Search - 2000

 
 
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Feb 14, 2002

Lawmakers' views of past still plague relations

An education ministry panel's approval last April of a history textbook, which critics denounced as attempting to glorify Japan's wartime past, drew a quick response from South Korean politicians.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2002

Kinden Corp. penalized over evaded taxes

OSAKA -- Electrical contractor Kinden Corp. failed to declare about 900 million yen in corporate income in the three business years to March 31, 2000, and has been ordered to pay 300 million yen in back taxes and penalties, industry sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2002

Imperial Couple to visit Poland and Hungary in July

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will make a two-week official goodwill visit to Poland and Hungary in July, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Feb 11, 2002

Fixing the Foreign Ministry

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a high price for sacking Makiko Tanaka as foreign minister — a free fall in his Cabinet's popularity ratings. The debacle highlighted three major problems involving the Foreign Ministry:
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2002

Japan gears up for 30th anniversary of ties with Mongolia

It's not China alone. There is one more Asian country with which Japan is gearing up to celebrate -- albeit with much less fanfare -- the 30th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties this year: Mongolia.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 10, 2002

Expressions of 'everyday immortality'

UNFINISHED MESSAGE: Selected Works of Toshio Mori. Berkeley, Calif.: Heyday Books, 2000, 242 pp., $15.95 (paper) Toshio Mori (1910-1980) was one of the founders of a distinctively Asian-American literature. He lived in and near San Leandro, Calif. except for the World War II years, which he and his family...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 10, 2002

Wine-lovers go loco for Coco

ASHIKAGA, Tochigi Pref. -- Five hectares of misty hillside in Tochigi Prefecture contain one of Japan's best-kept secrets -- a tiny vineyard that may one day become this country's first producer of world-class wines.
COMMENTARY
Feb 9, 2002

French election an open race

PARIS -- The first round of the French presidential election will take place in less than 100 days. Strange as it may seem, neither of the two main contenders, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and President Jacques Chirac, has formally declared his candidacy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2002

Hire women, aged before foreigners, expert says

While Japan's unemployment rate is hovering at its worst level in the postwar era and manufacturers are shifting production abroad for cheaper labor, foreign workers seem to be enjoying their share of demand.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2002

Foreign firms draw both keen, reluctant Japanese

Strictly businesslike.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2002

High school grads' prospects still grim

A record-low 67.8 percent of high school students due to graduate in spring had lined up jobs as of Dec. 31, the education ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2002

Government may slash child-care allowances

The government plans to slash child-rearing allowances for single mothers in a bid to reduce rising social security outlays caused by increasing divorce rates in families with young children, government sources said Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 8, 2002

Arimori strides for success in life after marathon

Winning an Olympic medal, you would think, would be the greatest honor an athlete can achieve.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2002

Kansai forum hears calls for innovation

OSAKA -- "No guts, no glory" was the rallying cry for nearly 400 Kansai area business and government leaders Thursday, the opening day of the 40th annual Kansai Economic Seminar.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2002

Snow Foods cuts bosses' pay by 50%

Snow Brand Foods Co., the meat packer hit by a fraudulent beef-labeling scandal, said Thursday it will cut the salaries of its president and two senior managing directors by 50 percent next month.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2002

German deal seen as model for war laborer claims

A $5.2 billion compensation deal struck by Germany with representatives of victims of forced labor during World War II, to be shared by the government and industry, could serve as a model for Japan in dealing with redress claims by Asian wartime laborers, according to two key negotiators.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2002

Canberra sticks to its policy on illegal immigrants despite growing protests

SYDNEY -- Just as Australian Prime Minister John Howard was addressing world economic leaders in New York on the profits to be made from investing here, Afghan asylum seekers held in detention camps in the Australian desert were trying to die in hunger strikes.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2002

Snow Brand told to avoid foreign tieup

The government's efforts to protect the agriculture sector is affecting ailing Snow Brand Milk Products Co. and its plans to restructure.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2002

NTT union passes on wage hike

The labor union of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. for a second consecutive year will not seek a uniform hike in base wages during spring salary negotiations, union officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WORKING IT OUT
Feb 7, 2002

Early retirement, outplacement, or just pink slip?

Makoto Kawamura, 51, felt he had few options left when the medium-size life insurer he worked for collapsed and a U.S. firm took over management.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2002

Chinese boy arrested over stabbing death of prostitute

OSAKA -- Osaka police have arrested a 19-year-old Chinese boy and obtained an arrest warrant for another Chinese on suspicion of robbery and murder in connection with the death of a 35-year-old prostitute inside a hotel here in December.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2002

Snow Brand looks to tieups to survive series of scandals

Snow Brand Milk Products Co. announced Tuesday that it is studying tieups with third party firms to overcome a series of scandals involving its subsidiary Snow Brand Foods Co.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?