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JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

DPJ vows to raise taxes in 15-pillar election plan

The Democratic Party of Japan announced Thursday its 15-pillar election pledge that includes increasing income tax — a move that has previously won support from Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

Official or not, English a must for Japan leaders: symposium

The proposal to make English Japan's official second language has been hotly debated over the past few months, but panelists at a recent symposium say it is Japan's leaders — not necessarily the general public — who need to master the language.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2000

Daiwa Bank group picked to buy Namihaya by FRC

The government's Financial Reconstruction Commission on Wednesday decided to sell the collapsed Namihaya Bank to the Daiwa Bank group, commission sources said.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2000

Motion to censure Mori voted down

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, immediately after fending off a censure vote submitted by the opposition in the Upper House, was hit with a no-confidence motion in the lower chamber Wednesday over his controversial remark that Japan is a "divine nation centered on the Emperor."
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2000

Daihyaku Life told to cease operations

The Financial Supervisory Agency announced Wednesday that it has ordered Daihyaku Mutual Life Insurance Co. to suspend operations -- the third collapse in the nation's life insurance sector.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
May 31, 2000

Environmental links

[email protected]/pressreleases/toxics/2000may19.htmlFour Greenpeace activists were recently thrown in a Tokyo jail on trespassing charges; they had unfurled a banner from a water tower proclaiming Tokyo to be the world's dioxin capital. Here the group explains why it wants to decloak the Japanese government's...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 31, 2000

Musical festivals

It's time again for the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto. The first was held nine years ago when many outstanding Japanese musicians gathered together, as they have every year since, to honor their teacher, Hideo Saito, with a combined musical performance.
JAPAN
May 30, 2000

State denies Okinawa deals with U.S. ever took place

The government on Monday denied a report by a major Japanese daily that Japan paid about $200 million to the United States in clandestine deals over the May 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japanese rule.
JAPAN
May 30, 2000

Global warming to strike hard: IPCC

Global warming may cause large-scale flooding after 2100, leading to water shortages and the spread of infectious diseases, according to the draft of a report to be issued next year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2000

Dollar likely to weaken against yen this week

Kyodo News The U.S. dollar is likely to weaken against the yen this week, helped by the return of market bulls expecting a stronger Japanese economy.
JAPAN
May 29, 2000

G7 finance ministers to back creation of Internet sales tax

Finance ministers of the Group of Seven economic powers will agree on the need to tax the sale of data such as software, music and other digital information via the Internet, at their meeting scheduled for July in Fukuoka, sources close to negotiations told Kyodo News on Sunday.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2000

Job outlook rosy for 2001: survey

Employment prospects for students graduating in spring 2001 have improved for the first time in three years, thanks to a mild recovery in the economy, according to a survey by Kyodo News.
JAPAN
May 28, 2000

Miyazawa prayed at Yasukuni

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa broke the taboo of worshipping at Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to Japan's war dead, in 1992 or 1993 when he was prime minister, sources close to family members of the war dead told Kyodo News on Saturday.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2000

Nichiei in red for fiscal 1999 after loan collection outcry

OSAKA -- Nonbank moneylender Nichiei Co. said Friday that its group net balance sank into the red in fiscal 1999 for the first time since its founding in 1970, due largely to a public outcry over its loan collection methods.
JAPAN
May 27, 2000

European satellite slated to go on first H-IIA launch

Japan's H-IIA rocket will carry a European data-transmission satellite on its maiden launch, scheduled for next February, Science and Technology Agency chief Hirofumi Nakasone said Friday.
JAPAN
May 26, 2000

Mori under attack for wedding speech

Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, criticized Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Thursday for attending a wedding in 1995 at which a gang boss was present.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2000

TSE aiming to be Asia's top bourse

The new president of the Tokyo Stock Exchange said Thursday he will push to make the Tokyo stock market one of the core markets in the world, ahead of other Asia exchanges.
JAPAN
May 24, 2000

Modern society, sexual equality partners: Norway ombudsman

A Norwegian ombudsman on gender equality says utilizing the power of women is "the key to the development of a modern society."
COMMUNITY
May 24, 2000

Plutocrat's quiet country place preserved

Tonogayato Garden is located in Kokubunji, about 25 km from Tokyo Station. The garden is now owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Parks Department but was originally owned by the Iwasaki family, of Mitsubishi fame.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2000

Idemitsu Kosan considers going public

In a move heralding a major shift in its corporate philosophy, Idemitsu Kosan Co., a major oil distributor, said Tuesday it will consider going public.
COMMUNITY
May 21, 2000

Monkey mugs teacher juggling long way home

After eight months traveling in Asia, Leslie Davis is back in Japan for 2 1/2 weeks. She is using this time "to get grounded": sorting out taxes and boxes, seeing friends and reorganizing her backpack for the next stage of her journey. This will take her through Indonesia to Australia, New Zealand...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 21, 2000

Bun-chan's pitching reminiscent of Bross

The pitching of Chunichi Dragons right-hander Mel Bunch during the first six weeks of this season reminds me of the way Terry Bross was throwing for the Yakult Swallows during the second half of 1995. If you were here then, you may recall Bross, also in his first year in Japan, posted a 5-5 record through...
JAPAN
May 21, 2000

Cult used Unzen to solicit followers in Nagasaki

The founder of the Honohana Sanpogyo religious group met with the governor of Nagasaki Prefecture in the spring of 1992 and maintained that a "voice from heaven" said the eruption of Mount Unzen would stop by the year's end if prefectural residents "awaken to the real way of life," it was learned Saturday....
JAPAN
May 21, 2000

Chen seen as good for business, too

TAIPEI -- Tai Ya-Chang has just one word on his name card: "Taiwanese."
BUSINESS
May 20, 2000

End to deflation fears nearing, BOJ chief says

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Friday that an end to deflationary fears is nearing -- which may mean an end to the zero-interest rate policy -- amid a brightening picture for the Japanese economy.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight