Mainichi Daily News articles from November 2000

Mainichi Daily News archives from November 2000

Liberal streak.
November 30, 2000... Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and his wife, Aline, wave as they take the stage in Shawinigan, Quebec, on Monday. Chretien's gamble for a place in Canadian history paid off Monday after his Liberal Party won a third straight majority...

Fujimori's records offer dual-nationality hope.
November 30, 2000... Ousted former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori seems likely to be able to claim Japanese citizenship -- a potential headache for the government. Records suggest that, legally, Fujimori need only to state his claim for citizenship and...

Gov't OKs mass public works cuts.
November 30, 2000... The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Komeito and Conservative Party on Tuesday endorsed proposals to dump about 90 percent of 279 tax-eating public works projects, party officials said. The cancellation of many...

Posts Ministry aims to lick drug traffickers with latest technology.
November 30, 2000... Cutting-edge technology will help sniff out drug traffickers who use mail to receive narcotics sent from overseas, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry officials said Tuesday. Installed for tests from next year, the world's first...

Fifth Mainichi Haiku Contest.
November 30, 2000... The Mainichi Newspapers Co. is inviting you to take part in the Fifth Annual Mainichi Haiku Contest. We'd be delighted to receive your haiku and help breathe fresh air into the haiku world as it enters the 21st century. Participants...

EDITORIAL: School reform.
November 30, 2000... As children grow up in a dramatically changed environment, education reform has emerged as a pressing concern in countries around the world. In recent years, the United States has made particularly significant strides in reforming its schools...

As I See It: Japan must pump life into APEC.
November 30, 2000... At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Brunei earlier this month, there was frequent talk of an APEC crisis. And business leaders who came to the annual forum pointed to "APEC's loss of identity." With the prospect that...

BLOKES GO BROKE!: Wives' tight purse strings leaving more salarymen short-changed.
November 30, 2000... With the year drawing to a close, 'tis the season to be jolly, right? Apparently not, if salarymen in Tokyo are anything to go by. As if the decade-long slump in the economy wasn't enough, more salarymen are feeling the pinch as Yuletide...

MARK SCHREIMBERS CRIME AND OLD PUNISHMENT IN OLD JAPAN: Special Edition; The cutting story of a sex-crazed harlot.
November 30, 2000... On the morning of Feb. 26, 1936, junior army officers of the ultranationalist "Imperial Way" faction, angered over the success of liberals in the parliamentary elections held a week before, attempted a coup d'etat. From the command post at...

Rail cards doing customers disservice: Officials' prepaid ticket goof to continue until March.
November 30, 2000... The fare-ripoff scandal engulfing the nation's railway operators has hit their latest "customer service" -- a prepaid ticket that allows commuters to travel on different lines without the bother of buying tickets for each journey, officials...

Big Miyagi earthquake due in next 20 years.
November 30, 2000... A government committee on studying the possibility of earthquakes has predicted that it is highly likely that a quake measuring 7.5 to 8 on the Richter scale will occur off Miyagi Prefecture within the next 20 years, it was revealed in a...

Mumbo jumbo.
November 30, 2000... People brave the cold as they line up for the annual year-end "jumbo" lottery in Tokyo's Ginza district Tuesday. As of 8:30 a.m., about 600 people were in the line for the lottery whose first-prize winners will get 200 million yen each. The...

HIV sperm to be used for fertilization.
November 30, 2000... Sperm from an HIV-infected man will be used to fertilize eggs donated by his wife, but only after the deadly virus is removed, Niigata University officials said Tuesday. A revolutionary virus remover developed by Tokyo's Ogikubo Hospital...

Gov'ts wary of Kansai airport cash infusion.
November 30, 2000... A majority of the 12 local governments that have invested in the Kansai International Airport (KIX) are opposed to a central government request that they invest further in the debt-ridden airport to help improve its management, a Mainichi...

Mudskippers take the stage.
November 30, 2000... KYOTO -- Noted philosopher Takeshi Umehara has recently completed a new kyogen play that features mudskippers, which are under threat of extinction due to reclamation of their habitat -- a natural tideland. A rehearsal of Umehara's kyogen...

Drunk farmer plows truck into kids, killing 1.
November 30, 2000... NINOHE, Iwate -- An elementary school student was killed and seven others injured when a drunken truck driver plowed his vehicle into a group of kids as they were walking to school on Tuesday, police said. Zenshiro Shimotomai, 63, a...

Briefly: New anti-stalking law nets 1st suspect.
November 30, 2000... AKITA -- A jilted lover who persistently stalked his former girlfriend after she dumped him was arrested earlier this week, police said. Fumikazu Yamamoto, 24, a construction worker from the city of Akita, is the first person to be...

Briefly: Burglars make off with yen 3 mil. in home raid.
November 30, 2000... OMIYA, Saitama -- A married couple were handcuffed and blindfolded in their home here as burglars made off with 3 million yen in cash around midnight on Monday. Police said five or six men burglarized the home of Masakatsu Shimamura, 62,...

Briefly: Minoo to pay out to coma victim's parents.
November 30, 2000... The parents of a 20-year-old man who died after eight years in a coma caused by a mishap at a municipal hospital in Minoo, Osaka Prefecture, have reached a 100 million yen damage settlement with the city, it was learned Tuesday. "It took...

Briefly: Juvenile Law bill graduates Diet.
November 30, 2000... A bill that lowers the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14 was made into law in the Diet on Tuesday. Now that the amendments to the Juvenile Law have been enacted, youths 14 years of age or older will be punished as...

Guide pits local foods vs. imports.
November 28, 2000... Those going on a slimming diet should be aware that bonito caught in autumn contain 12 times more fat than those caught in spring, the latest version of a governmental data book on food released to the media on Wednesday shows. The...

ICKAN appeals to foreigners for donations.
November 28, 2000... KOBE -- The International Committee of Kansai (ICKAN) is ending its annual fund-raising campaign with an appeal to the foreign residents for assistance in its various activities and by listing names and amounts of donations received. The...

Daiei to issue new shares for restructuring.
November 28, 2000... Some 4,000 Daiei Inc. group employees will lose their jobs in the next three years as the financially troubled supermarket operators announced Friday a make-or-break restructuring plan, including the closure of 32 nonprofitable outlets. ...

Osaka shooting baffles police.
November 28, 2000... Former gangster Kazuo Konoura may have scouted his victims before embarking on a deadly shooting spree in the southern part of Osaka Prefecture on Wednesday night, police said Friday. On Tuesday, a middle-aged man wearing a gauze mask was...

JCP backs use of SDF in emergencies.
November 28, 2000... ATAMI, Shizuoka -- The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) on Friday adopted a resolution approving the use of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in such emergencies as infringement of sovereignty and disasters, in a major departure from long-held...

EDITORIAL: Reforming college exams.
November 28, 2000... The University Council submitted a report on Wednesday entitled "On Improving College Entrance Examinations" that basically repeats the recommendations made in an interim report released in April. The council states that in order to...

Putting the smile back into Fiji: Gov't works to bring the tourists back after a devastating coup.
November 28, 2000... Offering idyllic beaches, water sports, fine food and the traditional bula welcome from a people often called the friendliest in the world, Fiji realized its dream of becoming an earthly paradise for tourists from around the globe -- a far...

Winners chosen in ASEAN photograph contest.
November 28, 2000... The winners have been decided in the ASEAN photograph and picture contest where Japanese elementary, junior-high and high school students were asked to provide images of the natural beauty, rich historical heritage and liveliness of the...

ASEAN photograph contest: Judge Takeyoshi Tanuma's impressions.
November 28, 2000... For many reasons, I think that the 21st century will be one that belongs to Asia. We planned a photo and picture contest among Japanese elementary, junior high and high school students to deepen their understanding of an integral part of that...

ASEAN photograph contest: Words from the winners.
November 28, 2000... Temerloh in Malaysia where I had a homestay over summer, is in the middle of a tropical rainforest. I woke to the sound of birds chirping and prayers from the mosques, bathed only once every five days or so and ate everything with my right...

Dodgy donations to LDP exposed: Cash from gov't-supervised foundation used to curry favor with politicians.
November 28, 2000... An affiliate of discredited KSD, a mutual aid foundation for small and mid-sized businesses, overseen by the Labor Ministry, has channeled 50 million a year to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Mainichi has learned. Despite...

Soaring child abuse forces gov't to act: Over 4,300 kids rescued from violent parents last year.
November 28, 2000... Over 4,300 children had to be rescued from abusive parents during fiscal 1999, more than double the number of persecuted kids saved during the previous year, an alarming Ministry of Health and Welfare report showed Friday. Shocked...

Train survives truck smash.
November 28, 2000... YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa -- Three people were injured when a 4-ton truck collided with a Tokyo-bound express train early Friday morning, slightly derailing the train. One passenger on the train was hurt and two in the truck injured, police...

Radioactive waste dumped in Kobe trash.
November 28, 2000... SHINGU, Wakayama -- Dodgy disposal of radioactive medical waste uncovered in a Kobe scrapyard has a Shingu doctor and a medical equipment sales company employee facing charges, police said. The four radium pins -- of a type that...

Fare screwup embarrasses JR.
November 28, 2000... ODAWARA, Kanagawa -- For over a year, bumbling Japan Railways (JR) Group companies listed different fares for the same trip, at various exits of Odawara Station, railroad officials said. Adding embarrassment to public relations injury,...

SMAP's Kimura getting married.
November 28, 2000... SMAP super idol group lead singer Takuya "Kimu Taku" Kimura, 28, will marry singer Shizuka Kudo, 30. Kimura made the announcement at a news conference following a concert by SMAP, a hugely popular idol group, in Yono, Saitama Prefecture....

Newborn rushed across nation for surgery.
November 28, 2000... FUKUOKA -- A newborn infant with a failing heart was transported from a Hokkaido hospital to a special children's hospital in Fukuoka to undergo emergency heart surgery, officials said Friday. The male infant, who is 4 days old, was...

Chef nailed for cooking insurance claim.
November 28, 2000... A debt-riddled Tokyo sushi chef, who burned down his restaurant to claim an insurance payout, was arrested Friday, police said. Toshiyuki Takano, 42, the sushi chef from Nakano-ku, was arrested for arson after he allegedly torched his...

Salesman busted for stalking schoolgirl.
November 28, 2000... A salesman who stalked a female high school student after paying her to have sex with him was arrested after barraging her with phone calls and repeatedly sending her e-mail messages demanding that she have an intimate relationship with him....

4 youths arrested over fatal blackmail.
November 28, 2000... Kita Kyushu -- Four youths have been arrested for extorting money from a junior high school student -- who killed himself after he was unable to meet their extreme demands for cash. The four -- a 19-year-old company employee; a vocational...

JUSCO recalling fake name-brand goods.
November 28, 2000... Giant retailer JUSCO Co., Ltd. and its two affiliates are recalling 16,000 pieces of name-brand merchandise after discovering that the items are most likely counterfeit, officials at the company said Friday. The group of companies,...

Net surfers swarm over Kato home page.
November 28, 2000... More than 100,000 people hit the home page of Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Koichi Kato in one week in mid-November, apparently because he had earlier announced his bid to topple Prime Minister Yoishiro Mori. "I don't know of any...

Fujimori lambastes accusers: Ex-Peruvian leader denies reaping billions from share sales.
November 28, 2000... Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori vehemently denied allegations of corruption Saturday in an interview with the Mainichi, the first time he has met the media since disappearing on Wednesday. Fujimori broke his silence by...

Air Do the butt of anti-ciggie campaign.
November 28, 2000... Anti-smoking activists have sent a loud and clear message to upstart carrier Air Do: Don't! Drowning in red ink, Air Do planned to set aside a quarter of its seats for smokers on flights from Dec. 1 to pick up customers turned off by...

Industrial polluter smoked out: Mayor takes blame for Saitama waste plant spewing poisons for years.
November 28, 2000... HATOGAYA, Saitama -- Hatogaya Mayor Takashi Nagura will "take responsibility" for allowing a waste disposal plant to spew filthy and harmful pollutants into the air for years without anything being done to stop it, the Mainichi has learned....

EDITORIAL: Stalking becomes a crime.
November 28, 2000... If Fukakusa no Shosho -- the Heian-period court official who visited the beautiful and brilliant poet Ono no Komachi every night for 99 days -- were alive today, he would no doubt have been arrested as a stalker long before he could have left...

WAIWAI: FACE of the WEEKLIES.
November 28, 2000... His ambition matched only by his indecisiveness, Koichi Kato marched into battle. If ever a politician had the wind at his back, Kato last week was in that favorable position. Shukan Hoseki (11/30) practically endorsed him for prime minister....

WAIWAI: What makes the man?
November 28, 2000... Independence? Strength? Flair? Whatever, top guys are as hard to define as find By Michael Hoffman "In all my fifty years," says author Kenzo Kitakata, "I have met one -- just one -- unforgettably good man." One 1960s morning, Kitakata...

E-fraud complaints run rampant: Claims of failed deliveries and return refusals flood consumer group.
November 28, 2000... Complaints from the general public about trading over the Internet and sales of computer equipment have skyrocketed more than a hundred-fold during the past four years, according to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan (NCAC). ...

Bereaved win body 'bits' from medical school body bits back.
November 28, 2000... Jichi Medical School has been ordered to return microscopic samples of a dead woman's vital organs to her family that argued she could not properly be cremated without them. Siding with the woman's bereaved relatives, the Tokyo District...

Poll: Hearing deficiencies plague elderly.
November 28, 2000... Many, perhaps more than half, of those in their 70s are barely able to follow speech on television or what they hear over the telephone, underlining the importance of TV subtitles and other aids for the hard of hearing, a private think tank's...

Cops grill suspect over bloody killings.
November 28, 2000... SUITA, Osaka -- A failed real-estate agent who killed his wife and teen-age daughter in a Suita hotel room, but bungled an attempt at taking his own life Saturday will be arrested for murder, police said. The 56-year-old man, whose...

Firms hope to mine New Year for cash.
November 28, 2000... Last year this time, both people and businesses alike were looking forward to year 2000 festivities and many businesses across the nation are hoping to cash in again this year to commemorate the start of the 21st century. One of the most...

Graduates' 1st paychecks shrink.
November 28, 2000... The nation's labor market is still stagnant for recent graduates, as the first salaries received by those fresh out of school in fiscal year 2000 slightly dropped from the previous year, Labor Ministry officials have said. Those fresh...

Dancing lessons cost public servant pay cut.
November 28, 2000... YOKOHAMA -- A part-time instructor of a ballroom dancing class was slapped with a 10-percent salary cut for one month because he is a Yokohama Municipal Government employee, subject to the local public servant law that bans moonlighting. ...

Officials to put the boot to violent teacher.
November 28, 2000... KAWACHINAGANO, Osaka -- Disciplinary measures will be taken against a part-time high school physical education teacher after he kicked a grumbling student, hospitalizing the youth for four days with blood in his urine. The teacher, 23,...

4 new taxes aim for a 'cleaner' Tokyo.
November 28, 2000... A panel of tax experts, in a bid to create a cleaner environment for the nation's capital, have proposed four new local taxes, mainly targeting large diesel vehicles, Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials have said. Under a proposed...

EDITORIAL: SDF, NGO join hands.
November 28, 2000... The Defense Agency and the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) have decided to seek the cooperation of Japanese nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in carrying out rescue operations following natural disasters and in offering humanitarian assistance...

Kansai Scope: Age no barrier for veteran sailor.
November 28, 2000... Earlier this year, a tiny boat called Koraasa 70 sailed in to the Tannowa Yacht Harbor in Misaki-cho, Osaka, ending an around-the-world trip. At the helm was 71-year-old Ikuo Kashima, of Hannan, Osaka, a veteran sailor whose remarkable solo...

East: Events announcements.
November 28, 2000... ANNOUNCEMENTS Society of Writers, Editors, and Translators (SWET) will hold its monthly lecture on Nov. 30. at Tokyo Union Church. The lecture will feature "Perils and Pleasures of Online Editorship" with Meiji Gakuin professor Michael...

West: events announcements.
November 28, 2000... ANNOUNCEMENTS The German School in Rokko will hold a Christmas market on Dec. 2. Gluewine, Christmas cake, Christmas decorations and many other items will be on sale. Enjoy Christmas the German way! Date: Dec. 2 (2-6 p.m.) ...

The World of Bunraku.
November 28, 2000... Editor's note: This is the second in a series of columns about costumes in the Bunraku theater. The letters in parantheses in the text correspond to the accompanying illustrations at right. The fundamental idea behind the costumes in...

DANCE, DRAMA, MUSIC & EVENTS: EXHIBITIONS.
November 28, 2000... Spanish jewelry company Carrera y Carrera will display a chest which commemorates Christopher Columbus' crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in "International Fair In Tokyo 2000" at the Hotel New Otani at the beginning of next month. The chest will...

Kyoto welcomes classical music festival.
November 28, 2000... The 4th Autumn Kyoto Music Festival, a premier event in the world of classical music, brings together leading musicians from around the world in a series of performances that will run through Dec. 9. The following concerts will be held...

Nagoya shows off 20th-century faces.
November 28, 2000... "Faces of the 20th Century Captured by Camera," a photo exhibition of works by Yousuf Karsh, is now under way at the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Nagoya. Specializing in portraiture, Karsh has snapped the faces of Winston Churchill,...

Drumming to a Japanese beat.
November 28, 2000... Japanese Drums Orchestra Ichiro (JDO Ichiro), an internationally-acclaimed Japanese drumming troupe led by Ichiro Jishoya, will give a stirring performance next month in Kobe. One of the world's best players of the Japanese drums, Jishoya...

DANCE, DRAMA, MUSIC & EVENTS: EXHIBITIONS.
November 28, 2000... In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the death of French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a month-long exhibition of his works will continue through Dec. 24 at the Suntory Museum in Tempozan, Osaka. The special exhibition was...

Gov't to squeeze nonprofit groups.
November 28, 2000... Taxpayers will be saved from footing the bill to keep many nonprofit foundations rich, according to a draft developed by a top government panel. handouts would either be left to their own resources, or the government would directly take over...

Blokes warm to 'sexless marriages': Many men say they're happy to go without.
November 28, 2000... Despite growing concern over the increasing numbers of couples shunning physical intimacy, many men perhaps surprisingly say they're satisfied with being in a "sexless marriage," according to reports filed with the Mainichi. Women have...

Ordinance sends rip-off joints packing.
November 28, 2000... About half the Tokyo bars that blatantly rip-off customers have shut down just two weeks before authorities will be permitted to make arrests in connection with them, police said Sunday. But extortion bars in four of Tokyo's busiest...

Greenies cry foul over efforts to end lead poisonings.
November 28, 2000... Hunters are joining hands with conservationists and the government to finally put an end to the lead poisoning deaths of birds that eat shotgun cartridge pellets. Sounds too good to be true? Though the hunters say they're prepared to...

Man nabbed for trespassing on Yokota base.
November 28, 2000... A man who illegally entered the premises of the U.S. Yokota Air Base in Fussa, Tokyo, has been arrested on suspicion of trespassing, police said Sunday. The suspect, who has only identified himself as a 21-year-old Tokyo resident, has...

Police arrest killer of wife and daughter.
November 28, 2000... SUITA, Osaka -- A man who was being questioned in connection with the killings of his wife and teen-age daughter was arrested Sunday morning on suspicion of murder, police said. Isamu Asano, 56, of Abeno-ku, Osaka, has admitted to the...

Man stabbed to death in Oita.
November 28, 2000... MUSASHI, Oita -- A middle-aged man was stabbed to death on a road here, local police said Sunday morning. At around 5:30 a.m., police received an emergency call saying that a man was lying in front of an office building along a...

Assemblyman busted for obstructing bid.
November 28, 2000... KANAZAWA -- A municipal assembly member and a former sewage facility construction company operator have been arrested on suspicion that the local politician leaked the costs of a public works project to help the firm win a contract, police...

KDDI Internet service back on line.
November 28, 2000... KDDI group's portable-phone Internet service resumed early Sunday morning nearly 14 hours after it developed trouble Saturday afternoon, company officials said. According to company officials, EZweb, a portable-phone Internet service run...

State, firms fined for air pollution: Court orders steps to reduce emission levels.
November 28, 2000... NAGOYA -- Plaintiffs in a suit to prove a causal relationship between their illnesses and vehicle emissions broke down in tears as the district court ruled in their favor Monday. In its ruling, the court ordered the state and the...

Naval officer admits spying: Betrayed nation by passing MSDF information to Russian attache.
November 28, 2000... A "selfish ambition" to become a distinguished expert on Russia caused a former Maritime-Self Defense Force (MSDF) official to betray the nation and give defense secrets to a Russian military attache, the official confessed during a court...

EDITORIAL: Japan helps sink COP6.
November 28, 2000... The Sixth Conference of Parties (COP6) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which met in The Hague, Netherlands, collapsed on Saturday without producing an agreement on guidelines for curtailing global warming. This is...

Sidelight: Keeping up with the times.
November 28, 2000... The upstart Hokkaido-based carrier Air Do has announced plans to offer an exclusive service that sets aside a portion of its seats for smokers as a measure to help cover its growing debt. The plan, however, has run into a storm of protest...

Cops leash unruly dog owner.
November 28, 2000... TOKAI, Aichi -- Police on Monday arrested a 43-year-old woman whose dogs have been terrorizing a neighborhood -- biting pedestrians and children who walked down the street. Miyoko Hori, from Tokai, Aichi Prefecture, had ignored warnings...

2 arrested for hosing MSDF for Y20 mil.
November 28, 2000... Police arrested a former executive and another former official of a fire extinguisher maker Monday for allegedly misleading the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) into buying defective rubber hoses. Toru Murakami, 51, former managing...

Thriving on the spontaneous: Rena Masuyama thrives on coincidence and spontaneity.
November 28, 2000... It was perhaps no wonder then that this interviewer found the tables turned within 10 minutes of meeting the 24-year-old Tokyo University of Fine Arts senior. "It'll be much easier if you let me draw you while we chat," Masuyama...

Exhibitions: GUMMA.
November 28, 2000... ongoing -- shusaku arakawa This New York-based artist is known for his works with simple line drawings, grids and signs. The mechanism and meaning in his work are traced by 10 drawings on canvas. Dates: Through Dec. 26, Jan....