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LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jul 19, 2000

Nabatean nights of the living dead

"It was truly a strange spectacle -- a city filled with tombs. One would be inclined to think that the former population had no employment which was not connected with death, and that they had all been surprised by death during the performance of some funeral amenities."
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2000

Sogo could be sold to U.S. equity fund

The Cerberus Group, a private U.S. equity fund that has already made an offer to buy the collapsed retail chain Nagasakiya, may also be interested in the failed department store chain Sogo Co.
BUSINESS
Jul 18, 2000

BOJ decision said to be ambiguous

The Bank of Japan's decision Monday to leave the "zero-interest-rate" policy unchanged did not surprise many, given the shock financial markets received from the virtual bankruptcy last week of department store operator Sogo Co.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2000

Kirin still selling recalled beverage

Kirin Beverage Corp. is continuing to sell its Kirin Speed sport drink through some 40,000 vending machines nationwide despite a recall of the product announced Saturday, company officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2000

Kobe welcomes giant panda pair

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2000

G8 leaders may agree to pursue trade talks

The leaders of the Group of Eight nations appear likely to agree next week to pursue the launch of a new round of global trade liberalization negotiations by the end of this year, but many obstacles remain.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2000

Okinawans having trouble looking beyond the 'three K's'

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- Business is slack along Heiwa Dori (Peace Street), one in a maze of narrow streets that make up Machigwa, Naha's central market.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2000

Snow Brand plants face inspection

The Health and Welfare Ministry on Friday set up a 12-member team to carry out its own inspections of Snow Brand Milk Products Co.'s 20 plants.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 15, 2000

Singapore seeks its own artistic future

Singapore is known for being a clean country full of sunshine, greenery and delightful people. But although it offers great shopping, gourmet dining and sightseeing, it is not frequently associated with the art world.
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2000

Japan, by the numbers

Japan's economic statistics are, by and large, rated highly for their diversity and accuracy. So it comes as no surprise that Japanese experts are helping developing countries improve their own statistical systems. Recently, however, that reputation seems to have been somewhat tarnished because of media...
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2000

Sogo closes three branch stores

Major department store chain Sogo Co. on Thursday shut down three of its 27 retail outlets in Japan and let two of the three launch bankruptcy proceedings with local courts, the company said.
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 2000

Drawing lines in the Middle East

It is hard to exaggerate the risks involved in the Middle East summit that began this week at the Camp David presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland. The main players — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and U.S. President Bill Clinton — are gambling...
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2000

Gang warfare injures two in Tokyo

Two men were shot and seriously wounded early Wednesday during a confrontation between rival gangs in the heart of Tokyo, police said.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2000

Kawaguchi to look to private-sector past

Newly appointed Environment Agency chief Yoriko Kawaguchi will use her private-sector experience to strengthen the agency as it prepares to become a ministry, but says her background has taught her to be wary of government regulation.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 13, 2000

No easy explanation for overseas Chinese success

ETHNIC CHINESE: Their Economy, Politics and Culture, edited by Yu Chunghsun. Tokyo: The Japan Times, 2000, 247 pp., 2,800 yen (cloth). The essays in this book explore the role of the ethnic Chinese economies in economic recovery and development in Asia in the 21st century. They are largely the product...
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2000

Snow Brand faces criminal probe over tainted milk

Osaka Prefectural Police will launch a criminal investigation into an outbreak of food poisoning attributed to Snow Brand Milk Products Co. goods on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in bodily injury as well as violations of the Food Hygiene Law, police sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2000

Mexico's stance precludes an agreement on investment pact with Japan

Japan and Mexico have run aground in their negotiations toward a pact aimed at shoring up the flow of investment across the Pacific.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 13, 2000

It's Karl Marx vs. Jackie Chan, and the old, fat guy wins

CITY ON FIRE: Hong Kong Cinema, by Lisa Odham Stokes and Michael Hoover. London: Verso, Sept. 1999, 372 pp., $22 (paper). It began as a buzzing, multicultural confusion. The year is 1909. Hong Kong's cinema is born with a silent effort titled "Stealing the Roasted Duck." It is the handiwork of Liang...
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2000

Security role a two-edged sword but U.S. keeping lower profile

CHATAN, Okinawa Pref. -- It's an early Tuesday evening at Morgan's, a popular bar along Gate Two Road, and the mood is festive.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jul 13, 2000

Compulsories of sake keeps brewers in top form

Last month, I gave an overview of the Shinshu Kanpyokai, the national new-sake tasting competition held each spring, and its logistics. Here is a look at what kind of sake wins, and what the big deal is about anyway.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2000

New justice minister urges changes to Juvenile Law

With the recent spate of serious crimes committed by minors heightening concerns about juvenile issues, revisions to the Juvenile Law are necessary and must be completed as early as possible, newly appointed Justice Minister Okiharu Yasuoka said.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2000

North Okinawa mixed on planned military-civilian airport

NAGO, Okinawa Pref. -- From a tiny desert island off the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab, Takuma Higashionna looks out over the coral reef amid clear water.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2000

Dollar-selling pressure looms at end of half

The Bank of Japan's quarterly survey on business sentiment should have given the central bank fresh evidence of an economic recovery and justification for ending its "zero-interest-rate" policy.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2000

Diet to meet on taxpayer Sogo bailout

Diet committees will hold extraordinary sessions July 17-18 to scrutinize the planned public-funded bailout of ailing department store operator Sogo Co., legislators said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2000

FRC may detail Sogo bailout

The Financial Reconstruction Commission is to consider whether it can disclose the numerical data that led to the government's decision to forgive loans to troubled department store chain Sogo Co., the newly appointed FRC chairman said.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 6, 2000

86-year-old composer going strong

At 86, Saburo Takata may be the oldest working composer of classical music in the world. Not that he feels like it.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2000

Bangkok sticks with its old-style politics

BANGKOK -- If Thai politics has changed since demonstrators ousted a pro-military government in 1992 and set the stage for democratic reforms, you would hardly know it from watching the campaign for this month's Bangkok gubernatorial election.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jul 5, 2000

The tyranny of the square

When talking to Ted Nelson, strap in tight. It's quite a ride. Trained as a philosopher and film director, he is equal parts visionary and crank. Many consider him to be one of the fathers of the World Wide Web. He coined the word "hypertext" in 1965, but he has become a scathing critic of the Web and...
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2000

Bacteria outbreak at Osaka hospital claims lives of seven elderly patients

OSAKA -- Seven elderly patients at a hospital in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, died between May 7 and Saturday after contracting serratia bacteria -- apparently inside the facility, officials said Monday.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell