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JAPAN
Sep 24, 1999

More bumps ahead on road to new coalition

Following Tuesday's re-election of Keizo Obuchi as Liberal Democratic Party president, the secretaries general of three would-be political allies met for the first time Friday to launch full-scale talks toward forming a tripartite coalition.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 1999

MOX ships may dock next week

International Greenpeace activists and local antinuclear groups said Friday that two British ships carrying mixed uranium-plutonium fuel for nuclear power plants would likely dock at their offloading points on Sept. 27 and Sept. 30.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 24, 1999

Ellington's 100th birthday feted with Japan premiere

Numerous jazz concerts have been offered this year to celebrate the 100th year since the birth of Duke Ellington, but trumpeter Mike Price says they've got the focus all wrong.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 1999

No mandate for Mr. Obuchi

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi has been re-elected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party by warding off the challenge from former LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato and former LDP policy chief Taku Yamasaki. Many LDP Diet members have been quick to see his impressive victory as a vote of confidence...
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Sep 23, 1999

Chill out with the right white

With Japan's summer still parching throats as it turns its muggy-hot head toward autumn, let's turn our thoughts, and our thirsts, to wines for refreshment as the heat lingers on.
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 1999

Tenure in bronze for Todai's foreign professors

The number of outdoor statues of foreigners (five) on the campus of the University of Tokyo might seem unusually high for a Japanese institution.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Ex-pop idol, manager admit to drug use

A former member and the ex-manager of the popular rock group Four Leaves admitted Wednesday at their first Tokyo District Court hearing that they took illegal stimulant drugs.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Nonaka says he won't join the next Cabinet

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka on Wednesday told Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi that he intends to resign when the new Cabinet is formed.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Measures sought to seize more Aum assets

Court-appointed administrators for Aum Shinrikyo will seek legislative measures to enable them to seize additional assets from the religious cult, their representative said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Court rejects Chinese war victims' damages case

The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday dismissed claims from 10 Chinese demanding a formal apology and 100 million yen from the state over suffering they endured due to Japan's wartime activities in China.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Keidanren suggests increased use of tied loans

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) called on the Japanese government to increase the ratio of tied loans in yen loans to Asia as part of proposals on Japan's official development assistance announced Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

The Asahara Trial: Guru speaks, blames cultists for attack

Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara on Wednesday blamed senior cultists for the deadly March 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system, saying he never discussed it with anyone.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Sep 22, 1999

Qualified clarification

Today's column attempts to clarify some common questions about Japanese health insurance. First it is necessary to understand the differences between the two types. Shakai Hoken (SH), or Employees Health Insurance, covers employees/dependents of companies that subscribe to some health insurance plan....
LIFE / Travel
Sep 22, 1999

Good things come in Iki packages

Iki Island, administratively part of Nagasaki Prefecture but located in the straits between Fukuoka and Korea, has some of the finest white sand beaches in Kyushu.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 21, 1999

Get ready for the second nuclear age

FIRE IN THE EAST: The Rise of Asian Military Power and the Second Nuclear Age, by Paul Bracken. HarperCollins, 1999, 186 pp., $25 (cloth). The last two years have upset a lot of strategic certainties. Rather than moving toward nuclear disarmament, the nuclear club has expanded as India and Pakistan exploded...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 21, 1999

Does the American Dream beat Hong Kong custard?

PAPER DAUGHTER: A Memoir, by M. Elaine Mar. HarperFlamingo, New York, 1999, 240 pp., $23. "From Hong Kong to Harvard" proclaims the publicity cover letter accompanying M. Elaine Mar's first book. As a memoir, it is but one drop in the growing flood of reminiscences engulfing publishing houses, and Mar's...
EDITORIALS
Sep 20, 1999

Negotiating with North Korea

The United States and North Korea have struck yet another deal. This time, the two parties seem to have negotiated a framework for the relaxation of U.S. economic sanctions against North Korea in exchange for the suspension of Pyongyang's ballistic missile testing program. Some ask, why does the U.S....
JAPAN
Sep 20, 1999

Tear-stained faces are just another fad

RYAN NAKASHIMA Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Sep 19, 1999

Targeting the tobacco menace

While smoking rates have plunged throughout the rest of the industrialized world, Japan continues to have the highest percentages of adults who smoke: 55.2 percent of men and 13.3 percent of women in 1998. Both rates represent increases over the figures for 1997, which were 52.7 percent and 11.6 percent...
JAPAN
Sep 17, 1999

Insurers to sell Aoba Life to Artemis of France

The Life Insurance Association of Japan will sell Aoba Life Insurance Co. to Artemis, a holding company of major French retailer Pinault Printemps Redoute, for 25 billion yen, the association announced Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 1999

MSDF relief ships to sail for Turkey next week

Three Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels will leave Kobe next week to deliver 500 makeshift shelters to earthquake victims in Turkey, Defense Agency chief Hosei Norota announced Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 1999

Inclusion of flag, anthem in grad ceremonies up

Twenty-eight prefectures and four specially designated cities had all their public elementary, junior high and high schools hoist the Hinomaru and sing "Kimigayo" during graduation and entrance ceremonies this spring, the Education Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 1999

Ishihara rants after tour of U.S. military park

After touring the U.S. military's Tama Recreation Center in western Tokyo on Friday, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said what he saw made him question even more whether the 200-hectare site is necessary to U.S. forces and Japan's defense.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 17, 1999

Ten reasons why English is an evil language

English is an evil language. If it wasn't, all Japanese people would speak fluent English upon graduating high school. After all, seven years of English study should be enough.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 1999

Protesters slam WTO trade as Keidanren sets council

Carrying placards and handing out leaflets, more than 20 protesters gathered Thursday outside the Foreign Ministry, demanding that the government oppose the next round of World Trade Organization negotiations slated to begin in November.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 1999

Japan to finance peacekeeping force for East Timor

Japan will contribute a "substantial" sum to a United Nations trust fund to finance a multinational force intended to restore order in East Timor, but will not dispatch any personnel until stability has been established, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said at a press conference Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 15, 1999

Cautious optimism on the economy

Japan's economy in the second quarter of this year, April through June, expanded slightly at an annualized rate of 0.9 percent. This is a far cry from the 8.1 percent surge in the first quarter. But two consecutive quarters of positive growth make it reasonably clear that the protracted economic slump...
JAPAN
Sep 15, 1999

Report on faulty MOX fuel slow to reach Japan

Four days passed before concerned parties in Japan were told that mixed plutonium-uranium oxide fuel pellets to be shipped to Japan were improperly checked in Britain, it was learned Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 1999

Acupuncturist held for rape during arson probe

Investigators looking into a suspected arson at an acupuncture clinic in Tokyo's Chuo Ward arrested an acupuncturist Wednesday in a separate case on suspicion of raping a woman at the clinic after drugging her.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 1999

New ambassador looks to further U.S. ties

The government is closely watching Okinawa's efforts to select a new site for the U.S. Marine Corps heliport now at Futenma Air Station, with hope of seeing early progress in completing the process long-stalled by local opposition, Japan's new ambassador to the Unites States said.

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’