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COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2000

A Chinese teenager's dream of a better life ends in tragedy in the back of a truck

CHANGLE, Fujian -- Smartly dressed in a Calvin Klein T-shirt, jeans and white trainers, the teenager props up a motorbike in Changle, a city in the southern Chinese province of Fujian. His hair flopping over sunglasses, he flashes a shy grin at the camera. Jin Xicai hardly resembles the stereotype refugee,...
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2000

Sharp prepares new PDA to compete with Palm's

In response to increasing competition in the personal digital assistant market, Sharp Corp. will introduce a new version of its Zaurus hand-held computer to the domestic market on July 14, the company announced Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2000

7dream.com Web shop to open in July

7dream.com Ltd., a joint venture centered on convenience store chain Seven-Eleven Japan Co., announced Thursday that it will open one of the nation's biggest e-commerce shopping Web sites on July 1.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Asia may see 'miracle' with rise in IT: report

Asian countries outside Japan could accomplish a "new Asian miracle" through increased utilization of information technology, the Economic Planning Agency said in an annual report released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Fujitsu to buy LSI business from steelmaker NKK

Major computer manufacturer Fujitsu Ltd. will acquire the design and development operations for advanced large-scale integration chips from major steelmaker NKK Corp., senior officials of the two companies announced Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Square Co. plans network service

Square Co., a leading video game software developer, will introduce an electronic entertainment service that will take video game players to cyberspace, where they can communicate with other gamers via an online network, according to the firm's new president.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

Microsoft, Hitachi tie on systems solutions

Major Japanese electronics maker Hitachi Ltd. and U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. said Thursday they have agreed to cooperate in the systems solutions business.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 14, 2000

Gateways to synergy

Every time I visit a particular convenience store, I wince at the repeated announcement of its Web site: "Eichi chi chi pi koron surashu surashu daburyu daburyu daburyu dotto . . . " It is supposed to be such a cutting-edge play, but it only reminds me of how clumsy the analog world can be, and of how...
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Capital investment at firms rises 3.3%

Corporate investment in plants and equipment rose 3.3 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier, marking the first year-on-year increase in more than two years.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2000

Japan's household spending up by 1.3% in April

Japan's household spending increased by a real 1.3 percent in April from a year earlier to average 335,364 yen, the Management and Coordination Agency said Tuesday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2000

Large stores must try to fit in despite deregulation

With the abolishment of the Large-Scale Retail Store Law as of Wednesday, large retailers will no longer have to worry about harmonizing their commercial interests with local smaller businesses when establishing or expanding an outlet.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2000

Industrial output drops by a preliminary 0.4%

The nation's industrial output declined 0.4 percent in April from the previous month, marking the first decrease in two months, according to a preliminary report issued Monday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2000

KDD pushes net balance into black for '99

KDD Corp. said Thursday that its consolidated net balance returned to the black in fiscal 1999, due to brisk earnings from domestic phone services and a number of one-off factors, including mammoth gains from securities sales.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2000

Firms to offer cell-phone shopping

Fujitsu Ltd., DDI Corp. and Citigroup of the United States jointly announced Wednesday in Tokyo that they have developed what they claim is the world's first shopping settlement system for smart cellular phones.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2000

New cellular service named 'au'

Japanese telecom carriers DDI Corp., IDO Corp. and KDD Corp. said Monday that the unified brand name for cellular phone service under their Oct. 1 merger will be "au."
BUSINESS
May 18, 2000

Intel joins Mitsubishi on cell phones

U.S. microchip maker Intel Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Wednesday they have agreed to jointly develop a chip set for next-generation cellular telephones that can tap into the Internet.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2000

Manufacturers dying for new blood

Japan's manufacturers have a staunch ally in Tokai University Professor Hajime Karatsu.
CULTURE / Art
May 14, 2000

Triumph or disaster in Trafalgar Square

LONDON -- The jury for Trafalgar Square was still out when Prue Leith got stuck in her traffic jam. The debate had shifted elsewhere, to other public art projects that had similarly raised hackles or won praise, like Anthony Gormley's "Angel of the North." This 20-meter-high statue erected in 1997 above...
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2000

Era of abundance sparks religious revival

WASHINGTON -- American history abounds with apparent contradictions, but few loom as large as this: We are a people wedded simultaneously to materialism and spirituality, mostly (though not exclusively) religious. In a recent Gallup poll, 61 percent of Americans said religion is "very important" in their...
BUSINESS
May 13, 2000

NEC drags itself back into the black

NEC Corp. is back in the black after posting 30.2 billion yen in consolidated pretax profit for the business year that ended March 31, the major computer and chip manufacturer reported Friday.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2000

DDI-IDO team to use U.S. tech

Avoiding what could have triggered further trade friction with the United States, the DDI Corp. group companies and IDO Corp. on Friday jointly submitted an application to launch in 2002 next-generation cellular phone services based on technologies developed by a U.S.-based firm.
JAPAN
May 5, 2000

Chronology of bus hijacking

The following is a chronology of the 15-hour bus hijacking in Kyushu that ended Thursday morning after one woman was killed and at least four others were injured.
JAPAN
May 3, 2000

Harmonica craze hits high note

Considering he's been out of work for over seven months, you'd expect Yusuke Ozaki's harmonica playing to hit a melancholic note.
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2000

New language for a new world

The prestigious Trilateral Commission met here in Tokyo earlier this month, bringing together some 130 influential people from three continents to focus on key world issues and offer some advice to participants in the forthcoming Okinawa Summit of world leaders. The commissioners heard speeches from...

Longform

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