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BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2000

Carmakers' overseas output up 9.6%

Overseas production by Japan's 11 automakers increased 9.6 percent in 1999 from the previous year to 5.89 million units, due to the economic recovery in Asia and the expansion of the U.S. auto market, according to data released Friday by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2000

Barak fights for peace on two fronts

Since taking office last year, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has battled on two fronts in the effort to finalize peace agreements with his neighbors. The obvious front involved the parties on the other side of the table: the Syrians and the Palestinians. But the other fight takes place within Israel...
JAPAN / ELECTION 2000: VOX POPULI
Jun 24, 2000

Voters to blame for deadbeats, nepotism in Diet, says Totten

If citizens want a better Japan, they need to turn out for Sunday's election and vote against the old-school lawmakers and those who aim to inherit a parent's seat as if it were a birthright, according to American businessman Bill Totten.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2000

Dentsu admits fault in worker suicide

Advertising giant Dentsu Inc. admitted Friday that it was responsible for the 1991 suicide of a 24-year-old employee who had become depressed due to overwork and agreed to pay the family about 168 million yen in compensation to settle the case, a lawyer for the family said.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jun 24, 2000

An unknown craftsman from Mashiko

Many of you are familiar with the name and works of Shoji Hamada (1894-1977), arguably the most widely famed of all Japanese potters. When he settled in the backwater potting town of Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture, in Taisho 13 (1924), no one imagined that he would turn the conservative potters' world upside...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2000

The answer is in the heavens

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is doing everything he can to discourage Japanese voters from taking tomorrow's election seriously. He is succeeding. On top of his efforts, is getting help from the media, which are already predicting a comfortable margin of victory for the current ruling coalition.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 24, 2000

Breathing path to beauty and inner peace

KYOTO -- In 1973, a week or two after Brooklyn native Ronnie Seldin began playing the shakuhachi, his teacher asked him what he planned to do after he returned to the United States.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 24, 2000

Glimpses of global tragedies on a long and winding road

A nameless road continues on for thousands of miles under thousands of different skies, wending its way through thousands of different landscapes. Along either side anonymous towns and cities flow by with regularity, like scenes in a photography album sorted by a methodical traveler.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2000: VOX POPULI
Jun 23, 2000

Dailies helping bureaucrats keep status quo: van Wolferen

Major Japanese newspapers are in league with bureaucrats to maintain the status quo and are the biggest obstacle to political reform, warns Dutch journalist Karel van Wolferen.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2000

Refugee attacks Japan's asylum process

Over 10 years have passed since Myanmar democracy activist Than Htay fled to Japan from his military-ruled motherland on May 26, 1990, the day before a general election whose results were nullified by the junta.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2000

Two held for using Myanmar coins

OSAKA — Two Myanmar sailors were caught last month using Myanmar coins to buy cigarettes and collect change from a vending machine in Osaka, police said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2000

Train etiquette drive launched at McDonald's nationwide

Hamburger-eaters began receiving reminders on how to be more polite train riders Thursday as the Japan Non-Government Railways Association took its ongoing campaign to improve commuters' etiquette to McDonald's restaurants.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2000

Talks heat up over zero-interest policy

The deputy governor of the Bank of Japan said Thursday that discussion among BOJ Policy Board members on abandoning the zero-interest-rate policy is gradually heating up, citing improvements in private demand.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2000

Personal bankruptcies set another new record

The number of individuals who filed for personal bankruptcy at the nation's courts in fiscal 1999 totaled 122,741, up about 19,000 from the previous year and marking a new record for the fourth year in a row, the Supreme Court said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2000

Mori states another opinion

Comments which some took to be Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's plans for educational reform were dismissed Thursday by Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki as mere "personal opinions" not on the government's policy agenda.
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2000

Russia's war against the oligarchs

There may be a new boss in the Kremlin, but the Byzantine politics that rage behind its walls continue. Recent moves against two of Russia's most prominent businessmen -- the "oligarchs" -- have kindled speculation about who is making policy and to what end. Is President Vladimir Putin cleaning up the...
COMMENTARY
Jun 23, 2000

Victory predicted for LDP

The major Japanese newspapers that conducted polls on the June 25 Lower House election this week made these stunning forecasts:
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2000

High school nurses compile Battle of Okinawa memoirs

The alumnae association of a girls' high school in Okinawa has published a collection of testimonies by former students who survived the World War II Battle of Okinawa, officials of the group said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2000

Restructuring putting a damper on recovery

Recent economic reports indicate the nation has finally pulled itself out of a decade of doldrums.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Asia may see 'miracle' with rise in IT: report

Asian countries outside Japan could accomplish a "new Asian miracle" through increased utilization of information technology, the Economic Planning Agency said in an annual report released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Never discount the glow of gold too much

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's clout extends not just to U.S. equities. He also appears to hold the price of gold in the palm of his hand.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji