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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 1999

Learning on the job can be a good idea

The value of education has become a cliche. But few people seem to realize that school-based education can often prove a liability. Consider the views of Ram Mohan, a young farmer from the Indian state of Rajasthan, who refused to go to school. "My father wanted me to go," he said, "but I didn't. My...
JAPAN
Mar 18, 1999

Fuji Heavy execs deny bribing ex-lawmaker

Former Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. Chairman Isamu Kawai and another former executive of the company pleaded not guilty Thursday morning to bribing a former lawmaker to help the firm win a contract for a Maritime Self-Defense Force seaplane.
EDITORIALS
Mar 17, 1999

Beleaguered China stays on course

China was caught up last year in a convergence of slower growth, rising unemployment and the bankruptcies of some regional financial institutions. It chose to fight these dangerous trends by sharply expanding infrastructure investment and financial support to deficit-ridden state-owned enterprises long...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 1999

Analysis: Nissan's troubles deeper than Renault's pockets

Nissan Motor Co.'s long road to reconstruction and the ongoing realignment of Japan's automobile industry is far from over -- in fact it may have only just begun, according to auto industry observers.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 1999

Nissan OKs 35% equity stake for Renault

Nissan Motor Co. on Wednesday appeared willing to have Renault SA of France buy an equity stake in the struggling automaker, saying specific conditions for the deal would hinge on further talks.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 17, 1999

Disputed territory is a paradise in peril

Any Japanese schoolchild can wax eloquent about the Hoppo Ryodo or "Northern Territories," the tiny islands Japan has demanded back from Russia since World War II. And with Japan keen to resolve its border dispute with Russia and wrap up a peace treaty by the end of next year, the issue looks likely...
JAPAN
Mar 16, 1999

DoCoMo phones to run on Java

NTT Mobile Communications Network has agreed to use Sun Microsystems' Java programming language in its new i-mode cellular phones, officials of the two firms announced Tuesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 16, 1999

XTC colors songs with earthy palette

Since they don't tour or make videos, XTC gives interviews. Lots of them. Colin Moulding, the group's soft-spoken bassist reckons he and his partner, guitarist Andy Partridge, have done something like a million since they began promoting their new album, "Apple Venus, Vol. 1," last fall.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 1999

Slash corporate levies, raise sales tax, think tank urges

The government should scrap the 5.4 percent residential tax for businesses and halve the 9.9 percent local corporate tax to reinvigorate business activity, a private think tank proposed Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 1999

JAL plans executive echelon makeover

Japan Airlines will reduce the number of board members and adopt an "executive officer" system as part of its three-year business plan, JAL President Isao Kaneko announced Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1999

Experts disagree on bank recapitalization impact

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 11, 1999

Nissan, Renault headed for full-scale talks

Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA were poised to step up their capital tieup talks Thursday with Japan's No. 2 automaker facing a potentially devastating downgrade in creditworthiness.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 1999

Continental aims to start up Osaka-N.Y. route

Continental Airlines is interested in offering a flight between Osaka and the New York area, Gordon Bethune, chairman and CEO of the carrier, said Thursday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Mar 10, 1999

Winners and losers

People in the food industry look to Foodex to find out how best to cater to their Japanese and foreign customers. What they see at Makuhari Messe are often more fantasy than fact, things that might be exported to Japan if the proper arrangements can be made. And that's what the foreigners are there for,...
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1999

Nippon Life exec details Finance Ministry pressure

The Finance Ministry strongly urged Nippon Life Insurance Co. to provide financial support to Nippon Credit Bank, currently under state control, in the spring of 1997, Nippon Life Vice President Tsuyoshi Nahara said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 9, 1999

Multi-ethnic Mali lets voice be heard

"If you have listened to the music of some great West African voices like Youssou N'dour, Salif Keita or Mory Kante -- and liked them -- then you'll surely adopt Habib Koite and make him a part of your musical life forever."
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Mar 3, 1999

Wareware cyberjin

One of the great mysteries of Internet life is Japan. This country should be Net-crazy. It produces some of the world's best hardware, is quick to exploit new technologies in most walks of life and has an unquenchable passion for gadgets and trends. That should add up to a country that makes cyborgs...
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1999

Asahara attorney claims arrest unlawful

Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara's chief defense attorney pleaded innocent Wednesday to charges of obstructing the seizure of rental income used by a "jusen" housing-loan borrower as collateral, and criticized police for his "unlawful" arrest.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1999

Jusco to consolidate group firms

Major supermarket chain operator Jusco Co. announced Wednesday that it will absorb two subsidiaries in August to consolidate operations of the Jusco group.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Mar 3, 1999

Belize offers cay to a good vacation

Belize City (population 60,000) sucks. Crack addicts, muggers, deranged loafers, unprovoked verbal abuse of the anti-whitey variety. A spoonful of water from its rancid canals, if strategically distributed, would wipe out the People's Republic of China. Belize City's got the lot.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Mar 2, 1999

Twin with a twisted heart

The indomitable, incorrigible and completely insane Aphex Twin -- who has just released his latest single "Windowlicker" with its controversial video -- can never be branded boring.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 1999

High court rejects Kadokawa smuggling appeal

Haruki Kadokawa's four-year prison term for cocaine smuggling and embezzlement stands, the Tokyo High Court ruled Monday, rejecting an appeal from the 56-year-old former president of Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 1999

Recruit sells building to U.S. firms

Recruit Co., a major information service company, has sold its office building in front of JR Kawasaki Station to two U.S real estate firms as part of efforts to reduce its huge debts, informed sources said Monday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Feb 28, 1999

Their way

Recently I visited a friend who lives in an upscale apartment building, a part of one of Tokyo's massive redevelopment projects. When I saw there was a taxi parked in one of the spaces assigned to her floor, I asked if a neighbor were now commuting by taxi instead of company car. My assumption was incorrect....
JAPAN
Feb 25, 1999

Pfizer posts 48% net profit gain

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc. posted 149.3 billion yen in sales for the business year that ended November 30, 1998, up 15 percent from the previous year, Leslie Patterson, president of the firm, announced on Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 1999

Nissan to cut auto capacity by 100,000, retool van unit

Nissan Motor Co. announced Wednesday that it will reduce annual production capacity by 100,000 units by closing vehicle assembly lines at an affiliate in Aichi Prefecture.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 1999

Clock ticking on Glico-Morinaga cases

Investigators are racing the clock with the statute of limitations on the unresolved poisoning and extortion crimes linked to the Glico-Morinaga case due to expire in a year.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 20, 1999

Kodo beats remixed for a dance groove

In ancient Japan, boundaries between rural villages were not drawn by geography, but by the deep, resonating rhythms of the taiko drum. Kodo, Sado Island's acclaimed taiko troupe, through the preservation, dissemination and study of one of Japan's most internationally celebrated performing arts, has...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 1999

Gaming fans snatch up latest Final Fantasy

Hundreds of electronic game lovers mobbed stores in Tokyo's Akihabara Thursday to snap up the latest version of Final Fantasy, a popular PlayStation computer game that went on sale in the morning.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 1999

Defense to file suit against Toyo Communication

The Defense Agency will ask the Justice Ministry on Friday to file a civil lawsuit against Toyo Communication Equipment Co. for failing to refund an additional 6.2 billion yen to the agency in connection with a procurement overcharge, agency officials said Wednesday.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years