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JAPAN
Apr 23, 2001

E-mail pals nabbed for stealing 500,000 yen in Okinawa

A pair of men who apparently met two weeks ago on the Internet were arrested Sunday for stealing 500,000 yen from a coffee shop in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, after threatening an employee with a knife, police said Sunday.
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2001

Single Tokyoites lash out on entertainment, phones

Young, single Tokyoites spend 40 percent of their living expenses on food, drink and phone bills, according to a recent survey.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 21, 2001

A time of rapid change and slow speech

Are you, or have you ever been, a member of the Japanese workforce? Like cards, you have been shuffled and dealt out to a different department or location within your company, as if you worked for Trump.
LIFE / Digital
Apr 19, 2001

Has the Japanese market for video games peaked?

Sega closed several Japanese arcades last year, including a few of its flagship Joypolis entertainment centers. And according to Sega Enterprises President Hideki Sato, Sega's two biggest competitors in the arcade market, Taito and Namco, are about to close many of their arcades as well.
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2001

Toyota sells off J-Phone stake, backs KDDI

Toyota Motor Corp. has sold its stakes in the J-Phone group to the mobile phone operator's parent, Japan Telecom Co., to clarify its commitment to rival carrier KDDI, Toyota officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2001

Obara favored Zushi for rapes, police say

Accused serial rapist Joji Obara assaulted nearly all his female victims in his condominium in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, despite having several other metropolitan-area dwellings, police alleged Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2001

Obara destroyed rape video: cops

Police suspect alleged serial rapist Joji Obara destroyed a videotape depicting his rape of Briton Lucie Blackman as well as a shovel and the electric saw used to dismember her body, investigative sources said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 7, 2001

A view of the world from sidewalk level

Nami Kawase finds it hard to sit down. The world is too exciting. There are too many people to talk to, even if she can't speak their language.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2001

Postwar corporate model shed in quest for success

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., known for its Panasonic brand, embarked this month on a drastic reform of its groupwide business by gradually dismantling its "business unit" system, established by founder Konosuke Matsushita.
BUSINESS
Apr 4, 2001

Microsoft wants Xbox to be center of gaming

The launch of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox is designed to secure a foothold in the home video-game market for the company, an area seen as critical for long-term growth, according to a top executive of the game console project.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2001

Homegrown IT plans are best

The government has unveiled the "e-Japan" strategy that it hopes will turn Japan into the most advanced information-technology-based nation in five years. Most mass media and IT experts are critical of the strategy. They say it lacks vision and workable plans, is late and is designed to benefit only...
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2001

Deregulation plan skirts issue of dismantling NTT structure

The government launched a new three-year deregulation program Friday that features measures to promote information technology but skirts the proposed dismantling of the holding-company structure of NTT Corp.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Profit-based nursing-care system under fire from providers

It's almost become routine for Yoshiko Nakamura to wake up at 2 a.m. to a phone call from a desperate elderly person who has no one else to turn to.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

Government waters down bills for breaking NTT phone monopoly

The government will impose looser regulations than previously planned on Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. according to a new outline of two amendments to laws governing the dominant carrier's operations, government sources said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 25, 2001

Covering Japan on foot, for abused women, kids

In late 1999, photojournalist Mary King and IT systems analyst Etsuko Shimabukuro began to get itchy feet. Back in 1996 they had completed a two-year trip that took them through three continents. This time they decided to stay closer to home.
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2001

Sharp adopts Java for PDA series

Sharp Corp. said Friday it has adopted the Java programming language for its personal digital assistants, mobile phones and other electronics gadgets with telecommunications functions.
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2001

Chip makers to make 20% cut in capital outlays

Five major Japanese semiconductor makers are expected to reduce their combined capital investment by around 20 percent in fiscal 2001 due to uncertainty over demand for information technology products, industry sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2001

Toshiba drives up its sales targets

Toshiba Corp. said Wednesday that it has set its consolidated sales target for fiscal 2003 at 7.9 trillion yen, up more than 30 percent from fiscal 2000.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2001

U.S. warships not welcome in Hokkaido

While U.S. Ambassador Thomas Foley was receiving an award Jan. 9 aboard the USS Blue Ridge for his contribution to increased visits by U.S. naval vessels to Japanese ports, the mayor of Tomakomai, Hokkaido, was expressing opposition to a planned February visit to his town by the flagship.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Sanwa to offer mortgages by cellphone

Sanwa Bank will begin accepting mortgage applications through mobile phones on Wednesday in a service that will be the first of its kind for commercial banks in Japan.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

NTT president slams new 'control' law

NTT Corp. President Junichiro Miyazu on Friday reiterated his opposition to legislation proposed by the telecommunications ministry to tighten control on the telecom giant, ministry officials said.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2001

Trade NMD for the CTBT

The new administration in Washington has taken office firmly committed to the concept of a national missile defense system, arguing that future U.S. security needs take precedence over arms-control agreements rooted in Cold War history. Its views on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, an agreement signed...
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2001

Average household expenditures drop 0.5% in January

Average household spending fell a real 0.5 percent in January from a year earlier to 307,952 yen following a 2.1 percent gain in December, the government says in a preliminary report released Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2001

LDP lawmakers appear set to block key NTT reforms

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday blasted proposed changes to the telecom law, claiming they would undermine Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.'s international competitiveness, LDP officials said.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 7, 2001

Bluetooth hopes to deliver 'new dimension in wireless technology'

Can't get enough of the Internet at your home and office?
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2001

Matsushita to boost overseas output

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Monday it plans to produce 3.4 trillion yen worth of products at its overseas plants in fiscal 2003, a 1.7-fold increase over fiscal 2000 ending March 31.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.