Mainichi Daily News articles from January 2000

Mainichi Daily News archives from January 2000

N-waste to cost 3.4yen tril.: Electricity consumers to foot disposal bill.
January 31, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun Taxpayers are going to have to foot a 3.4 trillion yen bill to cover the cost of dumping the nation's high-level radioactive waste materials that accumulate by the end of 2015, according to the Ministry of International...

Lower House OKs seat-cutting bill.
January 31, 2000... Despite an opposition boycott of the vote, the House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation to cut the number of proportional representation seats in the Lower House. The lower chamber passed the bill on the strength of...

Cyberwar still raging on government Web sites.
January 31, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun Hackers have once again targeted government bodies' Internet home pages, while also extending their attacks to the Mainichi Newspapers Co., officials said Thursday. Hackers again set up messages written in Chinese...

EDITORIAL: Free market in the sky.
January 31, 2000... A president of an airline company once griped, "The age of setting fares by tacking a reasonable profit onto our costs has ended." That was nearly 10 years ago. We now live in an age in which fares are set first and costs are then...

DoCoMo, Matsushita join hands on music.
January 31, 2000... NTT Mobile Communication Network Inc. (NTT DoCoMo) and Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. Ltd. announced on Thursday that they will establish a company to distribute music through NTT DoCoMo's mobile-phone network. The new company,...

Tokyo Stocks.
January 31, 2000... Share prices rose for the second straight day Thursday, led mainly by information and technology issues. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average gained 98.53, or 0.52 percent, to 19,209.72, after moving between 18,971.68 and 19,238.08. The...

Real-estate company busted for concealment: Company hides Y400 million in proceeds.
January 31, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun An Osaka-based real estate company that owes billions of yen to the Resolution and Collection Corp. hid 400 million yen in proceeds from the sale of a property against the law, the Mainichi has learned. Asahi Juken's...

Detergent plant explosion kills employee.
January 31, 2000... SOWA, Ibaraki -- An early morning explosion at a detergent plant here killed a worker and injured another on Thursday, police said. According to investigators, the explosion occurred at the plant of a Tokyo-based detergent and toiletries...

Reel Talk with James Bailey: Costner grounds out in third trip to plate.
January 31, 2000... There's something about a man in uniform, especially when the man is Kevin Costner, and the uniform is the distinctive outfit associated with America's national pastime. Few cinematic genres have been as commercially and critically...

From Russia with love.
January 31, 2000... The Bolshoi Circus dazzles and delights audiences of all ages in time-honored styleBy Greg Mettam Staff Writer "Russian circuses are the best in the world," boasts acrobat Viatcheslav Emelianov. Hmmm... bold statement. So what...

Rainbow Blues Gala colors kids' world with hope.
January 31, 2000... Staff Writer Of all the colors of the rainbow, it's the blues that often go unnoticed. But long after flashier hues have had their moment of glory and passed from the scene, it's blue -- in all its variations -- that fills the sky and...

Expansion of Keiyo Line urged to ease congestion.
January 31, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun A government advisory panel urged Thursday that the JR Keiyo Line, which connects Chiba Prefecture with downtown Tokyo, be extended to Mitaka in a bid to ease congestion on the Chuo Line, officials said. A regional...

Nation's temperatures fall as cold spell sets in.
January 31, 2000... Cold weather continued to batter the Japanese archipelago Thursday, ushering in the season's lowest temperatures with minus 34.9 degrees Celsius in Hokkaido and eclipsing Wednesday's season lows, the Meteorological Agency said. ...

Wife who had hubby pummeled gets 5 years.
January 31, 2000... SAPPORO -- The Sapporo District Court sentenced a woman to five years in prison for commissioning her boyfriend to beat up her husband who later died as a result of the assault. The woman's boyfriend was sentenced to 41/2 years in prison....

Living off mom, dad like parasites.
January 31, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun For many years now, Japanese women have been known to stay on in the comfort of their family homes long after finishing their education and well into their careers until they find someone to marry.forsaking their...

New ethics law bars bureaucrats from feasting on corporate largesse.
January 31, 2000... National bureaucrats will be banned from receiving free rounds of golf or taking trips sponsored by businesses related to their duties under a new ethics law that comes into effect in April. The rules, outlined in law for the first time,...

Editorial: Nuclear power policy.
January 31, 2000... Japan has 51 commercial nuclear power plants, which together account for a third of the electricity generated in this country. Without them, our lifestyles would be drastically affected. But a series of accidents and scandals have put the...

LDP Diet member admits tax evasion.
January 31, 2000... Takashi Sasagawa, a House of Representatives member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, failed to declare some 710 million yen in taxable income from selling shares in a family company in 1997, sources close to the case said Saturday. ...

Hata says election possible on April 2.
January 31, 2000... FUKUOKA -- Tsutomu Hata, secretary-general of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said Saturday he believes the next general election will be held April 2. "Based on my experience of going through the past 10 general...

Briefly: Remorseful robber returns cash.
January 31, 2000... YAMATOTAKADA, Nara -- An anonymous person who claims responsibility for a robbery of a post office here last Tuesday has sent 50,000 yen and a letter of apology to the office, police said. According to Nara Prefectural Police, the...

Osaka public grills would-be governors.
January 31, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun In the wake of the resignation of disgraced former Gov. Knock Yokoyama, residents of Osaka Prefecture are raining questions on gubernatorial candidates over their opinions on topics from school uniforms to dam...

Atsugi waste plant causing stink with US.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun Emissions of high levels of dioxin by an industrial waste disposal plant near the U.S. Atsugi Air Station in Kanagawa Prefecture is becoming a major dislomatic issue between Japan and the United States. The recent...

Nation warming to pink.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun After years of recession doom and gloom, it now seems Japan is tickled pink. Women have been at the forefront of casting off the monotone grays and blacks that dominated the nation's fashion circles in the '90s and...

EDITORIAL: US campaign 2000.
January 27, 2000... The U.S. presidential race officially started on Monday. Over the next 10 months until election day on Nov. 7, candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties will battle it out. The campaign for the U.S. presidency is divided into...

Strictly Business: Exxon Mobil affiliates to cut 730 jobs.
January 27, 2000... Japanese affiliates of Exxon Mobil Corp. hope to save 12 billion yen by cutting 730 jobs, 20 percent of their combined work force in Japan, said Shigeru Yoshida, spokesman for affiliate Tonen Corp. Tonen will cut 100 jobs and General...

Dollar.
January 27, 2000... The dollar was little changed against the yen on Wednesday, recovering from its morning loss on short covering by dealers who had oversold the currency in daily moves that remained in a limited range. At 5 p.m., the dollar traded at...

ASIASCOPE: Tibet's holy boy born to be divine.
January 27, 2000... Features on Asia from Japanese magazines, by Michael Hoffman Auspicious signs attended his birth: a rainbow, the sound of conch shells, a beautiful bird pausing suggestively outside his tent. Seven years later, in 1992, his glory was...

Tokyo cops set up anti-hacker force.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun The Metropolitan Police Department on Wednesday formed a special task force intended to track down hackers after government agencies' home pages were found to have been vandalized. The home page of the Science and...

Labor Ministry rules insurance will cover karoshi checkups.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun In a bid to counter karoshi (death by overwork), the Labor Ministry has decided that the workers' compensation insurance system will cover medical checks of people deemed likely to suffer from brain and heart diseases,...

Coalition rams bill through Diet.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun The tripartite ruling coalition forced a bill reducing the number of seats in the House of Representatives proportional representation blocs through a special panel of the chamber on Wednesday. Opposition forces...

Convenient tickets strike chord with music fans.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun Shopping at a convenience store nowadays can mean more than just picking up a cup of your favorite ramen noodles. Young people, who purchase large quantities of prepackaged foods and other goodies at convenience...

Hospital reveals history of lethal bungling.
January 27, 2000... MATSUE -- A state-run hospital here, where a 12-year-old girl died recently after her artificial respirator was accidentally turned off, had a similar fatal mishap involving an artificial respirator of a 30-year-old woman in 1995, officials...

Prosecution official busted for fraud.
January 27, 2000... The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Wednesday arrested one of its officials on suspicion of swindling a woman out of 5 million yen in a fraudulent publishing scheme, sources in the office said. Masayuki Iwasaki, 41, an...

Takashimaya battles credit-card fakers.
January 27, 2000... Some of the credit cards issued by one of the nation's major department store chains, the Osaka-based Takashimaya Department Store, have been counterfeited, forcing the company to reissue some 800,000 cards with more powerful anti-counterfeit...

Ceiling for nursing care set at yen 358,300.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun Elderly people will receive a maximum of 358,300 yen a month in assistance under a new plan for nursing insurance that the government has revealed. The amount that elderly recipients receive will be divided into a...

Osaka starts dash for right to host 2008 Summer Olympics.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun After months of grueling footwork, the city of Osaka on Tuesday formally applied to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Osaka will battle it out with 12 other...

EDITORIAL: Dam referendum.
January 27, 2000... The citizens of the city of Tokushima issued a resounding thumbs down to a plan to build a dam across the Yoshino River in a referendum held Sunday. The city assembly had stipulated that the ballots would not be counted if the turnout was...

As I See It: Perspectives of Mainichi Shimbun reporters: Aftershock of the Hanshin quake.
January 27, 2000... Kobe Bureau On Jan. 14, three days before the fifth anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, the last temporary dwelling set up for earthquake victims was vacated. Construction of such housing began on Jan. 20, 1995, three days after...

Aussie trade patterns changing dramatically.
January 27, 2000... Australia's trade patterns are changing dramatically in direction and content. Six of Australia's 10 largest trading partners, accounting for nearly 60 percent of Australia's exports, are in East Asia. Exports to Southeast Asia exceed those...

Deep-sea mineral water riding wave of popularity.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Daily News Mainichi Shimbun MUROTO, Kochi -- A new type of mineral water taken from the ocean at depths of over 200 meters is growing in popularity among health enthusiasts as it is rich in minerals and free of chemicals....

Furthermore: Flights of fancy.
January 27, 2000... TSU, Mie -- Children flying kites used to be a common sight in the nation, especially around the New Year's holidays. These days, however, the pressures of education and the widespread availability of computer games have relegated this...

Furthermore: Dalai Lama to speak.
January 27, 2000... KYOTO -- The Dalai Lama, supreme leader of Tibetan Buddhism, will give a lecture on environmental issues in April in Kyoto at the invitation of Kyoto Seika University. The lecture will commemorate the opening of the university's Department of...

Furthermore: Kobe gets UN office.
January 27, 2000... KOBE -- A branch of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will be opened in Kobe in the beginning of February to help victims of natural disasters and international and civil wars. It is the first...

'Spider' robot to put bite on land mines.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun CHIBA -- A group of researchers here have developed a huge spider-shaped robot to detect the location of buried mines and is set to demonstrate it in Cambodia in March. Kenzo Nonami, 50, professor of the Faculty of...

Agriculture Ministry exposed in cover-up.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun The Agriculture Ministry ordered a nonprofit corporation under its jurisdiction to cover-up the practice of contracting out works, which were commissioned by local governments, to private companies, the Mainichi has...

Cabinet's approval rating up 9 percent.
January 27, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi may feel relieved as a Mainichi poll found that 36 percent of the respondents support his Cabinet, a nine-point increase from the previous survey in December. But those who don't support...

Briefly: 2nd government Web site hit by hacker.
January 27, 2000... The Web site of the Management and Coordination Agency (MCA) was illegally accessed by a hacker on Tuesday and replaced with one bearing insulting messages toward Japanese people, MCA officials said. The incident was the second of its...

EDITORIAL: New banking sector.
January 26, 2000... Leading corporations in the distribution and consumer electronics industries have made waves for announcing their intentions to enter the banking sector. They will be the first nonfinancial companies to apply for a banking license in the...

LDP politico urges merger with Liberals.
January 26, 2000... The chief policymaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) urged Sunday that the LDP merge with the Liberal Party, one of its coalition partners, before the next general election to be called by October. "There isn't a wide gap...

Exhibitions: TOKYO.
January 26, 2000... Opening Roof Tile: Oni Wa Uchi Shunji Jinnai of Kagawa Prefecture will bare his demons at the Blue and White gallery, an Azabu Juban landmark. A master roof-tile maker, Jinnai will exhibit his most recent hand-carved clay gargoyles,...

Aussies left without a fix as heroin-trial debate rages.
January 26, 2000... Contributing Writer Heroin, the preferred drug of the late '90s, has grown to epidemic proportions in some Australian cities. Deaths from heroin overdoses have jumped 23 per cent in 1999 to their highest level ever. National Drug and...

AUM exec busted for bank threat.
January 26, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun Cultist hinted at using rightist ties to implement smear campaign A top-ranking member of the doomsday cult formerly known as AUM Shinrikyo was arrested Monday morning on suspicion of intimidating a bank. ...

Hacker gives Japanese the finger via STA site.
January 26, 2000... Staff Writer A hacker illegally accessed the computer system that housing the Web site of the Science and Technology Agency (STA) on Monday and replaced the home page with one bearing an insulting message directed against the Japanese...

Guru's son rescued unhurt in Hakone.
January 26, 2000... YOKOHAMA -- The 7-year-old son of AUM founder Shoko Asahara was rescued unhurt at an inn in Kanagawa Prefecture on Sunday, two days after he was abducted from an AUM facility in Ibaraki Prefecture, police said. The boy was rescued at the...

11 inmates behind bars over 40 years.
January 26, 2000... Eleven inmates have spent more than 40 years each in prison while serving life sentences in jails across the country, with the longest-serving having spent almost 51 years behind bars, the Justice Ministry said in a report released Monday....

Cult boss likely denied aid to boy.
January 26, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun MIYAZAKI -- The leader of a commune where the mummified bodies of two boys were found here last week may have instructed a follower to deny medical attention to a boy who became seriously ill in January 1998, police...

Quake experts mull animal behavior.
January 26, 2000... Symposiums to look into the potential for using the unusual behavior exhibited by some animals to detect earthquakes will be held Feb. 20 in Kobe and Feb. 22 in Tokyo. Seismic experts from China will also be invited to speak at the...

Obuchi ignores people's voice.
January 26, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun Construction of a controversial dam in Tokushima Prefecture would go ahead, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said Monday -- despite a Sunday referendum in which more than 90 percent of voters opposed the project. "It is a...

EDITORIAL: Local voting rights.
January 26, 2000... Komeito and the Liberal Party submitted a bill on Jan. 21 that would grant foreigners with permanent resident status the right to vote in local elections. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Liberal Party and Komeito had agreed last...

Sidelight: Kin-san inspired the nation.
January 26, 2000... Kin Narita, the older of the nation's most beloved twin sisters, is dead at age 107. How much inspiration the Japanese have received from the dimunitive but sprightly woman with her younger sister, Gin Kanie! The sisters were an affectionate...

Tokyo Stocks.
January 26, 2000... Share prices rebounded on Monday, helped by the strength in the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index in New York, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average closing above 19,000. The Nikkei gained 178.62, or 0.95 percent, to...

Dollar.
January 26, 2000... The dollar hovered just below the 105 yen line trading Monday, with the currency failing to take direction from Saturday's meeting of the Group of Seven (G-7) financial leaders. At 5 p.m., the dollar traded at 104.90-93 yen, up marginally...

Ex-boxing champ admits to gun charges.
January 26, 2000... A former professional boxing champion pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of procuring and selling guns, one of which was allegedly used in the shooting death of a man in Osaka in August last year. Jiro Watanabe, a 44-year-old former...

Aichi cop pleads guilty to leaking info.
January 26, 2000... NAGOYA -- A former assistant inspector at the Aichi Prefectural Police pleaded guilty on Monday to leaking details for criminal records and other personal information that he obtained in carrying out his job to an acquaintance. Takashi...

Former bank staffer nabbed for ATM theft.
January 26, 2000... TAKAMATSU -- A former employee of Kagawa Bank, Ltd. was arrested on Monday for allegedly stealing 13 million yen from one of its automatic teller machine (ATMs), Kagawa Prefectural Police said. Mutsuo Hashimoto, the 52-year-old former...

Briefly: MSDF unit buys plaques to burn up cash.
January 26, 2000... KOBE -- A Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) unit based here paid 890,000 yen last March for supplies that were never delivered in a bid to spend all the funds it had been allocated in the budget for fiscal 1998, the Mainichi Shimbun learned...

EDITORIAL: Nursing-care ombudsmen.
January 25, 2000... One of the merits of the public nursing-care insurance scheme scheduled to start in April is that those requiring care will be able choose from a broad range of services. This, at the same time, may also become one of its biggest drawbacks....

Sacking threat sparks fears in electrical workers.
January 25, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun Fear of unemployment is a pervasive concern for male electrical workers, a union survey has shown. Over 60 percent of members of electric machinery manufacturers' labor unions are worried that they may lose their...

Briefly: Fake coupons flood travel agencies.
January 25, 2000... About 160 forgeries of travel coupons of Nippon Travel Agency Co. have been found at its branches and discount ticket shops across the country, police officials said Saturday. The case came to light after an employee of Nippon Travel's...

Readers' Forum: Coming to grips with global equality.
January 25, 2000... To the Editor: Unlike your correspondent, "Urashimataro" Takuri Tei, ("Honestly speaking," Readers' Forum, Jan. 13, Jan. 14 in some areas) who tells us he has spent nearly half a century living outside Japan, I personally have spent a...

Weekly Bonds: No end to upward momentum.
January 25, 2000... Prices of 10-year Japanese government bond futures are expected to remain firm this week, sustaining the upward momentum seen last week. The price of the March futures contract for 10-year bonds closed at 132.85 on Friday, up from 132.37...

Y2K bug tallies up 3 trillion billion yen.
January 25, 2000... Businesses still bracing for computer chaos as rare leap year follows up glitch The nation's businesses spent over 3 trillion yen to squash the Y2K computer bug here, the government said Saturday. Nearly all the money spent...

Detergent muggers strike twice.
January 25, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun KONOSU, Saitama -- Robbers used detergent in two separate mugging attempts that took place here in the early hours of Saturday. Police are investigating a possible link after two thieves poured detergent on a gas...

Cult shocker.
January 25, 2000... 2 boys fall victim to latest 'mummy' sect MIYAZAKI -- Leaders of a commune here where the mummified bodies of two children were found Thursday night repeatedly denied the father of one of the children access to his boy, police said...

Airlines battle FTC over Osaka-to-Tokyo shuttle.
January 25, 2000... The nation's major airlines seem poised to enlist the support of the general public in an effort to get their proposed shuttle service between Tokyo and Osaka off the ground. Claiming it would be like a cartel, the Fair Trade Commission...

Sumo rigged? Stop pullin' my mawashi.
January 25, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun You've probably heard of boxers taking a dive in the eighth, but sumo wrestlers voluntarily hitting the dohyo? The unthinkable is true, says former komusubi Keisuke Itai, 43, in a speech he gave on Friday at the...

EDITORIAL: AUM hearing.
January 25, 2000... The Public Security Investigation Commission conducted a hearing Thursday to determine whether a new law to crack down on groups that threaten public safety should be applied to the AUM Shinrikyo cult. After a thorough examination, the...

Tokyo Stocks: Share prices close lower Friday.
January 25, 2000... Share prices closed lower on Friday, with high-priced information and telecom-related issues remaining in an adjustment phase. The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei index declined 129.92, or 0.68 percent, to 18,878.09, after moving between...

Dollar: The dollar weakened against the yen on Friday as players, who had accumulated.
January 25, 2000... dollars, sold to adjust positions. The market was generally quiet as players waited for a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of Seven (G-7) to be held on Saturday. At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted at...

Spring is in the air.
January 25, 2000... Cultural shindig Tokyo Rose is ready to bloom at Club Asia By Cezary Gesikowski Staff Writer Even if over New Year's you sat at home on a stockpile of batteries and canned food waiting for the final judgement, regret nothing: The party...

Recycling bill to cost firms.
January 25, 2000... The government is planning to make manufacturers responsible for the disposal or recycling of their products in order to curb the ever-increasing amount of garbage, it was revealed on Friday. In another rubbish-cutting measure, the...

Cultists kidnap Asahara's son.
January 25, 2000... Mainichi Shimbun Police suspect infighting behind abduction ASAHI, Ibaraki -- Six members of AUM Shinrikyo kidnapped the eldest son of founder Shoko Asahara after breaking into the cult's facility here early Friday morning, police...

Watchdogs put the bite on Nichiei operations.
January 25, 2000... Loan shark's offices to be temporarily shut down under law Financial authorities have decided to order the nation's No. 1 business loan shark, Nichiei Co., to suspend operations as part of measures against the moneylender -- under fire...

Gov't considers pulling plug on 2005 Aichi Expo.
January 25, 2000... Hand of big business deemed inappropriate The international trade and industry minister indicated Friday that a plan for a 2005 world exposition in Aichi Prefecture may be revised, following criticism that the exposition is being used as...