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EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 1999

A long shadow over Malaysia

After a 78-day trial, former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was found guilty Wednesday of four counts of corruption and sentenced to six years in prison. The verdict, which has triggered protests by Mr. Anwar's supporters, was condemned by the defendant and questioned by others around...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 15, 1999

Japanese women say single life fine — if they're financially independent

Some say that '70s feminism began its fall from grace in 1986 when a study claimed that a woman's chances of marrying sometime in her life drops to 5 percent after she passes her 35th birthday. The notion that so many nominally liberated women found this conclusion distressing gave rise to the cynical...
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

Airlift Kosovo refugees to Japan?

Japan is considering taking in Kosovo refugees, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka indicated Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 1999

Chinese cronyism hinders reform efforts

The People's Republic of China will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding Oct. 1, and major national events are scheduled to take place at that time. President Jiang Zemin has been promoting the slogan of "stability first" -- a reflection of his desire to complete the ceremonies successfully...
JAPAN
Mar 15, 1999

January account surplus jumps 72%

The nation's current account surplus in January soared 72.2 percent from a year earlier to 807.5 billion yen, the largest for January, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 1999

Keeping the U.S. honest

LONDON -- Americans...Don't you just love to hate them? They preach to you about the virtues of an open trading system and then they slap a bizarre set of sanctions on trade rivals before the World Trade Organization makes its report. They lecture the world about the virtues of the rule of law and when...
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

State moves to draft stronger consumer protection law

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 1, 1999

New high school courses to break with tradition

Breaking away from the nation's traditionally rigid and formatted educational system, high schools will begin focusing more on nurturing the unique abilities of each student in the coming century, according to the draft of the Education Ministry's new teaching guidelines, released Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 1999

Vietnamese premier to visit Tokyo

Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Kai will make his first official visit to Tokyo in March to seek more Japanese support for the Southeast Asian country's desperate efforts to overcome fallout from the continued regional economic crisis, government sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 1999

Solution for Japan Inc. on the way: Yosano

By the end of this month, the government will map out a concrete scheme to help resuscitate the competitiveness of the nation's manufacturing and other industrial sectors, Kaoru Yosano, international trade and industry minister, said Monday.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

Ailing Chubu localities won't say where cash went

OKAYAMA -- Nationally and internationally, Japan's banking mess has received a lot of press coverage and is generally considered by politicians, media pundits and business leaders to be the nation's most urgent problem.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 1998

MOX assured safe for use in Fukui nuclear reactors

A planned project by Kansai Electric Power Co. to use recycled plutonium to fuel nuclear reactors in Takahama, Fukui Prefecture, assures nuclear safety, a government panel on nuclear safety concluded Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 1998

KDD posts 5.8% dip in sales

Sales at Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co. fell to 144 billion yen on an unconsolidated basis in the first half of fiscal 1998, down 5.8 from the same period last year, the nation's biggest international telecommunications carrier announced Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 1998

Breakthrough unlikely at Obuchi-Yeltsin summit

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

Land acquisitions take steep first-half drop

Reflecting worsening business conditions and thinning incentives for real-estate investment, an unprecedentedly small number of firms purchased land for industrial use in the first half of this year, according to a preliminary report released by the trade ministry Thursday.Acquisitions of land greater...
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1998

Manufacturing plants, workers down sixth year in row

The number of manufacturing facilities and employees nationwide has decreased for six years in a row after peaking in 1991, according to an annual report issued Tuesday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 1998

Regional credit pinch hits Japanese affiliates abroad

Some 35 percent of Japanese-affiliated companies in Southeast Asia, China and South Korea are suffering from tight lending practices at financial institutions, a Ministry of International Trade and Industry survey showed Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1998

MITI plans hormone-disrupter rules

Companies may soon be required to tell the government which chemicals they use in an effort to help curb the discharge of artificial substances suspected of disrupting hormones, government officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 16, 1998

Keizai Doyukai demands leader who can think

BY SAYURI DAIMONStaff writer
JAPAN
Jun 26, 1998

Firms hold shareholder meetings; police stave off 'sokaiya'

More than 2,300 major companies across the country hosted general shareholders' meetings Friday as police mobilized about 10,000 officers to prevent possible disruptions by "sokaiya" corporate extortionists.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 1998

Papers urged to compete with new strategies as Internet expands

and AKEMI NAKAMURA
JAPAN
May 11, 1998

New treatments for AIDS, HIV near final stages

Two breakthrough treatments for HIV and AIDS are nearing the final stages of development, a group of international researchers said Monday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 1998

Greenhouse gas bill awaits nod

The Cabinet is expected to approve a bill today that will oblige the central and prefectural governments to design and publicize their greenhouse gas reduction plans.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 1998

Authorities denounce IMF no-growth estimate

Financial authorities expressed disagreement April 14 with an International Monetary Fund economic outlook that put the nation's growth at zero for this year.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 1998

21st century global leader is U.S.: poll

Which country will be the most influential in the next century? The answer, if you guessed: the United States.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 1998

Foreign residents win redress in fingerprint-refusal case

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court on March 26 ordered three local governments to pay partial damages totaling 570,000 yen to six foreign residents who demanded compensation from the state and seven prefectures after being unjustly arrested and tried for refusing to be fingerprinted under the Alien Registration...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 1998

Upper House panel backs soccer lottery bill

A revised version of the soccer lottery bill was approved March 17 by an Upper House panel, bringing the lucrative but controversial sports promotion legislation one step closer to enactment.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 1998

Economy shrinks 0.7% as recession approaches

Japan's economy shrank an annualized 0.7 percent in real terms for the October-December quarter, compared with July-September, bringing the growth rate for calendar 1997 to a scant 0.9 percent, the Economic Planning Agency said March 13.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1998

Spend ODA strategically, forum urges

Japan should use its Official Development Assistance more strategically and in tandem with diplomatic tactics to serve its national interests, a private think tank said in a report submitted Thursday to Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 1998

Government guide offers foreigners help in six languages

A 376-page guidebook to help foreigners cope with life in Japan will be published at the end of this month.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes