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LIFE / Travel
Aug 23, 2000

Among the ghosts of the kamikaze

CHIRAN, Kagoshima Pref. -- An aerial view of the Satsuma Peninsula, glimpsed from a light, low-flying craft such as a glider, would reveal a pastoral landscape of striking warmth, with green volcanic peaks, white stucco-faced houses and time-worn hot-spring inns tucked away down leafy lanes. In this...
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2000

Wahid gets a reprieve

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has outfoxed his opponents again. Facing an insurrection within the Parliament, the president recently apologized for past behavior and then delegated many of his duties to Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri. It is a shrewd move by the wily Mr. Wahid. Whether...
SUMO
Aug 22, 2000

Kaio makes ozeki for autumn basho

Kaio checks out the new sumo rankings. Kaio became the first wrestler from Fukuoka Prefecture since 1918 to reach sumo's second highest rank of ozeki on Monday when the Japan Sumo Association released its rankings for next month's Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament.
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2000

Sogo collapse hits banks, construction stocks

Bank and construction stocks have taken a battering in the wake of the collapse of department store chain Sogo Co. in July.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2000

Coalition eyes proportional poll revision

The three ruling parties will try to revise the proportional representation system for House of Councilors elections by having voters cast ballots for candidates instead of political parties, party sources said.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 22, 2000

Soseki never dreamed of this

TEN NIGHTS' DREAMS, by Natsume Soseki. Translated by Takumi Kashima, Kyoko Nonaka, Hideki Oiwa, Horikatsu Kawashima and Katsunori Fujioka. London: Soseki Museum in London, 2000. 64 pp., unpriced. In 1908, and already an established popular writer, Natsume Soseki turned to more experimental forms of...
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2000

Public works should serve the public

Highly conscious of public criticism of the role played by public-works projects in its politics, the Liberal Democratic Party is overhauling the much-maligned system. The party is supposed to be trying to phase out programs that have outlived their usefulness and to classify those related to information...
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2000

Tokyo, Pyongyang discussions face same obstacles

While the 10th round of normalization talks between Japan and North Korea will be held in Japan this week, it remains to be seen whether breakthroughs can be made on a series of pending issues that have stalled previous negotiations.
SOCCER / J. League
Aug 21, 2000

Gamba grabs top spot

Gamba Osaka went on top of the J. League first division Saturday with a 3-2 win at Sanfrecce Hiroshima as the Kashima Antlers drew their third straight game and slipped two points back in the second-stage title race.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2000

Welcome end to the zero-rate policy

The Bank of Japan lifted its zero-interest-rate policy Aug. 11, despite strong resistance by the government, which exercised its right for the first time under the new BOJ law in its unsuccessful attempt to have the vote by the central bank's Policy Board postponed. One week later, the Nikkei-225 average...
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2000

Bargain-hunters swamp Sogo store

More than 6,000 people lined up Saturday morning in front of Sogo's Tama store in Western Tokyo, one of the branches that ailing department store operator Sogo Co. is shutting down, to snap up bargains in its final sale.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2000

Police to probe Snow plant toxin

SAPPORO -- Hokkaido Prefectural Police have decided to launch an investigation into the discovery of toxin that can cause food poisoning in powdered skim milk produced at a Snow Brand Milk Products Co. factory in southern Hokkaido, police sources said Saturday.
COMMUNITY
Aug 20, 2000

Contestants jump at chance to net annual award for catching goldfish

YAMATO KORIYAMA, Nara Pref. -- Similar to the high school baseball championships at Koshien, it is a national championship with 2,000 participants striving to be Japan's No. 1. It could even be compared to the Olympic Games, where contestants have to go through a qualifying round before they reach the...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 20, 2000

Don't let bad bicycle days run you down

Bad Bicycle Days. Everyone has them. From the old fish peddler on the decrepit bicycle carrying a crate of fish on the back to the young Japanese princess on her trendy new collapsible bicycle, some days it seems they're all out to run you down.
COMMUNITY
Aug 20, 2000

Messages from Hanshin quake survivors move to the Internet

KOBE -- Masano Goto still exchanges letters with people from other prefectures who helped her overcome difficulties in the aftermath of the devastating Great Hanshin Earthquake in January 1995, which claimed more than 6,000 lives.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 20, 2000

Lessons in transforming space

Mukojima, two stops out from Asakusa, would appear on one's first visit to be the boondocks. Nonetheless, this suburban Tokyo backwater has been the location this year of two site-specific architecture and art projects.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2000

Mount Oyama erupts once more

Miyake Island's Mount Oyama erupted Friday evening and sent smoke some 8,000 meters into the air, the highest altitude of any of the volcano's recent eruptions, the Meteorological Agency said.
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2000

Yoshimoto Kogyo branches into entertainment catering

OSAKA -- Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., a major, Osaka-based entertainment firm, has found yet another business area to cash in on -- entertainment catering. The move, according to Yoshimoto officials, is part of its business diversification plan as it goes into the 21st century.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2000

Mori urges Arafat to wait on statehood

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Friday urged visiting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not to unilaterally declare statehood for his fledgling nation even if peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine fail to come to a conclusion by the Sept. 13 deadline.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2000

Lawyers resign from beleaguered Nepalese man's case

Five lawyers representing a Nepalese man acquitted of robbery and murder by a district court resigned Friday to protest the Tokyo High Court's decision not to appoint them as his defense team during the state's appeal of the ruling.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 19, 2000

All Blacks set for Tokyo charity match

The New Zealand All Blacks will play a charity match against a Pacific Barbarians side in Tokyo on Nov. 3 at Tokyo's Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, the Japan Rugby Football Union announced Friday in Tokyo. Kickoff time will be 2 p.m.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2000

South Asia's place in Japan's agenda

DHAKA -- Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will undertake a visit to South Asia starting Sunday. His brief itinerary will take him to three capitals in the region -- Dhaka, New Delhi and Islamabad.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2000

Life expectancy fell in 1999

The average life expectancy for Japanese fell slightly in 1999 as an outbreak of influenza in the winter boosted pneumonia-linked deaths, government statistics showed Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2000

Suicides in Japan hit all-time high in 1999

The number of suicides in 1999 hit a record-high 33,048, up 0.6 percent from the previous high, set the year before, according to a National Police Agency report released Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2000

Japan agrees to investigate past misdeeds

Tokyo will accept a request by Pyongyang to set up two working-level panels to discuss Korean cultural assets seized or destroyed by Japan and the granting of permanent residency to North Koreans in Japan, Foreign Ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2000

Japan aided U.S. in search for Vietnam deserters

The Japanese government helped the United States track down American deserters from the Vietnam War who hid in Japan with the aid of Japanese peace activists, former Japanese intelligence officers admitted for the first time in recent interviews with Kyodo News.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2000

Money market call rate at 0.3%, over BOJ target

The key unsecured overnight call rate in the short-term money market stood at 0.3 percent Thursday morning, higher than the Bank of Japan's target of 0.25 percent.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’