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COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 1999

Trade must extend to poorer countries

Prosperous countries in the North, such as the United States, can no longer rely on trade between developed countries led by Fortune 500 corporations alone. Trade must increase in developing countries and transitional economies if all are to benefit from a growing world economy. Policymakers and businesses...
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Japan offers to support U.N. arms-trade conference

Japan will extend maximum support toward preparation of an international conference on illicit arms trade that the United Nations General Assembly plans to hold in 2001, State Foreign Secretary Keizo Takemi pledged Monday at the start of a Japan-hosted workshop on regulating small arms.
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Rise in female smokers raises concern

KOBE -- Experts at an international symposium marking World No-Tobacco Day on Monday expressed concern over an increasing rate of young female smokers.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 1999

A de facto treaty revision

The Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, signed in 1951, is understood to be an arrangement whereby the United States, in exchange for the use of military bases in Japan, is committed to the rescue of this nation in the event of external aggression. Japan, with its "war-renouncing" Constitution, follows a policy...
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Softbank names board candidates

Softbank Corp. said Monday it plans to propose at a shareholders' meeting later this month the appointment of five new outside board directors, including Den Fujita, president of McDonald's Co. (Japan).
EDITORIALS
May 29, 1999

Wiretapping is a two-edged tool

The threat to public safety posed by rising rates of organized crime requires new tools and techniques in the hands of the police. On that there is scant disagreement, except possibly among lawbreakers and potential lawbreakers themselves. It is not so clear, however, that the answer to growing public...
EDITORIALS
May 28, 1999

An old conflict, a new twist

The dispute over Kashmir has sparked two wars between India and Pakistan and countless smaller incidents. Currently, the countries are engaged in their worst clash over the territory in years. This time, however, there is a big difference: The two are nuclear powers. If the conflict spirals out of control,...
JAPAN
May 28, 1999

JAL profits dive; JAS climbs

Declining air fares and slack demand for seats in the forward cabin caused Japan Airlines' sales to decrease to 1.16 trillion yen in the business year that ended March 31, down 5.1 percent from the previous year.
JAPAN
May 28, 1999

Electronics firms lick their wounds after disastrous year

Fiscal 1998 was a disaster year for the nation's electronics industry.
COMMENTARY
May 28, 1999

A step in the right direction

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi agreed with U.S. and South Korean officials in Tokyo Monday on the need to continue trilateral cooperation in their policies toward North Korea. It is highly significant that Obuchi's agreement with U.S. policy coordinator William Perry and South Korean Unification Minister...
JAPAN
May 28, 1999

Miyazawa lukewarm on taxing unprofitable firms

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa expressed ambivalence Friday toward a proposed local tax revision that would allow firms in the red to be taxed.
JAPAN
May 28, 1999

U.S. asks Japan to raise foreign computer purchases

The United States on Friday again urged Japan to buy more foreign computers and services in accordance with a 1992 bilateral arrangement, Foreign Ministry officials said Friday.
JAPAN
May 28, 1999

Kosovars take refuge in Japan

Staff writer
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
May 28, 1999

A rebel yell from the Northwest

Whether it's the rainy weather or beautiful scenery, there is something about Washington state that has made it one of the most fertile places for independent music. Though Seattle may have a higher profile, indie labels are as numerous as nose piercings (and that means plenty) in the state capital Olympia,...
JAPAN
May 28, 1999

Panel ponders ways to reverse falling birthrate

Amid the declining birthrate, the government held its first meeting Friday of Cabinet ministers to discuss ways to encourage young couples to have more children.
JAPAN
May 28, 1999

Lower House panel passes wiretap bills, snubs opposition

The Lower House Judicial Affairs Committee ignored an opposition boycott and approved a package of controversial bills Friday evening that would allow law enforcement authorities to wiretap private communications during investigations into organized crime.
JAPAN
May 28, 1999

Industrial output drops after '98 book-closings

Japan's industrial production dropped a seasonally adjusted 2.7 percent in April from the previous month, marking the first decline in three months, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said in a preliminary report released Friday.
EDITORIALS
May 27, 1999

Tiny, but deadly killers

A silent killer has been stalking Malaysia. Since October, over 250 people have been sickened and over 100 have died as a result of a mysterious viral infection. Despite intensive government measures to combat the outbreak, it continues to baffle health investigators. There is uncertainty about the virus'...
JAPAN
May 27, 1999

Killer-rapist gets life term for revenge murder

A 57-year-old convicted murderer and rapist was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for exacting revenge -- just two months after getting out of prison -- by killing the woman he had raped seven years earlier.
JAPAN
May 27, 1999

Hitachi posts first consolidated loss

The unfavorable semiconductor business and restructuring expenses forced Hitachi Ltd. into the red in the business year that ended March 31, with a consolidated net loss of 338.8 billion yen,the firm announced on Thursday.
JAPAN
May 27, 1999

Labor minister urges restraint in payroll cuts

Labor Minister Akira Amari urged industrial sector leaders Thursday to refrain from payroll cuts, pointing to bleak prospects for the nation's job situation.
JAPAN
May 27, 1999

RCC plans to purchase bad loans in June

The Resolution and Collection Corp. hopes to start buying bad loans from healthy banks in late June or July, its president said Thursday.
JAPAN
May 27, 1999

Matsushita looking to fund breakthroughs

OSAKA-- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will set aside some 500 million yen annually to nurture extremely promising research ideas that have yet to embark on the path to realization, a company official said Thursday.
JAPAN
May 27, 1999

Diving air fares pull ANA into net loss

All Nippon Airways posted 6.6 billion yen in net losses in the business year that ended March 31 on 903 billion yen in sales, down 0.8 percent from the previous year, carrier officials reported Thursday.
JAPAN
May 27, 1999

LDP envisions more jobs via public-private cooperation

A Liberal Democratic Party task force on Thursday drafted a set of measures to create new jobs by implementing public works projects and utilizing nonprofit organizations, party sources said.
JAPAN
May 27, 1999

Automakers' profits sink in domestic slump

The economic slump continued to plague the nation's five major automakers in fiscal 1998, forcing some to accelerate restructuring efforts, according to their annual earnings reports released as of Thursday.
COMMUNITY
May 27, 1999

Tokyo market's quiet riot of color

Beneath cascades of purple orchids, ferns uncoil like emerald snakes. Tokyo's wholesale flower market is a quiet riot of color.
JAPAN
May 27, 1999

Impromptu wiretap talks spark opposition boycott

With no opposition party members present, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and two other political groups on Thursday began discussing a package of revised bills to allow law enforcement officials the use of wiretaps during organized crime investigations.
LIFE / Travel
May 27, 1999

Up, up and away in clear Saipan

A Japan Airlines Boeing 747 passed in front of me as I was taxiing to the runway in my rented Cessna 172. "Saipan Tower. 230. Request takeoff clearance," I said, trying to sound as if I had been doing this all my life.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 27, 1999

High adventure

Have you decided where you are going to spend New Year's Eve? It should be someplace where you wouldn't mind staying if any of our normal, every day support systems should fail. One unconcerned gentleman has made reservations for a flight over Antarctica. Experts will be on board the 747 to explain about...

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