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CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Apr 17, 1999

New version of the old koto makes music for the future

While Japanese traditional instruments boast long histories (up to 1,200 years in some cases, since their importation from the Asian continent) most reached their present forms hundreds of years ago and have not changed since.
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 1999

Tit for tat in South Asia

Earlier this week, India tested a new intermediate-range missile, the Agni II. The missile, capable of carrying either a conventional or nuclear payload a distance of 2,000 km, has most of China and all of Pakistan within its range. The test has been trumpeted as another display of India's technical...
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Nissan to slash domestic production by 25%

In a desperate effort to accelerate its restructuring, Nissan Motor Co. will cut its annual domestic production capacity by about 25 percent to 1.5 million units over the next few years, President Yoshikazu Hanawa said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Bad-debt body collects 526 billion yen

A bad-debt collection body funded by private financial institutions announced Friday that it collected some 526 billion yen during the latter half of fiscal 1998, up from 309 billion yen from the same six-month period the previous year.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Opposition parties demand Diet nod for SDF-U.S. missions

New Komeito and the Democratic Party of Japan have separately submitted proposals for amending bills covering the updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines to a board meeting of the Lower House special committee debating them, party officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Fukuoka's megamall to let you shop till you drop

Combining a huge cinema complex, a membership wholesale warehouse and a number of specialty shops and restaurants, an American-style megamall -- the largest in Japan -- will open Friday in a suburb of Fukuoka.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Toys chemicals pose risk to children, experts say

Children who nibble on plastic toys containing polyvinyl chloride and phthalate additives are ingesting a considerable amount of possible endocrine disrupters, European and U.S. scientists said Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

DKB vice president convicted on 'sokaiya' loans

A former vice president of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank was sentenced Friday to a suspended eight-month prison term for violating the Commercial Code by extending illegal loans to "sokaiya" corporate extortionist Ryuichi Koike.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Osaka shootings bring cops out in force

OSAKA -- More than 250 riot officers and 10 patrol cars are keeping a 24-hour vigil over Osaka's Konohana Ward, where three residents have been shot and wounded since the end of last month.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

LDP clears way for state disclosure bill

A government-sponsored information access bill to ensure wider disclosure of central government documents is likely to clear the Diet by the end of the month after a Liberal Democratic Party compromise was reached Friday, party officials said.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Japan won't back U.S. in anti-China resolution

Staff writer
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Government attacks USTR barrier report

The government issued a paper Friday attacking an annual trade barrier report released earlier this month by the United States Trade Representative that accuses Tokyo of carrying out unfair trade practices.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Transport industry protests defense bills

About 100 union members from the air, sea and ground transportation industries rallied at the Diet Friday to urge the scrapping of the updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Apr 16, 1999

Trends are a no-show at U.S. music fest

If there was any next big thing at this year's annual South by Southwest music confab of the musically hip and happening, it was that there is no next big thing. In a festival that featured everything from soca to singer-songwriters, it was individual artists rather than any one all encompassing trend...
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 1999

Moving from words to action

Running as an independent, Shintaro Ishihara overwhelmingly won the Tokyo gubernatorial election, the most closely watched of local elections held nationwide April 11. Voter interest in the election was strong. Despite the inclement weather earlier that day, voter turnout was 58 percent, up 7 percentage...
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Miyazawa mum on splitting Finance

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Friday he will wait and see how the Finance Ministry is to share its policy-planning authority with the proposed Financial Agency.
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 1999

Justice for all, even prosecutors

The Public Prosecutor's Office, in any country, is the arm of the law responsible for investigating crimes, gathering evidence and seeing to it that justice is done. In Japan, where collusion among politicians, bureaucrats and business-people is not uncommon, the Public Prosecutor's Office is often the...
JAPAN
Apr 15, 1999

Arianespace inks contract to launch Japanese satellites

Arianespace, the world's leading commercial satellite launcher, has signed a contract with Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. to launch two broadcasting satellites for a Japanese company, Jean-Marie Luton, chairman of Arianespace said Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 1999

Nuclear waste ship docks at Aomori village

AOMORI -- A British ship ferrying high-level radioactive waste reprocessed in France arrived Thursday to drop off its Japanese cargo at a port in Aomori Prefecture.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 1999

Politicians blast Justice Ministry over Norisada flap

Lawmakers strongly criticized the Justice Ministry on Thursday for what they called its leniency in reprimanding a former high-ranking prosecutor.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 1999

WTO to get Tokyo complaint on U.S. law in May

Staff writer
JAPAN
Apr 15, 1999

Ready for 2000?: Gartner Group sees no big Y2K failures

This is the first in an occasional series on Japan's Y2K preparedness.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 1999

LDP, New Komeito look to soften blow to Finance Ministry

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito were close to striking a compromise deal Thursday over whether -- and how -- to strip the Finance Ministry of its policymaking power, officials of the two parties said.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 1999

60 coalition members set up study group

Aiming at increasing their presence within the Liberal Democratic Party-Liberal Party coalition, some 60 members of the two parties jointly established a new study group Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 1999

Keidanren wants Obuchi to push debt-equity swaps

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) urged the government Thursday to revise laws and taxes to help reinvigorate domestic industries.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 15, 1999

Japanese women say single life fine — if they're financially independent

Some say that '70s feminism began its fall from grace in 1986 when a study claimed that a woman's chances of marrying sometime in her life drops to 5 percent after she passes her 35th birthday. The notion that so many nominally liberated women found this conclusion distressing gave rise to the cynical...
JAPAN
Apr 15, 1999

IDC board votes in favor of NTT's takeover offer

In a move that could trigger a trade row between Tokyo and London, the board of International Digital Communications Inc. voted Thursday in favor of a takeover bid by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. over one by Britain's Cable & Wireless PLC.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Apr 15, 1999

I will drink green juices, Sam I am

Green foods and juices have been around for a long time as health supplements, but these days some restaurants are serving up glasses of lawn-redolent wheat grass juice, or spirulina, with your lunch.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 15, 1999

Healing society's ills from the roots up

BANGKOK -- As Thailand rapidly converts from agrarian state to economic dragon, a growing number of Thai people are looking for solutions to modern society's own brand of ills. The Bangkok-based Spirit in Education Movement (SEM) points to the country's traditional Buddhist roots for answers.
COMMUNITY
Apr 15, 1999

Choosing to release world's bonds

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, gives one sermon annually in the main temple's court, right in front of the entrance to his residence in the Tibetan exile community Dharmsala, in northern India.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji