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BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2001

Tokyo stocks likely to edge up

Share prices on the Tokyo Stock Exchange will likely edge up this week, spurred by the surprise U.S. credit easing and the yen's weakness against the dollar.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2001

Ajinomoto denies officials in Indonesia arrested

Ajinomoto Co., a maker of food seasoning based on monosodium glutamate, denied that six of its officials were arrested in Indonesia Saturday over allegations its products contain pork extracts, an ingredient forbidden under Muslim law.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2001

Microsoft shows off the Xbox

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Attendees at the 2001 Consumer Electronics Show on Saturday were given the first public viewing of Xbox, the new 128-bit video game console being developed by computer software giant Microsoft.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2001

Reply to No-Action Letter clarifies insurance rescues

The first article on the debut of the No-Action Letter system focused on why it is necessary to create a standardized, public interface through which the Financial Services Agency can promptly respond to financial institutions' questions and concerns about compliance with regulatory issues.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2001

Mother, son die in Osaka house fire

OSAKA -- A 66-year-old woman and her son were killed in a fire in Suita, Osaka Prefecrture, early Sunday morning, police said.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2001

APEC paving the way for cooperation

We believe history will judge the eighth APEC Economic Leaders Meeting held in Brunei Darussalam Nov. 15-16 an important milestone in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's mission to create a peaceful, prosperous and open Pacific community. The Brunei meeting saw three "firsts" for APEC.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2001

Chiyoda to sue former management

Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co., which is in the process of restructuring under the corporate rehabilitation law, is planning to sue former board members for billions of yen in damages over policies blamed for causing its effective bankruptcy, company sources said Sunday.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 8, 2001

Revisionists open a front in China

NORTH CHINA AND JAPANESE EXPANSION, 1933-1937: Regional Power and the National Interest, by Marjorie Dryburgh. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2000, 249 pp., 50 pounds (cloth). China is not only the world's most populous nation, but it is also one of the largest. In territorial reach, Russia and Canada alone...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 8, 2001

Tomorrow today in Tokyo

TOKYO X. Photographs by Shunji Ohkura. Afterword translated by Ralph McCarthy, captions translated by Shii Ichiba, envoi by Giles Murray. Tokyo: Kodansha Intl., 2000, 216 pp., 251 plates with endpapers, 3,800 yen. In the afterword to this remarkable collection of pictures, the photographer says that...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 8, 2001

When two worlds collide

JAPAN AND THE DUTCH 1600-1853, by Grant K. Goodman. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, 304 pp., 40 pounds. Thanks to the Tokugawa shogunate's decision at the beginning of the 17th century to expel the Portuguese and other Christian missionaries who had started to meddle in Japanese affairs, the...
MORE SPORTS
Jan 8, 2001

Kobe, Toyota roll into rugby semifinals

By Kumi Kinohara Staff writer Defending champion Kobe Steel overcame a sluggish first half to rally past Kubota 38-11, advancing to the semifinals of the National Company Rugby Union Championship at Tokyo's Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium on Sunday.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 8, 2001

Enjoy a meander down the magnificent Mekong

THE MEKONG: Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future, by Milton Osborne. Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 2000, $24. This elegiac tribute to the Mekong River is an occasion for a comfortable chair and a languorous afternoon. The intrepid armchair traveler is transported to this magnificent locale and can almost...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2001

Signs of hope emerge in South Asia

ISLAMABAD -- When representatives of some of the most prominent groups in Indian-administered Kashmir visit Pakistan toward the middle of this month, many South Asia watchers will be looking for signs of progress in South Asia's latest peace process.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2001

Opposition targets ruling camp's majority

Opposition leaders said Sunday they will do their utmost to ensure the tripartite ruling coalition loses its majority in the House of Councilors in July's election.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2001

Deaths at sea up fifth year in a row

The number of people who died or went missing at sea in 2000 was 1,620, up from 1,601 in 1999, the fifth consecutive year of increase, according to information released by the Japan Coast Guard.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2001

Korean relations under Bush

WASHINGTON -- One legacy that U.S. President Bill Clinton will not rush to claim credit for is a surfeit of Asian candidates for the likely first foreign-policy crisis inherited by the new Bush administration -- Taiwan, Indonesia and India and Pakistan among them. But certainly North Korea is near the...
MORE SPORTS
Jan 8, 2001

Inoue suffering from heart ailment

Olympic and world champion judoka Kosei Inoue will be held out of next week's Kano Cup international judo competition because of a heart ailment, judo officials said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2001

Komura to visit Indonesia, Vietnam

Justice Minister Masahiko Komura will visit Indonesia and Vietnam from Monday through Friday primarily to observe the use of financial aid from Tokyo given to assist the development of the legal systems of the two Southeast Asian nations, ministry officials said Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 8, 2001

A simple test for leaders

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. last month announced a decision to abolish its long-standing system by which individual product divisions handled the integrated development, production and marketing operations for their products. The system, praised as the secret of the consumer electronics giant's...
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2001

Two bodies in avalanche identified

Rescuers on Sunday recovered the bodies of two of three mountain climbers from Aichi Prefecture who went missing after being caught in an avalanche Thursday evening in Kurobe canyon in Toyama Prefecture, police officials said.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 8, 2001

Zero emissions: route to sustainability for a clean revolution in the 21st century

The age of zero emissions is dawning, and Japan could one day lead a global clean revolution. The next decade should tell whether this nation will lead, or will consign itself to industrial mediocrity by adhering to the status quo.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2001

State secretaries to establish own policy body

State secretaries and parliamentary secretaries, both of which are political appointees, will set up a council at the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry to resolve key policy issues and problems, Toshikatsu Matsuoka, one of the ministry's two state secretaries, has told Kyodo News.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2001

Disgraced politician found hung

Former House of Representatives member Yojiro Nakajima, convicted of five charges including vote-buying and taking bribes, was found hanged at his home in Tokyo's Meguro Ward on Saturday, police said.

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