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JAPAN
Sep 2, 2000

Ruling parties eye bill to curb bribes

The ruling coalition has drafted a bill designed to stiffen political penalties against lawmakers who abuse their government connections to receive bribes.
EDITORIALS
Sep 2, 2000

A fragile outpost in space

There are three kinds of people in the world: those who are intrigued by and optimistic about the International Space Station; those who are outraged by and skeptical of it; and those who look blank and say, "What International Space Station?"
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2000

Tokyo disaster drill features SDF in big way

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's annual major disaster-relief drill Sunday will feature the participation of Self-Defense Forces troops on an unprecedented scale -- 7,100 service members, 1,090 vehicles, 80 aircraft and five ships -- at 10 venues throughout the capital.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2000

Miyake chief rules out total evacuation

Miyake Mayor Ko Hasegawa on Thursday said he will recommend that women, children and the elderly leave volcanic Miyake Island but ruled out an islandwide evacuation.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2000

Dollar fall probably correction, not trend

The dollar has failed to climb past the psychological resistance level of 110 yen and is now hovering around 106 yen.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2000

Japan aims to pass U.S. in IT in five years

Japanese business leaders and Cabinet members agreed Wednesday to map out a national strategy by the end of the year to promote information technology, setting a goal of outrunning the United States as a "super-express IT power" in five years.
EDITORIALS
Aug 30, 2000

Keep Iraq on the agenda

A growing number of reports suggest that Iraq is again developing ballistic missiles. Predictably, the government in Baghdad has dismissed the charge. We cannot be sure what is going on: Efforts by the United Nations to inspect Iraqi programs to develop weapons of mass destruction are still blocked by...
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Aug 30, 2000

Architects reach for the sky

www.geocities.com/PicketFence/5192/ The address above is actually a really nice metaphor. The "picket fence" it refers to is the chain formed by the world's tallest buildings. Add "center_of_india.html" to the end of the address and take a look at an artist's rendering of what some day might be the...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2000

Little reason to celebrate in East Timor

Just over a year ago, in August 1999, I was in the Baucau district of East Timor, helping to monitor the leadup to the referendum on independence as a U.N.-accredited observer with the independent International Federation for East Timor Observer Project.
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2000

Taisho Life collapses amid scandal

The Financial Services Agency on Monday ordered Taisho Life Insurance Co. to suspend its operations following the arrest earlier in the day of the head of the insurer's largest shareholder, in connection with the insurer's capital-building methods.
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.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 29, 2000

End this dysfunctional relationship

LEAVING JAPAN: Observations on the Dysfunctional U.S.-Japan Relationship. By Mike Millard. M.E. Sharpe: Armonk, NY, 2000, 200 pp., $37.95. The $79-billion question is why does the United States continue to tolerate the lopsided economic relationship with Japan that led to a such a massive trade imbalance...
EDITORIALS
Aug 27, 2000

Shattering the myth of race

When two rival scientific groups jointly announced in June that they had completed a working draft of the entire sequence of the human genome -- the genetic material found in every cell of every human being -- the achievement was rightly greeted as a milestone of modern medical research.
COMMUNITY
Aug 27, 2000

SHARE and help the world

SHARE is Japan's version of Medecins Sans Frontieres, a small nongovernment aid organization that sends volunteer doctors, nurses and health workers to assist in stricken areas abroad. It also helps those in need on the domestic front -- women involved in the sex industry and people who have overstayed...
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2000

MMC may face charges over defect coverup

The Transport Ministry is considering filing a criminal complaint against Mitsubishi Motors Corp. for violating the Road Vehicle Law by concealing information on defective vehicles, a Transport Minister Hajime Morita said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2000

Softbank gets approval to take over NCB

The Financial Reconstruction Commission on Friday officially approved the Sept. 1 transfer of the nationalized Nippon Credit Bank to a consortium led by Internet investor Softbank Corp.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2000

Digital technology casts doubt on photo evidence used in court

Courts in the future will give less credibility to photos as evidence, due to the growing quality of computer-enhanced images, the president of the world's third-largest producer of image-editing computer software said.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2000

Japan and North Korea spin wheels in normalization talks

KISARAZU, Chiba Pref. -- Japanese and North Korean negotiators resumed their 10th round of bilateral normalization talks here Thursday but failed to narrow their differences on Pyongyang's demand for an apology and redress for Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2000

The children must be protected

Increasing media coverage of horrendous cases of child abuse, complete with gruesome details of serious injury or death, seems to indicate that the problem is getting out of control in this country. Until not so long ago, an issue that was widely believed to be a private family matter received scant...
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2000

Toxic powdered milk sees Snow plant closure

SAPPORO -- The Hokkaido Prefectural Government on Wednesday ordered Snow Brand Milk Products Co. to suspend operations for an unspecified period at its plant in Taiki, Hokkaido, after discovering a bacterial toxin in samples of powdered skim milk produced there, officials said.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2000

Phones to give location-specific data

Cellular operator J-Phone Tokyo Co. said Wednesday that the J-Phone group will launch a new service in October that automatically sends geographically specific information to the screen of smart phones.
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.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Protesters demand abductees' return

Relatives and supporters of Japanese nationals allegedly abducted by North Korean agents cry "Return our family members!" at a Foreign Ministry building. Relatives and supporters of Japanese allegedly abducted by North Korean agents staged a demonstration Tuesday at a Foreign Ministry building where...
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

Mitsubishi extends recall of faulty cars as scandal widens

Mitsubishi Motor Corp. President Katsuhiko Kawasoe sweats during a Tuesday press conference at the Transport Ministry. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will recall another 88,000 vehicles following a previous recall announcement in July, admitting that the firm had been systematically hiding user...

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