Search - news

 
 
COMMUNITY
Jul 9, 2000

Funding films by finding housing for foreigners

Walking with Akio Sakurai to his real estate office in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, he told the story of an Indian couple -- the husband working for a major European bank -- for whom he had found an apartment. The day before they were due to sign the contract, the landlord rang and withdrew the offer. A Japanese...
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2000

Monazite storage to see no charges

People found to be in possession of monazite are not likely to be charged for failing to store the low-level radioactive material safely because laws do not cover its storage, investigative sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2000

Government set to issue report on Sogo bailout

In response to public concern, the government will draft a statement explaining the bailout of department store operator Sogo Co. with taxpayers' money, officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2000

Kamei, Torashima on donations list

Shizuka Kamei, policy chief of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Kazuo Torashima, newly appointed Defense Agency chief, are among the recipients of political donations from Wakachiku Construction Co., it was learned Friday.
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2000

State should nurture industries: Sakaiya

The government should swiftly come up with measures to nurture fledgling industries in order to accelerate Japan's economic growth, Economic Planning Agency chief Taichi Sakaiya said.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 8, 2000

Murata aiming high in Champagne Rugby

"I'd like to help our team get promoted to the top division next season," Japan international rugby player Wataru Murata said contentedly Wednesday in Tokyo after completing his first season with French League side Aviron Bayonnais in the so-called Champagne Rugby.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2000

Taiwan wary of Chen's willingness to talk

TAIPEI -- The honeymoon is over for Taiwan's new president, Chen Shui-bian. Just over a month after taking office, the man hailed as the champion of the island's independence movement has been branded a heretic by critics within his own party. Analysts in Taipei believe his willingness to pander to pressure...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

Snow asked authorities not to issue official recall

OSAKA -- Snow Brand Milk Products Co., whose low-fat milk products have caused an outbreak of food poisoning over the past week in western Japan, asked Osaka health officials earlier this week not to issue a recall order and instead allow the company to voluntarily recall products made at an Osaka plant,...
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2000

Dollar-selling pressure looms at end of half

The Bank of Japan's quarterly survey on business sentiment should have given the central bank fresh evidence of an economic recovery and justification for ending its "zero-interest-rate" policy.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

Cabinet proves widely unpopular

The disapproval rate for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is at 62 percent, a record high for a newly launched Cabinet, with support at 27 percent, a Kyodo News poll showed Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

Red Army Faction fugitive details deportation from Lebanon

Masao Adachi, one of four Japanese Red Army Faction fugitives who were deported to Japan from Lebanon and arrested upon their arrival in March, has given Kyodo News a detailed description of how they were handed over.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

Defense chief does about-face on time limit for Marine base

Newly appointed Defense Agency chief Kazuo Torashima has had to retract a remark that it would be difficult to put a 15-year time limit on the use of a new airport for the U.S. Marines to be built in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

Albright to miss G8 to focus on Mideast summit

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Thursday told Foreign Minister Yohei Kono that she will skip the Group of Eight foreign ministers' meeting in Japan to focus on next week's Middle East summit in the United States.
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2000

IT, finance system reform on Fukuoka G7 agenda

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and his counterparts from the Group of Seven economic powers will meet Saturday in Fukuoka and discuss the policy implications of information technology, international financial system reforms and debt-relief programs for poor countries.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2000

Mori seeks a 'reborn Japan'

A day after the launch of his new Cabinet, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori stressed his determination Wednesday to create a "reborn Japan" by improving the economy and promoting the development of information technology.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2000

More tainted Snow Brand milk located

OSAKA -- Snow Brand Milk Products Co., whose low-fat milk was blamed for widespread food-poisoning in western Japan last week, may have tried to cover up the possible contamination of other products, police sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 6, 2000

Law inhibits election coverage and debate

Prior to the Lower House elections June 25, commentators both here and abroad complained that the parties weren't putting forth concrete proposals, but instead only vague assurances that they would rebuild the economy and return Japan to its former glory as the world's last bastion of civility.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2000

Snow lied after milk-poisoning case

OSAKA -- Officials of Snow Brand Milk Products Co. on Tuesday said that a valve at an Osaka production facility found to be contaminated with a toxin-causing bacteria was used almost every day, and not rarely as it had claimed Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2000

Newly appointed ministers announce policy priorities

The ministers appointed to the second Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori announced their priority tasks in separate press conferences Tuesday evening.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 5, 2000

The Plain of Jars: A place of war and death

PHONSAVAN, Laos -- It should be hard to go missing on the Plain of Jars. But hundreds have.
COMMENTARY
Jul 5, 2000

Advancing smartly backward

LONDON -- It is an old American saying that "the pioneer is the one who gets the arrow in his back." So when President Jacques Chirac of France recently proposed a "pioneering" project to bring France and Germany still closer together at the political level and, as he put it, to "move further and faster...
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2000

Toll from contaminated milk passes 7,000

OSAKA -- Over 7,000 people had been affected by food poisoning as of Monday after drinking low-fat milk marketed by Snow Brand Milk Products Co., while only 15 percent of the milk subject to recall had been retrieved.
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2000

DIC's bailout of Sogo draws S&P warning

Standard & Poor's on Monday criticized the Deposit Insurance Corp. decision last week to help bail out ailing department store chain Sogo Co., calling the move "potentially hazardous" to the nation's efforts toward financial reform.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2000

Mori re-elected prime minister, selects his new Cabinet

A majority of House of Representatives members voted to have Mori -- president of the Liberal Democratic Party -- keep the prime ministership as the Diet convened for a three-day special session. Mori was also re-elected prime minister by the House of Councilors.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2000

Snow Brand shuts down factory after low-fat milk infected

OSAKA -- The Osaka Municipal Government ordered Snow Brand Milk Products Co. to halt operations at its Osaka factory, where processed low-fat milk has been found responsible for sickening nearly 7,000 people.

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