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JAPAN
Jul 15, 2000

180-member medical team on standby for G8 summit

The government will send an emergency medical team of 180 top-level doctors and nurses to Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, the venue for the July 21-23 Group of Eight summit, to prepare for emergencies, particularly acts of terrorism, involving leaders from the eight countries, officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2000

Ministry panel discusses tainted milk

A Health and Welfare Ministry task force on Monday held its first meeting to consider the outbreak of food poisoning in western Japan caused by contaminated low-fat and calcium-enriched milk produced of Snow Brand Milk Products Co.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2000

Medical group probes endoscope defects

A national association of medical and dental practitioners has begun questioning its members about defects in endoscopes and manufacturers' responses to complaints, according to a group bulletin made available Wednesday.
COMMUNITY
Jun 26, 2000

It's true! Chocolate is good for you!

The academic name for cacao beans is Theobroma cacao, which means "God's food." They are said to have first been found in pre-Columbian Mexico, where they were valued as an elixir of life among the royalty. The native Mexicans believed that with one block of crushed chocolate, one could work five to...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 26, 2000

Is there free speech in Japan? Greenpeace activists arrested

"For the sake of good environmental policy, it is necessary to have freedom of expression which forms public opinion." These are the words of Sweden's environment minister, part of a press release issued in March 1999, following the arrest of several Greenpeace activists who were in Tokyo protesting...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2000

Aiding Palestinian refugees aids peace

Fifty years ago this month, the United Nations began a unique humanitarian undertaking that continues today, unknown to most of the world, but still critically important to nearly 4 million Palestine refugees -- and to the cause of peace. There is no larger group of refugees anywhere else in the world;...
ENVIRONMENT
May 29, 2000

Japan getting into some very deep water

"Deep seawater" is a magic word that seems to make consumers believe any product made with it will be healthier and of higher quality.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2000

Female condoms perfect fit for Japanese market

Amid rising concern over the spread of AIDS throughout Asia, The Female Health Company of Chicago has begun shipping the first of 2.5 million female condoms to Japan through local partner Taiho Pharmaceutical.
COMMUNITY
Apr 13, 2000

New ideas brewing for green tea

Although coffee and black tea have made broad inroads into Japanese people's drinking habits, the traditional green tea is holding its own and is poised to make a major comeback.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2000

Supreme Court rules Dentsu responsible for man's suicide

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld lower court rulings in which advertising giant Dentsu Inc. was held responsible for neglecting to act to prevent the 1991 suicide of a 24-year-old employee who showed signs of depression from overwork.
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2000

Leprosy victims demand compensation for injustices

For the past 60 years, 76-year-old Koji Suzuki's life has been contained within a sanitarium for sufferers of leprosy in Kusatsu, Gunma Prefecture.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 18, 2000

Rules said key to easing modified-food fear

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- As the trade in biotechnology-derived foods increases, consumer concerns over the safety of such foods are growing.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2000

Tokyo budget sidesteps asbestos

After having recently provoked outrage in the trucking industry over a controversial plan to regulate diesel cars, "environmentally friendly" Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has just submitted a budget proposal to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly that has one less allocation for green initiatives: that for asbestos...
EDITORIALS
Feb 7, 2000

A voice of reason for cleaner air

A few days have passed since the Kobe District Court issued its landmark ruling that the central government and a local expressway corporation should reduce vehicle exhaust emissions on National Highway No. 43 in the city of Amagasaki in Hyogo Prefecture. Sufferers from pollution-related asthma and other...
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2000

Mr. Clinton presses resolutely on

U.S. President Bill Clinton delivered his eighth, and perhaps final, State of the Union address this week. The popular perception of the president is that of a lame duck, girding for his last year in office, wounded by the scandals that have tainted his two terms in office and restrained by the distractions...
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2000

Furor over 'Frankenfoods'

Worries about genetically modified foods are on the rise. Consumers around the world are increasingly concerned about the effects such organisms have on human health and the environment. Just as troubling is their suspicion of the companies and regulatory authorities who assure the public that those...
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2000

Rural regions accentuate their pluses to lure city dwellers

Staff writer AYA, Miyazaki Pref. -- A small window on the upper floor of a two-story log house offers a magnificent view of mountains covered in dense deciduous forests of various color gradations. This landscape, coupled with the area's policy of promoting organic agriculture, prompted Teruhiko and...
BUSINESS
Jan 4, 2000

Smaller enterprises still need help: Inaba

1999 may prove to have been a pivotal year for small businesses.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2000

Exec's reckoning: Small firms still need help, Inaba says

Last of three parts Staff writer 1999 may prove to have been a pivotal year for small businesses. Scores of small and medium-size enterprises collapsed amid the prolonged recession, but the severity of the situation attracted public attention to their plight, leading the government to map out a legal...
JAPAN
Dec 24, 1999

Drop nuclear safety myth, institute precautions: NSC report

Japan should drop the long-held myth that nuclear power operations are "absolutely safe" and take steps to prevent the recurrence of serious accidents like the Tokai disaster that rocked the nation in September, the government's Nuclear Safety Commission said in a report Friday. The report was compiled...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1999

Walking Queen contestants take pride in stride

Staff writer Chest out, stomach in! Forget that chic Private Label suit, the 20-cm platform boots, cowgirl hat or bleached hair. If you want to truly express yourself, take pride in how you regulate your gait. That was the message sent out at the '99 International Walking Contest held last Sunday at...
EDITORIALS
Nov 23, 1999

Terror for the 21st century

A few weeks ago, New York was hit by an outbreak of the West Nile virus. Five people died and another 50 were sickened before authorities were able to respond. West Nile fever is a rare, encephalitic virus that is common in Africa and Asia, but had never before been diagnosed in the Western Hemisphere....
JAPAN
Nov 23, 1999

Pension reform plan draws flak

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Green Cross execs face bars over HIV scandal

OSAKA -- Prosecutors Thursday demanded prison terms of between 2 1/2 and three years for three former presidents of Green Cross Corp. for alleged professional negligence that resulted in the deaths of patients who were administered HIV-tainted blood products produced by the company.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Sep 9, 1999

The healing power of the grape

What's your pleasure? Wine? Or Pepto-Bismol? Since returning two weeks ago from some fascinating times in sundry climes -- 60 days worth -- I've been particularly mindful of human health, not least my own. Travel can be tiring, and lower physical resistance. This airport, that airport. This station,...
JAPAN
Sep 2, 1999

Low-dose birth control pill makes debut

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 30, 1999

World Bank hit for pushing medical waste incineration

The World Bank should stop funding medical waste incinerators and ensure that its projects only allow burning of medical waste when unavoidable, according to a report presented Friday by a nongovernmental organization in Tokyo.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Jul 1, 1999

Be prepared to relax on summer break

It's summer, that getaway time of year when we are allowed a bit of an escape from it all. It is the time we want a break, relaxation of the deepest sort, freedom from everything by which we are ordinarily burdened. Not that I foresee any holiday for myself in the near future, but it is precisely the...
JAPAN
Jun 23, 1999

Emergency contraception is here, but where?

A day after spending the night with her steady boyfriend, Mika roamed the area around her office in Tokyo, desperately looking for an obstetrician or gynecologist who could prescribe the medication she sought — an emergency contraceptive pill.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past