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CULTURE / Music
Jan 3, 2000

It's not an easy trick to pick one out of 108 for best of year

It is time once again to look back over some of the most significant events of the previous year, 1999.
JAPAN
Dec 31, 1999

Pyongyang 'spy' tied to hijackers

A man believed to be detained in North Korea entered the country as part of a group organized by a former leader of the Red Army faction, according to sources close to Tokyo-Pyongyang relations. The sources said a five-member group led by Takaya Shiomi, 60, left Narita airport Nov. 30 and arrived in...
JAPAN
Dec 31, 1999

Obuchi rings in the new year with old pledge for recovery

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi greeted the New Year with a pledge to keep striving for full-scale economic recovery and to create a society in which all generations can live in harmony. "In 2000, I want to push ahead with the 'economic renaissance' policy for real economic recovery," Obuchi said during...
JAPAN
Dec 31, 1999

Obuchi tasked to dissolve Lower House

Even if Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi manages to see New Year's Day pass without serious Y2K problems, a big decision lies ahead of him — when to dissolve the Lower House and call a general election.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 1999

Seafood contamination scare overblown

Special to The Japan Times Recently, concern has been expressed in Japan about the contaminants found in whales and other marine mammals. It has been reported that contaminant levels are dangerously high and the government should take steps to reduce the risk to consumers' health. It may be helpful to...
JAPAN
Dec 30, 1999

Thank You

This year's fundraising campaign for refugees and children in need, in Japan and abroad, comes to an official close today. The donations received as of Thursday totaled 3,637,158 yen. Money received after the end of this year's campaign will be included in next year's charity fund drive. We are most...
JAPAN
Dec 30, 1999

Japanese consumers opting for riskier, more rewarding investments

Staff writer Are the Japanese changing the way they save money, turning to risky but potentially rewarding financial investments? The rising popularity of investment trusts may provide a clue. Net assets of investment trusts, or mutual funds, amounted to 53.3 trillion yen at the end of November, up...
COMMUNITY
Dec 30, 1999

Cashing in on the new millennium fever

At the turn of the millennium, marketer Kenneth Walker will be seeing lots of zeros. Not only will he be seeing the numbers 01-01-00 everywhere, he'll be seeing lots of zeros coming behind dollar signs.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 30, 1999

Explore high-tech versions of Japanese classics

GENJI MONOGATARI (THE TALE OF GENJI). Nihon Koten Bungaku Series 1. Released by Fujitsu Social Science Laboratory Ltd. Windows/Macintosh Hybrid CD-ROMs. Kawasaki, Japan and San Jose, CA: Fujitsu Software Corp., 1996. Bilingual Japanese-English. Two disks boxed separately. 6,000 yen or $68 each. HEIKE...
JAPAN
Dec 30, 1999

Trains to run all night despite midnight breaks

Staff writer For people who want to make predawn visits to shrines and temples Saturday, major railways throughout Japan will provide their usual New Year's Eve all-night services. However, some plan to halt trains for a few minutes both sides of midnight today to cope with possible Y2K computer problems. In...
JAPAN
Dec 29, 1999

Writer, artist unite to portray Okinawa's problems

Staff writer OSAKA -- When artist Seitaro Kuroda was videotaping a series of war stories for children written by prize-winning author Akiyuki Nosaka, he noticed something was missing. The stories, which first appeared in a magazine in 1971, described the hardship brought upon children and animals by...
JAPAN
Dec 29, 1999

Fukaya to join last stage of Saudi oil talks

Trade chief Takashi Fukaya said Wednesday that he will visit Riyadh in mid-January in a bid to resolve the now-stalled negotiations over the renewal of Arabian Oil Co.'s drilling rights in the Khafji oil field in Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry made the decision following...
JAPAN
Dec 28, 1999

50-year-old art exchange emerges from Montana

Staff writer Koichi Ogawa encountered a surprise during a two-month tour across the United States with two other Japanese earlier this year. Ogawa, 61, was visiting a friend in California who told him that an acquaintance from Montana would come down with some artwork. Ogawa was expecting to meet someone...
JAPAN
Dec 28, 1999

Oil rights talks stumble again over rail request

Tokyo and Riyadh have failed to narrow their differences in their latest negotiations over the renewal of Arabian Oil Co.'s drilling rights in a major Saudi Arabian oil field, International Trade and Industry Minister Takashi Fukaya said Tuesday. Fukaya made the remark in reference to a two-day governmental...
JAPAN
Dec 27, 1999

Illegal Iranians ask for permission to stay

Five Iranian families who have overstayed their visas visited the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau in Tokyo's Kita Ward on Monday to ask the justice minister for special permission to live in Japan. The 17 people, including seven minors, said they made the request either because they have children...
JAPAN
Dec 27, 1999

Court backs ruling refusing pension for Korean war veteran

The Tokyo High Court on Monday upheld a lower court decision that dismissed a claim from a South Korean man demanding that the government give him a pension because he fought for Japan during the war. Kim Song Su, 75, who lives in Pusan, South Korea, said that although he lost an arm fighting in Burma,...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 1999

Causes of Tokai disaster not so simple

In November, I visited JCO Co.'s nuclear fuel-processing plant -- a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. -- where Sept. 30 a level-5 nuclear incident took place. The plant is located 110 km from Tokyo in the small town of Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture. The plant is in an area that is a blend of residences...
JAPAN
Dec 24, 1999

Drop nuclear safety myth, institute precautions: NSC report

Japan should drop the long-held myth that nuclear power operations are "absolutely safe" and take steps to prevent the recurrence of serious accidents like the Tokai disaster that rocked the nation in September, the government's Nuclear Safety Commission said in a report Friday. The report was compiled...
JAPAN
Dec 23, 1999

Carmakers jockey for inroads in slow-growing China market

Staff writer GUANGZHOU, China -- Browsing through glossy catalogs, a couple of men chat with dealers over the counter of a spacious car showroom. Beside them sit three brand-new cars. What appears to be an ordinary scene at any roadside dealership, however, is not run-of-the-mill; one of the cars --...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Dec 23, 1999

Sake tools you can trust

Happy Holidays to all Japan Times readers.
COMMUNITY
Dec 23, 1999

A cry to help children in need

If Joseph Lam were to take a vocational aptitude test, the results would no doubt point to a career in either politics or tele-evangelism.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1999

JCO worker succumbs after 83 days

One of three JCO Co. workers exposed to massive radiation in September in the nation's worst nuclear accident died of organ failure at a Tokyo hospital late Tuesday night, becoming the first fatality of his kind in Japan. Hisashi Ouchi, 35, was critically injured during an accident Sept. 30 at the JCO...
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Dec 22, 1999

Seattle's other coffee house goes for Tokyo market share

Can we talk?
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 1999

Making sweet music together an educational experience

June 10, Donald Hunsberger conducting in Takemitsu Memorial Hall -- Second Suite in F for Military Band (Gustavus Theodore von Holst, 1874-1934), Fantasy Variations (Donald Grantham, born in Oklahoma in 1947), Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra (Henri Tomasi, 1901-1971; transcribed by Mamoru Nakata)...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 1999

Jury system for criminal trials urged

Second of three partsStaff writer Lawyers and other experts are calling for introduction of a jury system for criminal trials, arguing that it would change not only the makeup of the bench, which is exclusively run by legal professionals, but also the Japanese mind-set. "If the system is successfully...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 1999

High court nixes redress suit

Korean conscripts' demand for compensation denied b The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit by 189 Koreans demanding that the government officially apologize and pay each of them between 30 million yen and 50 million yen in damages for their suffering after...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 1999

LDP mulls redress for Korean vets

The Liberal Democratic Party was to begin drawing up a plan Monday to compensate permanent South Korean residents of Japan who worked under the Imperial Japanese forces but are ineligible for pensions because they are no longer Japanese citizens. LDP sources said Sunday that the party was leaning toward...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 1999

Tiger trade crackdown set for OK

The Cabinet is poised to approve today a revision of the Law for the Conservation of Endangered Species to ban trade in tiger parts. Under pressure from domestic and international nongovernmental organizations over the large amount of tiger- derived products in Japan, the government inked a revision...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 1999

'Zaito' funds slashed to 42.9 trillion yen

The Cabinet approved a draft Monday for a fiscal investment and loan program for fiscal 2000 worth 42.9 trillion yen, down 18.7 percent from the current year. The decrease in the scale of the so-called zaito program is the biggest ever. The drop is in preparation for the government's plan to overhaul...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 1999

Asia archive with LDP spin in works

Japan will open an Asian history archive inside the National Archives in April 2001, as proposed in 1995 by the Cabinet of then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama. The archive will include documents on the war Japan fought from 1926 to 1945 and records of its colonial rule in Asia that are now scattered...

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