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COMMUNITY
Mar 5, 2000

Researcher dives deep, flies high, blows bubbles

Minoru Yamada thinks there is something rather beautiful -- poetic even -- about the location of the headquarters of JAMSTEC (Japan Marine Science and Technology Center) in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. And this has nothing to do with being right beside the sea, with a great view across Tokyo Bay to...
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2000

Prefectural police chiefs get pep talk from NPA

In an effort to restore public trust in the nation's police, the National Police Agency on Saturday held an urgent meeting of 46 prefectural police chiefs following a series of recent scandals over misconduct within the force.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2000

Japan compiles new rules against illegal trash exports

The government announced Friday that it has tightened rules to require authorities to keep a lookout for illegal exports of garbage.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Police-watchers earn 26 million yen

Four of the six members of the National Public Safety Commission, the body that oversees the National Police Agency, each earns a salary of 26.67 million yen a year, although the commission meets only once a week, NPA sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Police laxity in Niigata inexcusable, Obuchi says

(Kyodo) The new chief of the Niigata Prefectural Police took office Tuesday, replacing a disgraced Koji Kobayashi who failed to interrupt a drinking and mah-jongg session upon reports a girl missing for nine years had been found.
JAPAN
Feb 29, 2000

Fiscal 2000 budget clears Lower House

The Lower House on Tuesday approved the government's 85 trillion yen fiscal 2000 budget, which the ruling bloc calls "a final push" to put the economy back on a recovery track. Now that the budget has cleared the Lower House, it is certain that it will clear the Diet before the new fiscal year starts...
JAPAN
Feb 29, 2000

Japan, U.S. join efforts to tackle infectious disease

Japan and the United States agreed Tuesday to increase cooperation on a joint project in Cambodia to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis. During the 10th plenary meeting of the Japan-U.S. Common Agenda, held in Tokyo, the two countries focused on six areas to enhance...
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2000

Domestic auto sales on the rise

Auto sales in Japan have posted year-on-year increases for January and February, the first two consecutive increases since the April 1997 consumption tax hike, an industry leader said Monday. Hiroshi Takikawa, chairman of the Japan Automobile Dealers Association, told a news conference that Feb. 1-25...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2000

Ishihara's bank tax plan leads charge for local autonomy

Labeling a controversial tax proposal submitted Wednesday to the metropolitan assembly "a challenge from Tokyo," Gov. Shintaro Ishihara opened the legislature's regular session with a call for local autonomy. He also blamed the nation's top-down political and administrative systems for what he called...
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2000

Allergy-prone get jump on hay fever

Staff writer For the past 10 years, spring has been tough on Mari Koi, with her seasonal allergy leaving her with itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose from February through March. But this year, the 30-year-old Tokyo woman has been well so far -- possibly due to early preparation. "I have been taking...
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2000

When old age starts at 35

"That is no country for old men," the poet W.B. Yeats wrote more than 70 years ago, referring wistfully to the country of the young. He was not so old when he wrote it, either, barely in his 60s, but he knew that his age automatically excluded him from much that interested him -- chiefly heedless sensuality...
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 13, 2000

Confrontation not the answer on environmental problems

During the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle last year, they trashed a Starbucks and other brand-name stores.
COMMENTARY
Feb 10, 2000

Democracy under attack

When I first read that the Japanese coalition government had decided to force through a bill to reduce the number of seats elected by proportional representation, my first thought was, since they had a majority of votes in both Houses for this measure and as democracy generally implies majority rules,...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2000

Myanmar citizens see dual taxation as incentive to overstay

Staff writer The Feb. 18 revision of the Immigration Control Law has prompted many undocumented foreigners to return home, but some Myanmar citizens are unable even to go through deportation procedures because they find it hard to pay overdue taxes to their government. The Myanmar citizens said they...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

Analysis: Ota's first priority is to refill city coffers

Staff writer OSAKA -- Fusae Ota's election win here Sunday night is good news for local residents and the nation as a whole, in the sense that Osaka has elected the nation's first female governor. It is also good news for Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, because since a win for Ota, a former bureaucrat...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Feb 6, 2000

When you need it most

A reader read about the benefit of influenza shots and called her doctor, who told her there was no vaccine in Japan. That seemed unlikely in a country prone to flu epidemics, so she asks why.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 6, 2000

Philip Harper

To be billed as Japan's only foreign sake brewer conveys a claim unusually intriguing. Even the man in question, Philip Harper, expresses some surprise at the way things have gone for him as he gets close to achieving the status of master brewer in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2000

Wounded dragon dances again in Jakarta

SINGAPORE -- The first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year will be celebrated Saturday on a grand scale in many shops and homes. This has been the tradition among overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2000

Watching what you eat

The delegates from over 130 countries who gathered in Montreal last weekend surprised just about everyone by reaching agreement on new rules to govern international trade in genetically modified foods. A similar effort broke down a year ago, and the failure to launch a new round of world trade talks...
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2000

Loan firms aim to mend image by joining banks

Staff writer Major consumer finance companies, despite their soaring profits and superb risk assessment skills, still lack one thing: a positive image. Hiroki Jinnai, president of top consumer moneylender Promise Co., is well aware of that weakness. And it is exactly why he wants the firm's planned...
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2000

College to launch first air ambulance service

The Osaka College of Aviation Technology plans to introduce in the near future the nation's first air ambulance service funded by the private sector. Under the new Civil Aeronautics Law that took effect Tuesday, the transport minister's permission will no longer be necessary for commercial helicopters...
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2000

Report fails to link chemicals to illnesses

The Environment Agency presented its first report on "chemical sensitivity conditions" to the head of Tokyo's Suginami Ward, explaining Wednesday that experts have yet to agree that the rising number of unexplained health complaints are in fact the result of chemicals. In recent years, illnesses generally...
LIFE / Travel
Feb 2, 2000

The last paradise

Special to The Japan Times In the early years of the last century, the wife of a French colonial doctor in Laos wrote in her journal, "Oh! What a delightful paradise. The fierce barrier of the stream protects this country from the progress and ambition of which it has no need. Will Luang Prabang be,...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2000

Tokyo barely balances budget despite spiking haloed items

The Tokyo governor has lost 7,000 supporters for his next election, promises marathon aficionado Taeko Hara.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2000

Miyazawa says government spending spree must continue

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Friday called for swift passage of the 84.99 trillion yen fiscal 2000 state budget in an attempt to achieve a full economic recovery. In a fiscal policy speech before the House of Representatives plenary session, Miyazawa said the worst is over for the economy thanks...
EDITORIALS
Jan 19, 2000

Japan needs the presence of foreigners

Four years ago, central government officials and bureaucrats, especially at the Education Ministry, were expressing concern over the decreasing number of students from abroad coming to study at Japanese universities. The decline in students from neighboring Asian countries in particular, the first such...
LIFE / Travel
Jan 19, 2000

Nagano's 'time-slip' onsen

Many hot spring resorts these days look so similar that it's sometimes hard to remember where you are. Not Bessho Onsen.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2000

Nations must cooperate to stop illegal drugs, Azuma says

Drug abuse is not a problem that can be solved by just one nation, Shozo Azuma, parliamentary vice minister for foreign affairs, said at the opening ceremony of "Anti-Drug Conference, Tokyo 2000" on Monday. Law enforcement and financial officials as well as researchers from about 20 Asia- Pacific nations...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2000

Street people face tuberculosis scourge

Staff writer

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear