Search - about-us

 
 
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2000

Group explores cross-cultural links

This summer, the usual revelers in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward encountered a group of apparently out-of-place people who were on a mission to explore the nocturnal life of this multicultural town.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2000

Tokyo disaster drill features SDF in big way

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's annual major disaster-relief drill Sunday will feature the participation of Self-Defense Forces troops on an unprecedented scale -- 7,100 service members, 1,090 vehicles, 80 aircraft and five ships -- at 10 venues throughout the capital.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2000

Banks have written off 60% of bad loans since March: BOJ

The Bank of Japan said Thursday that Japanese commercial banks have written off about 60 percent of the bad loans that were on their books at the end of March this year. The central bank said in a nationwide survey that they have removed a combined 42 trillion yen worth of nonperforming loans from their...
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2000

Tokyo stocks should keep on trucking up

The uptrend in Tokyo share prices appears likely to gather momentum in the coming weeks amid growing opti- mism about economic prospects.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2000

Evacuees put on happy face

The children carried clean clothes, some snacks, textbooks and video games -- all hastily packed under the shadow of an 8,000-meter pillar of smoke rising above Mount Oyama on Miyake Island.
EDITORIALS
Sep 1, 2000

A shameful concession

The Millennium World Peace Summit convenes this week at the United Nations. More than 1,000 religious leaders representing over 75 faiths from around the world are attending, but there is one conspicuous absentee: the Dalai Lama. The interfaith coalition that organized the conference admitted that he...
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2000

Miyake chief rules out total evacuation

Miyake Mayor Ko Hasegawa on Thursday said he will recommend that women, children and the elderly leave volcanic Miyake Island but ruled out an islandwide evacuation.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2000

Lawmaker sought over fraud

Joji Yamamoto The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office on Thursday asked Joji Yamamoto, a House of Representatives lawmaker, to report for questioning about his suspected role in misappropriating government salaries paid to two of his secretaries, investigative sources said.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2000

Budget requests fall 0.2%

General-account budget requests from government ministries and agencies for fiscal 2001 totaled some 84.83 trillion yen, down 0.2 percent from the initial budget for fiscal 2000, Finance Ministry officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2000

Bias suit ruling draws protest

Plaintiff Eiko Shirafuji (second from right) and others form a human chain around the Osaka District Court to protest the court's rejection of a damages suit against Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. over its discrimination against women. OSAKA -- Some 330 people formed a human chain Thursday around...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 1, 2000

Japanese rugby player Iwabuchi hopes to make mark at Saracens

The 2000-01 season will be a significant landmark for Kensuke Iwabuchi. The former Japan international rugby player joined English club Saracens, the team he has dreamed of playing for.
COMMUNITY
Sep 1, 2000

Internet makes itself felt in publishing

Stephen King is currently shaking up American publishers with his experiment in making his novel "The Plant" available for downloading one chapter per month directly from his own Web site. In Japan, too, various ventures are taking place in digital publishing and distribution.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2000

Prospects bleak for Sharif, but may be bleaker still for Musharraf

NEW DELHI -- Pakistan's two most important political figures are facing bleak times.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Sep 1, 2000

Play that funky Okinawan music

Asian folk music has become a rich source for progressive club music. Hang out in one of Tokyo's happening nightspots and one is apt to hear break beats ping-ponging past Indian sitars or fluttering around Balinese gamelan. But when it comes to Okinawan min'yo or traditional music, there hasn't been...
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

U.S. military lets press view emergency medical drills

U.S. service members stationed in Japan conduct an emergency medical drill Wednesday at the Sagami Grand Depot in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Pref. YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) The U.S. Army stationed in Japan opened to the media Wednesday a weeklong drill on emergency medical operations being conducted at a military site...
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

Panel suggests tax breaks for gifts to nonprofit groups

A Liberal Democratic Party committee on Wednesday drew up a proposal to grant tax breaks to firms or individuals that donate to nonprofit organizations, committee officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

Foreigners need help: disaster expert

Tokyo lacks effective policies to help foreign residents survive a massive disaster, which is one of the most urgent challenges facing the metropolitan government, a special antidisaster adviser to Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

Pupils evacuated from Miyake settle in at west Tokyo school

Schoolchildren evacuated from Miyake Island arrived Wednesday afternoon at a school in western Tokyo that will be their temporary home shortly after an evacuation order was issued for all parts of the volcanic island.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

Lake reclamation scheme canceled

MATSUE, Shimane Pref. -- Following the ruling coalition's termination of a 37-year-old controversial project to reclaim part of Lake Nakaumi and create 1,470 hectares of farmland, local municipalities are scrambling for new central government spending to make up for the aborted project.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

Justice Ministry set to review penal code

The Justice Ministry plans a major review of Japan's century-old penal system in a bid to bring prison terms and the punishment for commercial crimes more in line with current judicial values.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2000

Tsutaya eyes ads on cellphone Web sites

A graphic small enough to be hidden under your thumb is expected to bring in millions of yen in revenues for Japan's biggest rental video chain, Tsutaya.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2000

Dollar fall probably correction, not trend

The dollar has failed to climb past the psychological resistance level of 110 yen and is now hovering around 106 yen.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2000

Sony to invest 100 billion yen in plant

Sony Corp. will invest roughly 100 billion yen to build a new manufacturing plant in Kumamoto Prefecture to meet strong demand for electronic devices, the company announced on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

Managers wise to be disabled-friendly: speaker

Managers who recruit disabled people and work to accommodate them not only tap an underused well of talent but simultaneously create an environment that will ease the transition of able-bodied workers should they fall victim to repetitive stress injuries or other perils of the modern office.
OLYMPICS
Aug 31, 2000

Osaka bid's next test in May

Osaka's hosting of the East Asian Games next May will be a key test in its uphill battle to win the right to stage the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, Japan Olympic Committee chairman Yushiro Yagi said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2000

Japan aims to pass U.S. in IT in five years

Japanese business leaders and Cabinet members agreed Wednesday to map out a national strategy by the end of the year to promote information technology, setting a goal of outrunning the United States as a "super-express IT power" in five years.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 31, 2000

Working together for the future

It's always your choice to live for today -- Raising your voice for all life to remain
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

Extremist murdered in knife attack

A 48-year-old leftist extremist was stabbed to death by a group of knife-wielding men wearing masks Wednesday morning in front of JR Uguisudani Station in Tokyo's Taito Ward, apparently the victim of an internal dispute within an ultraleftist group, police said.

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