Mainichi Daily News articles from January 2001

Mainichi Daily News archives from January 2001

Man throws lover's children into boiling water.
January 30, 2001... TAKETOYO, Aichi -- A man who, in a fit of rage, plunged his live-in lover's 2- and 3-year-old children into a tub of boiling water was arrested Friday, police said. Tamotsu Nishino, 35, was arrested on suspicion of inflicting injury on...

Police target PM's residence over embezzlement.
January 30, 2001... In the wake of the sacking of a former Foreign Ministry official for the misuse of diplomatic funds, police are set to probe expense accounts in the Prime Minister's Official Residence. Metropolitan Police Department officials said Friday...

Editorial: Resolving labor disputes.
January 30, 2001... Workers now find themselves under an increasing variety of conditions and pay structures as corporations splinter, consolidate, restructure and downsize. And as the number of part-time and non-regular employees continues to rise, disputes...

Toxic waste detected in soil of gas companies.
January 30, 2001... Highly toxic materials -- such as cyanogen and arsenic -- have been detected in the soil of former compounds of major gas companies in Tokyo and Osaka, the companies announced Friday. The local governments that govern these locations say...

Fukuoka gov't official arrested for taking construction bribe: 1 mil. given in exchange for city contract.
January 30, 2001... FUKUOKA -- A Fukuoka Municipal Government official who received a 1 million yen bribe from the president of a local construction company for helping the company win a public works contract was arrested Friday, police said. Kozo Kiyama,...

Suspect in mom murder found dead.
January 30, 2001... KYOTO -- A man who was being questioned about the murder of his mother was found dead Thursday, strung up by his neck on the side of a road in Minamiyamashiro, Kyoto Prefecture, police said Friday. Police received an emergency call from...

New appliance-disposal fee may increase illegal dumping.
January 30, 2001... From April 1, people who want to dispose of a dud fridge, air conditioner, washing machine or TV set have to fork out up to 6,000 yen to send them to recycling under a new household electric appliances recycling law. Considering the...

Horny US Marine slapped with 50,000 yen fine.
January 30, 2001... NAHA -- An oversexed U.S. Marine stationed in Okinawa Prefecture, who lifted an innocent high school girl's skirt to take a picture of her underwear on a street earlier this month, was hit with a 50,000 yen fine Friday at the Naha Summary...

4.2 quake jolts Kyoto and vicinity.
January 30, 2001... A moderate earthquake measuring 4.2 on the open-ended Richter scale jolted Kyoto Prefecture and its vicinity on Friday morning, the Meteorological Agency said. There were no reports of casualties or damage and no tsunami warning was...

Knife-wielding man robs credit company.
January 30, 2001... A knife-wielding man robbed a consumer credit company in downtown Osaka of 4 million yen in cash Friday morning, local police said. A man captured a woman walking in front of the Tennoji branch of Aiful Co. in Abeno-ku at around 11:40...

Thief swipes 14 mil. yen in goods from jewelers.
January 30, 2001... AMAGASAKI, Hyogo -- A local jewelry shop was found robbed of 14 million yen worth worth of items including 200 jewelry pieces of and 50 watches Friday morning. According to police, about 4:40 a.m., a local resident resident found a car...

Ex-bank manager arrested for swindle.
January 30, 2001... YONAGO, Tottori -- A former deputy branch manager of Tottori Bank was arrested Friday on suspicion of embezzling 22 million yen in cash from customers and the bank, police said. Takashi Sato, 45, a former deputy branch manager of Tottori...

Aide takes heat for politico's ticket.
January 30, 2001... A former private secretary of a Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) legislator turned herself in at a police station for a man who had committed a parking violation, apparently to protect him since he had planned to be a candidate in a local...

Mahathir presses Burma to hold elections.
January 30, 2001... HONG KONG -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad recently urged the head of Burma's State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to hold a general election for national reconiliation in a few years, the prime minister has told the...

Editorial: Embezzling state funds.
January 30, 2001... The findings of an internal Foreign Ministry study on the alleged embezzlement of public funds by a senior official were announced on Thursday by Foreign Minister Yohei Kono. The report claims that Katsutoshi Matsuo, 55, who managed the...

Snowfall disrupts Kanto transportation.
January 30, 2001... This winter's biggest snowfall struck Tokyo Saturday resulting in dozens of injuries and throwing transport services around the capital and the rest of the Kanto region into disarray, police said. Meteorological Agency officials said that...

Waiwai: The cold shoulder: Your worst nightmare. Guess who just moved next door?
January 30, 2001... Despised outcasts, they are welcome nowhere. Police harass them. Neighbors mobilize against them. Early this month, a member of an extreme rightist organization fired a gun, four times in succession, in his Setagaya-ku, Tokyo apartment. He...

Pair killed in rail rescue attempt: Yamanote train plows into heroes trying to save fallen drunkard.
January 30, 2001... A South Korean man was one of the two heroes who sacrificed their lives in an ultimately vain attempt to rescue a drunk who fell on to the JR Shin Okubo Station tracks as a train approached Friday night, Shinjuku police said Saturday. ...

Waiwai: Face of the weeklies.
January 30, 2001... "I had a baby three days ago. A girl. It was a difficult delivery, because I'm fat, you see. Anyway, I'll be home on the 13th. Her name? Mika." "Mika" is, fortunately, Mika no longer, the infant having been returned to her rightful...

Lucky beans.
January 30, 2001... Teachers at Waseda Seminar, a prep school for university entrance exams in the Takadanobaba district of Tokyo's Shinjuku-ku, scatter beans in a ceremony Saturday for the success of their students. The bean-scattering event, designed to drive...

Killer nurse charged over woman's death.
January 30, 2001... SENDAI -- Daisuke Mori, a 29-year-old male nurse suspected of attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl with an intravenous drip of muscle relaxant, has now been charged with killing an 89-year-old woman by the same means, police said. ...

'Office ladies' dig deep to help ... themselves.
January 30, 2001... Young women in office jobs who live around Tokyo are prepared to pay a hefty price to improve themselves, a survey by a leading magazine has showed. "OLs" -- the Japanese term used to describe "office ladies," or young women working in...

76-year-old sets off to break walking record.
January 30, 2001... FUKUOKA -- A 76-year-old man set out Saturday in an attempt to walk around Japan in one year and break an overseas record set in 1975, the Mainichi has learned. Tsuyoshi Nakajima of Fukuoka's Chuo-ku will attempt to walk a 12,500...

Budding bonsai boom takes root among the young.
January 30, 2001... A grumpy old man sits down in front of a shelf in his rear garden, aligning the branches of his little pine tree. Suddenly, a ball thrown by a mischievous boy hurtles down, breaking one of his pots. The man lets out a shout. Although...

Car fire claims 2 lives on highway.
January 30, 2001... SAWARA, Chiba -- Two people died after a car they were riding in suddenly caught fire on National Route 356 late Friday night, police said. Sawara Police Station officials said that they believed the fire broke out when a plastic...

Obara hit with drugging, raping charges.
January 30, 2001... Alleged serial rapist Joji Obara, who is suspected of being connected to the disappearance of Briton Lucie Blackman, has been slapped with a fresh charge of drugging and raping an Australian woman resulting in her death in 1992. Company...

Donut shop robbery story full of holes.
January 30, 2001... KAGOSHIMA -- A man who took 1 million yen from the store he worked at then sent police on a wild-goose chase looking for the "criminals" was arrested Saturday, police said. Masahiro Nagatoshi, 34, was arrested on suspicion of embezzlement...

Kochi official swiped 1.5 bil. yen: Village may have to foot the bill for gambler's habit.
January 30, 2001... TOSAYAMA, Kochi -- The municipal government here plans to play its trump card -- filing a complaint with police -- against a former treasurer who swindled a massive 1.5 billion yen from public coffers to pay for his gambling habit, officials...

Quarrel leads to death of homeless man.
January 30, 2001... KOBE -- A homeless man has died shortly after being stabbed by another homeless person in a park in Kobe, police said. The victim, who police believe to be 42-year-old Kiyohide Sato, was found collapsed and bleeding in Kobe's Meriken Park...

Rail union's campaign faces uphill struggle.
January 30, 2001... Union members of the defunct Japanese National Railways (JNR) are facing a tough hurdle in their 14-year-old struggle for job reinstatement because politicians say their decision last week to compromise came too late. More than 1,000...

Kansai Scope: Osaka culture magazine fetes 100th issue.
January 30, 2001... Begun 27 years ago by an amateur historian with minimal funds, the quarterly magazine "Osaka Shunju," which focuses on the culture and history of Osaka, recently published its 100th issue. Receiving no funds from local governments and bucking...

West: Events/announcements.
January 30, 2001... ANNOUNCEMENTS Osaka International House Foundation Information Center will hold "kyushogatsu," or the lunar New Year, in its fourth and final "This is Japan!" program on Feb. 3 at its premises. Featured will be traditional New Year's...

Editorial: Food recycling.
January 30, 2001... Gone, it seems, are the days when leaving food on your plate was likely to elicit the admonition that one shouldn't be so wasteful. A recent campaign carried out by the Japan Ad Council, a public-sector body, satirized these habits by calling...

Dance, drama, music & events.
January 30, 2001... A CAPELLA Chanticleer, a San Francisco-based a capella group, will perform in Osaka on Feb. 9 and in Tokyo on Feb. 14. Chanticleer, the only independent full-time classical vocal ensemble, won a Grammy Award (for Best Small Ensemble...

East: Events/announcements.
January 30, 2001... ANNOUNCEMENTS The Kawasaki International Association will provide legal advice for foreigners with the help of a lawyer, free of charge. Chinese, Korean, English, Portuguese, and Spanish interpreters will be available. Call or write to...

The World of Bunraku: Bunraku for February.
January 30, 2001... This installment examines how puppets are manipulated. The letters in parentheses correspond to the illustrations at right. Throughout Japanese history, there have been human-shaped figures made of wood and straw --and, later, paper...

Kyoto temples show historic treasures.
January 30, 2001... Several temples in Kyoto are currently showcasing their historic treasures, many of which are rarely shown to the public, during a special campaign called "Winter Travel in Kyoto" that will continue through March 18. The campaign is held...

The 21st Century sees new Kabuki.
January 30, 2001... A troupe of young Kabuki actors called "21 Seiki Kabuki-gumi (The Kabuki Troupe for the 21st Century)" led by master actor Ennosuke Ichikawa will present performances in Kobe and Osakasayama, Osaka Prefecture this month and next. The...

Dance, drama, music & events.
January 30, 2001... EXHIBITIONS Beautiful kimonos dyed by Living National Treasure Kihachi Tabata using traditional techniques from Kyoto will be on exhibit next month in Osaka. Tabata was born into a prestigious family of dyers that dates back to the...

Gifu gynecologist found shot in head near home.
January 30, 2001... GIFU -- The director of an obstetrics and gynecology clinic here died late Saturday night after being shot in the head in front of his home, police said Sunday. At around 8:35 p.m., Junichi Tanahashi, 64, was found lying on a road in...

'Kiss of the Spider Woman' hits Osaka.
January 30, 2001... Under the guidance of director Robert Allan Ackerman, "tpt" (or theatre project tokyo) will perform a Japanese production of Manuel Puig's "Kiss of the Spider Woman" next month in Osaka. The Tokyo-based theater company has been led by...

Briefly: Sapporo girl dies in school dormitory fire.
January 30, 2001... SAPPORO -- A high school girl died and three others were injured in a fire that burned down their dormitory here early Saturday, police said on Sunday. At around 2 a.m., a fire broke out at a dormitory for high school girls in Nishi-ku,...

3 caught selling missing man's land.
January 30, 2001... NAGOYA -- Police are poised to arrest several men, including a real estate company president, on suspicion of selling land owned by a man missing since July of last year, police sources said Sunday. They will be accused of creating a...

3 teen-agers arrested after assaulting police.
January 30, 2001... FUKUOKA -- Three teen-agers have been arrested for assaulting the two police officers who interrogated them here Saturday, police said. A 16-year-old second-year high school boy and two third-year junior high school boys, both aged 15,...

Homeless Fukuoka man found slain.
January 30, 2001... FUKUOKA -- A homeless man was found murdered in the grounds of a public gymnasium here Saturday, local police said Sunday. At around 6:30 a.m., a 44-year-old homeless man found Katsumi Yamamoto, 52, unemployed with no fixed address, lying...

Aomori gang member admits to murder.
January 30, 2001... ROKKASHO, Aomori -- A member of a crime syndicate has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a former member of the same gang earlier this month, police said. Satoru Hamaii, 32, a member of a gang affiliated with Yamaguchi-gumi, the...

4 slightly injured in 50-vehicle pileup.
January 30, 2001... UTSUNOMIYA -- Four people were slightly injured in a pileup involving about 50 vehicles on a frozen national highway here Sunday morning, police said. At around 7 a.m., a rear-end collision involving four cars occurred after the vehicles...

Sailor survives 20-hour shipwreck ordeal.
January 30, 2001... SASEBO, Nagasaki -- A 51-year-old captain who tied himself to the propeller shaft of his capsized ship with a rope was rescued after he survived in stormy seas some 20 hours, officials said over the weekend. When Ojika fishermen...

KSD executives buttered up Nukaga: Ex-minister was wined and dined in exchange for political favors.
January 30, 2001... Fukushiro Nukaga, a former state minister who resigned in disgrace after his secretary received funds from KSD, a scandal-hit insurance provider, was often wined and dined by KSD executives who asked him to act in their favor, sources have...

Koyama quits Upper House.
January 30, 2001... Disgraced House of Councillors member Takao Koyama tendered his resignation Monday over his arrest for allegedly receiving bribes from the scandal-hit insurance provider, KSD, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) sources said. As the Upper...

Heroes' send-off: ROK, Japan mourn deaths of rail-tragedy victims.
January 30, 2001... Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and other high-ranking government figures attended the mourning ceremony of Lee Su-hyon on Monday, to honor the death of the South Korean student who lost his life in an attempt to rescue a man at a Tokyo station...

Universal's theme park in Osaka to open March 31.
January 30, 2001... Universal Studios Japan (USJ), a much-awaited Hollywood movie theme park now under construction on Osaka's waterfront, will open on March 31, the president of the park's operator, USJ Co., said Monday. The 54-hectare theme park will...

Editorial: Privatizing postal savings.
January 30, 2001... On Jan. 6, the newly formed Postal Services Agency, which is under the umbrella of the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, assumed authority over the postal savings system, the postal life insurance...

Sidelight: Tragedy at Shin-Okubo.
January 30, 2001... My heart is heavy as I recall what happened last Friday evening on the elevated platform of Shin-Okubo Station between Shinjuku and Takadanobaba on JR's Yamanote Line in Tokyo. The question keeps nagging me: What would I have done? A...

Ginza eatery keeps historical repasts stewing.
January 30, 2001... If you're locked on to automatic pilot -- always going to the same modern pubs, clubs and restaurants -- then Gin-no-to might just break the spell and open the door to the kind of world that most people thought had long since passed away. ...

Exhibitions.
January 30, 2001... TOKYO opening contemporary ceramics On display will be 124 works by 62 ceramists based in Saga Prefecture, the birthplace of Arita-yaki and Karatsu-yaki, two of Japan's major ceramic schools. Dates: Jan. 30-Feb. 4 (10 am-7...

Burning winter.
January 30, 2001... As the weather chills, the number of fires rises.Staff writer Liam Walsh looks at tips for stubbing out danger this season. Corpses of an elderly Osaka woman and her son in the burned-out remnants of her home brand just how deadly fires...

Trade in passports explodes: Chinese enter US illegally through Narita, Kansai.
January 30, 2001... Chinese nationals are increasingly using transit areas in Japan's international airports to obtain fake Japanese passports and enter the United States and Canada pretending to be Japanese, an immigration bureau investigation has shown. ...

Hankering for grades.
January 30, 2001... Some 40,000 handkerchiefs inscribed with the prayers of students hoping to pass their entrance exams cover the outside of the Ebaraji Temple in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. The 1,300-year-old temple is dedicated to Manjusri, a bodhisattva who...

Mom gets 7 years for ordering hit on son.
January 30, 2001... OKAZAKI, Nagoya -- A woman who commissioned a hit man -- in a failed attempt -- to kill her own son was ordered on Monday to serve a seven-year prison sentence. Fumiko Suzuki, 59, a part-time worker, hired a thug to gun down her...

Youth ringleader of torturers loses appeal: Indefinite jail term upheld for forcing man to dig own grave.
January 30, 2001... A ringleader of a group of youths who tortured a Tochigi Prefecture teen-ager to death in 1999 has had his attempt to reduce his indefinite jail term rejected at an appeals court Monday as a judge described his crime as "abnormal and beyond...

Kochi banks want embezzled funds back.
January 30, 2001... TOSAYAMA, Kochi -- Four financial institutions here are demanding the municipal government repay the 1.35 billion yen a former treasurer borrowed from them in the name of public projects but actually kept for his own purposes, the Mainichi...

Worker finds 2.43 mil. yen in rubbish dump.
January 30, 2001... SHIMIZU, Shizuoka -- A sanitation worker here has turned in 2.43 million yen to police after he discovered the cash at a garbage collection site in December of last year, police disclosed Monday. The unwrapped cash was mixed in with...

16-yr-old arrested for bomb threat at bank.
January 30, 2001... IIDA, Nagano -- A 16-year-old high school student was arrested on Monday after he called a local Hachijuni Bank office and demanded money, claiming to have planted a bomb, police said. Officials of the Iida Police Station received a...

Woman sent down for paint-thinner ruse.
January 30, 2001... A 27-year-old woman was slapped with a 21/2-year prison sentence on Monday for sending threats to an Osaka pharmaceutical company saying that she had placed paint thinner in the company's eyedrops -- apparently to get even with a former lover...

Snow traps woman in phone box for 3 hours.
January 30, 2001... MURAYAMA, Yamagata -- A woman was trapped in a telephone box for three hours on Monday after snow that built up on an overhead footbridge fell and crushed the box, police said. The 45-year-old woman escaped with light injuries in the...

Gov't official fired for embezzlement: Faces charges over misuse of funds for PM's overseas trips.
January 29, 2001... A mid-ranking Foreign Ministry official suspected of misappropriating taxpayers' money set aside for prime ministers' overseas travel expenses in the 1990s was fired on Thursday, ministry officials said. The ministry will file a criminal...

What's so bad about an aging society?
January 29, 2001... It's official. Japanese society is aging rapidly, and the birthrate is way down. On top of all the bad news, the government and economists are united in presenting a pessimistic vision of the economically stagnant Japan of the future....

Editorial: Dental exam leakage.
January 29, 2001... What does the National Dentistry Examination stand for? That is the question that needs to be asked and answered in light of the revelation that a professor who taught at Ohu University in Fukushima Prefecture leaked questions that appeared...

Readers' Forum: Rice, whale meat and censorship.
January 29, 2001... To the Editor: With nothing better to do on a cold day, I drink tea and peruse back issues of the MDN. Let me comment on the topics of food and censorship. In a text on Jan. 4 we can read of a government plan that features a switch from...

Sidelight: Prime Minister's 'jokes.
January 29, 2001... "Karukuchi and jokes are different. To me, "karukuchi" sounds scornful. That makes me irritated and fat." In his trademark tone of light-heartedness, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori vented a personal complaint at a party in a Tokyo hotel...

Single beer lands gov't official in hot water.
January 29, 2001... URAWA -- A Saitama Prefectural Government official who shared a single can of beer with colleagues at their workplace after completing grueling hours of overtime has been suspended and fined, officials said. Officials say there is a...

Phone dating clubs to feel heat.
January 29, 2001... Telephone dating clubs will be subjected to wide-ranging laws to stop them becoming fronts for teen-age prostitutes to ply their wares, according to a draft bill the National Police Agency (NPA) released Thursday. Under the NPA proposals...

Policeman shoots drunken youth.
January 29, 2001... A veteran patrolman gunned down and seriously injured a drunken teen-ager in the middle of a Tokyo residential area after the 17-year-old boy grabbed the officer's truncheon and severely beat him with it, police said Thursday. One of the...

Tokyo child rapist gets life term.
January 29, 2001... One of the nation's most notorious child rapists was convicted of rape Thursday and sentenced to life imprisonment, the harshest penalty that can be handed out for his crimes. Nobuyuki Miyaji was found guilty by the Tokyo District Court...

Reel Talk with James Bailey: Killing time with a deadpan expression.
January 29, 2001... Is there a more appropriate role for Keanu Reeves than killer? After all, the adjective most frequently used to modify "killer" is "cold-blooded," and "cold-blooded," according to Random House Webster's College Dictionary, means "acting...

Poster boys for good times: Zebrahead earned their stripes as party animals, but they've got a serious side, too.
January 29, 2001... Boys will be boys, regardless of age. No one knows that better than the men of Zebrahead. But what many people don't realize about these Californian purveyors of rap-tinged pop-punk paeans to Playboy is that they have a grown-up side as...

Cinema Guide: Week of Jan. 27 - Feb. 2.
January 29, 2001... Ai no Corrida 2000 -- Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda, Dir.: Nagisa Oshima; drama (Japan-France) Shibuya Cine Amuse East/West: (03) 3496-2888 (Note: Screenings with English subtitles will be held every Sunday at 6:45 pm and 9:45 pm); Osaka...

Cram teacher busted for raping teen.
January 29, 2001... An Osaka Prefecture cram school teacher faces charges for the rape and abduction of a 14-year-old girl, prosecutors said. Charges appear likely to be laid against 33-year-old Hiromitsu Wakisaka years after he was initially let off because...

Gig Spotlight: BS 2000/Le Tigre.
January 29, 2001... Looking for a doubleheader with attitude? You can't miss with BS 2000, which unites Adrock of the Beastie Boys and Amery Smith of AWOL. Their collaboration, "Simply Mortified," is out now on Toshiba-EMI, but you'll have to wait 'til April 11...

Father beats 3-year-old son to death: Saitama boy attacked for putting shoes on too slowly.
January 29, 2001... SHIKI, Saitama -- A 3-year-old boy consistently beaten by his father died Thursday after his dad savagely lashed out at him for taking too long to put on his shoes, police said. Nobuhiko Yamazaki wasarrested for inflicting bodily injury...

Man nabbed for wheelchair extortion.
January 29, 2001... KITAKYUSHU -- A man who threatened to steal a disabled man's wheelchair unless he handed over cash has been arrested, but only after his threats gained him some 10 million yen and forced his victim into bankruptcy, police said. Yuji...

Love letter contest breaks hearts with inflated entry count: Futatsui officials tried to boost town's popularity.
January 29, 2001... FUTATSUI, Akita -- A municipal government operating an internationally renowned contest seeking romantic love letters has been stuffing the box with thousands of false entries to make it appear more popular, officials said. Apologetic...

Sex shop owner collared for strip extortion.
January 29, 2001... A notorious Tokyo sex shop operator who seduced a university student into taking off his clothes then demanded 150,000 yen to return them has been arrested, police said Thursday. Sugako Oka, 40, was arrested for blackmail after allegedly...