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JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Abe acquitted of negligence in HIV blood-products scandal

A former top authority on hemophilia was acquitted Wednesday of professional negligence resulting in the death of a male patient through the use of HIV-tainted blood coagulants at Teikyo University Hospital in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Profit-based nursing-care system under fire from providers

It's almost become routine for Yoshiko Nakamura to wake up at 2 a.m. to a phone call from a desperate elderly person who has no one else to turn to.
COMMUNITY
Mar 29, 2001

Relax to the sound of one door sliding

There's a sliding glass door inside Keiko Torigoe's new house in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, that rattles when opened, and it took a lot of time and energy to make it that way.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

HIV-hit hemophiliacs fight on

When the government began allowing hemophiliacs to self-inject blood-clotting agents in 1981, Satoru Ienishi thought "spring had finally come" to a life plagued by problems stemming from the condition.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Surprise ruling won't wash with the victims

Contrary to widespread expectations, the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday acquitted Takeshi Abe, former vice president of Teikyo University in Tokyo, of professional negligence resulting in the death of one of his patients.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Fukutoku Bank execs cleared

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court found two former executives of the now-defunct Fukutoku Bank not guilty Wednesday of aggravated breach of trust in connection with some 8.2 billion yen in loans illegally extended in a bid to realize the smooth merger between the bank and another financial institution....
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Mar 29, 2001

Bodegas Bilbainas -- an estate of grace

I couldn't have asked for a better location to write the last Wine Ways: on a sun-bathed veranda, caressed by a soft spring breeze, overlooking the broad, bustling Ramlas, Barcelona's magnificent promenade.
COMMUNITY
Mar 29, 2001

The bubble rises skyward again, carrying a doughnut

This balloon's gondola is 6 meters in diameter and shaped so passengers can move around freely.
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2001

Mr. Bush's 'new thinking'

The U.S. decision to expel 50 Russians for "activities incompatible with their status as diplomats" -- spying to the layman -- is being roundly decried as a sign of the Cold War mentality that dominates the administration of President George W. Bush. But it is far from it. The suspicions of those days...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2001

Australians try to sort good economic news from bad

SYDNEY -- With the government of Prime Minister John Howard still reeling from a by-election humiliation, along comes a morale booster -- a corporate deal that makes Australia the dominant player in global-resources trade. Comeback Kid Howard has done it again, although his chances of staying prime minister...
COMMENTARY
Mar 28, 2001

Understanding 'leadership' in Japan

An American scholar who recently proposed writing a book about leadership in Japan was told by his colleagues, "A book? You'll be lucky to find enough material to write a chapter, or more likely a newspaper article, on the subject!"
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 28, 2001

Cash, traditions standing between elderly and proper care

For 61-year-old Nayako Yamaguchi, taking care of her 66-year-old sister, Etsuko, is a job she does 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2001

Teito workers face charges over fatal subway crash

Five Teito Rapid Transit Authority employees who were in charge of maintenance at the time of a deadly train crash last March were accused of professional negligence on Tuesday as police handed the case over to prosecutors.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

100 trillion yen in stimulus yet to bear fruit

In a policy shift, the Bank of Japan has decided to give more weight to commercial banks' reserves in adjusting its monetary policy than to interest rates.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2001

Bill on data protection approved by Cabinet

The Cabinet approved Tuesday a privacy protection bill designed to set a legal framework to regulate the acquisition and dissemination of personal information for commercial use.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

Canon plans new digital camera

Canon Inc. said Tuesday that it will release the world's smallest digital camera with a 3x optical zoom lens in early April.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2001

10% of firms let staff take leave for volunteer activities

About one in 10 Japanese companies have adopted programs to allow employees to take leave so they can participate in volunteer activities, according to a recent survey by the Japan Federation of Employers Associations (Nikkeiren).
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Mar 28, 2001

Cherry grove has encyclopedic reach

If asked what the national tree of Japan is, I would answer sakura, the Japanese flowering cherry, which belongs to the very large genus Prunus. There are many places throughout the country where one can view these beautiful trees, but for those wishing to compare many different varieties at one time,...
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2001

The limits of public opinion

LONDON -- Speaking to the House of Commons on Nov. 11, 1947, Winston Churchill said, "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2001

When justice looks the other way

Directors, as they age, usually must either move with the times or find themselves waiting by a silent phone. Since the days of D.W. Griffith, Hollywood has been full of once lordly directors who, having fallen out of fashion, are relegated to telling anecdotes about their glory days to deferential young...
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2001

Aggressive action could make Mori great

Japan has been dealing with its economic problems more aggressively than ever since the mid-February meeting in Sicily of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrial powers.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

With budget passed, focus turns to Mori

The 82.65 trillion yen fiscal 2001 state budget, featuring a record-high 48.66 trillion yen to fund policies to bolster the economy, was enacted Monday evening.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2001

Affiliate of Asahi Mutual Life liquidates due to sour loans

Asahi Jitsugyo, a real estate affiliate of Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co., is in the process of liquidation after racking up liabilities of 18.3 billion yen, Teikoku Databank said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

5.2-magnitude aftershock rocks west; none injured

OSAKA -- A strong earthquake measuring an estimated magnitude of 5.2 jolted a wide area of western Japan on Monday morning, the largest aftershock from the powerful 6.4 magnitude quake that hit the region Saturday, the Meteorological Agency said.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

War flick touting Japan's role in Indonesia's birth irks Jakarta

A new Japanese film depicting the role of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in Indonesia's war for independence from the Netherlands highlights a stark difference in views between Indonesians and Japanese over the republic's 1945 birth.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan