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JAPAN
Jan 25, 1999

Thai canal envisioned to promote trade

To boost regional investment and cross-border trade in Southeast Asia, Gen. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, a former Thai prime minister, is advocating a bold plan to cut a canal across the narrow part of southern Thailand between the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 1999

Daiwa, Sumitomo set venture with T. Rowe, R. Fleming

Daiwa Securities Co. and Sumitomo Bank announced Monday that they will form a joint venture with T. Rowe Price Associates, a major U.S. asset management firm, to offer mutual funds tailored to Japanese customers.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 1999

Outlook still grim for Kansai economy

The economic outlook in the Kansai region remains grim despite a few positive signs in recent months, such as increased public works spending and a rise in sales of certain products, head of Bank of Japan's Osaka branch said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 1999

An Olympic-size mess

What a difference a year makes. One year ago, Nagano City was pulling out the stops to welcome athletes from all over the world for a mammoth festival on ice and snow. Such was the universal appeal of the Olympic Games that even warring nations laid down their arms for the duration of the competition...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1999

Health gadgets calculate body fat, 'ideal shape'

Appealing to the health-crazed masses, a new crop of portable health gadgets is proving popular with consumers.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1999

Cheap yen loans may finance Cambodian port

Japan is considering extending about 4 billion yen in yen loans to Cambodia during fiscal 1999, which begins in April, for repairs and expansion of the capacity of Sihanoukville port, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 1999

Yasuda Fire names new president

Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. announced Friday it will promote Managing Director Hiroshi Hirano to president, effective April 1.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 1999

Justice panel urges prosecutors for juvenile hearings

The Justice Ministry's Legislative Council on Thursday proposed that prosecutors be conditionally allowed to attend family court hearings in serious juvenile crimes.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 1999

Hayami knocks LDP bid to override Deposit Insurance Law

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Thursday that he is opposed to postponing the launch of a "payoff" system in which the government will limit guaranteed deposit refunds to 10 million yen per depositor at banks that go bankrupt.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 1999

Daiei president steps down to speed restructuring efforts

Daiei Inc. Chairman and President Isao Nakauchi, who established the nation's largest supermarket chain operator, relinquished his post as president to accelerate its restructuring efforts, Daiei officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 1999

Fuhonsen currency said prompted by Tang threat

The threat posed by China's Tang dynasty prompted Japan to boost the state's economic strength by minting its first coins in the late seventh century, earlier than previously believed, according to an archaeologist at a national research institute.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 1999

Minister pushes for breakthrough in Narita deadlock

Transport Minister Jiro Kawasaki ordered top ministry officials Wednesday to do what they can to break a deadlock over the Narita airport expansion project by about April.
EDITORIALS
Jan 19, 1999

A regional test for Japan

If the International Monetary Fund today serves, in effect, as a tough lender of last resort globally, Japan last year gave itself the role of a friendly neighborhood bank in East Asia. That choice has proved timely, but it has become more challenging as the new year began. Unsettling news from two places...
JAPAN
Jan 19, 1999

Failures in '98 hit second-highest level since war

The number of corporate bankruptcies in 1998 jumped to 19,171, the second-highest level in postwar history, a private research firm announced Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 1999

Kan terms Obuchi 'vacuum cleaner' on issues

Opposition parties lambasted Obuchi's policy address Tuesday for lacking specific measures for solving the nation's problems.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 1999

New adults view romance, marriage differently

Seventy-eight percent of men and 92 percent of women who celebrated their coming of age Friday agreed they would not want to continue married life "if it didn't work out," according to a recent poll by a Tokyo marriage counseling company.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 1999

Lucky postcard numbers announced

The Posts and Telecommunications lucky prize-winning numbers for the 1999 New Year's greeting postcard lottery were announced Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 1999

Woodblock man carves niche with 'Hyakunin Isshu'

Woodblock carver David Bull refuses to be called an "artist" or "sensei."
JAPAN
Jan 15, 1999

Air Link's members-only approach winning believers

24th in a series of occasional articles on venture businesses
JAPAN
Jan 14, 1999

Ozawa urges state to define defense support area for U.S.

The government should clearly define the "areas surrounding Japan" in which Japan can provide support to the U.S. military, Liberal Party leader Ichiro Ozawa said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 14, 1999

Dangerous posturing in Brazil

Meeting in Hong Kong earlier this week, 17 of the world's central bankers expressed cautious optimism that the Asian economic crisis had bottomed out. Any relief those comments might have inspired was short-lived: Almost immediately after came reports of a political standoff in Brazil. If President Fernando...
JAPAN
Jan 14, 1999

Imperial poetry reading touches on blue, youth

The Emperor and Empress took part in an annual New Year's poetry reading ceremony at the Imperial Palace Thursday where Japanese "waka" poems written by both Imperial family members and the general public were read.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 1999

Japan, U.S. approve low-level flight training

Japan and the United States formally adopted new guidelines Thursday for low-altitude flight training by U.S. military aircraft in Japan that restricts practice on weekends and holidays.
EDITORIALS
Jan 13, 1999

Avoiding a toxic meltdown

A survey conducted last year by the Environment Agency showed that endocrine-disrupting chemicals, or environmental hormones, had been detected in most of Japan's water systems. It also indicated that dioxin in excess of standardized limits existed in the air in the Tokyo Metropolitan area and many other...
JAPAN
Jan 13, 1999

Universal theme park faces developer pullout

With the recent pullout of a group of investors from plans to develop the area around Universal Studios Japan, there are growing concerns among potential investors that Osaka's hopes for a USJ-led economic revival face a serious setback.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 1999

Textbook panel moves for return to basics

Textbooks used in the nation's elementary and junior high schools should be edited down to cover only basic and standard issues, an advisory panel to the education minister decided Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 1999

Fuji to enter hybrid car race

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. said Wednesday it will begin marketing a hybrid minicar equipped with a 660cc gasoline engine and an electric motor in 2001.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 1999

Cohen, Norota discuss Pyongyang, defense guidelines

Defense chiefs from Japan and the United States agreed Wednesday that Tokyo, Washington and Seoul should continue to closely cooperate in developments on the Korean Peninsula.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 1999

Voice-mail dating proves to be risky proposition

Sex, drugs and violence often combine as the ingredients of a sensational crime, and voice-mail dating services can provide them all.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 1999

New debate on surname use urged by Justice Ministry

Justice Minister Shozaburo Nakamura said Tuesday he has urged Liberal Democratic Party officials to restart discussions on revising the Civil Law to allow married couples to retain separate family names.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo