Search - news

 
 
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2001

Murakami balks in Diet testimony

Masakuni Murakami, the former Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight at the center of a widening bribery scandal, testified under oath before the Diet on Wednesday but refused to reply to questions that he claimed could incriminate him before his possible indictment by prosecutors.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2001

Nikkei hits 29-month low

The Nikkei Stock Average plummeted to a 29-month closing low Wednesday as tumbling U.S. technology stocks and bleak data on Japan's economy dealt a double blow to the Tokyo equity market.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 1, 2001

NHK's hollow take on easy-money bubble era

What's impressive about the new Steven Soderbergh film, "Traffic," which opens here in April, is how thoroughly it presents all the ramifications of America's drug war by exclusively dramatic means: no charts, no explanations of cause and effect, no polemics. The movie's three separate plot vectors intersect...
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2001

Admiral gives apologies to families of missing

A special envoy dispatched by U.S. President George W. Bush apologized Wednesday in Tokyo to representatives of relatives of nine people still missing after the sinking of a high school fisheries training ship by a U.S. submarine.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2001

U.S. admiral apologizes over sub accident

A special envoy from Washington arrived in Japan on Tuesday afternoon to convey apologies from the United States to Japan over the Feb. 9 sinking of a Japanese high school fisheries training ship off Hawaii, which left nine Japanese missing and presumed dead.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2001

Tokyo, Seoul in extradition treaty talks

Japan is holding talks with South Korea regarding the conclusion of a bilateral extradition treaty, Justice Minister Masahiko Komura said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2001

Mori faces difficult week as KSD scandal widens

Another critical week for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori began Monday with the Upper House approving the resignation of Masakuni Murakami, one of the embattled prime minister's staunch backers.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2001

Approval rating for Mori declines to 7%

The approval rating for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in the latest Kyodo News survey is down to a mere 7 percent, a drop of 12 percentage points from a similar poll in December. His disapproval rating, meanwhile, has leaped to 82 percent from 65 percent.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2001

Approval rating for Mori declines to 7%

The approval rating for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in the latest Kyodo News survey is down to a mere 7 percent, a drop of 12 percentage points from a similar poll in December. His disapproval rating, meanwhile, has leaped to 82 percent from 65 percent.
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 27, 2001

World Cup ticket glitch: Part IV

Internet ticket sales in South Korea and Japan for the 2002 World Cup were temporarily suspended Monday morning due to a computer glitch, just one day after the start of applications following a 10-day delay.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2001

Blackmans seek privacy after ordeal

The father of murdered British hostess Lucie Blackman arrived in Japan on Monday morning, asking that the family be granted some privacy before they return to Britain with her remains and outlining a trust fund in her name.
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2001

ODA without a conscience

I was interviewed recently by a British postgraduate student who was in Tokyo to write a doctoral thesis on Japanese policies relating to official development assistance. She met a Foreign Ministry official to obtain information about Japan's ODA policy guidelines, but she said the interview was disappointing...
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 26, 2001

The bite of a Jurassic killer

A combination of advanced medical scanning techniques and sophisticated data-analysis used in engineering has revealed the biomechanics of dinosaur feeding.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2001

Railway companies divided over proposed ban on alcohol sales

Kyodo News
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2001

Railway companies divided over proposed ban on alcohol sales

Kyodo News
COMMENTARY
Feb 25, 2001

Breaking the yakuza's grip

LONDON -- The sad case of the murder of Lucy Blackman, the young British woman who was a hostess in a Roppongi bar, inevitably attracted the attention of the British media.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2001

Crown Prince marks 41st birthday

The Crown Prince on Friday celebrated his 41st birthday and said his hope for the future is that the Imperial family will have more contact with citizens to reflect current times while still maintaining ancient traditions.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2001

S&P downgrades Japan's credit

NEW YORK -- Standard & Poor's Corp. said Thursday it had lowered its long-term local and foreign currency credit ratings on Japan from AAA to AA plus.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2001

Children set up network to tackle own problems

About 700 Japanese children have established a network affiliated with the U.N. Children's Fund to study and tackle problems that they and children all over the world face.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2001

S&P downgrades Japan's credit

NEW YORK -- Standard & Poor's Corp. said Thursday it had lowered its long-term local and foreign currency credit ratings on Japan from AAA to AA plus.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2001

Children set up network to tackle own problems

About 700 Japanese children have established a network affiliated with the U.N. Children's Fund to study and tackle problems that they and children all over the world face.
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2001

Hitachi Zosen, NKK to merge shipbuilding units

Hitachi Zosen Corp. and NKK Corp. said Friday they will merge their shipbuilding operations into a fifty-fifty joint venture to be established Oct. 1, 2002, as the global industry becomes increasingly competitive.
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2001

Hitachi Zosen, NKK to merge shipbuilding units

Hitachi Zosen Corp. and NKK Corp. said Friday they will merge their shipbuilding operations into a fifty-fifty joint venture to be established Oct. 1, 2002, as the global industry becomes increasingly competitive.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2001

Return to 'zero rate' not ruled out

UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Pref. -- The Bank of Japan should not completely rule out the possibility of a return to its "zero-interest-rate" policy, a member of the central bank's Policy Board said here Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2001

Explain the collision

A troubling picture is beginning to emerge as details are revealed about conditions aboard the USS Greeneville when the submarine hit the training vessel Ehime Maru last week. That accident left nine students and instructors aboard the fisheries training ship missing -- they are presumed dead -- and...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Former Philippines chief confirms Arroyo's rule

OSAKA -- Philippines president Gloria Arroyo need not call an election to confirm the presidency she claimed just over a month ago as the people and legal institutions recognize her legitimacy, former Philippine president Fidel Ramos said here Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Former Philippines chief confirms Arroyo's rule

OSAKA -- Philippines president Gloria Arroyo need not call an election to confirm the presidency she claimed just over a month ago as the people and legal institutions recognize her legitimacy, former Philippine president Fidel Ramos said here Thursday.

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