailing institutions, Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Obituary: Mimpei Sugiura

Mimpei Sugiura, a scholar on Italian Renaissance literature, died of a stroke Wednesday evening at a hospital in the town of Tahara, Aichi Prefecture. He was 87.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2001

BOJ hints at easing monetary policy

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami signaled Thursday that the central bank may further relax its already easy monetary policy to help shore up the faltering economy.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2001

Atento Pasona sets up call center

Atento Pasona Inc. started operations Thursday at its first call center in Tokyo's Toshima Ward to promote its Web-based customer relationship management services in 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