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JAPAN
Aug 5, 1999

Public favors flag over anthem, poll shows

Roughly 90 out of 100 residents polled by The Japan Times in Tokyo, Osaka and Hiroshima this week said they recognize the Hinomaru flag as a national symbol, but almost 40 opposed "Kimigayo" as the national anthem.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 1999

General Motors looking for another nation to run

General Motors Corp., the world's largest auto manufacturer, is considering going into production in Japan, the Asia-Pacific head office of the company said on Thursday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 5, 1999

Emperors, journalists, critics and other influential people

Several weeks ago Time Magazine's Tokyo bureau asked Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi to nominate someone for the magazine's series of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, and Obuchi chose Emperor Showa.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 1999

LDP lawmakers want remittances to North halted

Japan should suspend cash remittances to North Korea if Pyongyang test-launches a second ballistic missile, Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers said Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 4, 1999

Islands of diversity and divergence

Although the islands of New Zealand, which I wrote about last time, are fascinating, we don't need to travel so far to find isolated islands supporting interesting biodiversity. Japan's own southern archipelago, straggling from Kyushu toward Taiwan, known as the Nansei Shoto, is so rich in both flora...
COMMENTARY
Jul 30, 1999

Selling out in Nagata-cho

"Japanese politics today lacks principles," former Health and Welfare Minister Junichiro Koizumi said when I met him recently as a member of a journalists' group. Koizumi also criticized government budget outlays of 80 trillion yen, against national and local tax revenues of only 50 trillion yen. He...
EDITORIALS
Jul 30, 1999

Taking up the fight against TB

Tuberculosis, a communicable disease that has been commonly linked to poverty and unsanitary living conditions, is making a troubling comeback in Japan. The situation has become so worrisome that the Ministry of Health and Welfare issued a tuberculosis emergency declaration Monday, warning the nation...
JAPAN
Jul 29, 1999

Dumping claims stifling steel exports, Tokyo says

Japan aired its concerns Thursday to the United States that the recent series of antidumping claims by the U.S. steel industry against steel imports has substantially paralyzed Japanese exports of most major steel products, government officials said.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 1999

Scheme hatched for Jordan debt relief

Japan will provide Jordan with several billion yen in official development assistance to help the country alleviate its external debt-repayment burden and enhance domestic political stability amid a critical period for the regional peace process, government sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

No national consensus on national symbols

Staff writers
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jul 22, 1999

Ishikawa sake guaranteed to give you summer chills

One of the more interesting things about the sake world is that interspersed between long-famous sake-brewing regions, such as Fushimi, Nada and Niigata, are locales that have well-established sake traditions all their own. Places such as Yamagata, Shizuoka, Shimane and Tottori have well-defined styles...
JAPAN
Jul 20, 1999

Experts ponder state's next great spending project

Staff writer
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 1999

Anthem and flag just need some tweaking

The battle over whether or not to pass legislation giving the de facto national anthem "Kimigayo" and the Hinomaru flag official status has been a black-and- white, yes-or-no affair. There have been some legalistic, even occasionally Clintonesque, arguments presented in the Diet on the definition of...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 1999

Will wiretapping hurt the news?

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 5, 1999

Parents unprepared for child seat law

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Jul 3, 1999

NTT readies for the digital era

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. made a fresh start Thursday as a group of companies under the control of a holding company. As Japan's largest telecommunications company, NTT is expected to play an even larger role in a broad spectrum of activities. With competition heating up at home and abroad,...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 30, 1999

Let's digital

Let's digital. That's the message in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications 1999 White Paper on Communications in Japan. The annual survey, released earlier this month, reveals a nation poised for the millennium, its finger firmly on the mouse, clicking its way into the 21st century
JAPAN
Jun 29, 1999

Korean slams government's selective conscription redress

One of 189 South Koreans seeking an official apology and redress from Japan for wartime conscription criticized the government Tuesday for compensating only Japanese and not Koreans who were similarly drafted as soldiers and civilian workers.
JAPAN
Jun 28, 1999

Base not Ishihara's only target

Staff writers
JAPAN
Jun 24, 1999

LDP group demands revised SDF law, powers

A group of ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers asked the government Thursday to revise the Self-Defense Force Law to expand areas the SDF can guard to beyond airspace, and to draft bills for better handling of high-level contingencies within Japan.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 1999

U.S. NPO interns see future in collaboration

The key to prosperity for both U.S. and Japanese nonprofit organizations may be collaboration with appreciation for cultural differences, according to 12 American interns who have completed one-month internships at Japanese NPOs.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 1999

FEMA urges awareness, cooperation to handle Y2K

Kay Goss, associate director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, on Friday called for cooperation between world emergency managers in preparation for what she termed the most "unnatural hazard" ever — the Year 2000 problem.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 1999

Portugal — the next hot European tourist draw?

OPORTO, Portugal — The government of Portugal is trying to convince Japanese tourists that provinces in the south of France are not the only destination for a relaxing vacation in Europe. Instead, it is pushing the Iberian countryside with its ecotourism opportunities and locally made brandy-laced...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 1999

Fukui OKs use of MOX fuel at Takahama plant

FUKUI — Fukui Prefecture gave the final go-ahead Thursday for Kansai Electric Power Co.'s plan to use mixed plutonium-uranium oxide fuel at its Takahama nuclear plant.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 1999

South Africa to get fresh yen loans

Japan will extend about $400 million in fresh yen loans over the next five years to help South Africa rebuild its ailing economy under new President Thabo Mbeki, government sources said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 11, 1999

Cable and Wireless connects

The great bidding war is over: Toyota Motor Corp. and Itochu Corp. have each decided to sell their 17.7 percent stake in International Digital Communications Inc. to Britain's Cable and Wireless PLC. With a winning bid of 110,577 yen per share, C&W has bested the favorite, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone...
JAPAN
Jun 11, 1999

Business, labor groups elated

The nation's five major business and labor organizations expressed appreciation Friday for the government's package to boost the job market and improve industrial competitiveness, according to government officials.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jun 11, 1999

When did originality go out of focus?

Hiromix, the person credited with the current popularity of "girl" photographers, has thus far lived a charmed life: After stints as a "serious" artist, a band leader and, most recently, a mayonnaise spokeswoman, she has restyled herself as a singer-songwriter with the release of her new record "Hiromix...
JAPAN
Jun 10, 1999

Sri Lankans find way to share the scholarship

In the small southern Sri Lankan town of Kataragama, high school student Gamini Nawaratne eagerly awaits his monthly mail from Japan.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1999

C&W wins IDC stakes

Toyota Motor Corp. and Itochu Corp. on Wednesday announced their decisions to sell their 17.7 percent stakes in International Digital Communications Inc. to Britain's Cable and Wireless PLC.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’