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CULTURE / Art
Apr 4, 2001

Rare Tokyo excursion for Daigoji's treasures

The statue of Yakushi Nyorai, the principal image of Kyoto's Daigoji Temple and a national treasure, is on public show in Tokyo for the first time in 36 years, along with other art works from the temple.
Events
Apr 3, 2001

Nursery provides multilingual learning

KOBE -- For 20-month-old Andrei Hirata, the nursery school was hell.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2001

FSA punishes institutions for abetting KSD scandal

The Financial Services Agency on Thursday imposed administrative penalties on about 400 financial institutions for helping KSD, a scandal-tainted industrial mutual-aid foundation, increase its membership.
COMMUNITY
Mar 29, 2001

Relax to the sound of one door sliding

There's a sliding glass door inside Keiko Torigoe's new house in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, that rattles when opened, and it took a lot of time and energy to make it that way.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

Japan Telecom to cut local call rate to 8.5 yen

Japan Telecom Co. said Tuesday it will reduce its daytime local call rate to 8.5 yen per three minutes, making it the lowest local phone charge in Japan, when its nationwide local-call business starts in May.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2001

Heir to reed traders promotes appreciation of the marsh grass

OMIHACHIMAN, Shiga Pref. -- When the wind blows, common reeds in front of Yoshihiro Nishikawa's house make a unique sound. Inside, the house is filled with all kinds of products made of the reeds. Nishikawa's head is also filled with reeds, or at least knowledge about them.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Ex-KSD officials' trial to begin May 1

The trial of Tadao Koseki, the founder and former chief of mutual aid foundation KSD, and two other former KSD officials will begin May 1, the Tokyo District Court said Thursday.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2001

Saving the forests through photos

KYOTO -- The blue mushrooms in the Australian state of Tasmania seemed like windows onto the soul of the forest to French photographer and environmentalist Jerome Hutin.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2001

Mori advances date of LDP presidential election

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori officially announced Tuesday at the Liberal Democratic Party convention that he plans to move up the date of the LDP's presidential election -- a move widely taken to mean he is ready to step down soon.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2001

Mori ready to resign, LDP officials suggest

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has decided to step down in late March or early April, soon after the Diet passes the fiscal 2001 budget, a senior member of Mori's faction in the Liberal Democratic Party said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2001

NPO fosters solar power solution to fix transport problems for aged

KOBE -- The lack of interest in solar power among residents of Kobe's Uozaki district does not discourage Mana Enomoto from giving detailed explanations of the benefits of this clean energy source.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2001

Vote on Mori set for Monday

The opposition camp agreed Friday to jointly submit a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's Cabinet on Monday morning, in the hope of securing the upper hand in the ongoing battle to remove the unpopular leader.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2001

Budget passage offers Mori no relief

Normally, a prime minister will breathe a sigh of relief when the annual budget package clears the Lower House. But for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, the chamber's approval of the 82.65 trillion yen fiscal 2001 budget could mark the beginning of the end for his administration.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 2, 2001

Ex-OL, self-described everyman take Naoki prize

The winners of the Naoki literary prize for the second half of 2000 have been announced. This time, both winners -- "Planaria" by Yamamoto Fumio and "Vitamin F" by Shigematsu Kiyoshi -- are short-story collections, as were three of the other four short-listed works.
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2001

Truth of scandal remains buried

There is always something very frustrating about Diet questioning of legislators involved in corruption scandals. So it was with Monday's inquiry of Mr. Fukushiro Nukaga, former economics minister, at a Lower House Council on Political Ethics. As expected, Mr. Nukaga, a Liberal Democrat, denied allegations...
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Nukaga to answer to KSD query on Feb. 26

Former Cabinet Minister Fukushiro Nukaga agreed Monday to give unsworn testimony to a closed-door Diet ethics panel over money he received from the scandal-hit mutual-aid insurance group KSD, Liberal Democratic Party officials said.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2001

Politicians rethinking reliance on vote-gathering machinery

Staff writer It is election year in Japan again. About half of the seats in the Upper House will be up for grabs in the triennial election in July, while the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election -- often seen as an indicator of voting trends in national polls -- is expected in June.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2001

Politicians rethinking reliance on vote-gathering machinery

Staff writer It is election year in Japan again. About half of the seats in the Upper House will be up for grabs in the triennial election in July, while the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election -- often seen as an indicator of voting trends in national polls -- is expected in June.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2001

LDP should return 'fees' from KSD affiliate: Kanzaki

The Liberal Democratic Party should return the money provided to it under the guise of party membership fees by an affiliate of the scandal-tainted industrial mutual aid organization KSD, the leader of the LDP's key coalition partner said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2001

A nation without a road map

The primary task of the ongoing ordinary Diet session is to present a credible picture of future Japan, a blueprint for the structural reforms needed to rebuild the nation. Plenary debates were held in both houses of the Diet earlier last week, followed by committee-level debates during the rest of the...
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2001

Cabinet Secretariat gave 965 million yen to official accused of embezzling funds

The Foreign Ministry official who was fired last month on suspicion of embezzlement had been entrusted with 965 million yen between August 1993 and October 1999, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2001

Mori apologizes again, denies LDP is corrupt

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori offered a fresh apology before the Diet on Monday for recent corruption scandals involving LDP members and a Foreign Ministry official.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2001

Mori apologizes again, denies LDP is corrupt

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori offered a fresh apology before the Diet on Monday for recent corruption scandals involving LDP members and a Foreign Ministry official.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2001

CD-ROMs aid the visually impaired

KYOTO -- Yuko Shiomi, a professional narrator with the radio station KBS Kyoto, speaks into a microphone. Her role is that of "Kakuunsai," a fictional character depicting a distinguished calligrapher.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2001

CD-ROMs aid the visually impaired

KYOTO -- Yuko Shiomi, a professional narrator with the radio station KBS Kyoto, speaks into a microphone. Her role is that of "Kakuunsai," a fictional character depicting a distinguished calligrapher.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2001

Unconventional methods help get pregnant assembly member re-elected

IBARAKI, Osaka Pref. -- Mutsuko Katsura, the Ibaraki Municipal Assembly member who ran for re-election while 5 months pregnant, emerged victorious in the Jan. 28 poll.
COMMENTARY
Feb 2, 2001

End of the line for Mori?

Late last year Japan and the United States were buffeted by political turbulence. After briefly stirring fears of prolonged trouble, the chaos has died down.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2001

Kamei implicated in KSD scandal

Shizuka Kamei, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council, asked the former Labor Ministry to increase government subsidies for a technology institute affiliated with the scandal-hit mutual aid foundation KSD, an official of the ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2001

Nukaga likely to step down

State minister Fukushiro Nukaga is likely to resign from his Cabinet post today in the wake of allegations he received 15 million yen from KSD, a provider of industrial accident insurance, in 1999 and 2000, political sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2001

Pregnancy, critics won't sway Ibaraki woman's re-election bid

IBARAKI, Osaka Pref. -- For Mutsuko Katsura, a 32-year old Ibaraki Municipal Assembly member, seeking a second term in office came as naturally as her desire to have a baby.

Longform

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