Yomiuri Shimbun/Daily Yomiuri articles from March 2001

Yomiuri Shimbun/Daily Yomiuri archives from March 2001

Daiei received 27 billion yen in rebates to improve books.
March 30, 2001... Ailing major supermarket operator Daiei Inc., which is rehabilitating itself, collected 37 billion yen in rebates, mainly under the name of sales cooperation fees, from its business partners to ensure profit in the fiscal year that ended...

Musical leafs through issues of life and death.
March 30, 2001... One year after her death in 1989, a friend of Lucille Ball wrote a book about his 20-year connection with U.S. television's queen of comedy. The most poignant anecdote in this affectionate memoir illustrates what a "class act" Ball really...

High court reverses ruling favoring 'comfort women'.
March 30, 2001... High court reverses ruling favoring 'comfort women' Yomiuri HIROSHIMA The Hiroshima High Court on Thursday reversed an earlier ruling ordering the central government to pay 300,000 yen each to three women who claimed they had been forced to...

Panel to call for shorter civil cases.
March 30, 2001... Panel to call for shorter civil cases Yomiuri A government-appointed panel on judicial reform has drafted a set of proposals to reform the civil judicial system, including a plan to halve the average of 20 months spent on proceedings--a fact...

Nori growers blockade project sites.
March 30, 2001... Nori growers blockade project sites Yomiuri NAGASAKI About 500 nori growers and fishermen from Fukuoka, Saga and Kumamoto prefectures who are protesting the Isahaya Bay reclamation project in Nagasaki prefecture on Thursday resumed blocking...

Govt must pay 450 mil. yen in fatal tunnel collapse.
March 30, 2001... Govt must pay 450 mil. yen in fatal tunnel collapse Yomiuri SAPPORO The Sapporo District Court on Thursday ordered the central government to pay about 450 million yen in compensation to the families of seven of the 20 people who died in a...

Police: Matsuo successor also embezzled fund.
March 30, 2001... Police: Matsuo successor also embezzled fund Yomiuri The successor of former Foreign Ministry official Katsutoshi Matsuo, 55, who was arrested on suspicion of misappropriating money from a classified government fund, also misappropriated at...

Ho sentenced to 71/2 years in prison for Itoman losses.
March 30, 2001... Ho sentenced to 71/2 years in prison for Itoman losses Yomiuri OSAKA The Osaka District Court on Thursday sentenced Ho Yong Chung, a real estate agent, to 7-1/2 years in prison for his involvement in the collapse of Itoman Corp. and fined him...

Ogata receives Russian friendship award.
March 30, 2001... Ogata receives Russian friendship award Yomiuri Former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata received on Thursday the Russian Order of Friendship at the Russian Embassy in Minato Ward, Tokyo. She was originally told about the award...

Tokyoites said eager, wary online shoppers.
March 30, 2001... Tokyoites said eager, wary online shoppers Yomiuri Tokyoites tend to be curious to try online shopping but feel very uneasy about it, according to findings of a recently released results of a Tokyo metropolitan government poll. The poll,...

Mori said meddling in choice of successor.
March 30, 2001... Mori said meddling in choice of successor Yomiuri With his resignation imminent, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori seems to be laying the groundwork to maintain his influence over a post-Mori administration by intervening in factional politics and...

Tokyo U. students to graduate 30 years late.
March 30, 2001... Tokyo U. students to graduate 30 years late Yomiuri Tokyo University graduates of 1971 will hold a "graduation ceremony" on June 9 in place of their originally scheduled ceremony, which was canceled due to a university upheaval 30 years ago,...

Abe case may influence Matsumura ruling.
March 30, 2001... Abe case may influence Matsumura ruling Yomiuri The Tokyo District Court's acquittal Wednesday of former Teikyo University Vice President Takeshi Abe on the charge of professional negligence resulting in the death of one of his patients may...

Govt IT goals touch phones, education, competition.
March 30, 2001... Govt IT goals touch phones, education, competition Yomiuri The government on Thursday decided to implement a project comprising 220 policy goals aimed at promoting information technology (IT) during and after fiscal 2001, government sources...

Editorial / Bureaucrats may profit from reforms.
March 30, 2001... Editorial / Bureaucrats may profit from reforms Yomiuri Drastic reforms in the nation's public servant management system--which has been accused of suffering from institutional fatigue--are inevitable if the realignment of central government...

Giants charge into opener with young battery.
March 30, 2001... Giants charge into opener with young battery Yomiuri Hoping for an electric start to the 2001 Central League season, Yomiuri Giants manager Shigeo Nagashima has put his faith in a young battery. The defending champion Giants will send...

High court overturns used software sale ban.
March 30, 2001... OSAKA: The Osaka High Court on Thursday overturned an Osaka District Court ruling that ordered retailers not to sell secondhand video-game software, court officials said. Okayama-based secondhand software company Act Inc. and Rise Inc.,...

Editorial: Bureaucrats may profit from reforms.
March 30, 2001... Drastic reforms in the nation's public servant management system--which has been accused of suffering from institutional fatigue--are inevitable if the realignment of central government bodies is to bear fruit. Changes in the mentality...

Wind-power industry faces bid system threat.
March 30, 2001... The wind-power industry, which has been expanding rapidly as a result of its credentials as a clean and green energy source, has reached a turning point. Domestic electric-power companies have decided to introduce a bidding system to...

2 economics Nobel laureates speak out on prospects.
March 30, 2001... SILICON VALLEY: With the recent violent fluctuations in New York and Tokyo stock indexes, storm clouds have been forming over the world's economic landscape. Yomiuri Shimbun correspondent Tetsuro Kyoya recently interviewed two Nobel...

[0] Nori growers blockade project sites.
March 30, 2001... NAGASAKI: About 500 nori growers and fishermen from Fukuoka, Saga and Kumamoto prefectures who are protesting the Isahaya Bay reclamation project in Nagasaki prefecture on Thursday resumed blocking construction vehicles from entering seven...

[0] Ho sentenced to 71/2 years in prison for Itoman losses.
March 30, 2001... OSAKA: The Osaka District Court on Thursday sentenced Ho Yong Chung, a real estate agent, to 7-1/2 years in prison for his involvement in the collapse of Itoman Corp. and fined him 500 million yen for tax evasion. Judge Makoto Himuro...

[0] Ogata receives Russian friendship award.
March 30, 2001... Former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata received on Thursday the Russian Order of Friendship at the Russian Embassy in Minato Ward, Tokyo. She was originally told about the award by Russian President Vladimir Putin in...

[0] Mori said meddling in choice of successor.
March 30, 2001... With his resignation imminent, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori seems to be laying the groundwork to maintain his influence over a post-Mori administration by intervening in factional politics and in the selection of candidates to succeed him as...

[0] Tokyo U. students to graduate 30 years late.
March 30, 2001... Tokyo University graduates of 1971 will hold a "graduation ceremony" on June 9 in place of their originally scheduled ceremony, which was canceled due to a university upheaval 30 years ago, according to a committee of the graduates. The...

[0] Abe case may influence Matsumura ruling.
March 30, 2001... The Tokyo District Court's acquittal Wednesday of former Teikyo University Vice President Takeshi Abe on the charge of professional negligence resulting in the death of one of his patients may influence a similar trial of a former Health and...

Abe acquitted in AIDS case.
March 29, 2001... Abe acquitted in AIDS case Yomiuri The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday acquitted Takeshi Abe, a top authority on hemophilia who was involved in the administration of tainted unheated blood products to a hemophilia patient who consequently...

N. Korea nixes unified table tennis team.
March 29, 2001... N. Korea nixes unified table tennis team Yoshikazu Shirakawa Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent Yomiuri SEOUL North Korea's table tennis body told its South Korean counterpart Wednesday that it wishes to pull out of a unified team for a world...

Govt names institutions linked to infected blood.
March 29, 2001... Govt names institutions linked to infected blood Yomiuri The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on Wednesday released a list of 803 medical institutions that are believed to have administered unheated blood products to patients, including...

Residents per Tokyo house falling.
March 29, 2001... Residents per Tokyo house falling Yomiuri The average number of people per household in Tokyo's 23 wards is expected to drop below two by 2010 for the first time, according to an estimate by the Tokyo metropolitan government released Tuesday....

Samaritan's parents seek redress.
March 29, 2001... Samaritan's parents seek redress Yomiuri The parents of a South Korean student who died while trying to rescue a man at JR Shin-Okubo Station have applied for workers' accident compensation insurance, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Tuesday. Lee...

Rules to be relaxed for LDP runoff.
March 29, 2001... Rules to be relaxed for LDP runoff Yomiuri Candidates to run in a Liberal Democratic Party presidential election expected to be held in mid-April will only need the recommendation of 20 LDP Diet members rather than the 30 required in a...

5,000 products altered as mad-cow safeguard.
March 29, 2001... 5,000 products altered as mad-cow safeguard Yomiuri Since the government banned the use of bone or tissue taken from cows raised in "risky nations" in certain medical and nonmedicinal products, it has received more than 5,000 applications...

Abe acquittal provokes shock, tears.
March 29, 2001... Abe acquittal provokes shock, tears Yomiuri Spectators gasped in bewilderment and shock when the Tokyo District Court found hemophilia specialist Takeshi Abe not guilty Wednesday morning of professional negligence resulting in the death of...

Bills sent to 4 Ehime Maru survivors.
March 29, 2001... Bills sent to 4 Ehime Maru survivors Yomiuri MATSUYAMA Four survivors of last month's collision between the Ehime Maru and a U.S. nuclear submarine have received bills for medical treatment they underwent at a hospital in Honolulu, it was...

Jottings.
March 29, 2001... Jottings Yomiuri The following is a translation of the Henshu Techo column from The Yomiuri Shimbun's March 28 issue. * * * Following the recent spell of warm weather, cherry blossoms in Tokyo at such places as Yasukuni Shrine in Kudan and...

Isahaya Bay future still uncertain Local fishermen, nori f.
March 29, 2001... Isahaya Bay future still uncertain Local fishermen, nori farmers welcome plan to open floodgates Yomiuri A government panel's recommendation Tuesday to open the floodgates of a dike as a possible solution to the seaweed farming woes in...

Rush to avoid new fees causes garbage pileup.
March 29, 2001... Rush to avoid new fees causes garbage pileup Yomiuri Local municipalities have been swamped with electric appliances as consumers rush to dispose of old household goods ahead of Sunday's implementation of a new law that increases fees for...

Osaka gov.'s social spending to stay secret.
March 29, 2001... Osaka gov.'s social spending to stay secret Yomiuri The Supreme Court has ruled that information regarding 44 cases of spending on monetary gifts of condolence or retirement by the Osaka governor may remain confidential, sources said. A suit...

Editorial / Humility needed in medical world.
March 29, 2001... Editorial / Humility needed in medical world Yomiuri "If I am accused of a crime, all hemophilia doctors around the world must also be accused of it," Takeshi Abe once said in an interview with the press. Abe was indicted on suspicion of...

The wonderful world of Aardman Animations.
March 29, 2001... The wonderful world of Aardman Animations Yomiuri Director Nick Park says he is amazed by the enthusiastic reception his Wallace & Gromit clay animation films and other Aardman Animations creations have received in Japan. The dynamic duo of...

Maceo Parker blowin' into town.
March 29, 2001... Maceo Parker blowin' into town Bill Bradley Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri One evening in 1962, drummer Melvin Parker was playing in the house band at a restaurant in North Carolina, when in walked James Brown, who was so taken by...

In your ear.
March 29, 2001... In your ear By Bill Bradley Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri WAGON CHRIST: Musipal Beat Records, no list price The Ninja Tune label (distributed here by Beat Records) is sort of like a Galapagos island of electronica, an isolated little...

The epicures.
March 29, 2001... The epicures Melanie Campbell Drane and Michelle Bambling Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri For more than half a decade, I have written about wine for The epicures. Today marks my last column, and I find myself mulling over the experience...

Cheap Trick (not) At Budokan.
March 29, 2001... Cheap Trick (not) At Budokan By Drew Gibson Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri A scan of the spring concert listings elicits that familiar sigh of disappointment. Yes, another American '70s band has gotten back together to relive past...

VANHAL SYMPHONIES Vol. 2 City of London Sinfonia/Watkinson.
March 29, 2001... VANHAL SYMPHONIES Vol. 2 City of London Sinfonia/Watkinson Naxos. 49:51 minutes. (Imported CD only) Graham Dwyer Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri Johann Baptist Vanhal (1739-1813) was one of those dimly remembered names connected with the...

Koto under cherry blossoms.
March 29, 2001... Koto under cherry blossoms Yomiuri Nobuko Baba, one of the busiest koto players at home and abroad, will perform at a charity concert on April 7 at Enkakuji Hakuunan temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture. Baba will be joined by seven...

Televiews / The ABCs of foreign programming.
March 29, 2001... Televiews / The ABCs of foreign programming Wm. Penn Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri Put 14 candles on the cake. This week, Televiews celebrates 14 full years on The Daily Yomiuri's TV Page. It has become a bit of a Televiews tradition...

Torture, humiliation in the name of love.
March 29, 2001... Torture, humiliation in the name of love By Graham Dwyer Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri MEET THE PARENTS HHH Dir: Jay Roach Cast: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo The period between producing an original film and churning out a...

Media upset over new bills; self examination favored.
March 29, 2001... Media upset over new bills; self examination favored Keiko Watanabe Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri Prompted by government moves to regulate the mass communications industry, journalists, scholars, lawyers and other media observers...

Wong Kar-Wai waxes nostalgic.
March 29, 2001... Wong Kar-Wai waxes nostalgic By Scarlet Cheng Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri "Sooner or later, most filmmakers want to make a film about their childhood," Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai muses. "The 1960s was the era in which I grew...

Capturing the mood.
March 29, 2001... Capturing the mood By Scarlet Cheng Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (KAYO-NENKA) HHHH Dir: Wong Kar-Wai Cast: Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Maggie Cheung It is the early 1960s in crowded Hong Kong. Mr. Chow (Tony Chiu-Wai...

A reflection of memory.
March 29, 2001... A reflection of memory Yomiuri Galerie Omotesando will feature free screenings of Keiichi Ogata's Memory of Water (Kioku no Shizuku), a short digital video project that uses the urban landscape to deal with the end of a relationship. Motoko...

'Blair Witch 2' fails to cast spell.
March 29, 2001... 'Blair Witch 2' fails to cast spell By Dave Hilson Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2 HH Dir: Joe Berlinger Cast: Tristen Skylar, Stephen Barker Turner, Jeffrey Donovan, Kim Director, Erica Leerhsen Brace...

Life & art in Vienna.
March 29, 2001... Life & art in Vienna Kyoko Yamaguchi Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri At first it seems like an odd idea: an exhibition on life and art in Vienna from 1873 to 1938 at a museum in Fuchu, western Tokyo. But after seeing the exhibition it...

Challenge of capturing sakura's ephemeral beauty.
March 29, 2001... Challenge of capturing sakura's ephemeral beauty Robert Reed Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri In a country famous for its love of the blossoms of the flowering cherry tree, perhaps none professed that love as fervently or eloquently as...

A riveting drama of a cross-dresser.
March 29, 2001... A riveting drama of a cross-dresser Yukiko Kishinami Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Yomiuri Once in a while in theater you are fortunate enough to witness two or more actors with strong personae on the same stage whose performances enhance,...

JAL to extend e-ticketing service.
March 29, 2001... JAL to extend e-ticketing service Yomiuri Japan Airlines is to extend its e-ticketing service to domestic travel agents from mid-April, the company said Wednesday. The service, currently available at JAL offices and via the telephone or...

Daiei received 27 billion yen in rebates to improve books/.
March 29, 2001... Daiei received 27 billion yen in rebates to improve books Yomiuri Ailing major supermarket operator Daiei Inc., which is rehabilitating itself, collected 37 billion yen in rebates, mainly under the name of sales cooperation fees, from its...

Musical leafs through issues of life and death.
March 29, 2001... Musical leafs through issues of life and death Jerry Rudd Special to The Daily Yomiuri Yomiuri One year after her death in 1989, a friend of Lucille Ball wrote a book about his 20-year connection with U.S. television's queen of comedy. The...

Medical decisions beyond criminal courts' authority.
March 29, 2001... Medical decisions beyond criminal courts' authority Makoto Yoshiike Yomiuri The Tokyo District Court handed down a not-guilty ruling in the nation's first case in which the appropriateness of a doctor's medical treatment policy was questioned...

Court: Sumitomo Chemical didn't discriminate.
March 29, 2001... Court: Sumitomo Chemical didn't discriminate Yomiuri OSAKA The Osaka District Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by three female employees of Sumitomo Chemical Co. who claimed the firm had discriminated against them in terms of...

Ex-bank execs cleared in bad-loan scandal.
March 29, 2001... Ex-bank execs cleared in bad-loan scandal Yomiuri OSAKA The former president and former executive director of the defunct Fukutoku Bank were acquitted Wednesday of damaging the bank's finances by extending unlawful loans. Prosecutors had...

Working women seek answers in 'assertive communication'.
March 29, 2001... Working women seek answers in 'assertive communication' Kayoko Nagahara Yomiuri "Assertive communication," a self-expression concept developed in the United States, has been commanding the attention of working women eager to put forward their...

Isahaya Bay future still uncertain Local fishermen, nori farmers welcome plan to open floodgates.
March 29, 2001... A government panel's recommendation Tuesday to open the floodgates of a dike as a possible solution to the seaweed farming woes in Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture has produced mixed local reactions. An Agriculture, Forestry and...

Rush to avoid new fees causes garbage pileup.
March 29, 2001... Local municipalities have been swamped with electric appliances as consumers rush to dispose of old household goods ahead of Sunday's implementation of a new law that increases fees for their disposal. Previously, households have been...

Editorial: Humility needed in medical world.
March 29, 2001... "If I am accused of a crime, all hemophilia doctors around the world must also be accused of it," Takeshi Abe once said in an interview with the press. Abe was indicted on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in the death of a...

Maceo Parker blowin' into town.
March 29, 2001... One evening in 1962, drummer Melvin Parker was playing in the house band at a restaurant in North Carolina, when in walked James Brown, who was so taken by Parker's sound he offered him a job in his band any time he wanted it. A year and a...

VANHAL SYMPHONIES Vol. 2 City of London Sinfonia/Watkinson Naxos. 49:51 minutes. (Imported CD only).
March 29, 2001... Johann Baptist Vanhal (1739-1813) was one of those dimly remembered names connected with the development of the classical symphony I encountered while studying music history. But I never had heard any of his works--until now. The advent...

Televiews: The ABCs of foreign programming.
March 29, 2001... Put 14 candles on the cake. This week, Televiews celebrates 14 full years on The Daily Yomiuri's TV Page. It has become a bit of a Televiews tradition to mark the milestone each year with some reflection on the past. And this week I have...

[0] Abe acquitted in AIDS case.
March 29, 2001... The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday acquitted Takeshi Abe, a top authority on hemophilia who was involved in the administration of tainted unheated blood products to a hemophilia patient who consequently died of AIDS. The court ruled...

[0] 5,000 products altered as mad-cow safeguard.
March 29, 2001... Since the government banned the use of bone or tissue taken from cows raised in "risky nations" in certain medical and nonmedicinal products, it has received more than 5,000 applications from companies seeking approval for changes to the...

[0] Govt names institutions linked to infected blood.
March 29, 2001... The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on Wednesday released a list of 803 medical institutions that are believed to have administered unheated blood products to patients, including women who gave birth and infants, as blood coagulants...

[0] Samaritan's parents seek redress.
March 29, 2001... The parents of a South Korean student who died while trying to rescue a man at JR Shin-Okubo Station have applied for workers' accident compensation insurance, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Tuesday. Lee Su Hyon, 26, was struck by a train on...

[0] Abe acquittal provokes shock, tears.
March 29, 2001... Spectators gasped in bewilderment and shock when the Tokyo District Court found hemophilia specialist Takeshi Abe not guilty Wednesday morning of professional negligence resulting in the death of one his patients from AIDS. As Abe bowed...

[0] Medical decisions beyond criminal courts' authority.
March 29, 2001... The Tokyo District Court handed down a not-guilty ruling in the nation's first case in which the appropriateness of a doctor's medical treatment policy was questioned in relation to tainted medicine. The ruling declared, "There is no...

[0] N. Korea nixes unified table tennis team.
March 29, 2001... SEOUL: North Korea's table tennis body told its South Korean counterpart Wednesday that it wishes to pull out of a unified team for a world table tennis championship scheduled for next month in Osaka, South Korean government officials said....

[0] Court: Sumitomo Chemical didn't discriminate.
March 29, 2001... OSAKA: The Osaka District Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by three female employees of Sumitomo Chemical Co. who claimed the firm had discriminated against them in terms of employment, wage raises and promotion. Kinuko...

[0] Ex-bank execs cleared in bad-loan scandal.
March 29, 2001... OSAKA: The former president and former executive director of the defunct Fukutoku Bank were acquitted Wednesday of damaging the bank's finances by extending unlawful loans. Prosecutors had demanded five years' imprisonment for Koji Oike,...

[0] Rules to be relaxed for LDP runoff.
March 29, 2001... Candidates to run in a Liberal Democratic Party presidential election expected to be held in mid-April will only need the recommendation of 20 LDP Diet members rather than the 30 required in a regular presidential vote, party sources said...

[0] Residents per Tokyo house falling.
March 29, 2001... The average number of people per household in Tokyo's 23 wards is expected to drop below two by 2010 for the first time, according to an estimate by the Tokyo metropolitan government released Tuesday. At the same time, the number of...

[0] Working women seek answers in 'assertive communication'.
March 29, 2001... "Assertive communication," a self-expression concept developed in the United States, has been commanding the attention of working women eager to put forward their own opinions to others regardless of sex, age or status. Assertive...

[0] Bills sent to 4 Ehime Maru survivors.
March 29, 2001... MATSUYAMA: Four survivors of last month's collision between the Ehime Maru and a U.S. nuclear submarine have received bills for medical treatment they underwent at a hospital in Honolulu, it was learned Wednesday. In a message conveyed...

[0] Osaka gov.'s social spending to stay secret.
March 29, 2001... The Supreme Court has ruled that information regarding 44 cases of spending on monetary gifts of condolence or retirement by the Osaka governor may remain confidential, sources said. A suit had been filed by a civic group demanding that...