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BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2000

Japan, Saudi Arabia to build 1.5 billion yen mechanics school

Despite the collapse of key oil negotiations earlier this year, Japan and Saudi Arabia are entering the final stage of preparations for a 1.5 billion yen joint project to establish a training institute for Saudi car mechanics in the kingdom.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2000

Defense Agency to seek tanker aircraft

The Defense Agency plans to seek government approval to acquire a tanker aircraft for aerial refueling for the Air Self-Defense Force in the next fiscal year.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2000

MITI to abolish subsidy for solar power in homes

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry plans to scrap government subsidies for solar power generation equipment for household use at the end of fiscal 2002 in order to boost competition in the industry, ministry sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2000

Toxic powdered milk sees Snow plant closure

SAPPORO -- The Hokkaido Prefectural Government on Wednesday ordered Snow Brand Milk Products Co. to suspend operations for an unspecified period at its plant in Taiki, Hokkaido, after discovering a bacterial toxin in samples of powdered skim milk produced there, officials said.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2000

MMC to be reprimanded for concealing vehicle defects

The Transport Ministry plans to issue orders to Mitsubishi Motors Corp. next month demanding that the firm make its operational procedures concerning vehicle recalls more transparent after it was revealed that defects had been concealed for decades, ministry officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2000

Sogo to close down Yurakucho store

Sogo Co., the failed department store operator that has applied for rehabilitation measures under court protection, will close its store in the Yurakucho district of Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Sept. 24, the company announced Wednesday.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 24, 2000

Shooting the breeze with affable Eddie

Sanfrecce Hiroshima manager Eddie Thomson HIROSHIMA -- Former Australian national team coach Eddie Thomson is the longest-serving manager in the J. League, but two weeks ago he announced that he would be leaving Sanfrecce Hiroshima at the end of the current season. However, the affable, 53-year-old...
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2000

Yokoyama's suspended term won't be appealed

OSAKA -- Prosecutors said Wednesday that they will not appeal the Aug. 10 court ruling that gave former Osaka Gov. "Knock" Yokoyama a suspended jail term for molesting a 22-year-old former campaign worker last year.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 24, 2000

Handling of Kursk fiasco belies Putin's promise of change

"Shameful and disgraceful" -- these are the words many Russians are using now to describe the attitude of their government toward the sunken nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea. Slow and incompetent rescue attempts, an inability to assess the scope and nature of the damage and, above all, a stubborn...
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Aug 24, 2000

Sampling the best the world of wine writing has to offer

Next to a good wine, I might settle for a good wine book, if only I had time to read them. Having just finished writing a 20,000-word thesis last week on a rather weighty subject, I decided to reward myself with a little wine reading. Fate recently fed my bibliophilia with a few wine books, some of them...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 24, 2000

Al fresco evenings in Heisei style

Just when you feel it's safe to venture out of the air conditioning to enjoy a drink or three in the mellow evening air of the late summer, that's about the time most beer gardens are starting to think about shutting down for the year.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 24, 2000

Korea's chaebol are obstacles, not answers

South Korea's industrial conglomerates, the chaebol, were once seen as a driving force behind that country's high rates of economic growth. At the beginning of the 1997 economic crisis, optimists saw them as the engine that would pull South Korea out of its doldrums. Indeed, about 40 chaebol still account...
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2000

Beetle, worm found in Kobeya products

OSAKA -- Parts of an insect and a worm have been found inside buns produced by Osaka-based Kobeya Baking Co., while a thread-like object has been detected in doughnuts made by Yamazaki Baking Co., officials of the two companies said Wednesday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 24, 2000

Where new discoveries and old favorites await

For exploring the world of sake, nothing is more helpful than a reliable sake retailer with a wide and varying selection. There are many such retailers in all parts of Japan, and developing a good relationship with one is key.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

Budget to again top 80 trillion yen in 2001

General-account budget requests from government ministries and agencies for fiscal 2001 are likely to total about 84 trillion yen, exceeding the 80 trillion yen mark for the third year in a row, government sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Protesters demand abductees' return

Relatives and supporters of Japanese nationals allegedly abducted by North Korean agents cry "Return our family members!" at a Foreign Ministry building. Relatives and supporters of Japanese allegedly abducted by North Korean agents staged a demonstration Tuesday at a Foreign Ministry building where...
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

BOJ policy options seen in positive light

Although it still remains anybody's guess whether the timing of the latest shift in monetary policy was correct, the effect could be that market participants now see the Bank of Japan's policy options in a more positive light.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

Forum calls for new WTO round

WASHINGTON — Despite the failure of last year's World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, panelists and participants at a recent symposium in Washington remain hopeful that a new round of multilateral trade talks will be launched before the end of next year.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Police asked to verify Mori brothel story

The Tokyo District Court decided Tuesday to ask the Metropolitan Police Department to confirm whether Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori was caught in a brothel more than four decades ago, as claimed by a monthly magazine involved in a libel suit.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Public opinions sought on nuclear policy

The Atomic Energy Commission said Tuesday that it will hold public hearings on Japan's long-term nuclear policy, including the planned use of plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel, in a bid to finalize the policy by the end of the year.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

First conference of parliament leaders to be held Aug. 30

The first-ever conference of presiding officers of national parliaments around the world will be held at the U.N. headquarters in New York for three days beginning Aug. 30, ahead of September's Millennium Summit, according to organizers.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

Mitsubishi extends recall of faulty cars as scandal widens

Mitsubishi Motor Corp. President Katsuhiko Kawasoe sweats during a Tuesday press conference at the Transport Ministry. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will recall another 88,000 vehicles following a previous recall announcement in July, admitting that the firm had been systematically hiding user...
LIFE / Travel
Aug 23, 2000

A taste of life on the Mongolian steppe

We didn't speak a word of Mongolian, we knew no one in the country and we made no prebookings, but we befriended a family of nomadic Mongols living traditionally on the steppe as herders and discovered an idyllic way of life.
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2000

The summer 'silly season' everywhere

Europe is on holiday. Go to Paris and you will find half the restaurants shut. Many industries close down for weeks, and their workers flock to holiday resorts. Britain is not much different from the rest of Europe in this respect -- although British firms tend to stagger holidays more than in other...

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’