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JAPAN
Jan 24, 2001

Polar team back with meteorite haul

A Japanese expedition team to the Antarctic has collected more than 3,000 meteorites in a haul expected to provide valuable material for research into the evolution of the solar system, the Education and Science Ministry said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 24, 2001

Time for Japan to root out corruption

LONDON -- Fifty years ago this year, the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed and the Japanese government began preparing to resume full sovereignty. Then-Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida was a shrewd politician. He knew that the peace treaty, despite the difficulties some of the clauses would cause for...
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2001

Softbank to be lead buyer of Taisho Life

Midsize life insurer Yamato Mutual Life Insurance Co. and a group led by Softbank Corp. plan to take over the failed Taisho Life Insurance Co., sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2001

Mori, Annan discuss UNSC

Visiting U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori agreed Tuesday to push forward reforms of the United Nations, although Annan stopped short of saying he supported Tokyo's proposal for a 24-seat Security Council and a permanent seat for Japan.
LIFE / Digital
Jan 24, 2001

Internet reincarnations

www.geocities.com/lilgreen91/ Photographic evidence that an alien/human hybrid is among us. Or at least in someone's kitchen.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2001

Prudential to pay 23 billion yen for Orico Life

Prudential Corporation Holdings Ltd. will purchase a full stake in Orico Life Insurance Co. for 23 billion yen on Feb. 13 from its parent company Orient Corp., Prudential and Orient said Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Jan 24, 2001

See where the apricot (or is it plum) blossoms

Kairakuen Garden in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, is one of the three most celebrated gardens in Japan, located a very short distance from the city center.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2001

Suzuki may sell to Nissan

Suzuki Motor Corp. said Tuesday it is considering providing Nissan Motor Co. with Suzuki minivehicles.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jan 24, 2001

Back in the loop

This is not what you would call a lede per se, but indulge me for a few paragraphs. This will take some explaining.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2001

Ex-MITI chief Horiuchi to lead 'anti-Kato' faction

Former International Trade and Industry Minister Mitsuo Horiuchi was named Monday as the leader of a new faction in the Liberal Democratic Party formed by breakaway members of the faction headed by Koichi Kato, lawmakers said Monday.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2001

Lock, stock and instant noodles

Here's a word association game for you. What comes to mind when you hear "Thai cinema?" A blank? Don't worry -- in Japan, you're hardly alone.
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2001

Mr. Kim's tutorial

Mr. Kim Jong Il's "secret" trip to China was one of the worst-kept secrets in recent history. Although the Chinese government refused to officially confirm the visit by the reclusive North Korean leader, the news was out as soon as Mr. Kim's special train crossed the border into China last week. If much...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2001

Release of human genome thesis criticized

The Science Council of Japan has complained to the U.S. journal Science about its decision to print a U.S. biotech company's thesis about the human genome, saying the company has not shared its data with international researchers.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2001

Official spent 170 million yen on racehorses

A senior Foreign Ministry official who is suspected of embezzling money from a special state fund spent about 170 million yen to buy 14 racehorses and keep them since 1997, sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2001

Hokkaido retiree gets new start as teacher

As a boy, Ichio Yachimukai wanted to become a teacher out of gratitude for the kindness of his junior high school teacher, but he never imagined that he would one day venture to Vietnam to realize his ambition.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2001

Panel promises five-year plan to put Japan in IT lead

A new government panel on information technology said Monday it will compile an action plan by the end of March specifying the areas that need to be prioritized in order to give Japan one of the world's most advanced IT infrastructures in five years, government officials said.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2001

Give aid to China, but remain vigilant

The 21st Century Committee for Japan-China Friendship held its 14th meeting on China's Hainan Island Dec. 24-25, and I was among those present. Former Chinese Ambassador to Japan Yang Zhenya, the conference chairman, said he was pleased that the Chinese and Japanese governments were promoting regional...
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2001

Export decline portends slowdown for recovery

A decline in exports will slow the pace of economic recovery by slowing industrial production, the Bank of Japan said Monday in a monthly report.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 23, 2001

Okinawa's fate through women's eyes

WOMEN OF OKINAWA: Nine Voices from a Garrison Island, by Ruth Ann Keyso. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000, 168 pp., $16.95 (cloth). Ruth Ann Keyso traveled to Okinawa in 1997 to write a history of the island's postwar past. Following conversations with various people on the island, she decided...
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 23, 2001

Keeping it all in the family

The Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo is starting 2001 with special programs to celebrate the succession (shumei) of Yasosuke Bando, 45, to the prestigious stage name Mitsugoro Bando X, left to him by his father Mitsugoro IX on his death in April 1999.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2001

Lottery proceeds to fund local projects

The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications on Monday announced the launch of a new lottery, the proceeds of which are to be distributed among local governments to be used to finance revitalization projects.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Jan 23, 2001

Artists with eclectic tastes dispute the 'healing' tag

Of all the nonsensical musical genres, perhaps the most irksome is one coined here in Japan: "healing" music.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 23, 2001

Gender, identity, plain old eros

MALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN MODERN JAPAN: Cultural Myths and Social Realities, by Mark J. McLelland. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, 268 pp., b/w plates 17, 15.99 British pounds (paper). Mark McLelland begins this pioneering study by quoting Alfred Kinsey to the effect that nature rarely deals with...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2001

Three held over smuggling of 'konnyaku' from China

OSAKA -- Three men have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling about 14 tons of "konnyaku" flour from China, police and customs officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2001

Cities merge to become Nishi-Tokyo

The city of Nishi-Tokyo was born in northwestern Tokyo Sunday as Tanashi and Hoya merged into a new entity of 15.8 sq. km and about 180,000 people, mostly commuters who work in downtown Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2001

Third teacher arrested in dental exam scandal

A 56-year-old professor at Nippon Dental University was arrested Sunday on suspicion of leaking questions on a national dentistry examination last year, bringing the number of those jailed in the scandal to three, police sources said.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2001

Nukaga likely to step down

State minister Fukushiro Nukaga is likely to resign from his Cabinet post today in the wake of allegations he received 15 million yen from KSD, a provider of industrial accident insurance, in 1999 and 2000, political sources said Sunday.

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