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LIFE / Travel
Sep 14, 2000

Bruised flowers: China's hidden army of child laborers

BEIJING -- Hu Changjun was desperate to escape the poverty trap in Wuxi County in southwest China's Sichuan Province. So she couldn't believe her luck when a fellow villager named Changyan offered her work at a joint-venture factory in distant Beijing. "A joint venture means a foreign company, where...
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2000

Nestle set to quench Japan's thirst for mineral water

KOBE -- It is cheap and safe to drink tap water in Japan. Still, the Nestle group, the world's top maker and supplier of mineral water, sees great potential for growth in the Japanese market.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2000

Three Shimizu execs receive suspended terms for bribery

The Tokyo District Court sentenced three former executives of the major construction firm Shimizu Corp. to suspended prison terms Tuesday for their involvement in the 1992 bribery of then Ibaraki Gov. Fujio Takeuchi over a prefectural construction project.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2000

400,000 in Tokai face evacuation

Typhoon Saomai joined forces with an autumnal rain front to cause the worst downpours in at least a century in central Japan on Monday and Tuesday, causing at least five deaths and leaving three people missing while disrupting road and rail traffic.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2000

Three shipbuilders agree on alliance

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. have broadly agreed on a comprehensive shipbuilding alliance, industry sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2000

Bridgestone will back Firestone, Kaizaki says

Bridgestone Corp. President Yoichiro Kaizaki said Monday that the tire maker will fully support Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., its troubled U.S. subsidiary, in efforts to rebuild its reputation.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2000

Post office parcel spews smoke

Forty-five people were taken to a hospital complaining of eye irritation Monday morning after a parcel being handled at Tokyo's Nihonbashi Post Office began emitting a pungent-smelling smoke, police said.
COMMUNITY
Sep 10, 2000

East-West cooking talent stirs with a clipping from Chives

My first day back in London, on the Food and Drink page of The Evening Standard, a headline caught my eye: Keep Jun and Beautiful. Below, a color photograph of -- it has to be said -- a truly dishy Japanese 29-year-old clad in whiter than whites with a long striped apron.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 10, 2000

Long trip from Kiev to Tokyo justified by 'Pathetique' results

Kiev National Opera and Ballet Theater Orchestra July 25, Vladimir Kozhukhar conducting in Takemitsu Memorial Hall -- Ballad (Pormbescu), Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra in D Minor, Op. 99 (Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich, 1906-75), featuring Atsuko Tenma; Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathetique"...
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2000

Shibuya residents furious with graffiti seen as art

Some call it the latest art trend, but others lambaste it as an ugly symbol of present-day Japanese society.
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2000

Criminal accusation filed against Mitsubishi Motors

The Transport Ministry lodged a criminal accusation Friday with police against Mitsubishi Motors Corp. for allegedly concealing approximately 1,700 user complaints last year -- a scandal that prompted MMC President Katsuhiko Kawasoe the same day to announce his intention to step down.
BUSINESS
Sep 8, 2000

Chip makers plan huge investment

Japan's five major semiconductor chip makers plan to invest a record 954 billion yen this fiscal year to expand or improve manufacturing facilities, company officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2000

Complaint filed over deportee abuse

Tokyo lawyers filed a criminal complaint with the Chiba District Court on Thursday against the president and employees of a security company for assaulting and extorting money as a "guarding fee" from two Tunisians who were refused entry into Japan at Narita Airport.
EDITORIALS
Sep 7, 2000

The price of failure

Nippon Credit Bank, which came under state control in December 1998, was sold last Friday to a consortium led by Internet investor Softbank Corp. The contract includes a controversial clause that says the buyer (the Softbank group) can request the seller (the government) to buy back troubled NCB loans...
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2000

Symantec, DoCoMo discuss virus measures for i-mode

Antivirus software maker Symantec Japan Inc., the Japan unit of Symantec Corp. of the United States, is in talks with NTT DoCoMo Inc. on supplying the mobile phone services provider with software to protect its i-mode Internet phones, Symantec officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2000

Fujitsu wins order to link Singapore, Jakarta and Sydney

Fujitsu Ltd. said Wednesday it has received an order from Nava Networks Ltd., a U.S. fiber-optic network company, to build an undersea fiber-optic cable network between Singapore, Jakarta and Sydney.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2000

Snow Brand to resume sales of milk products

Snow Brand Milk Products Co. said Wednesday it will resume sales of low-fat and calcium-enriched milk made at its Osaka plant, the source of a recent food-poisoning scandal.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 7, 2000

Cambodia feeds a hunger to learn

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- "A young man applied for a scholarship to go and study in Australia," says Helen Cherry, director of the Australian Center for Education, Cambodia. "His English was very good, and I asked him where he had studied. He replied 'By windows.'
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2000

Japan Energy to reorganize subsidiaries for competition

Japan Energy Corp. will consolidate and reorganize its four engineering subsidiaries an effort to reinforce their competitive edge, the major Japanese oil refiner and distributor announced Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2000

Campaign for Kansai International launched

OSAKA -- Five Kansai-based business groups announced Tuesday that they will jointly launch an "airport campaign" supporting Kansai International Airport Co. to raise its competitiveness among international airports in Asia.
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2000

Sumitomo to invest in WDM technology

Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. said Tuesday it will invest 35 billion yen in fiscal 2000 on the construction of manufacturing facilities for optical fibers and other telecommunications devices related to wavelength division multiplexing technology.
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2000

NCB not afraid to ask state to buy loans: execs

Nippon Credit Bank will not hesitate to ask the government to buy back loss-incurring loans if necessary, top executives said Monday, as the newly privatized bank began its first day of operations.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2000

Cram school slapped for taxes

Tax authorities have filed a criminal complaint with public prosecutors against the medical preparatory school group Tecom on suspicion of hiding about 950 million yen in revenues and evading more than 300 million yen in taxes, industry sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2000

Snow Brand to end compensation

Snow Brand Milk Products Co., at the center of a food-poisoning scandal involving its milk, will cease compensating retail agents for falling sales toward the end of this month, company officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2000

One hostess's whirlwind tour: nothing she'd care to repeat

Brigid came to Japan from Australia on a holiday visa expecting to spend three months talking to sleazy men in hostess clubs -- but in a safe and supportive work environment where the remuneration made it all worthwhile.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2000

Students turn tables on employers

Takashi Okubo, a student at Ibaraki Prefecture's University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences, gives a presentation to a corporate recruiter Monday in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward. In a reverse of conventional recruitment practices by Japanese businesses, a group of college students hosted an event Monday...
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2000

Woman arrested in eyewash extortion

OSAKA -- A 26-year-old woman was arrested Friday on suspicion of threatening to contaminate eyewash products made by Japan's largest pharmaceutical firm, police said. She subsequently admitted the allegations.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2000

Service brings volunteer NPOs donations via Net

OSAKA -- The idea came up when Makoto Kawade was playing computer games late at night and eating snacks as usual. To Kawade, 27, most Internet users -- including himself -- seemed to be doing something like typing away gossip on a bulletin board service or just surfing various Web sites.

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