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JAPAN
Jun 6, 2000

DEHP-laced food hidden by ministry

The Health and Welfare Ministry kept secret a report compiled in February that revealed a high concentration of a hormone-disrupting substance has been detected in boxed lunches sold at convenience stores, sources close to the case said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2000

Ultrasound machines are breaking all barriers

A new class of miniaturized, all-digital ultrasound devices is about to be introduced in Japan by SonoSite Inc., promising to improve patient care and dramatically cut costs for medical facilities nationwide.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2000

Hospital staff error leaves patient in coma

A surgery patient fell into a coma in mid-May at Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital due to suspected malpractice, informed sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

Japan plans G8 disease fund

Japan has proposed that the Group of Eight nations jointly establish a $100 million fund to fight AIDS and other infectious diseases when they meet for their July 21-23 summit in Okinawa, G8 sources said Thursday.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Jun 1, 2000

Losing weight the intelligent way

In my last column we had a look at some of the substances now on the market as fat-fighters: chitosan, bromelain, caffeine, Fucus vesiculosis, aromatherapy diet pens, Urtica urens and St. John's wort. Today we'll consider a few more options in our hunt for what might work and what probably doesn't.
JAPAN
May 31, 2000

Cabinet likely to feel nicotine jitters

Some Cabinet members may get particularly edgy as they are temporarily deprived of a habitual means of relaxation during a weeklong no-smoking campaign that kicked off Tuesday as part of a government health plan.
JAPAN
May 30, 2000

Global warming to strike hard: IPCC

Global warming may cause large-scale flooding after 2100, leading to water shortages and the spread of infectious diseases, according to the draft of a report to be issued next year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2000

A grim future for China's hinterlands

A sense of deja vu comes over me when I read the Chinese government's proposals for the development of China's western, or hinterland, provinces.
JAPAN
May 13, 2000

Hospital serves up meals with hormone disrupters

At least one hospital in Japan serves meals containing a high concentration of diethyl hexyl phthalate, a substance believed to adversely affect the reproductive systems of animals, a group of researchers announced Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2000

The ADB finds itself in the maelstrom

"Globalization is killing poor people!"
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
May 4, 2000

How to hang on to luscious locks

Rakugami, kuzume: When you're happy, your hair grows; / when sad, your fingernails -- Japanese proverb
JAPAN
May 2, 2000

Daiichi Mutual ordered to shut down

The Financial Supervisory Agency ordered financially troubled Daiichi Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co. to suspend its operations Monday. It is the first bankruptcy in the nation's nonlife insurance sector.
COMMUNITY
May 1, 2000

New treatments can save stroke victims if diagnosed in time

It creeps up on you unawares and attacks suddenly. One day you are fine and leading a nation. The next day you are in a coma at a hospital.
COMMUNITY
May 1, 2000

Realigning your life force

"One of the main reasons we are not able to operate effectively is because we do not have full access to our life force," explains healer Claudette Bouchard, whose work is to assist people in what she terms "life force recovery."
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2000

Use Earth's ecosystems more sustainably

The findings of a new report sponsored by the U.N. Development Program, the U.N. Environmental Program and the World Bank, titled "World Resources 2000-2001: People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life," underscore the fact that the growing worldwide demand for resources is threatening the world's...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Apr 19, 2000

The first to go

The outlook for the economy may be brightening, but the glow is not apparent among museums. First to close was Seibu's museum in Ikebukuro, followed by the Roppongi Arts and Crafts Museum in 1998 and Mitsukoshi's Shinjuku museum which closed last year. Next will be Tobu's Ikebukuro museum, which will...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 11, 2000

Lessons learned from the master

"What I really want to do is direct." This phrase, heard everywhere in Hollywood from interviews with A-list stars to conversations between waiters at Hamburger Inn, has become a joke -- to everyone but the legions of gottabe directors themselves. Among this crowd, scriptwriters have traditionally been...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 9, 2000

Jane Marwick

In the late 1980s the Tokyo International Learning Community began in a very small way as a support group for parents of children with special needs. TILC opened a school in a church room, where children suffering from a wide range of disabilities were brought together in a learning environment.
EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2000

The real meaning of recycling

The throwaway mentality remains strongly entrenched here -- witness the mountains of refuse in the nation's parks and other favored sites for cherry-blossom viewing as the season reaches its peak. To anyone viewing the discarded cans, bottles and paper and plastic packaging, active recycling may seem...
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2000

Partial reform will not work

The Japanese-language version of "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations," by David Landes, professor emeritus of history and economics at Harvard University, has been published. The translator of the book, Keio University Professor Heizo Takenaka, notes that gaps are widening between winners and losers in...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2000

Chemical weapons kill enemies -- and us

The findings of a new report from the U.S. Air Force of a "significant and potentially meaningful" relationship between diabetes and bloodstream levels of the chemical dioxin add new evidence on the dangers of the use of chemical substances in warfare. They demonstrate once more that the harmful effects...
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2000

Diet votes to reduce benefits in retirees' pension packages

A package of seven bills designed to save the nation's financially strapped pension system by reducing the pensions of private-sector workers cleared the Diet on Tuesday, with the measures to take effect April 1.
COMMENTARY
Mar 24, 2000

Police resisting vital reform

The Japanese police have long enjoyed a high reputation both at home and abroad, due partly to their efficiency in apprehending criminals. Today, however, the Japanese police system is suffering from a breakdown of ethics, caused in part by its insular nature.
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2000

Pension bills approved by Upper House

A package of bills designed to save the nation's financially strapped pension system cleared the Upper House on Wednesday, paving the way for the introduction of new pension measures in April.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 18, 2000

GMO foe sees standards as WTO lever

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- If the international community can set up strict safety standards on genetically modified foods, it would give countries a tool to stop the import of such foods to protect their people, said Jean Halloran, a representative of Consumers International.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2000

Companies pitch joint care service to regional banks

Nippon Life Insurance Co. and Nichii Gakkan Co. are trying to interest regional banks in their joint advisory services for health and nursing-care concerns, officials of the two companies said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2000

Hospitals overcharging for rooms

OSAKA -- Hiromi Hase, 58, and her husband, Michio, were shocked last August when they found out they might have overpaid about 4 million yen when she was hospitalized for leukemia in 1996 and 1997.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2000

Nursing care more democratic

The public nursing-care insurance system due to start next month is a steppingstone toward a citizen-oriented society where everyone can participate in the decision-making process, according to Professor Keiko Higuchi of Tokyo Kasei University.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Care-givers, doctors face turf war

Hirohiko Nakamura's message to doctors is clear: Back off.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past