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BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

IBM Japan's profits up 48%

IBM Japan Ltd. chalked up 182 billion yen in pretax profits in 2000, up 48.1 percent over the year before, a second consecutive year-on-year increase, according to the firm's earnings report.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Council of Europe urges suspension of executions

The leader of a delegation from the Council of Europe, currently on a visit to Japan to study its death penalty system, on Tuesday urged Tokyo to temporarily suspend all executions, Japanese officials said.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

Bridgestone sees 80% fall in profit

Bridgestone Corp., Japan's biggest automobile tire maker, said Thursday it posted a consolidated net profit of 17.74 billion yen in the business year which ended December, down 80 percent from the previous year.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

Interest rate cut should be good for stocks

Interest rate cuts are typically a bullish scenario for share prices and, if not for the volatility on Wall Street and other unnerving developments both at home and abroad, the Tokyo stock market should have reacted positively to the Bank of Japan's latest move to ease its grip on credit.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 23, 2001

Paradise lost, and regained

For me, "Forrest Gump" was easily one of the most annoying films of the '90s. It waded straight into some of the most turbulent events in recent American history and came back with absolutely nothing to say about them. Given this, it was hard to get excited about the reunion of the "Gump" creative combo,...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Keio to fight groping by introducing women-only rail cars

Keio Electric Railway Co. trains will begin providing women-only carriages on late night runs in late March following an overwhelmingly positive response to a trial service in December, company officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Murakami quits Diet over KSD scandal

Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Masakuni Murakami, former leader of the LDP members in the House of Councilors, resigned from the chamber Thursday after being criticized over his connections to an alleged bribery scandal involving mutual-aid organization KSD.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Police pluck man off Tokyo Tower

A 32-year-old man who climbed Tokyo Tower on Wednesday night and spent nearly five hours on the steel structure was apprehended by police in the early hours of Thursday and taken into custody.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

International NTT unit to go local

NTT Communications Corp., a major long-distance and international telecom carrier, announced Thursday it will enter the local-call market on May 1.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 23, 2001

Japan's soccer heroes tested by Troussier

NARAHA, Fukushima Pref. -- After three days of training behind closed doors, the media and fans were allowed a glimpse of Japan's soccer heroes on Thursday as Philippe Troussier and his coaching staff put his squad through its paces on a warm and sunny day at the J. Village in Fukushima Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

International NTT unit to go local

NTT Communications Corp., a major long-distance and international telecom carrier, announced Thursday it will enter the local-call market on May 1.
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2001

Time running out for Mori

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's departure is inevitable, although he insists he has no intention of resigning. The questions are no longer if but when he will step down, and who will replace him.
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2001

Explain the collision

A troubling picture is beginning to emerge as details are revealed about conditions aboard the USS Greeneville when the submarine hit the training vessel Ehime Maru last week. That accident left nine students and instructors aboard the fisheries training ship missing -- they are presumed dead -- and...
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

Nomura, IBJ to end derivatives tieup

Nomura Securities Co. and the Industrial Bank of Japan, a member of the Mizuho Financial Group, said Thursday that they will dissolve a London-based joint venture specializing in financial derivatives.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 23, 2001

JBC slaps ban on Philippine boxers

has barred Philippine boxers from fighting in nontitle bouts in Japan to help prevent a further increase in illegal workers from the country, JBC officials said Wednesday. The decision, which is expected to last at least until the end of the year, was made to cope with an increasing number of Philippine...
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

Belgian leader calls for investment

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt on Thursday called for more Japanese private sector investment in his country, which has been enjoying one of its best periods of economic growth in a decade.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

Belgian leader calls for investment

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt on Thursday called for more Japanese private sector investment in his country, which has been enjoying one of its best periods of economic growth in a decade.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Suspected embezzler made 'business trips' to base

A former senior diplomat who was fired last month for suspected embezzlement of secret government funds made business trips to an Air Self-Defense Force base in Hokkaido in 1994 and 1999, sources familiar with the case said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

Lawson to offer ATM services with Mitsubishi

Lawson Inc. and Mitsubishi Corp., soon to become the convenience store chain's largest shareholder, said Thursday they plan to offer a range of financial services via automatic teller machines to be installed in Lawson's nationwide network.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Former Philippines chief confirms Arroyo's rule

OSAKA -- Philippines president Gloria Arroyo need not call an election to confirm the presidency she claimed just over a month ago as the people and legal institutions recognize her legitimacy, former Philippine president Fidel Ramos said here Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Suspected embezzler made 'business trips' to base

A former senior diplomat who was fired last month for suspected embezzlement of secret government funds made business trips to an Air Self-Defense Force base in Hokkaido in 1994 and 1999, sources familiar with the case said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Symposium seeks solutions to Africa's persistent turmoil

The end of the Cold War has brought about a fundamental change in the international order based on the two major ideological blocs, and it has led to an increase, rather than a decrease, in regional conflicts around the globe.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

Lawson to offer ATM services with Mitsubishi

Lawson Inc. and Mitsubishi Corp., soon to become the convenience store chain's largest shareholder, said Thursday they plan to offer a range of financial services via automatic teller machines to be installed in Lawson's nationwide network.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Former Philippines chief confirms Arroyo's rule

OSAKA -- Philippines president Gloria Arroyo need not call an election to confirm the presidency she claimed just over a month ago as the people and legal institutions recognize her legitimacy, former Philippine president Fidel Ramos said here Thursday.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 23, 2001

Mukai finds brassy brilliance in the balance

Aristotle said that to achieve beauty, proportion is everything. Shigeharu Mukai has contemporized that ideal into a well-practiced jazz unit that is just the right size: big enough for harmonic textures and soloing variety, but small enough for agility and drive. Mukai's latest release, "Super 4 Brass,"...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Symposium seeks solutions to Africa's persistent turmoil

The end of the Cold War has brought about a fundamental change in the international order based on the two major ideological blocs, and it has led to an increase, rather than a decrease, in regional conflicts around the globe.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

Nikkei briefly hits new low since bubble

The Nikkei Stock Average dipped below its post-bubble closing low at one point during trading Thursday but recovered to end only slightly lower.

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