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JAPAN
May 10, 2000

DNA advance seen yielding new drugs

A team of Japanese and German scientists has decoded the DNA sequence of a human chromosome containing genes causing diseases that include Down's syndrome, Alzheimer's disease and leukemia, Japanese scientists said.
JAPAN
May 10, 2000

Landlord poll finds a quarter turn elderly away

About 25 percent of real estate agents and other property managers said they have denied elderly clients a lease on such grounds as difficulty in dealing with sudden illness, an industry survey said earlier this week.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2000

Japan lacks leadership: OECD chief

Japan needs political leadership to carry out regulatory reforms necessary for people to enjoy the benefits of the emerging globalized economy, the head of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 10, 2000

Honohana leader, 11 cohorts arrested for bilking believers

The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Hogen Fukunaga, the founder of the foot-reading cult Honohana Sanpogyo, and 11 other senior cult members Tuesday on suspicion of fraud.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2000

Correction episode may be near an end

The trigger for Tokyo stock price corrections in recent weeks has been volatility on the New York Stock Exchange.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
May 10, 2000

Sea of love

Ponder, if you will, these two recent headlines:
LIFE / Travel
May 10, 2000

Postcards from the flip side of Japan

Think of the antithesis of Japan. A place where there are few people, an abundance of unspoiled natural beauty, a low standard of living and, perhaps most importantly for the visitor, sparkling blue oceans teeming with fish and alive with coral reefs.
CULTURE / Stage
May 10, 2000

Kee Company explores facets of communication

If we could see language, if language relied on visual instead of aural means, it would become a kind of communication closely resembling telepathy: a fusion of the observer with the observed.
ENVIRONMENT
May 10, 2000

Trees and taste at Mito Botanic Garden

Mito, in Ibaraki Prefecture, is well known throughout Japan for natto (fermented soybeans), an acquired taste. It is also known for Kairakuen Garden, one of the Three Famous Gardens in Japan, which I've written about before. Just a couple of kilometers south of Mito in the lush green countryside, there...
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2000

Modest hopes for summit between Koreas

Last month, the leaders of North and South Korea stunned the world with an announcement of plans to meet in Pyongyang in June at the first ever summit between the two nations. It is an event fraught with both danger and opportunity.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 10, 2000

We all have problems

A foreign man, engaged to be married to a Japanese woman, has a problem. They have decided they want to buy a mansion (apartment) rather than pay rent for someone else's property. He has heard that foreigners wishing to buy property or arrange a mortgage are required to have permanent residence status,...
JAPAN
May 10, 2000

Okinawa goods shops basking in G8, or pop-star spotlight?

Who is to thank for the recent brisk sales at an Okinawa goods shop in Tokyo, former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi or pop singer Namie Amuro?
BUSINESS
May 10, 2000

DoCoMo makes foray into European market

Fired by the ambition to spread its next-generation multimedia cellular systems across Europe, NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Tuesday that it will acquire 15 percent of Dutch-based cellular operator KPN Mobile N.V. for 500 billion yen.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2000

Matsushita's memory card up against Sony's product

In a bid to compete against Sony Corp.'s Memory Stick, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will introduce a product in June featuring a small flash memory card named the SD Memory Card, Matsushita announced Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2000

Crime knows no boundaries

Crime was very much on people's minds during this year's Golden Week holiday period. While the calendar made it possible for record numbers of Japanese to travel abroad, those who stayed behind for whatever reason were transfixed by news of two appalling crimes one day apart, each allegedly committed...
JAPAN
May 9, 2000

Takashimaya enters Nagoya on quest for piece of the pie

NAGOYA -- For 20 years, the city with the nation's highest private savings rate had only four major department stores.
JAPAN
May 9, 2000

Longer Golden Week spurs huge turnout

Some 68.1 million people spent their Golden Week holidays at major tourist attractions or events this year, an increase of roughly 14.3 million from last year, the National Police Agency said Monday.
JAPAN
May 9, 2000

39 court districts have no practicing lawyers

Japan's lawyers are disproportionately concentrated in Tokyo, leaving 39 district court jurisdictions out of 253 nationwide with no practicing lawyers, according to a report issued Monday by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
BUSINESS
May 9, 2000

Nasdaq Japan to debut with eight companies

The Osaka Securities Exchange announced Monday that eight firms will be listed on the Nasdaq Japan market when it debuts June 19.
JAPAN
May 9, 2000

Algerian minister's visit to mark warming of ties

Algerian Foreign Minister Youcef Yousfi plans to visit Tokyo at the end of this month, a trip that will mark the end of decades of near-estrangement between Japan and the North African country.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 9, 2000

Kafu's sure but fleeting touch

AMERICAN STORIES, by Nagai Kafu. Translated and with an introduction by Mitsuko Iriye. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000, 240 pp., unpriced. In 1903, the young man who was to become one of Japan's finest writers left for the United States. He did not particularly want to go -- he would have...
JAPAN
May 9, 2000

Osu survives with blend of old and new

NAGOYA -- Young people browse through the shirts and jeans at a used clothes store, while an elderly woman picks up some tea at a shop around back. On the street, a young couple eating ice cream pass a man with a computer.
BUSINESS
May 9, 2000

AXA Nichidan Life exec eyes challenges

The challenges surrounding the newly launched AXA Nichidan Life Insurance Co. and Japan's insurance industry do not elude Hisashi Ohgaki, the firm's executive director and chief products and marketing officer.
JAPAN
May 9, 2000

Sumida fireworks face G8 delay

The popular annual Sumida River fireworks in Tokyo will be postponed by one month until Aug. 26 because police will be too busy in July providing security for the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa Prefecture, fireworks organizers said Monday.
BUSINESS
May 9, 2000

Imai welcomes Keidanren union with Nikkeiren

Takashi Imai, chairman of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), said Monday that he supports the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations' (Nikkeiren) setting up a committee to consider a possible merger with Keidanren.

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