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BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2000

Budget requests fall 0.2%

General-account budget requests from government ministries and agencies for fiscal 2001 totaled some 84.83 trillion yen, down 0.2 percent from the initial budget for fiscal 2000, Finance Ministry officials said Thursday.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Sep 1, 2000

Play that funky Okinawan music

Asian folk music has become a rich source for progressive club music. Hang out in one of Tokyo's happening nightspots and one is apt to hear break beats ping-ponging past Indian sitars or fluttering around Balinese gamelan. But when it comes to Okinawan min'yo or traditional music, there hasn't been...
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

Panel suggests tax breaks for gifts to nonprofit groups

A Liberal Democratic Party committee on Wednesday drew up a proposal to grant tax breaks to firms or individuals that donate to nonprofit organizations, committee officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

Foreigners need help: disaster expert

Tokyo lacks effective policies to help foreign residents survive a massive disaster, which is one of the most urgent challenges facing the metropolitan government, a special antidisaster adviser to Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

10 trillion yen extra budget urged

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's top policymaker on Wednesday urged the government to draw up a supplementary budget of more than 10 trillion yen to spur economic growth.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

Managers wise to be disabled-friendly: speaker

Managers who recruit disabled people and work to accommodate them not only tap an underused well of talent but simultaneously create an environment that will ease the transition of able-bodied workers should they fall victim to repetitive stress injuries or other perils of the modern office.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 31, 2000

Working together for the future

It's always your choice to live for today -- Raising your voice for all life to remain
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2000

Osaka divided over Games

OSAKA -- Osaka took a big step forward in realizing its dream of hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics on Monday when it was listed among five final candidate cities.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2000

MITI budget for 2001 climbs 2.3%

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry presented its fiscal 2001 budget request Tuesday, up 2.3 percent from the previous year to 1.96 trillion yen.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2000

Requests for 2001 budget down slightly

Fiscal 2001 budget requests from ministries and agencies will total about 84.83 trillion yen, or 160 billion yen less than the initial budget for the current fiscal year, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2000

Market to clear low hurdles, creep upward

The Tokyo stock market has rebounded strongly after confirming its bottom on Aug. 4, when the 225-issue Nikkei average hit 15,666.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2000

U.S. prodigy, 15, says Japan lags in IT

Japan's information technology industry is about five years behind the United States and there is a need to rapidly promote IT education here by training teachers, a 15-year-old American business prodigy says.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2000

IT revolution must benefit all: NGO

Will information technology be utilized for the benefit of all or merely as a business tool? This is a major challenge Japan faces in implementing an IT society, according to Nami Takenaka, president of Prop Station, who spoke Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2000

20,000 fans rank animated series

Brutus magazine has released an extensive poll of Japan's best 100 animated series, based on the responses of 20,000 enthusiasts.
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2000

Life, nonlife insurers tie up

Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co. and Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. on Monday formally announced a comprehensive tieup that includes joint marketing of each other's products and integration of Dai-ichi's nonlife insurance subsidiary with Yasuda.
BUSINESS
Aug 28, 2000

E-commerce forum set for Sept. 13

A prominent U.S. business school is holding an e-commerce forum Sept. 13 at the Hilton Tokyo Hotel in Shinjuku Ward, inviting four corporate leaders engaged in e-commerce in Japan to discuss how the Internet is transforming global business management.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2000

Inamine reiterates stance on new U.S. base time limit

Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine on Friday reiterated the prefecture's demand that the central government work toward imposing a 15-year limit on the use of a new facility for the U.S. Marine Corps to be built in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, that will take over the helicopter operations of the Futenma Air Station...
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2000

Report calls for retired cops to field public complaints

The National Police Agency released a draft report Friday on reforming Japan's police force that calls for the creation of a center to handle public complaints in a bid to foster trust in the scandal-tainted force, NPA officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2000

Tokyo Internet costs almost double N.Y. charges

The cost of continuously using the Internet in Tokyo for 24 hours is nearly twice as high as that in New York, according to a survey released Friday by the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry.
COMMENTARY
Aug 26, 2000

Is the Bank of Japan right?

LONDON -- The governor of the Bank of Japan, Masaru Hayami, and the majority of the BOJ's policy council have drawn criticism from the Japanese government and leaders of Japanese industry for the decision to end the BOJ's zero-interest-rate policy. These criticisms have been echoed in the British press....
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2000

LDP sidelines 17.2 billion yen loan to China

The Liberal Democratic Party said Thursday that it will postpone approval of a plan to loan 17.2 billion yen to China to protest recent Chinese naval activity in and around Japanese territorial waters, LDP officials said.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2000

Imports outpace exports as surplus drops 19.3%

Japan's trade surplus fell 19.3 percent in July from a year earlier to 1 trillion yen as the increase in imports outpaced that of exports, maintaining the seesaw pattern that has prevailed over the past several months, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2000

RCC waiving billions of yen in debts

The Resolution and Collection Corp. has given up its claims on loans worth dozens of billions of yen it inherited from failed financial institutions since its inception in April 1999, it was learned Thursday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 24, 2000

Where new discoveries and old favorites await

For exploring the world of sake, nothing is more helpful than a reliable sake retailer with a wide and varying selection. There are many such retailers in all parts of Japan, and developing a good relationship with one is key.
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2000

Pride before a fall

After a nine-day rescue operation that transfixed the world, the Russian government announced Monday that all 118 crew members of the downed submarine Kursk were dead. An international rescue team discovered that all the compartments in the vessel were flooded; it is likely that almost all of the crew...

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