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JAPAN
Nov 6, 2000

Mori relieved at hostages' release, hopes for safe return

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said Sunday he wishes a safe return to Japan for a group of Japanese tourists freed unharmed Saturday after a nearly nine-hour hijacking ordeal in Greece.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2000

Panel seeks new legislation on diesel exhaust emissions

An Environment Agency advisory panel wants the government to revise legislation controlling nitrogen oxide emissions to include diesel exhaust particulate matter, according to a copy of a report obtained by Kyodo News on Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 5, 2000

Mori administration reeling

The administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is in crisis, visibly weakened by the resignation of Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa over a drug-related extramarital affair.
JAPAN
Nov 4, 2000

Nissan manual tells how to hide secrets in pop inspections

A Nissan Motor Co. manual tells workers how to contact management if Transport Ministry officials show up for unannounced inspections and also instructs them to essentially hide information from inspectors.
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 3, 2000

FIFA likely to get 2002 tax exemption

The Japanese government plans to exempt soccer's world governing body FIFA from taxes on profits from commercial projects related to the 2002 World Cup, mostly by utilizing existing taxation measures, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2000

Pollees want rows resolved before ties normalized

More than 80 percent of respondents to a Kyodo News telephone poll on Japan's efforts to normalize ties with North Korea want the government to ensure bilateral disputes are resolved before negotiations are concluded.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2000

Web site gets volcano evacuees online and in touch

Hiroyuki Noda never imagined that he would become a messenger for fellow Miyake Island residents when he bought a personal computer six years ago to keep books for his inn and diving shop.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 3, 2000

Throwing out complication to embrace simple life

Reflecting the downbeat mood in Japan, book sales continue to be sluggish, especially of hardcover books and serious fiction.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2000

Mori's support rating sinks to a paltry 18%

Popular support of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has taken another dive, this time to the paltry figure of 18 percent, a survey by Kyodo News showed Wednesday.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2000

Medical professor held for taking recruiting bribes

OSAKA -- A 65-year-old professor emeritus of Nara Medical University was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of receiving bribes from a private hospital director in exchange for helping the hospital recruit young doctors, investigative sources said.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Nov 2, 2000

Kim's diplomatic slam dunk

Good news from North Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright presented North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il with a basketball autographed by Michael Jordan; the dictator treated the diplomat to a spectacular theatrical performance. Rejoice: Peace in East Asia is at hand.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Nov 2, 2000

The closest U.S. presidential election in 40 years

WASHINGTON --The latest polls show that the U.S. presidential candidates are very close, with a slight edge for Texas Gov. George W. Bush. The Electoral College is also evenly divided, although Vice President Al Gore had maintained a small advantage for weeks. Now it is also within the statistical margins...
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2000

Kono hopes for passage of nuclear ban proposal

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono expressed hope Tuesday that a nuclear elimination draft resolution Japan submitted to the U.N. Millennium General Assembly's committee on disarmament will be adopted in the upcoming vote.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2000

Seven injured in Tokai quake

A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 jolted the Tokai region early Tuesday, injuring seven people in Mie, Aichi, Gifu and Nara prefectures.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2000

The rising price of knowledge

BEIJING -- It should have been party time on the bright summer day 18-year-old Li Junliang was accepted by prestigious Beijing University. Fewer than one in 10 of China's students secure places at any of the country's crowded colleges and universities, let alone the Oxford University of China. But the...
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2000

Pyongyang came to us for aid: Fukuda

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda on Monday insisted that North Korea in 1997 proposed that Japan provide 500,000 tons of rice to the famine-stricken country.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2000

Lawmaker reveals Mori made rice vow

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori secretly promised North Korea 500,000 tons of rice aid in 1997 when he visited Pyongyang as the head of a delegation composed of Japan's three then-ruling parties, the head of a small opposition party told Kyodo News on Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 30, 2000

Zhu puts relations to rights

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to Tokyo this month marked a turning point in Sino-Japanese relations, which have been strained for the past two years as a result of disagreements over wartime history. In a Tokyo news conference Oct. 16, Zhu said the Japanese people, as well as the Chinese, were "victims...
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2000

Japan hopeful ahead of North Korea talks

Japan and North Korea will hold talks in Beijing from Monday, with the focus of discussions likely to be on North Korean demands for compensation for Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2000

Once 'golf course heaven,' Hyogo now at opposite extreme

KOBE -- Hyogo Prefecture, with the largest number of golf courses on Honshu, has a reputation as the country's golf heaven.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2000

Sexism remains a rampant social disease

I am fortunate to be able to count among my relatives a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Felix Frankfurter. Felix, appointed to the court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was a cousin on my mother's side of the family and, needless to say, far removed from me in age.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Pyongyang talks strategy: take it slow

Japan will try to narrow differences and seek points on which both sides can agree in bilateral normalization talks with North Korea next week, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Friday.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 28, 2000

Ogiwara not fazed by change in rules

Japan's two-time Nordic combined World Cup skiing champion Kenji Ogiwara said Thursday that he's ready for the upcoming season, despite a change in the rules.
EDITORIALS
Oct 27, 2000

Car-safety promises unfulfilled

Japan's crowded highways, limited parking spaces and high gasoline prices would seem likely to discourage all but the most determined drivers. Yet a glance at any busy urban road makes it clear that Japan is still a nation that considers endurance, if not patience, a leading virtue. It is good to know...

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