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JAPAN
Mar 11, 2001

Empty classrooms renovated for public use

With the birthrate declining, Tokyo municipalities have found that a growing number of school buildings are not being used. More wards are responding by renovating these vacant classrooms for wider use, ranging from offices to child-care centers.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2001

Eyes in the sky to combat illegal dumping

UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Pref. -- Searching for garbage from space -- it sounds like a science fiction plot of questionable quality.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2001

More tax advice offered on Advanced Ruling System

If an investor or a financial institution has questions regarding how a new financial product will fare in terms of taxation, it can prepare a questionnaire for the NTA, which will respond with information on tax categorization.
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 15, 2001

Tickets to 2002 World Cup go 'on sale'

Get your wallets out, find some friends (don't forget their names), make sure you know exactly what you're doing in 16 months time, fill out a form and hope for a bit of luck.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2001

Public works bid-rigging said widespread

Takehiko Mori says he is confessing to his crime now that the three-year statute of limitations for the offense has expired.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2001

Tokyo, New Delhi eager to put synergy back in relations

Last week's massive earthquake in western India has thrown in doubt Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's planned official visit to Japan this month -- the first by a premier of the world's most populous democracy in nearly 13 years.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2001

FSA should hire experts to enhance effectiveness of No-Action Letter system

Third in a series
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jan 20, 2001

Mixing and matching musical genres

Late January and early February offer three fascinating hogaku concerts, ranging from the traditional to the contemporary and a world premier of a collaboration of Asian musical styles and dance.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2001

IT helping doctors keep tabs on asthma patients

Leaps in information technology are making it possible for doctors and nurses to use telephone lines and mobile phones to monitor the condition of asthma patients in their homes.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2000

Real reform is just beginning

The central government will be reorganized Jan. 6, 2001 with the number of ministries and agencies to be cut almost in half to 13 from the present 22. The shakeup is based on a program worked out with great difficulty by the Adminis trative Reform Council, an ad hoc panel created under the Hashimoto...
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.
EDITORIALS
Dec 20, 2000

English for the 21st century

One thing that is almost certain not to change in the new century is Japan's long love-hate relationship with the English language. What might change is the degree of interest in learning English among younger Japanese, eager to tap the wealth of information available on the Internet. In fact, much about...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 15, 2000

The Choir of St. John's currently touring Japan

Choral music is something of a specialty in Britain, which leads the world in the number of professional-level choral groups. This strength is rooted in Britain's many collegiate and cathedral choirs, which provide a steady supply of trained and experienced singers to groups like the Hilliard Ensemble...
CULTURE / Books
Dec 13, 2000

Television as a pillar of the state

BROADCASTING POLITICS IN JAPAN: NHK and Television News, by Ellis Krauss. Cornell University Press, 2000, 278 pp., $35 (cloth). Many of us know NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) for its film documentaries, its cultural programs -- stunning or plodding, depending on your perspective -- or its Sunday morning singalongs....
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

Police raid Osaka assembly over construction bid scam

OSAKA -- Investigators raided the Osaka Prefectural Assembly's secretariat Monday in connection with the arrest of an assembly member on suspicion of leaking bid-related information to a construction company.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2000

Diet passes bill to promote IT

The Diet enacted legislation Wednesday that stipulates ways to deal with quick and radical structural changes driven by the global information technology revolution.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Nov 14, 2000

The last of the best from Cuba

Even after 10 years, I still find it difficult to predict what actually turns Japanese world-music fans on.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2000

Money-strapped NPOs must learn to use Internet: expert

KYOTO -- The proliferation of the Internet is spurring many groups to aggressively try to keep up with sweeping changes, and nonprofit organizations are no exception.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Nov 4, 2000

Yamada-style koto master performs song-suite classics

The autumn performance season reaches its peak during the final months of the year, and an array of hogaku performances, including rare koto pieces, gagaku and dance, will be presented this November.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Nakagawa resigns; Fukuda steps in

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa resigned Friday over scandals involving rightist connections and an extramarital affair, dealing a fresh political blow to embattled Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's administration.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2000

NPA to put road accident info online

The National Police Agency plans to develop a database on traffic accidents that will provide drivers comprehensive accident information over the Internet starting in January 2002, NPA officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2000

Train crash laid to many factors

The March subway collision in Tokyo that killed five passengers and injured 63 others was caused by a combination of factors, including a wheel load imbalance and improperly ground rail surfaces, a Transport Ministry investigative panel concluded Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2000

South Korea grapples with rapprochement

SEOUL -- Some days ago I received an e-mail from a friend I hadn't heard from for a while, who teaches North Korean affairs at one of the major universities in Seoul. "I am worried," he wrote. "This is not a good time for South Korean scholars dealing with North Korea to express their views freely."...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Oct 13, 2000

Tomorrow today

Predicting the future is always a risky business, but the uncertainties seem to be magnified when it comes to information technologies. Blame it on "tipping points," unstable equilibriums, systems analysis, whatever, but planning ahead has never been a more hazardous exercise.
COMMENTARY
Oct 1, 2000

Log on to network politics

Events can act often as an illuminating light. Predictions, warnings and expert forecasts of which no one took much notice suddenly become obvious to everyone.
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2000

Global competitors face tough decisions

Although monetary policy has been tightened, the U.S. economy is still on a steady growth path, propelled by the expansion of its information technology industry, which is said to be far ahead of its counterparts in the European Union and Japan.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 15, 2000

The periphery vs. the center

LOCAL VOICES, NATIONAL ISSUES: The Impact of Local Initiative in Japanese Policy-making, edited by Sheila A. Smith. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2000, 136 pp., $32.95 (cloth). For students of power and politics in Japan, Tokyo is where the action is. Important decisions are made in...
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2000

Toshiba transforms for IT revolution

Back in the 1960s, a TV set, a refrigerator and a washing machine symbolized affluence for Japanese households. They were dubbed the "three sacred treasures" -- an analogy to the sword, mirror and sacred bead treasured by the Imperial Household.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight