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JAPAN
Oct 20, 1999

Osaka mayor to seek second term

OSAKA -- Osaka Mayor Takafumi Isomura on Wednesday formally announced his intention to seek a second term of office.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 20, 1999

Trying times for bees

VANCOUVER, Canada -- For millions of years, honeybees have been doing what they do best -- transforming the nectar from blossoms into thick, sweet honey. Since the development of agriculture, they have also been ensuring that the pollination necessary for the production of the world's fruits and vegetables...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1999

Tokyo appeals to WTO over U.S. duties on steel

In a move that is likely to anger Washington and stir up controversy in the forthcoming round of global trade talks, Tokyo decided Wednesday to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the U.S. decision in June to impose anti-dumping duties on Japanese hot-rolled steel imports.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

Japan's biggest nonlife insurer scheduled for 2002

Marine & Fire Insurance Co., Nippon Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and Koa Fire & Marine Insurance Co. formally announced Tuesday they will form a holding company by April 2002 to create the nation's largest nonlife insurer.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

Dioxin levels fall but benzene still above limits

Dioxin levels in air throughout Japan improved in 1998, but levels of benzene -- a potent carcinogen found in automobile exhaust -- are still above government safety levels, according to the government's most comprehensive survey of harmful airborne chemicals.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Nissan Motor to cut five factories, 21,000 jobs

Nissan Motor Co. revealed Monday a drastic restructuring plan that includes closing five factories and slashing 21,000 jobs worldwide.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

A dream to revive the woolly mammoth

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Usui to monitor Dow's effect

The Finance Ministry intends to keep a careful watch on how Friday's plunge in the New York stock market could affect the Japanese economy, Vice Finance Minister Nobuaki Usui said Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Fukaya says a united front crucial at WTO trade talks

Trade chief Takashi Fukaya reiterated his determination Friday to seek a united front with the European Union and other economies against Washington's agriculture-oriented strategy in upcoming trade liberalization talks, scheduled to start in Seattle late next month.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Negotiations stall over sale of Toho Mutual

The Life Insurance Association of Japan has given up on its plan to sell the failed Toho Mutual Life Insurance Co. by the end of this year, association chairman Tomijiro Morita said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

'No more friction' with BOJ, Miyazawa says

The apparent friction between the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Japan over monetary policy has ended following the bank's clear announcement Wednesday on monetary easing, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Convenience stores in race for Y2K compliance

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Professor calls for legal panel to aid media victims

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Mission to scout East Timor aid flights

The Japanese government will send a six-day mission to West Timor on Sunday to study whether Self-Defense Forces aircraft can be used to transport supplies from Indonesia to East Timorese refugees, Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1999

Palestinians to open Japan office

The Palestinian Authority hopes to establish a representative office in Japan in the near future, a minister of the authority said Thursday in Tokyo.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Oct 10, 1999

Loyalty

A gentleman writes with great affection about his hairbrush. It is, he says, a very nice, heavy hairbrush with a teak back and it is in need of new boar bristles, not surprising since he has used it for 20 years. He hopes to find a shop that can do this kind of work, but where?
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Skeletons in Yeltsin's closet

The debate over who lost Russia is intensifying as the U.S. presidential election draws near. Although the United States' policies toward post-Soviet Russia have been bipartisan, politicians sense that Vice President Al Gore is especially vulnerable because of his cochairmanship of the Gore-Chernomyrdin...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Chongqing leads the next China boom

Japan is poised to lead foreign investment in the next important phase of China's development, centered on Chongqing, an inland city whose name most outsiders have never heard.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Kono pines for Yeltsin's Japan visit

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono reiterated Tokyo's earnest hope Friday that a date can be set soon for Russian President Boris Yeltsin's visit to Japan -- a long-delayed bilateral summit expected to take place by the end of this year.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Hospital staff punished for patient's death

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Friday issued punitive measures against the director of a municipal hospital and nine employees in connection with a patient's death in February caused by a disinfectant drip.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Asahi, Tokai move up merger

Asahi Bank and Tokai Bank announced Thursday they will integrate their operations under a holding company next October -- moving up their original schedule by more than a year.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Cabinet Interview: FRC chief favors safe approach

Staff writer
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 1999

Back to the brink in Indonesia

"What we have now in Indonesia is the same old New Order without Suharto. Nothing is really changing."
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 1999

More reform needed to underpin Japan's economic recovery

Japan has made important progress in recent years in the area of regulatory and other structural reforms, but there is an urgent need for further and more rapid progress to strengthen future Japanese growth and prosperity.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Cut in broker commissions to bring unheralded competition

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Campaign for Anti-Aum law to continue

The government remains committed to its plan to draw up a new law to specifically restrict the activities of Aum Shinrikyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Aum cultist given death sentence for part in subway attack

A senior Aum Shinrikyo member was sentenced to death Thursday for releasing deadly nerve gas on the Tokyo subway system in March 1995 and for illegally manufacturing a rifle.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Aum followers held in raid; confinements alleged

A current and former member of Aum Shinrikyo were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of detaining a female follower who attempted to escape from a cult facility in Kiso-Fukushima, Nagano Prefecture, police said.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Computer grandmas enter digital age at jijibaba.com

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 29, 1999

Kabutoyama called case of judicial shame

The Kabutoyama case, an unprecedented trial in which a former nursery school teacher has stood in the shadow of suspicion for a quarter of a century over the death of one of her mentally disabled charges, is an open invitation to harsh criticism.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo