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JAPAN
Mar 10, 2001

Fukuoka prosecutor gets suspension

The Justice Ministry on Friday suspended a Fukuoka prosecutor for six months for leaking investigative information to a crime suspect's husband, Justice Minister Masahiko Komura said.
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Mar 9, 2001

Lifetime employment myth fades amid jobless realities

At the age of 40, Yoshiro Kamimura worked in sales at a chemical company, with a wife and two preschool children to support.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 9, 2001

J. League bets on Toto

This year, Japanese soccer fans (and others) can take part in "Toto," the nation's first soccer "lottery," which, effectively, is a form of betting on J. League games.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2001

Core machinery orders dipped 12% in January

Core machinery orders from Japanese businesses shriveled a seasonally adjusted 11.8 percent in January from the previous month to 966.9 billion yen after a 3.8 percent rise in December, the government said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2001

Marubeni to invest in China IT firm

Marubeni Corp. said Thursday it has obtained Beijing's approval to take a 10 percent stake in Shanghai Dragon Head Zhangjiang Business & Network, an information technology firm that operates an Internet portal site for textile companies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2001

Thais make an enemy out of Myanmar

No one knows who put a bomb on a Thai Airways jet scheduled to carry Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to Chiang Mai, but respected media outlets such as the Matichon newspaper and the Bangkok Post have hinted that the bombing may have something to do with drugs from Myanmar.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2001

NEC to expand merit-based pay

NEC Corp. said Thursday it will allocate a larger proportion of systems engineers' income through its merit-based pay system in response to increasing competition in the field of information technology.
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2001

Tightening the net

When the law finally caught up with Al Capone, the famed Chicago mobster, the instrument of justice was income tax invasion. That might seem strange given his life of crime, but law-enforcement officials do the best with the tools they have and getting the feared man behind bars was the goal.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2001

L.A. market touted as gold mine for struggling midsize firms

Mired in a decade-long economic slump, Japan may not seem to be the most eager country to engage in massive direct investment abroad. But Lee Harrington, president and CEO of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., doesn't see it that way.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2001

S&P lowers ratings for power firms

Standard & Poor's Corp. on Wednesday lowered credit ratings for Tokyo Electric Power Co., Chubu Electric Power Co. and Kansai Electric Power Co. due to their high debt burdens and increasing competition in the electricity market.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Mar 8, 2001

Life after sake's zing has gone

Just like wine, sake has a very short life span once the bottle has been opened. In fact, like wine, sake should be consumed soon after opening to ensure that delicate fragrances and flavors remain intact. Although this varies from sake to sake, in most cases the more delicate and refined the flavor...
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2001

Guests, failure of display cited at start of Greeneville inquiry

HONOLULU -- The presence of civilian guests and deficiencies in the personnel and equipment aboard the USS Greeneville before it collided with the Ehime Maru were highlighted Monday in the U.S. Navy's formal inquiry in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 7, 2001

Bluetooth hopes to deliver 'new dimension in wireless technology'

Can't get enough of the Internet at your home and office?
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 7, 2001

Wherefore art? 'Shakespeare for Dummies'

Ever felt left behind when discussion turns to Shakespeare? Here's your chance to catch up.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2001

Man indicted over pill smuggling

OSAKA -- A 48-year-old Singaporean man has been indicted by prosecutors on suspicion of bringing about 5,200 pills of illegal drugs into Kansai airport, including a new kind of pill containing three illegal drugs, prosecution sources said Monday.
COMMUNITY
Mar 6, 2001

Students give technical edge to volunteer activities

TOCHIGI -- It might seem strange that a group of students at a rural Japanese high school would be concerned about the culinary habits of Zambia's wildlife or the conditions of India's walkways.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2001

First rules on removing harmful foreign species drafted

A panel of the the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry has drawn up a set of rules that would allow the extermination of some fish and animals introduced to Japan that are endangering their indigenous counterparts, ministry sources said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2001

Just the tip of the iceberg

The arrest on Thursday of Mr. Masakuni Murakami, a former Liberal Democratic Party leader in the Upper House and a former labor minister, should have come as no surprise, given the growing suspicions about his role in the bribery scandal involving the KSD small-business mutual-aid foundation. Mr. Murakami...
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2001

Panel split over Isahaya Bay dike

A panel of third-party experts ended its first meeting Saturday by postponing a decision on whether the gates of a huge reclamation dike traversing Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture should be opened.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2001

South Korea's media and transparency

SEOUL -- As so often, one opinion stands against another: South Korea's opposition party has leveled an accusation against the government that by launching a tax investigation of the media it is in effect waging a war against the press. The government retorts that the tax investigation is a routine matter,...
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2001

Plunge of Nikkei spells more trouble for banks

The plunge of the key Nikkei 225 index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange to a 151/2-year low on Friday brings additional risks for Japanese banks, which are facing escalating pressure to write off bad loans as it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2001

Japan, South Korea firms see bigger benefits in forging more alliances

Kyodo News Relations between Japanese and South Korean business enterprises have deepened in the past two or three years with increases in business alliances and joint ventures as well as full-scale sales offensives in the Japanese market by firms such as Hyundai Motor Co.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2001

Jobless rate stays at 4.9%; spending remains in a lull

Dour economic indicators released Friday provided further evidence that Japan's economic recovery is stalling, with unemployment staying at a record-high level of 4.9 percent in January and consumer spending remaining flat.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2001

Budget wins approval

The House of Representatives on Friday approved the 82.65 trillion yen state budget for fiscal 2001, a move guaranteeing its enactment in time for the April 1 start of the fiscal year.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2001

Murakami arrested over bribes

Prosecutors on Thursday arrested Masakuni Murakami, a powerful member of the LDP who quit the party last week in the midst of an ongoing scandal, for allegedly accepting bribes from mutual aid foundation KSD.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami