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JAPAN
May 19, 2001

Slovenian envoy calls for investment

The top Slovenian envoy to Japan called Friday for the opening of a Japanese Embassy in the European country to help promote Japanese investment and bilateral exchanges.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2001

BOJ increases its efforts to give money to banks

The Bank of Japan said Friday that it will make two-, four-, five- and six-year government notes subject to its regular market operations staring next month.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 19, 2001

Satellite radio: a commuter's best friend

Ever wonder how Japanese people can sleep on trains? Ever wonder how they know exactly when to wake up at their stop? I've finally figured it out: They're not really sleeping. They're listening to satellite radio. Satellite-radio stations offer a variety of programs, many of them designed with Japan's...
BUSINESS
May 18, 2001

IYBank eyes regional tieups to expand ATM network

IYBank, a new bank specializing in automated services, will actively seek tieups with regional banks, IYBank President Takashi Anzai said.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2001

Nissan posts record profit in fiscal 2000

Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday it posted record group net profits of 331.1 billion yen for fiscal 2000.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2001

Man on street more optimistic

The economic outlook of workers with jobs particularly sensitive to economic shifts showed an improvement in April for the first turnaround in three months, the Cabinet Office said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2001

BOJ expected to mull ways to boost market liquidity

The Bank of Japan Policy Board was expected to discuss the central bank's growing difficulties in increasing market liquidity during its two-day meeting that began Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Corporate bankruptcies soared in April

The number of corporate bankruptcies in April hit 1,631, climbing 4.4 percent for the first year-on-year rise in two months, a private research institute said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

Softbank chief No. 3 taxpayer

Softbank Corp. President Masayoshi Son ranked as Japan's third-largest individual taxpayer in 2000, up from 16th in 1999, the National Tax Administration said Wednesday in an annual report listing the top 100 taxpayers.
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

IOC: Osaka can continue bid

From wire and staff reports The IOC late Wednesday decided in Lausanne, Switzerland, to let Osaka and Istanbul, Turkey, stay in the race for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2001

DoCoMo sets another bond issue

NTT DoCoMo Inc., the nation's dominant provider of cellular phone services, said Tuesday it plans to raise 120 billion yen through 10-year bonds with coupons of 1.43 percent.
CULTURE / Film
May 16, 2001

Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?

Actor Christian Bale probably has more fans in Tokyo than at home in the U.K., given the splash that "Velvet Goldmine" had in this "visual-kei" obsessed town. Fans of the fey beautiful boy Bale played in that film, though, may be surprised to see him pumped up and wielding a mean chain saw in "American...
JAPAN
May 16, 2001

Tokyo eatery an Ainu specialty

A restaurant in Tokyo has been sending out a simple but poignant message for more than seven years: It's not bad to be Ainu.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2001

Enron executive seeks lower power rates

Japanese industries could save 4 trillion yen a year in energy costs if electricity charges were lowered to European and U.S. levels, a senior executive of U.S. energy firm Enron Corp. said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2001

There goes the neighborhood. . . into the future

Until last week, I thought there were basically three types of factories: oily old clunkers where maybe the beaten-down workers go on strike and a gritty hero emerges who is played by Jeff Bridges in the made-for-television movie; gleaming, robot-dominated technological wonders; and grim Third World...
JAPAN / EMBASSY ROW
May 15, 2001

Unaware Japan digging into Canadian produce

Want a taste of Canada while in Japan? According to Ambassador Leonard Edwards, all you have to do is dig into a plate of pasta, bite into a sandwich or use canola oil in your cooking.
EDITORIALS
May 15, 2001

Plans for NTT overhaul fall short

Two revision bills now before the Diet, designed to update the laws governing telecommunications business, do not go far enough to meet the demands of a competitive market. In December last year, the Telecommunications Council, a government advisory panel, called for a review of the NTT group's holding-company...
BUSINESS
May 15, 2001

Nonresident investors slow their buying

Nonresident investors remained net buyers of Japanese stocks in fiscal 2000, but the net purchase amount was the smallest since fiscal 1990, when Japan's stock market bubble collapsed, the Finance Ministry said Monday in a report compiled on a settlement basis.
JAPAN
May 15, 2001

Tanaka reverses stance on history texts

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, in a reversal of her earlier remarks, told the Diet Monday that further revision of controversial history textbooks that have already been approved by education authorities will be difficult.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2001

NTT launches Internet certification exam

About 25,000 people took a computer test Sunday conducted by NTT Communications Corp. to receive a certificate of qualification in information technology.
EDITORIALS
May 13, 2001

Short guide to a long career

An old man died in Nebraska last week. The event was noted briefly in newspapers across America, and people reading about it over their breakfasts probably experienced two sensations: a moment of surprise and then a rush of wry, affectionate memories. The old man's name was Clifton Keith Hillegass, not...
CULTURE / Books
May 13, 2001

When the nightmare broke through: "Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche"

UNDERGROUND: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, by Haruki Murakami. Translated by Alfred Birnbaum and Philip Gabriel. Random House, Vintage International; 366 pp., $14.
JAPAN
May 13, 2001

Maglev link between Osaka, Tokyo starts to move forward

A plan to operate magnetically levitated -- or maglev -- trains between Tokyo and Osaka in one hour at speeds of up to 500 kph is moving ahead, with the government starting a feasibility study.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2001

The hallucinogenic security of nuclear mushroom clouds

When former U.S. President Bill Clinton was recently in India, the story goes, he was walking along the beach one evening in a contemplative mood. Spying an object sticking out of the ground, he pulled it out, gave it a rub to see what it was and found it was a brass lamp. True to form, a genie appeared...
EDITORIALS
May 12, 2001

Now it's time for specifics

During the past three days of Diet debates, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi led the charge for structural reform, taking the steam out of opposition attacks. The political dynamics in the Diet seemed to have changed suddenly, with the opposition sometimes having to go on the defensive against the enormously...
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2001

Apologizing for a slight case of genocide

LONDON -- "Not one word of apology has been heard from your lips about the Fourth Crusade," said Archbishop Christodoulos in a hectoring tone, as Pope John Paul II sat with the head of the Greek Orthodox Church last Friday just hours after his arrival in Athens. It is, after all, the age of apologizing...
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2001

The ugliness in Ukraine

Ukraine is descending deeper into political turmoil. The country has been battered by scandals that are alleged to reach as far as President Leonid Kuchma. The country's most popular politician, Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko, was booted from office last month when he lost a no-confidence vote in Parliament....
BUSINESS
May 11, 2001

Net profit at Bandai soars 906.7%

Bandai Co., Japan's largest toy maker, said Thursday its group net profit skyrocketed 906.7 percent in fiscal 2000 to 12.9 billion yen on strong sales of its character goods and one-off gains from the sale of some of its shareholdings in affiliates.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan