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EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 1999

Steps to stop the AIDS threat

With no advance warning, a team from the Health and Welfare Ministry has announced that a large-scale infection of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is a far greater threat in this country than the public has been led to believe. After what seems like a long ministry silence on the issue, the team estimates...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Aug 18, 1999

Faster, faster, faster

The vast majority of people access the Internet through a telephone modem. Plug it in, turn on your machine and ... wait. And wait. And wait a little more. First, there is the search for the modem, then the connection, then the handshaking. Once you're online, you wait for the software to load, the right...
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1999

Kato would finance welfare with lower sales tax

All revenues from the 5 percent consumption tax should be used for welfare purposes as part of fiscal reforms in the coming decade, and the levy should be lowered for daily necessities, a Liberal Democratic Party faction led by former Secretary General Koichi Kato said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 1999

Merger to create Kinki Osaka Bank

OSAKA -- A new bank to be created through a merger between Bank of Kinki and Bank of Osaka, both affiliates of Daiwa Bank, will be headed by Yasuhiro Takatani, currently president of Bank of Kinki, the two announced Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 1999

ODA to be governed by national interests

The government intends to put greater emphasis on national and diplomatic interests in doling out official development assistance, according to a medium-term ODA policy guideline released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 1999

GSDF moves to dump 1 million land mines

Japan's army has just over 1 million antipersonnel land mines in stock and plans to dispose of them by 2003, Defense Agency Vice Minister Seiji Ema said Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 1999

Diet gives big tax breaks to restructuring companies

The Diet passed special legislation Friday aimed at reviving Japan's industrial competitiveness by helping industries dispose of excess capacity and rebuild their operations through tax breaks.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 1999

Keidanren urges Japan to get online

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) called on the government Tuesday to spend 5.44 trillion yen over five years on information technology and to increase the number of Internet users in Japan to 70 million by 2003.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 1999

Tax cuts put Japan on track

The Japanese economy is now out of the worst phase of the recession. But the process of achieving recovery and even- tual prosperity has not been entirely smooth. First, we cannot yet claim that firms in various industrial sectors have earnestly initiated their restructuring with real zest. Second, fiscal...
JAPAN
Jun 28, 1999

Toyota mulls expanded U.S. presence

Fujio Cho, the new president of Toyota Motor Corp., said Monday that the possibility is high that Toyota will establish a new auto assembly base in North America to cope with increasing demand in the United States.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 1999

Stricter dioxin standard urged for biggest industrial emitter

The government should drop the maximum tolerable daily intake of dioxin to 4 picograms per kilogram of body weight, a government advisory panel said in a report released Monday.
JAPAN
May 21, 1999

Prime minister's quarters to get update

Staff writer
COMMUNITY
May 19, 1999

Redevelopment fiasco leaves locals in limbo

KOFU, Yamanashi Pref. -- The home of Yutaka Endo (not his real name) resembles one in a lesser-developed nation. His living room walls are stained where the rain has leaked through cracks; the wind whistles through warped window and door frames.
JAPAN
May 14, 1999

Honda posts record sales, profits for fiscal '98

Thanks to growing sales in the North American market, Honda Motor Co. set new record highs both in consolidated sales and profits in fiscal 1998, despite dwindling sales at home, Honda officials said Friday.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
May 12, 1999

What's in store

Everyone in my family is in retail, except me -- unless you consider this journalism gig equivalent to selling snake oil. My mother and sisters have run wearable-art galleries and design-centered shops for a couple of decades, and they seem to be pretty good at it. They travel around the United States...
JAPAN
Mar 31, 1999

Taisei Corp. announces restructuring plan

Taisei Corp., a major general contractor, will launch a three-year restructuring effort to resolve 100 billion yen in groupwide liabilities by March 31, 2003, company sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1999

FRC approves 7.46 trillion yen bank infusion

The Financial Reconstruction Commission formally decided Friday afternoon to inject 7.46 trillion yen in public funds into 15 major banks to boost their capital bases.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

Top bank chiefs admit blame, vow reforms for funds

The 15 applicant banks for public funds said Monday they will write off 9.3 trillion yen in sour loans for fiscal 1998, ending this month, in an attempt to end the bad-loan problem.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 1999

Harley-Davidson to introduce three new models

Harley-Davidson Japan K.K. will put three new models on the Japanese market June 1, including one that is used by police officers in the United States, President Toshifumi Okui announced Thursday.
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.
EDITORIALS
Feb 27, 1999

A wakeup call to the nation

After six months of racking their brains, members of a prime ministerial advisory council have produced yet another blueprint designed to nurse the seriously ill Japanese economy back to health. The worthy work of the Economic Strategy Council should be commended. In their final report to Prime Minister...
JAPAN
Feb 26, 1999

ESC report formulates recovery in next 10 years

The government must restructure its deficit-ridden fiscal condition within the next 10 years, hopefully by the end of fiscal 2008, the Economic Strategy Council recommended in its final report submitted Friday to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 1999

Toyota to field F-1 racing team

Toyota Motor Corp. President Hiroshi Okuda announced Thursday in Tokyo that Japan's No. 1 automaker will enter Formula One racing by 2003 and launch research and development activities including engine and chassis development.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 1998

Hibiya stacks in danger of closing

Tokyo's 90-year-old Hibiya Library may close one year from now unless the capital's financially troubled metropolitan government comes to the rescue.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 1998

Nissan denies rumor of DaimlerChrysler talks

Nissan Motor Co. President Yoshikazu Hanawa on Friday denied his company has negotiated with DaimlerChrysler AG over a capital-tieup alliance, but added that "generally speaking," the firm will welcome talks for a global alliance with other major automakers to survive the 21st century.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1998

WTO talks should end by 2003, EU says

The World Trade Organization should be able to wrap up its next round of multilateral liberalization talks within three years of its 2000 start, a senior European Union official said Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 1998

Textbook amendments may require written reasoning

The school textbook screening process may become more simple and transparent beginning in 2000, and students' school bags may become less bulky, the Education Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 1998

Sapporo joins Taiwanese group for restaurant venture

Sapporo Breweries Ltd., a major beer brewer, said on Thursday it has set up a joint venture in Taiwan with a local business group to run a beer restaurant chain featuring the company's draft beer products and non-Chinese dishes.
JAPAN
Oct 29, 1998

Buyers scarce for former JNR plots

Japan Railway Construction Public Corp. has taken over 1,273 hectares of land that remained unsold when JNR Settlements Corp. ended its 11-year history last week.The public corporation hopes to sell off the property by fiscal 2003 to help reduce 28.3 trillion yen in debts left behind by the defunct...
JAPAN
Oct 26, 1998

Kuwait seeks more investment from Japan

Kuwait hopes to attract more Japanese investment when it enacts a new investment law, Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah told Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Monday.Sabah told Obuchi that Kuwait wants to expand relations with Japan in various areas, especially...

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic