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BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2000

Surplus falls for third month in a row

The nation's current account surplus, the broadest measure of trade, decreased 17.6 percent in July from a year earlier to 1.08 trillion yen as imports outpaced exports, according to preliminary figures released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2000

Info about Mori and brothel won't be released, cops say

The Metropolitan Police Department has told the Tokyo District Court that it will not provide the court with information on whether Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori was caught in a brothel more than 40 years ago, police sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2000

Nifty to tie up with German firm T-Online

Nifty Corp., Japan's largest Internet service provider, said Wednesday it will tie up with Germany's Online, the largest ISP in Europe.
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2000

Shipbuilding alliance is confirmed

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. announced Wednesday a comprehensive shipbuilding alliance that will create Japan's largest shipbuilder.
COMMUNITY
Sep 14, 2000

Part-timers reshaping Japan's work ethic

Yoshinori Ogawa, 27, is a bassist in the rock band Dusty Rose. He considers himself a professional musician, but like many other would-be musicians or thespians, he has not yet reached the point where he can support himself on his music alone.
SOCCER / World cup
Sep 14, 2000

World Cup 2002 tickets to sell Oct. 2

Tickets reserved for residents of Japan for the 2002 World Cup will start selling Oct. 2 after a computer draw selects who can buy them, the Japanese World Cup Organizing Committee (JAWOC) announced Wednesday.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 14, 2000

Bruised flowers: China's hidden army of child laborers

BEIJING -- Hu Changjun was desperate to escape the poverty trap in Wuxi County in southwest China's Sichuan Province. So she couldn't believe her luck when a fellow villager named Changyan offered her work at a joint-venture factory in distant Beijing. "A joint venture means a foreign company, where...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Sep 14, 2000

Time to weed out Olympic imposters

So, what's in a name? A lot, apparently.
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2000

Nestle set to quench Japan's thirst for mineral water

KOBE -- It is cheap and safe to drink tap water in Japan. Still, the Nestle group, the world's top maker and supplier of mineral water, sees great potential for growth in the Japanese market.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 14, 2000

Hannibal: Tunisian flavors in Shin-Okubo

Don't roll up at Hannibal with ideas about mysterious Middle Eastern souks, exotic belly dancers or desert caravansaries. Nor should you expect ancient classical motifs and provender of Punic proportions. Just forget you ever saw the movie "Casablanca" (and don't even mention "The Silence of the Lambs")....
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 14, 2000

Fisheries crashing from pollution in Ariake

The cuisine of the Ariake Sea in northern Kyushu, featured recently in quarterly cultural magazine Fukuoka Style, is a strange one. It's dominated by grotesque, unusual-tasting fish and shellfish simmered heavily in sugar and soy or wrapped in dense layers of seaweed.
COMMENTARY
Sep 14, 2000

Paving the road to failure

LONDON -- If good intentions could guarantee good results, the recently concluded Millennium Summit at the United Nations in New York would merit nothing but unreserved praise.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Sep 14, 2000

Hatsu-nomikiri still a summer ritual for brewers

Sake breweries are usually fairly quiet in the summer. Except for the few large breweries where brewing continues all year, most places are dark and quiet and empty, as the brewers themselves have gone home for the summer. Traditionally, the kurabito (brewers) traveled great distances from their rural...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 14, 2000

Tunisian flavors in Shin-Okubo

Don't roll up at Hannibal with ideas about mysterious Middle Eastern souks, exotic belly dancers or desert caravansaries. Nor should you expect ancient classical motifs and provender of Punic proportions. Just forget you ever saw the movie "Casablanca" (and don't even mention "The Silence of the Lambs")....
EDITORIALS
Sep 13, 2000

Copyright law for a new age

The rapid spread of computer networks is creating a flood of digitalized information in a broad range of fields, including publishing, music, broadcast, movies and plays. This is leading to the rampant piracy of writers' copyrights and musicians' performing rights. Legal action is urgently needed to...
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2000

Osaka to double tax on local firms

OSAKA -- The Osaka chapter of the Liberal Democratic Party -- which recently proposed a bank tax -- has been slow to support an Osaka Prefectural Government plan to double a tax charged on corporations that operate in the prefecture, it was learned Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2000

Volume 2 of 'Harry Potter' to hit Japan stores

To the relief of more than 500,000 Japanese fans who have been eagerly awaiting its release, the Japanese translation of the second volume of the best-selling "Harry Potter" book series will hit bookstores nationwide later this week.
OLYMPICS
Sep 13, 2000

Tamura sets sights on elusive Olympic gold

For Ryoko Tamura, going to Sydney means winning the gold medal. Nothing more than that, and nothing less.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2000

Mitsubishi Electric kept lid on flammable TVs

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Tuesday it did not report 66 complaints from customers who claimed their Mitsubishi television sets had caught fire or emitted smoke due to overheating.
OLYMPICS
Sep 13, 2000

'The Greatest Show on Earth' hits Sydney

The "Greatest Show on Earth" is back and badly in need of an image makeover.
OLYMPICS
Sep 13, 2000

Arimori advises Japan marathoners to stay focused

Imagine this: The moment you have waited a lifetime for has finally arrived. Years of blood, sweat and tears have been invested to bring you to your date with destiny -- the women's Olympic marathon final.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2000

Panel seeks transparent career system for judges

A government panel on judicial reform will work to make the career system for judges more transparent and objective, following a Supreme Court report saying the current system lacks a legal framework for assessing those serving on the bench.
OLYMPICS
Sep 13, 2000

Dream Team coaching: perhaps the easiest job in Sydney

Want to know if the U.S. men's Olympic basketball team goes for the jugular each time out? Interested in who will give the Dream Teamers the toughest time Down Under? How do the American hoopsters handle criticism over being too good?
OLYMPICS
Sep 13, 2000

Web sites offer a different Olympic view

Want an alternative perspective of the Sydney Olympics? Look no further than the World Wide Web, where everyone from subversives to satirists are poking criticism and fun at the biggest sporting show on earth. Fired by a sense that Australia and the Games are not all sugar-coated harmony and joy -- or...
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2000

Parties agree supplementary budget is needed

Senior officials of the government and the ruling coalition on Tuesday agreed on the need to draw up a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2000

Reclamation project delayed again

A 50 billion yen-plus land reclamation project in Tokyo Bay was postponed for a second time Tuesday amid sea-borne protests by local fishing boat operators, who say the plan will destroy the last haven for gobies and other sea creatures in the metro area.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’