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BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Dentsu announces first-half profit

Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency, on Thursday announced consolidated net profit of 14.15 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2000.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2000

Japan to give tsunami info to neighbors

Japan will start in January providing South Korea, North Korea and Russia with information on tsunamis originating in the Sea of Japan, the Meteorological Agency said.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Mori taps tech sector for IT advice

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has informally selected 10 people, including Sony Corp. Chairman Nobuyuki Idei, as members of his new team of Cabinet advisers for the government's information technology drive, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Car sales to increase 2.2% in 2001: JAMA

Domestic car sales in 2001 will reach 6.1 million units, up 2.2 percent from this year, as demand is expected to continue to slowly recover, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Toshiba, Infineon to work on nonvolatile FeRAM

Toshiba Corp. of Japan and Infineon Technologies AG of Germany on Thursday announced an agreement to jointly develop nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) technology and products.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 22, 2000

Cheju may see Japan-Korea rematch

South Korea may host Japan in a curtain-raiser friendly match at its brand-new stadium on Cheju Island in November next year, shortly before the draw for the World Cup finals, South Korean Football Association president Chung Mong Joon said Wednesday at Tokyo's National Stadium after the two nations...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2000

'Amakudari' continues, even for disgraced cops

Some 90 percent of the government's senior bureaucrats have found postretirement jobs at state affiliates or government-related organizations despite the sluggish economy, a government survey found.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2000

Crimes at record high but arrests fall

The number of Penal Code violations reported in Japan between January and November hit a record high 2,228,567, according to a National Police Agency report released Thursday.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 22, 2000

Japan held to draw by 10-man S. Korea

It wasn't exactly the kind of welcome home party the Asian Cup-winning Japan team wanted to put on. And manager Philippe Troussier couldn't hide his disappointment -- although he tried.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2000

Japan to ban EU beef imports

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry on Thursday decided to ban imports of European Union beef, processed beef foodstuffs and cow sperm starting in January to prevent mad cow disease from spreading to Japanese farms, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2000

Volunteer ranks thin; lack of information cited

A majority of those who took up volunteer activities following the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995 have since quit because they feel there are too many restrictions and a lack of information, a survey released Thursday by the Economic Planning Agency showed.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2000

Bitterness over lack of jobs rising: poll

Employment opportunities are becoming scarce in Japan, particularly for people in their 40s and 50s, according to an employment survey conducted over a six-month period this year in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Dec 22, 2000

The Captain reaches down deep into his inner funk

Funk usually brings to mind a heaving beat, thick, slapping bass lines and fashions straight out of "Shaft."
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Niigata Chuo purchase plan gets OK

The government's Financial Reconstruction Commission on Thursday approved a proposal by Niigata Chuo Bank's state-appointed administrators to sell it to six regional banks, FRC officials said.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Mekong region set for ODA

After a few years of near neglect, Japan appears to be again turning its attention to the greater Mekong subregion as a policy frontier for official development assistance.
COMMENTARY
Dec 22, 2000

The EU gets ready to grow

LONDON -- The recent European Union summit at Nice seems to have been bad tempered and acrimonious. Yet it eventually, even if only after days of wrangling, ended in an agreement of sorts and the way is now open to the admission of new members from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, leading in due...
EDITORIALS
Dec 21, 2000

Taking it easy on tax reform

A basic agreement reached earlier this month by the three ruling parties on fiscal 2001 tax code changes is a case of being unable to see the forest for the trees. Their myopia distorts an overall tax review and undermines the basic principles of taxation: fairness, neutrality and simplicity.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

Ex-KSD execs indicted on breach-of-trust rap

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday indicted three former executives of KSD, an organization that provides industrial accident insurance to small businesses, on a charge of breach of trust for forcing a KSD affiliate to purchase -- using KSD money -- compact discs of a singer who...
SUMO
Dec 21, 2000

Kotomitsuki earns sekiwake ranking for New Year basho

confirmed Kotomitsuki as the sport's latest shooting star on Wednesday as it promoted the Sadogatake stable wrestler to sekiwake for next month's New Year tournament. Kotomitsuki, wrestling as a No. 9 maegashira, was a surprise runnerup to grand champion Akebono at last month's Kyushu tourney with a...
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

Economists unhappy with latest budget

In its attempt to formulate a budget with the dual and dueling purposes of bringing about an economic recovery and preparing for painstaking reform, it seems the government has managed to do neither.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

Auto pact talks end in stalemate

Compiled from Kyodo, staff reports
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

BOJ concerned about prices

Fierce price wars are posing a threat to economic recovery by crushing smaller retailers, according to the minutes of the Nov. 17 Bank of Japan Policy Board meeting released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

Japan reform said key to Asian prosperity

Now that the United States has started showing signs of economic slowdown, business leaders in the Asia-Pacific region expect Japan to expedite full economic recovery and become an engine to ensure continued prosperity in the region, according to an American international business expert.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

Nikkei falls below 14,000

The main gauge on the Tokyo Stock Exchange tumbled below 14,000 for the first time in 22 months Wednesday, dragged down by fears of slowdowns in the U.S. and domestic economies.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 21, 2000

It'll be a dismal Christmas if Rams D doesn't wake up

TAMPA, Fla. -- When they got off to a 6-0 start this season, it seemed like the St. Louis Rams had a great chance to repeat as Super Bowl champs. But now at 9-6, with one week to go in the regular season, they haven't even clinched a playoff berth.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

Cut in 'zaito' budget largest since inception

The Finance Ministry on Wednesday proposed a slimmed down draft budget of 32.54 trillion yen for the fiscal 2001 investment and loan program, down 15 percent from the current year and its second straight year-on-year fall.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

Israeli envoy hails Japan's importance

New Israeli Ambassador to Japan Yitzhak Lior said Wednesday that Japan's political role in the Middle East peace process is growing because of its capacity to convey a message of peace to both Israelis and Palestinians.

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