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EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2000

Public works should serve the public

Highly conscious of public criticism of the role played by public-works projects in its politics, the Liberal Democratic Party is overhauling the much-maligned system. The party is supposed to be trying to phase out programs that have outlived their usefulness and to classify those related to information...
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2000

Trade framework for Asia requires neighborhood effort

On July 19 the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) held the fifth Asian Neighbors' Forum, with participants freely ex- changing opinions over two main themes -- "Searching for a new model of Asian regional cooperation" and "The progress of globalization and cooperation among Asian...
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2000

Mori urges Arafat to wait on statehood

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Friday urged visiting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not to unilaterally declare statehood for his fledgling nation even if peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine fail to come to a conclusion by the Sept. 13 deadline.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2000

Military incursions end China loans

In response to recent Chinese naval operations near Japanese territorial waters, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday decided not to extend around 17.2 billion yen in special loans to China, LDP officials said.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 7, 2000

Muslims under fire in Russian Far East

PETROPAVLOSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia -- When Usman Usmanov laid the cornerstone of the first mosque in the Russian Far East last summer, he was thrilled to see the start of a spiritual center for 30,000 Muslims in the Kamchatka region.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 6, 2000

It's Delhi's move in Kashmir

India recently celebrated the first anniversary of victory over Pakistan-backed incursion into the Kargil sector of Kashmir. Some victory: The two had faced off in the most dangerous nuclear confrontation since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. They have gone to full-scale war three times already and...
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2000

Mori stresses IT as path to self-sustained recovery

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori opened a 13-day extraordinary Diet session Friday by renewing pledges to exert leadership to put the economy on a self-sustained recovery track. He also pledged to work on structural reforms by promoting the development of information technology.
EDITORIALS
Jul 26, 2000

The latest summer hazard

The end of the rainy season has brought the high temperatures and soaring humidity that typify Japanese summers everywhere except at mountain resorts or in Hokkaido. It also brings a risk most people seldom seem to consider: the very real danger of food poisoning.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2000

Summit Mori's career high?

NAGO, Okinawa Pref. — Concluding the Group of Eight summit with a smile under the scorching sun, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori may boast he has cleared a key hurdle for his administration — but it is just one hurdle of many.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2000

Long wait for 2,000 yen bank note finally over

The Bank of Japan on Wednesday began distributing 2,000 yen bank notes, the country's first new bill in 42 years, to financial institutions at its head office in Tokyo's Nihonbashi district.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2000

North Okinawa mixed on planned military-civilian airport

NAGO, Okinawa Pref. -- From a tiny desert island off the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab, Takuma Higashionna looks out over the coral reef amid clear water.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2000

Diet to meet on taxpayer Sogo bailout

Diet committees will hold extraordinary sessions July 17-18 to scrutinize the planned public-funded bailout of ailing department store operator Sogo Co., legislators said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2000

Nikkei claims heavy dealing linked to SQ fixation day

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. said Wednesday that a special quotation fixation day was a major factor behind the heavy trading of specific issues during the two days before the announcement of a change in the benchmark Nikkei stock average's components in April, denying a report linking the deals to...
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2000

Japan's voters call for change

Voters apparently called for a change in the nation's politics in Sunday's elections for the House of Representatives. The Democratic Party of Japan consolidated its position as the No. 1 opposition party by winning an additional 35 seats, although it failed to win enough votes to allow it to establish...
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2000

Coalition parties stand by Mori

Despite the setback that the ruling bloc suffered at the hands of the public in Sunday's election for the House of Representatives, top leaders of the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition allies agreed Monday that Yoshiro Mori should stay on as prime minister.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

Coalition wins a stable majority

The Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling triumvirate suffered a major setback but managed to secure a comfortable majority in the Lower House in Sunday's general election.
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2000

Age is not all that matters

With the volume favored by candidates' loudspeaker cars, it can be difficult to tell what issues they are addressing in the campaign leading up to Sunday's election for the House of Representatives. Both the ruling and opposition parties are engaging in the usual name-calling and sloganeering and not...
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2000

Expat candidates enter the political fray

As campaigning for Sunday's Lower House election heats up, two candidates are lucky to have a guaranteed point of interest — one comes from Finland, the other from China.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 18, 2000

The end for Kim Jong Il?

My trip to North Korea 11 years ago was one of the most depressing times in my whole life. I have never seen a sadder country. It was not simply an issue of appalling poverty: In 1989, the shelves of stores in Moscow were also barren, and Beijing still sported a maze of miniature slums -- the notorious...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Domestic violence law sought

Japan needs to enact a law to recognize domestic violence as a crime and keep abusive husbands away from victimized women, according to the head of HELP Asian Women's Shelter, a private organization that provides emergency refuge for abused women.
EDITORIALS
Jun 10, 2000

ABCs of the Microsoft decision

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson delivered his long-anticipated ruling in the Microsoft antitrust suit earlier this week. To no one's surprise, he ordered that the software giant be split in two. Microsoft will now appeal. The case is likely to take a special "fast track" to the U.S....
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2000

G8 chiefs' wives to pray for peace at memorial

The wives of the leaders of the Group of Eight nations will visit a peace memorial in Okinawa while in the prefecture for the G8 summit slated for July 21-23, government sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2000

U.S. mulling Net tax, adviser to Bush says

Visiting Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, a special adviser on information technology to Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, suggested Monday that the United States may introduce some kind of Internet taxation.
COMMENTARY
Jun 6, 2000

Korean challenges for Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung agreed in their talks in Seoul May 29 that the two nations should coordinate their policies toward North Korea. Mori and Kim also concurred that the North-South Korea summit in Pyongyang, which begins June 12, and the ongoing...
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2000

Legal experts argue for use of jury system in Japan

Lay participation in criminal courts opens up the inner workings of justice administration and forces the parties to take more active roles in trials, legal experts at a five-day conference that kicked off Thursday in Tokyo said.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2000

Tokyo has say on Lee visit: Taipei

Lo Fu-chen, Taiwan's new representative in Japan, on Wednesday expressed Taipei's hope to realize former President Lee Teng-hui's visit to Japan with due consideration showed for Tokyo's diplomatic position.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2000

Panel looks to ease new tax burden on small firms

The Tax Commission's subpanel on local corporate taxation wrapped up re-examination of its new local corporate-tax proposal Friday, adding a few technical ideas to its earlier report released last July.
JAPAN
May 11, 2000

School has an ear for Korean language

Every eye in the classroom is fixed on Shinji Kurosawa's lips. " 'Pul gogi,' repeat after me," instructs the Korean language teacher.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2000

BOJ mulls end to zero-interest policy

Policymakers at the Bank of Japan are close to concluding discussions on when to terminate the bank's zero-interest rate policy, the central bank's deputy governor told a parliamentary committee Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 10, 2000

Bad parents to be denied access to their kids

The Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday endorsed a government-proposed draft of a bill that calls for restricting the rights of parents who abuse their children to see or talk with them.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.