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EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2000

Don't shortchange young readers

Despite all the talk about the need for educational reforms, little serious attention is being paid to a fundamental way in which Japan's schoolchildren are being shortchanged. Except among the educators directly involved, few have expressed concern over the Education Ministry's announcement that libraries...
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2000

Crime victims to gain access to records

The government said Monday it will legally guarantee the rights of people victimized by crimes to view court records and voice their feelings during hearings starting on Nov. 1, officials said.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2000

Museum buffs image of newspapers

YOKOHAMA -- A museum visit is not likely to raise the pulse rates of children these days, and a museum dedicated to newspapers seems certain to draw only yawns.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2000

Son, 23, used golf club to kill dad

OSAKA -- A 23-year-old man was arrested early Monday for fatally striking his father on the head with a golf club at their apartment in Higashi-Yodogawa Ward here, police said.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2000

MMC slapped on wrist for concealing auto defects

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. was ordered Monday by the Tokyo District Court to pay a fine of 4 million yen (about $37,400) for violating the Road Vehicles Law by covering up auto defects.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2000

A real German lesson for the two Koreas

SEOUL -- In one of numerous books dealing with unification matters, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung refers to his meetings with leading German politicians in the early part of the 1990s. According to Kim's account, the German politicians told him, "You are fortunate because you can analyze all the...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 3, 2000

Diners, look before you eat

AT THE JAPANESE TABLE, by Richard Hosking. Images of Asia. Oxford University Press, 2000, 70 pp., 22 color plates, 19 b/w, unpriced. THE ESSENCE OF JAPANESE CUISINE: An Essay on Food and Culture, by Michael Ashkenazi and Jeanne Jacob. Richmond/Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, 252 pp., 11 b/w photos, 45 British...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Oct 3, 2000

We've got a personality crisis

If you go to a live event you don't just want to listen to music, you want to witness a show, right? You want the people on stage to be rock stars for the night. And you want to be swept away on a flood of shared adrenalin.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2000

JCP reforms in name only

The Japanese Communist Party, at the Sept. 19 general meeting of the Central Committee, proposed scrapping the preamble to the party charter that sets out basic principles for its activities and organization. The preamble contains words symbolic of the Communist Party, such as "socialist revolution,"...
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2000

Dig turns up rare earthenware jug

A gourd-shaped jug estimated to be about 2,000 years old has been unearthed at a Yayoi Period ruins in Kitakyushu. KITAKYUSHU (Kyodo) A gourd-shaped jug has recently been dug up at the ruins of a Yayoi Period dwelling that dates back some 2,000 years, local officials said.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2000

Groups demand explanation of plan to help North Korea

Citizens' groups seeking the return of Japanese nationals allegedly abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s demanded Monday that Japan explain its reported plan to provide food aid to North Korea at a time when there is no visible improvement in the communist country's efforts to resolve...
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2000

Indonesia's justice on trial

Indonesia's wobbly democracy is being sorely tested as the government attempts to bring former President Suharto and his children to justice. At the same time, it must cope with escalating violence both in the capital of Jakarta and in the provinces. Ominously, the two problems appear to overlap: President...
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2000

Woman hired as vehicle inspector

The Transport Ministry on Sunday named a woman for the first time as a motor vehicle inspector, whose job it is to oversee vehicles allowed to run on public roads.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2000

Japan open to return of two disputed isles

The government is leaning closer to accepting a two-stage accord over four disputed islands off Hokkaido in which Russia would hand over two of them with assurances that the remaining two will also eventually be returned, government sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2000

Suspect cop handed to prosecutors

Police on Sunday handed to prosecutors a 52-year-old Tokyo policeman suspected of passing confidential information, including criminal records, to a detective agency run by his former chief.
OLYMPICS
Oct 2, 2000

Olympics draw to a close

SYDNEY -- They came, they saw and some even conquered, but Sydney was the undisputed winner as the Games drew to a close Sunday and the last medals were being decided. These Olympics will be exalted as the best Games ever.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2000

Japan must commence nuclear reforms

On Sept. 30, Japan commemorated the first anniversary of its worst nuclear disaster since the inception of its nuclear power industry. Tokaimura, approximately 150 km northwest of Tokyo, experienced a criticality accident around 10:30 a.m. when employees of JCO Co., a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining...
COMMENTARY
Oct 2, 2000

Is drug-price cure worse than the disease?

WASHINGTON -- Election years in the United States are good for political consultants but bad for everyone else. Especially the average citizen who bears the brunt of Washington-style "reform."
COMMENTARY
Oct 2, 2000

Japan's ills threaten the world

Japan's Naoko Takahashi won the gold medal in the women's marathon in the Sydney Olympics Sept. 24. In winning the tough race on a difficult, up-and-down course, she established an Olympic record and became the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic marathon gold medal. She also gave Japan its first...
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2000

Life after the Olympics

What do we do now with our evenings and weekends? For two happy, mindless weeks, we have flopped down in front of the TV any spare minute we had, just to get our daily fix of the big show going on in Sydney. Cynicism, the pre-Games attitude du jour, went out the window the second the teams entered the...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2000

Collective houses pushed for seniors living alone

KOBE -- With the Japanese population aging rapidly and lifestyle changes sweeping the country, more and more elderly people are finding themselves without family support.
SOCCER / World cup
Oct 1, 2000

2002 Cup ticket sales hit last-minute snag

Just three days prior to the launch of 2002 World Cup ticket sales for residents of Japan, the Japanese World Cup Organizing Committee on Friday announced the postponement of the start of sales due to technical failures related to the Internet sales system as well as misprints on the application forms....
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2000

Police officer arrested for leaking secret data

A 52-year-old Tokyo policeman has been arrested for allegedly leaking confidential information, including criminal records, to a private detective agency run by a former high-ranking police officer.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2000

Census forms collected today

Census workers from across Japan will begin collecting forms from households today to determine the nation's population and their occupations.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years