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JAPAN
Dec 26, 2000

More redress proposed for crime victims

A National Police Agency panel on Monday recommended a steep rise in payments by the government to people victimized by crime and to the next of kin of those killed.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2000

Debit card venture set for debut

Eleven major firms and banks -- including Sony Corp., NTT DoCoMo Inc., Sakura Bank and Toyota Motor Corp. -- announced Monday that they will set up a joint venture next month to provide a prepaid electronic money service in an effort to realize a cashless society in Japan.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2000

Economy may not feel stock market's pain: EPA

The Economic Planning Agency on Monday reckoned that the downward trend in Tokyo stock prices might not have a negative impact on the overall economy.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2000

Cabinet approves 2001 budget

The Cabinet on Sunday approved an 82.65 trillion yen general-account budget for fiscal 2001 that is aimed at ensuring the nation's recovery from the prolonged economic slump.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2000

OECD set to impose tax on Net distribution

Member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are likely to impose a value-added tax on software distributors when they import music and images through the Internet, OECD sources in Tokyo said Saturday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 25, 2000

World fisheries collapsing as technology and demand soar

As this is the season of giving, here is a gift, a riddle:
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2000

Woman battles unfair rental practices

SHINGU, Hyogo Pref. -- When Suzuko Miura learned in March she would be returned only 34,181 yen of the 98,000 yen deposit she had paid on her son's Kyoto apartment, she refused to go down without a fight.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 24, 2000

Shinjo: Can he live up to media hype in New York?

played up the coverage of the signing of free agent Tsuyoshi Shinjo by the New York Mets last week. "He'll be the opening day starting center fielder," said one paper about the former Hanshin Tigers star. "He'll bat sixth in the lineup," read another. While it's nice to know they have high hopes for...
COMMUNITY
Dec 24, 2000

The miraculous manifestation of a man of the cloth at Xmas

T'was 10 days before Christmas, and all through the house . . . complete and utter panic! Who to interview for Christmas Eve? Jim Carey (promoting his seasonal movie "The Grinch") has come and gone -- along with most of the foreign community (for the holiday break). As for the Japanese, they are all...
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2000

Town's win against dam had a cost

KITO, Tokushima Pref. -- This remote village lies along the upper stream of the 125-km Naka River.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2000

DPJ to seek 30% cut in public works spending

Executives of the Democratic Party of Japan adopted a pledge Thursday to seek a 30 percent cut in public works expenditures over five years in the runup to next summer's House of Councilors election.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Dentsu announces first-half profit

Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency, on Thursday announced consolidated net profit of 14.15 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2000.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Mori taps tech sector for IT advice

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has informally selected 10 people, including Sony Corp. Chairman Nobuyuki Idei, as members of his new team of Cabinet advisers for the government's information technology drive, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

Auto pact talks end in stalemate

Compiled from Kyodo, staff reports
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

Nikkei falls below 14,000

The main gauge on the Tokyo Stock Exchange tumbled below 14,000 for the first time in 22 months Wednesday, dragged down by fears of slowdowns in the U.S. and domestic economies.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

ODA cuts mark move to efficiency

The draft fiscal 2001 budget presented Wednesday calls for reducing Japan's official development assistance to developing countries while attempting to improve the efficiency of outlays.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

83 trillion yen budgeted for 2001

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Wednesday unveiled a draft general-account budget for fiscal 2001 that is smaller than its predecessor for the first time in three years but will nevertheless leave Japan 666 trillion yen in debt.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2000

Kim, de Gaulle: visionary but vulnerable

SEOUL -- South Korean President Kim Dae Jung returns from Norway and Sweden this week with his Nobel Prize in hand, having secured his place on the world stage. But at home, he faces a nation deeply divided over his "sunshine policy," deeply troubled over its economic prospects and enveloped in a social...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2000

Time once again for Russia's perennial heating crisis

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- The communist central planners who designed modern Russia's infrastructure devised a system of boiling water kilometers from where it is needed, running it through aboveground pipes across a region where temperatures can drop as low as minus 40 C -- and expected this to warm the...
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 21, 2000

One tall organic latte, please

If you started your day with a cup of coffee, think about how you selected the beans for your brew. Perhaps they were on sale, or your favorite roast from Brazil or Colombia. Chances are, however, you didn't have the option of buying organically farmed coffee.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2000

Hope gleaned from 'tankan' doom, gloom

The Bank of Japan's latest quarterly survey of business sentiment has shed light on two important aspects of economic fundamentals.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Dec 20, 2000

Walking along the edge of civilization

Done the Great Wall of China? Try the Great Wall of England. It's arguably the finest Roman monument north of the Alps.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 20, 2000

Gifts galore for the gadget lover

Japan constantly churns out high-tech gadgets, and Christmas is a great time to buy the best.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2000

Economic panel to be disbanded lists failures

A soon-to-be-disbanded top government advisory panel issued a report Monday reflecting on its failure to quickly deal with major economic changes such as the information technology boom and the collapse of the asset-price bubble that depressed the economy through the 1990s.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

Mori allots 250 billion yen toward IT 'revolution'

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Monday unveiled the breakdown of a 700 billion yen special budget that places special emphasis on efforts to realize an information technology "revolution" in Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2000

Societal barriers facing disabled may prove the most formidable

As deputy chief of the Japanese delegation at the Sydney Paralympic Games this summer, Tsunenobu Wakana was impressed with the handicapped-friendly facilities and transportation system.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2000

Violent movie opens despite protest

A controversial Japanese movie that features a series of fights to the death between junior high school students opened Saturday at cinemas nationwide.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2000

Aid for crime victims inadequate, poll finds

About 76 percent of Japanese think government measures to protect and support crime victims are inadequate, according to a survey by the Prime Minister's Office released Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2000

Japan, U.S. urged to forget trade spats and rethink focus

Japan and the United States should shift the focus of their economic relationship away from coping with individual trade issues and toward creating a more business-friendly environment, according to a still-classified Foreign Ministry report.

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