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EDITORIALS
Jul 7, 2000

A new breed of workers

The traditional images of the Japanese "salaryman" and "office lady" are under threat from an unanticipated source: the young men and women expected to step into those roles. What some see as a crisis in Japan's employment picture others recognize as a potentially lasting social change. The Labor Ministry...
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2000

Official cool to NTT's call to revise law

A top posts and telecommunications regulator on Monday brushed aside a call by the head of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. to revise the law governing NTT's operations to resolve a row between Japan and the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2000

Pakistani Islamists put a lid on reform

ISLAMABAD -- There are still no signs of religious activists taking to the streets across Pakistan, but the country is once again in the grips of a new controversy over religious tenets and their application in daily life.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2000

Japan's national security policy ignores public sentiment

The impression that one gets when looking at the evolution of Japan's security policy in recent years is that the Japanese public has consented to steps taken by Tokyo. After all, that is the fundamental expectation that democracies nurture. Following this reasoning, Tokyo should be developing a security...
BUSINESS
May 23, 2000

'99 tertiary industry logs 2% growth

Activity in Japan's tertiary industries grew 2 percent in fiscal 1999 over the previous period for the first year-on-year rise in three years, according to a preliminary report issued Monday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2000

Manufacturers dying for new blood

Japan's manufacturers have a staunch ally in Tokai University Professor Hajime Karatsu.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2000

The kiwi and the kangaroo

The difference between power and influence has been a topic of debate for decades. Last year, Australia led an international peace-enforcement mission to East Timor and demonstrated a considerable military clout in the region. By any objective criterion, it is far more formidable a power than New Zealand....
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2000

Help Japan: take time off

Japan's unemployment rate remains disturbingly high, as companies step up job-cutting efforts and bankruptcies increase. Although there are signs that the economy is recovering, there are no indications that the serious job shortage is easing. The Federation of Employers Associations, in recent negotiations...
EDITORIALS
Mar 17, 2000

Even recovery will be painful

The Japanese economy faces a bumpy road. Japan's gross domestic product in the last quarter of 1999, October through December, shrank 1.4 percent from the previous three-month period, posting negative growth for two straight quarters. In annual terms, that works out to minus 5.5 percent, according to...
COMMUNITY
Mar 1, 2000

In quest of Amelia Earhart

Ric Gillespie has been chasing the same lady for more than 12 years. Now he reckons he knows where she is. If he's right -- and the evidence his foundation has collected is pretty compelling -- then one of the longest-running mysteries in the history of aviation has been solved.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2000

Additional slots at Haneda sought for Skymark, Air Do

An advisory panel to the Transport Ministry compiled a report Monday recommending that additional slots for three daily flights each be allocated to Skymark Airlines and Hokkaido International Airlines (Air Do) at Haneda airport in July. The airport in Tokyo's Ota Ward will be able to handle 57 additional...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2000

Penny-wise, pound-foolish

The Japanese government is reportedly planning to negotiate a cut in so-called "omoiyari yosan" (sympathy budget), or special host-nation support, for the U.S. forces stationed in Japan. The word "omoiyari" is left out these days, however, on the ground that it can create misunderstandings. The budget...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2000

Kono restates North Korea stance

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono reiterated Tuesday that the issue of alleged abductions of Japanese by North Korea must be resolved if Tokyo and Pyongyang aim to improve relations, a Foreign Ministry official said. Kono addressed Japan's long-standing concern over the abduction issue in his talks Tuesday...
JAPAN
Dec 13, 1999

New travel agency serves Tokyo's gays

Staff writer During his trip to the west coast of Australia in January, Shigenobu Umeki, a 40-year-old magazine editor, stayed at so-called gay accommodations, run by gay owners and staffed by gay workers. "I am always conscious of my sexual orientation when talking to people out of fear that they are...
JAPAN
Nov 16, 1999

Aceh referendum to come in seven months: Wahid

Visiting Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said Tuesday that a referendum in the country's troubled Aceh Province may be held in seven months.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 1999

Retail sales fall to 10.5 trillion yen

Retail sales dropped 2.0 percent in September from the same month a year ago to 10.57 trillion yen, extending the streak of year-on-year declines to a record 30 months, according to a preliminary report issued Wednesday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Agency reports Tokai damage but revelations continue

The Science and Technology Agency informed the International Atomic Energy Agency early Thursday that the exterior of the roof of the uranium-processing plant where Japan's worst nuclear accident occurred last week is not damaged, agency officials said.
JAPAN
Sep 27, 1999

August fuel oil sales post 4.8% rise

Domestic sales of fuel oil increased by 4.8 percent in August from a year before, reaching 19.79 million kiloliters for the first year-on-year increase in two months, according to a preliminary report issued Monday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 1, 1999

Eyes wide shut in North Korea

It's late afternoon in Beijing. Beside a gloomy, concrete platform an antiquated train lumbers into place. In the dim light, people scurry about looking for the right car. This is, in fact, important. The first four carriages are bound for Dandong, a small Chinese border town, but the last two will continue...
JAPAN
Aug 26, 1999

East Timor monitor urges a bigger global presence

A member of the U.N. volunteer team to monitor the referendum in East Timor next week called for a stronger international presence in the violence-ridden territory as the historic poll approaches.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 1999

Nuclear plant accident blamed on metal fatigue

Metal fatigue is the suspected culprit of last month's nuclear plant accident in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, where a massive amount of radioactive coolant water leaked from a cracked reactor pipe, the plant operator announced Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

Industrial output rose 3% in June

Monthly industrial output grew 3 percent in June, marking the first month-on-month rise in three months, according to a preliminary report released Thursday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Nonproliferation forum kicks off

An international forum on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament began Friday in Tokyo to discuss ways to step up measures to strengthen the global regime to prevent nuclear arms races.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 1999

NTT ordered to probe allegations of customer data leak

Executives of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone group were asked Friday to investigate allegations that more than 10 of its employees released private data on NTT subscribers, officials of the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 30, 1999

Let's digital

Let's digital. That's the message in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications 1999 White Paper on Communications in Japan. The annual survey, released earlier this month, reveals a nation poised for the millennium, its finger firmly on the mouse, clicking its way into the 21st century
JAPAN
Jun 29, 1999

Industrial output declined 0.7 percent in May

Japan's monthly industrial output dropped 0.7 percent in May from April, marking a decline of two straight months due to stagnant plant and equipment investment, according to a preliminary report issued Tuesday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 1999

Japan presses Asia's agenda

In a strong warning to North Korea, the Group of Eight leaders who met in Cologne, Germany, earlier this month said in a declaration that they "are deeply concerned about recent missile flight tests and developments in missile proliferation, such as actions by North Korea."

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan