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JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

'Pachisuro' firm hit with penalties for unpaid taxes

Aruze Corp., Japan's largest manufacturer and seller of "pachisuro," a cross between pachinko and a slot machine, has been accused by tax authorities of concealing about 4 billion yen in income between fiscal 1996 and fiscal 1998, industry sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2000

$1.36 million pledged to Eritrean refugees

Japan has pledged $1.36 million in emergency grants to support Eritreans who have suffered as a result of their country's two-year conflict with Ethiopia over a border dispute, the Foreign Ministry said.
COMMUNITY
Dec 28, 2000

Down's diagnoses defied

Hope was not in the prognosis that doctors gave to Chie Myo, after examining her first son, Shunsuke, at the age of 3 months. They diagnosed the baby as having been born with Mongolism, a derogatory term previously used for Down syndrome, and predicted that he would not live long, saying a mere cold...
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

Tech firms plan Bluetooth venture

Toshiba Corp., Taiyo Yuden Co. and IBM Japan Ltd. said Tuesday they will form a joint venture that will authorize the use of a trademark for the new Bluetooth wireless technology.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2000

Household spending declines second month

Spending by Japan's wage-earning households fell an inflation-adjusted 2.3 percent in November from a year earlier to an average 312,376 yen per household, the Management and Coordination Agency said Tuesday.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 27, 2000

PlayStation2 shortage buoys up Sega

Sega started off on the wrong foot when it launched its 128-bit Dreamcast game console in Japan Nov. 27, 1999, and has been unable to regain its balance ever since.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 26, 2000

Giants open vault for MVP Matsui

The Yomiuri Giants on Monday signed slugger Hideki Matsui to a new one-year contract that made him only the third 500 million yen player in Japanese baseball history.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 26, 2000

Minori GC takes some of the frustration out of golf

Looking forward to a round of golf over the holidays? Or are you dreading another six-hour slog around the links?
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2000

Cabinet approves 2001 budget

The Cabinet on Sunday approved an 82.65 trillion yen general-account budget for fiscal 2001 that is aimed at ensuring the nation's recovery from the prolonged economic slump.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2000

Mild Tokyo winters reflect global warming

In Tokyo the average number of days with sub-freezing temperatures decreased by 95 percent over the course of the 20th century, reflecting the advance of global warming, according to the Meteorological Agency.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 25, 2000

World fisheries collapsing as technology and demand soar

As this is the season of giving, here is a gift, a riddle:
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2000

Universal leads Kinki tourism boom

OSAKA -- With construction work on Universal Studio Japan nearing completion, expectations are running high that the Hollywood theme park will attract hordes of visitors and revitalize a hitherto drab industrial site.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 24, 2000

Shinjo: Can he live up to media hype in New York?

played up the coverage of the signing of free agent Tsuyoshi Shinjo by the New York Mets last week. "He'll be the opening day starting center fielder," said one paper about the former Hanshin Tigers star. "He'll bat sixth in the lineup," read another. While it's nice to know they have high hopes for...
COMMUNITY
Dec 24, 2000

The miraculous manifestation of a man of the cloth at Xmas

T'was 10 days before Christmas, and all through the house . . . complete and utter panic! Who to interview for Christmas Eve? Jim Carey (promoting his seasonal movie "The Grinch") has come and gone -- along with most of the foreign community (for the holiday break). As for the Japanese, they are all...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 24, 2000

Roll up your sleeve when Lance comes calling

Hospitals come and go -- especially on our island. You can always tell when the hospital comes because it's a large mobile contraption that rolls off the ferry. When it's time to go, it rolls back onto the ferry and you can wave goodbye to the hospital as it goes back out to sea. It's basically a big...
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2000

High court reverses murder acquittal

The Tokyo High Court on Friday reversed a lower court's acquittal of a 34-year-old Nepalese man and sentenced him to life in prison for the 1997 murder of a female employee of Tokyo Electric Power Co.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2000

Population growth at postwar low: census

The latest census, carried out in October, shows Japan's population at 126.92 million, up 1.35 million from five years ago, the Management and Coordination Agency said Friday, noting that the corresponding growth rate of 1.1 percent was the lowest in the postwar era.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 23, 2000

A life fired by devotion to ceramics

Many a foreign Japanese pottery scholar or collector owes a great debt to the life and work of Fujio Koyama (1900-1975). He wrote countless books and articles and some were fortunately translated into English; they are still a great source of knowledge and pleasure. These include the wonderful "The Heritage...
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Car sales to increase 2.2% in 2001: JAMA

Domestic car sales in 2001 will reach 6.1 million units, up 2.2 percent from this year, as demand is expected to continue to slowly recover, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

ODA cuts mark move to efficiency

The draft fiscal 2001 budget presented Wednesday calls for reducing Japan's official development assistance to developing countries while attempting to improve the efficiency of outlays.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

83 trillion yen budgeted for 2001

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Wednesday unveiled a draft general-account budget for fiscal 2001 that is smaller than its predecessor for the first time in three years but will nevertheless leave Japan 666 trillion yen in debt.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

Merchandise trade surplus off for fifth consecutive month

Japan's merchandise trade surplus dropped 9.8 percent in November from a year earlier to 598.5 billion yen, marking the fifth consecutive month of decline, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 21, 2000

Success of discount barns should come as no surprise

" 'Tis the season," and while many a crabby gaijin points out that Japan's decidedly commercial spin on Christmas excludes its religious meaning, shopping makes a lot of people happy, so why knock it?
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2000

Hope gleaned from 'tankan' doom, gloom

The Bank of Japan's latest quarterly survey of business sentiment has shed light on two important aspects of economic fundamentals.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear