Search - 2000

 
 
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2001

Nukaga informs LDP he quits over scandal

Scandal-tainted Cabinet minister Fukushiro Nukaga informed senior officials of his Liberal Democratic Party on Monday that he will step down to take responsibility for his involvement in a scandal that has already claimed two lawmakers.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2001

Sumitomo Trust to liquidate London unit

Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. said Monday it will liquidate its London subsidiary, which deals mainly in the underwriting and selling of Eurobonds, as part of the group's restructuring plan.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2001

Family may sue hospital over fatal jaw-bone operation

The family of a young woman who died in 1997 after surgery on a broken jawbone is considering filing a damages suit against a Tokyo hospital, claiming she died from a mistake on the operating table, sources close to the family said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2001

Japan's conformist culture attacked

Hayao Kawai, one of Japan's leading clinical psychologists and the former head of a government advisory panel, emphasized the importance of fostering individuality among Japanese while admitting it is a difficult task in light of the nation's conformist culture.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 23, 2001

Okinawa's fate through women's eyes

WOMEN OF OKINAWA: Nine Voices from a Garrison Island, by Ruth Ann Keyso. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000, 168 pp., $16.95 (cloth). Ruth Ann Keyso traveled to Okinawa in 1997 to write a history of the island's postwar past. Following conversations with various people on the island, she decided...
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2001

Paper production posts record high

Japan's paper and cardboard output grew 3.9 percent in 2000 from 1999 to 31.83 million tons, marking a record high for the second year in a row, the Japan Paper Association said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2001

Dentistry exam also leaked in 1999

A professor at Nippon Dental University who allegedly leaked questions on a national dentistry examination to another professor had been doing so for two straight years, sources close to the case said Monday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 23, 2001

Gender, identity, plain old eros

MALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN MODERN JAPAN: Cultural Myths and Social Realities, by Mark J. McLelland. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, 268 pp., b/w plates 17, 15.99 British pounds (paper). Mark McLelland begins this pioneering study by quoting Alfred Kinsey to the effect that nature rarely deals with...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2001

Nukaga likely to step down

State minister Fukushiro Nukaga is likely to resign from his Cabinet post today in the wake of allegations he received 15 million yen from KSD, a provider of industrial accident insurance, in 1999 and 2000, political sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2001

Partnerships for humanitarian crises

The number of refugees, displaced people and others of concern to the UNHCR jumped from under 15 million in 1990 to over 22 million in 2000: a 50 percent increase over the decade. Refugees are a symptom of a deeper malaise in the polities from which they have fled. The failure to establish satisfactory...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 22, 2001

Hydrogen future: Iceland's quest for a clean, green energy legacy

The future is wherever people are "thinking outside the box," seeking atypical solutions to problems of the status quo.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2001

Pressure on Nukaga to quit in KSD row

Fukushiro Nukaga, state minister in charge of economic and fiscal affairs came under growing pressure Saturday to resign for accepting funds from the scandal-hit industrial insurance foundation KSD and is receiving little support from his Liberal Democratic Party colleagues.
SOCCER / World cup
Jan 21, 2001

FIFA raps JAWOC over wording

Soccer's international governing body FIFA has ordered the Japanese organizing committee (JAWOC) to stick to the official English order of "Korea-Japan" on documents pertaining to the 2002 World Cup finals, informed sources confirmed Saturday.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2001

More people urge less aid for developing countries

A record number of Japanese people hope to see a reduction in economic assistance to developing countries now that Japan itself faces economic difficulties, according to a government poll released Saturday.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2001

Manulife Century to assume control of Daihyaku Mutual

Following months of delicate negotiations, the failed Daihyaku Mutual Life Insurance Co. agreed Friday to transfer its operations to Manulife Century Life Insurance Co.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2001

Estrada may not get invitation to Japan

The embattled Philippine President Joseph Estrada's abrupt announcement Friday night to resign later this year has forced Tokyo to rewrite its diplomatic calendar.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2001

Bankruptcies rise 23%, leaving record debts

The number of corporate bankruptcies jumped 23.4 percent to 19,071 in 2000, with liabilities left by the bankrupt firms reaching a new postwar high, Teikoku Databank said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2001

Construction firms' profits slide

The combined unconsolidated operating profits at Japan's 52 major construction companies declined 29.9 percent to 100.6 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2000, the Research Institute of Construction and Economy said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2001

Yanagisawa rejects task force plan

The state minister for financial affairs on Friday balked at a proposal by a Liberal Democratic Party task force to allow banks to repay with their shareholdings trillions of yen in public funds they received in 1998 and 1999 in order to replenish their depleted capital bases.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 20, 2001

Patience finds something from nothing

Tokyo galleries are back in swing after the New Year's holiday, and the surprise toast of the town is an emerging artist, Anne Daems. A look at the 34-year-old Belgian's biography reveals that Daems has had only four solo shows in her short career, and that is exactly the number of local exhibitions...
BUSINESS
Jan 19, 2001

Matsushita to sell BS digital TV with hard disk

OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Thursday it will put on sale March 20 the industry's first broadcast satellite-capable digital television set having a built-in hard-disk video recorder.
BUSINESS
Jan 19, 2001

Steelmakers to cut exports to Asia region

The head of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation on Thursday said Japanese steelmakers will sharply cut exports to Asia in the January-March quarter, admitting that their export drive has been pushing down steel prices in Asia.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2001

Mori asks panel to plan five-year science policy

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori asked an advisory panel Thursday to draw up a comprehensive science and technology strategy for the nation by the end of March.
BUSINESS
Jan 19, 2001

DoCoMo announces moves in Europe

Cellular giant NTT DoCoMo announced Thursday two separate deals to expand its presence in Europe, agreeing with local carriers to launch Internet services similar to DoCoMo's i-mode on smart cellular phones in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Italy.
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2001

Toyobo shifts focus

Major spinning firm Toyobo Co. will shift the emphasis of its business from traditional mainstay textile products to more profitable nontextile areas such as chemicals and biotechnology-related products, according to company officials.

Longform

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