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CULTURE / Music
Jul 2, 2000

High art from cold metal: Brass music matures at last

There is something powerfully appealing about an ensemble of brass players. Brilliant trumpets and trombones, mellow horns and tubas -- when they are beautifully played, the sound, the strength and the artistry of the playing is quite compelling.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 2, 2000

Machiko Kobayashi

In "The Book of Tea," Okakura Kakuzo refers to the person "with no tea" in him, the one "insusceptible to the seriocomic interests of the personal drama." He mentions too the one "with too much tea" in him, "the untamed aesthete." Machiko Kobayashi, tea ceremony teacher and demonstrator, falls into neither...
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2000

Ex-construction minister arrested in bribery case

Former Construction Minister Eiichi Nakao was arrested Friday on suspicion of accepting some 30 million yen in bribes in 1996 in connection with the Construction Ministry's selection of designated bidding companies.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2000

China trade bill delay raises doubts about G8 breakthrough on WTO round

The U.S. Senate's delay in voting on a key China trade bill has some Japanese officials fretting about whether it will kill the chances — if any — of a breakthrough at the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa toward launching a new round of global trade negotiations.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2000

Mori selects Ozato to chair LDP's Executive Council

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has informally appointed Sadatoshi Ozato, former chief of the Management and Coordination Agency, as chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Executive Council, LDP sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2000

Drop in DoCoMo stake feasible: NTT

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. may reduce its stake in cellular unit NTT DoCoMo Inc. but will not permit its ownership to drop below 50 percent, NTT executives said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2000

Key cultist sentenced to die for role in two sarin attacks

Senior Aum Shinrikyo follower Yasuo Hayashi was sentenced to death Thursday for releasing nerve gas on a Tokyo subway train in March 1995 and for his role in the deadly June 1994 sarin attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2000

Medical group probes endoscope defects

A national association of medical and dental practitioners has begun questioning its members about defects in endoscopes and manufacturers' responses to complaints, according to a group bulletin made available Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2000

Employment, income make BOJ keep interest-rate policy

The Bank of Japan said Wednesday that it will maintain its "zero-interest-rate" policy, which has been in place since February last year.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2000

Tomen reviewing Sri Lanka mine deal

Tomen Corp. is reconsidering its planned investment in a huge phosphate mine in Eppawala, an ancient village in central Sri Lanka, according to members of a Japanese nongovernmental organization supporting residents who oppose the project.
LIFE / Digital
Jun 28, 2000

A thinker's journey back to the future

Paul Saffo spends a lot of his time thinking about the past. That might seem a bit odd for a man who makes his living as a futurist, but perspective is critical, argues Saffo, director of the Institute for the Future, a Silicon Valley think tank that contemplates the way things will be.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2000

Business chiefs upbeat after poll

Business circles expressed hope Monday that the new government to be formed after Sunday's Lower House election will take prompt action to lead the economy to a recovery.
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2000

English is not the answer

Earlier this year, the Forum on 21st Century Japan, a private panel to the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, proposed a national debate on whether English should be used in Japan as a second official language. That proposal has added fuel to the long-standing discussions on English education in this...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 25, 2000

Again and again

A part of this is from a column written in 1993 about "ijime" (bullying). It was not the first, and today I can't even recall that specific case. There have been so many. At the time I objected to the newspaper comment that ijime had been a serious problem for a decade. Brutal discrimination against...
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2000

Team gives small firms help in environment management

KYOTO — Although major companies are accelerating efforts to obtain international recognition of their environmental management systems, few small and medium-size firms are following suit due to the high cost of certification and a lack of knowledge.
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2000

Barak fights for peace on two fronts

Since taking office last year, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has battled on two fronts in the effort to finalize peace agreements with his neighbors. The obvious front involved the parties on the other side of the table: the Syrians and the Palestinians. But the other fight takes place within Israel...
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2000

Cops look away in domestic violence

Anne van Pletsen, a Tokyo resident for 13 years, was lying in a bed in Akasaka Hospital in Minato Ward last year when she decided to end her three-year marriage.
SOCCER / J. League
Jun 24, 2000

J. League second-stage race looks wide open

After the Yokohama F. Marinos dramatically won the first stage a month ago, the J. League Division One second stage is set to get underway Saturday.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Osaka bourse announces new chief

OSAKA -- The Osaka Securities Exchange has announced that Goro Tatsumi, president of Kosei Securities Co., will succeed Kyoji Kitamura as president of the Osaka-based bourse on June 30.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

May trade surplus plunges 29% as oil leads import surge

Japan's trade surplus plunged 29 percent in May from a year earlier as imports outpaced exports, following a 10.3 percent surge the previous month.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Talks address Japan, U.S. e-commerce

While it may appear that the United States is far ahead of Japan and the rest of the world in embracing e-business, the U.S. itself is a newcomer to the field, and tremendous challenges lie ahead, a U.S. business school educator told a symposium organized by Keizai Koho Center.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Sanwa plans Internet bank by yearend

Sanwa Bank said Wednesday it plans to establish an Internet bank in July at the earliest, with an eye to launching deposit-taking and settlement operations by year's end.

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