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JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Keene to lecture on Emperor Meiji

Donald Keene, an expert on Japanese literature, will give a lecture in English titled "Emperor Meiji and War" on Oct. 30 at Ueno Gakuen University in Tokyo's Taito Ward.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Obuchi offers apology for Nishimura's remarks

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi apologized to the public Friday for recently appointed Parliamentary Vice Defense Minister Shingo Nishimura's remarks on rape and nuclear armament, which have led to Nishimura's resignation.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Tax Commission questions need for 401(k) breaks

The Tax Commission, an advisory panel to the prime minister, expressed caution on Friday about granting tax advantages under the planned new pension system.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

The 401(K) Approach: Firm offers pension guidance

Staff writer
COMMUNITY
Oct 22, 1999

Creator of offbeat manga happy to break the rules

Manga artist Sekaiichi Asakura has three types of fans: Those who enjoy his work purely for the humor; those who read philosophy and world religion into his comic strips; and those who claim that they are as weird as him.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Nomura, Nikko post hefty first-half profits

Boosted by a stock market surge that began in spring, Nomura Securities Co. and Nikko Securities Co. posted bubble era-like pretax profits in the first half of fiscal 1999, according to their earnings reports released Friday.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 22, 1999

They still want you to want them

An enduring myth about rock is that the best artists crash before they settle into a professional rut. Jazz, blues, and folk musicians are allowed the dignity of improving with age, while rock 'n' rollers descend into redundancy.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Latin America urged to help KEDO process with oil

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1999

Tokyo Motor Show: Ford targets baby-boomer offspring

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1999

State not fighting gender bias: activist

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1999

Coalition eyes funding for loan program

The ruling triumvirate called Thursday for adding 5 trillion yen to a special loan-guarantee program to help small and midsize companies suffering from the tight lending practices of financial institutions.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1999

Tokyo Motor Show: GM to expand Asia-Pacific presence

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1999

Top court rejects Fujinami appeal, ends Recruit saga

The Supreme Court has turned down an appeal by Liberal Democratic Party legislator Takao Fujinami in the 1980s Recruit bribery scandal, finalizing a high court ruling that gave him a suspended jail term and a fine of 42.7 million yen, it was learned Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 1999

'Nissan is in bad shape'

That blunt comment says it all. At a press conference Monday, Mr. Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's chief operating officer, ticked off the company's failings: mismanagement, inefficient production, lack of vision, unappealing products. Their impact has been plain: Nissan, Japan's second largest carmaker, has lost...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1999

Tokyo Motor Show looks both to future, past

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- The 33rd Tokyo Motor Show is set to begin Saturday, bringing together automobile enthusiasts, automakers and auto parts manufacturers from around the world.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1999

Eatery gives elderly more than good food

Staff writer
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Oct 20, 1999

The comfort of strangers

"Susunu Denpa Shonen," which airs every Sunday night on NTV, has become a bona fide phenomenon partly by tweaking noses and partly by joining hands -- call it cynicism cut with altruism
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1999

Ford hints Nedcar may drop MMC platforms

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- The fate of Nedcar, the Netherlands-based joint venture between Volvo Car Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., became clearer Wednesday as Ford Motor Co.'s chief executive officer indicated Mitsubishi's platforms may be dropped.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 20, 1999

Trying times for bees

VANCOUVER, Canada -- For millions of years, honeybees have been doing what they do best -- transforming the nectar from blossoms into thick, sweet honey. Since the development of agriculture, they have also been ensuring that the pollination necessary for the production of the world's fruits and vegetables...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Oct 20, 1999

Nature scenes pure eye Kandy

If you visit the Sri Lanka hill capital of Kandy and fall in love, be content. You are in illustrious company.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Oct 20, 1999

A bit perturbed

This morning I had a phone call. I'm busy, he said, I just have a few minutes between meetings but I desperately need your help. Well, I was busy too, but I listened. His wife taught at a university, he said. School officials had been wanting her to resign. She is 58 years old. She had, he said, been...
LIFE / Travel
Oct 20, 1999

Apimondia: all abuzz about bees

The white sails of the Vancouver Trade and Convention Center were a beehive of activity Sept. 12 to 18, as nearly 3,000 scientists and beekeepers from around the world converged in Vancouver for a huge international beekeeping congress.
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 1999

Now it is up to Pyongyang

There were hopes, a few years ago, that North Korea might just quietly implode, as the Soviet Union did, then be absorbed by its neighbor to the south. The hermetic state was on the brink of mass starvation, created by economic mismanagement and compounded by nature's caprice. The government in Pyongyang...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

JCO president apologizes to lawmakers

Looking pale and worn and sitting with his head bowed, the president of JCO Co. on Tuesday appeared before Diet members and repeatedly apologized for the nuclear accident 19 days earlier that was Japan's worst.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

New bank-rescue plan would relieve depositors

An advisory panel to the finance minister on Tuesday said that healthy banks should be brought in to buy failed banks after a revised deposit protection system takes effect in April 2001.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

Japan's biggest nonlife insurer scheduled for 2002

Marine & Fire Insurance Co., Nippon Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and Koa Fire & Marine Insurance Co. formally announced Tuesday they will form a holding company by April 2002 to create the nation's largest nonlife insurer.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 19, 1999

Japan searches for status, finds only frustration

JAPAN'S QUEST FOR A PERMANENT SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT: A Matter of Pride or Justice?, by Reinhard Drifte. MacMillan Press, St. Antony's Series, 1999, 269 pp., 47.50 British pounds. From the day Japan surrendered to end World War II, its leaders have sought to rehabilitate the country and restore its prewar...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 19, 1999

Simple testimony to tragedy

COMFORT WOMAN, A Filipina's Story of Prostitution and Slavery under the Japanese Military, by Maria Rosa Henson, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., Lanham, MD, USA, 1999, 120 pages, $19.95 (paper). Here is yet another witness to World War II atrocities committed by Japanese forces. Maria Rosa Henson...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Oct 19, 1999

The 'Moscow Blues Monster' seen rocking Tokyo's streets

For Yuji and Tatsuya it was just another night at Club Metro in Kyoto -- sinking tequila shots, fretting over the future of their jazz band and occasionally taking to the floor to shake their booty to the bouncy bossanova beats blasting from the sound system -- when in walked that girl again.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 19, 1999

An unnerving glance into the abyss

DESTROYING THE WORLD TO SAVE IT: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism, by Robert Jay Lifton. Holt/Metropolitan, 374 pp., $26. A prominent scholar in the psychology of genocide has good and bad news for those who feel paranoid about random, mass killings by fanatics:

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