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JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Troubled insurer Kyoei seeks court protection

Kyoei Life Insurance Co., a troubled midsize insurer with liabilities of about 4.5 trillion yen, filed for protection from creditors with the Tokyo District Court on Friday, making it the largest life insurer to collapse since World War II, company officials said.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Opposition ends boycott to pursue scandals in Diet

Opposition lawmakers returned to Diet deliberations Friday, ending a nearly three-week boycott after the House of Councilors passed a controversial bill to revise the electoral system the previous day.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 21, 2000

Game O-N as legends clash

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Dermatitis forum gets doctors, patients to chat

A group of Japanese atopic dermatitis patients and their families set up an online conference room to exchange information on treatment -- then asked doctors for their opinion.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Khatami to get red carpet; Mori to walk diplomatic tightrope

Reformist Iranian President Mohammad Khatami will receive a red-carpet welcome when he arrives in Tokyo at the end of this month on what Japanese officials describe as a historic visit that will usher in a new era for bilateral ties after years of near-estrangement.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 21, 2000

In the cavern of the Industrial Age

The first thing you notice is the strong odor, which is somewhere just on the forgiving side of rank. Imagine the refrigeration breaking down for a couple of August days in a provincial French cheese shop, and the aromatic quickly turning miasmatic, andyou'll begin to get an idea of just how the Rontgen...
CULTURE / Music
Oct 21, 2000

A cool wind blowing in from the north of Japan

Of all Japan's own instruments, the shakuhachi, a simple five-hole, end-blown flute made from the root end of a bamboo stalk, has achieved the greatest success beyond these shores.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2000

More symbol than substance?

With U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gearing up to visit North Korea, it is a good time to take a deep breath and assess where this political roller coaster is headed. We have barely digested the last photo opportunity: the remarkable image of North Korea's top general, Vice Marshal Cho Myong...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Business leaders to mark '51 accord

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty next year, a group of Japanese business leaders unveiled Friday a series of projects including a scholarship fund for American scholars specializing in Japanese studies.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 21, 2000

Songs and sausages in Balkan backwoods

KOPRIVSHTITSA, Bulgaria -- Bulgaria may be one of the worst places to visit in Europe if you're looking for an advanced level of economic development, but it is a great place to go if you want a music festival where you can take off your shirt.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Shirakawa urges firsthand science classes

Nobel laureate Hideki Shirakawa suggested Friday that elementary school children in Japan more firsthand experience in their science education.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Oct 21, 2000

Koto reclaims place of honor in Japanese cultural parlor

Just as every cultured Western household during the early 20th century was expected to have a piano in the parlor, almost all Japanese upper-class households, until well past World War II, had a koto. Training on this lovely 13-stringed zither, originally imported into Japan from China as part of the...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Web schoolmate-finder flourishes

If you are Japanese and want to "meet" your old schoolmates, try accessing www.yubitoma.co.jp on the Internet, a virtual alumni association Web site with more than 1.3 million members.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Mourning Empress refuses to celebrate 66th birthday

The Empress turned 66 on Friday, but no celebrations are scheduled to mark her birthday as the Imperial family is still mourning the passing in June of the Empress Dowager, the Imperial Household Agency said.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

North Korea resort open to tourists

Mount Kumgang, a celebrated but up to now highly restricted tourist site in North Korea, will have its first Japanese visitors Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

11 trillion yen plan gets official nod

The government adopted a comprehensive stimulus package Thursday worth nearly 11 trillion yen in its latest bid to place the long-stagnant economy on a full-fledged recovery track.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

GDP forecast rises to 1.5% for fiscal 2000

The Economic Planning Agency announced Thursday it has revised upward its economic growth projection for fiscal 2000 to around 1.5 percent in real terms from the original 1 percent predicted last December.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Crime victims demand rights

A group of people whose children died at the hands of juveniles submitted a written request Thursday to Justice Minister Okiharu Yasuoka, urging the state to improve the rights of crime victims and their relatives under the Juvenile Law.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Cops to use paint balls to bag thieves

OSAKA -- Osaka Prefectural Police launched a campaign Thursday to crack down on bag-snatchers by marking them with paint balls.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Kawaguchi justifies CO 2 effort

Environment Agency chief Yoriko Kawaguchi has praised Japan's global warming measures and hinted at the need for more action by the United States going into international climate change negotiations next month in the Netherlands.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 20, 2000

Bloodthirsty tales of revenge

The Kabukiza's October afternoon program features Seika Mayama's 1940 masterwork "The Hama Detached Palace" and Segawa Joko's well-known 1853 sewamono (realistic play) "Genjidana." Nizaemon Kataoka takes lead roles in both plays, while Tamasaburo Bando appears as Otomi in "Genjidana."
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2000

Nakagawa refuses to resign

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa said Wednesday he will not resign over an allegedly false statement made to the Diet about his reported dubious links with a rightist figure.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2000

Aid donors eye $5 billion for Indonesia

Indonesia's major donors on Wednesday pledged to provide $4.8 billion in new aid -- $1.585 billion of which will come from Japan -- to help finance the country's expected 2001 budget deficit.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2000

Blackman suspect remains tight-lipped

Police have yet to make any significant progress in the Lucie Blackman case, despite the arrest last week of a company executive suspected of having had some connection with the missing Briton.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Oct 19, 2000

These World Sports Awards rated 'X'

LONDON -- In Felix Baumgartner's eyes, Mike Tyson probably looks like a wimp, Tiger Woods possesses no useful skills and David Beckham is merely the guy who married a Spice Girl. Baumgartner's world is worth following, if you can stomach it. All the Austrian does for a living is confront death as if...

Longform

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