Cancellation

TOKYO - After spending a week in Japan exploring the Aichi World Fair, courting Japanese investors and having lunch with Toyota's chairman, Vice Premier Wu Yi of China decided yesterday to fly home a few hours early, canceling a scheduled meeting with Japan's prime minister. While China's Foreign Ministry said Wu had to return home "to handle important urgent official duties," Japanese officials noted that she still planned to fly today to Mongolia. "Many people in Japan may feel it is rude," Shinzo Abe, an executive with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, told reporters, according to Kyodo News.

Just in time for summer travel, guaranteeing a hotel reservation by credit card has gotten more complicated. Once upon a time, 6 p.m. was the witching hour for canceling a guaranteed reservation. It's not so simple any more. Part of the difficulty is different credit cards now use different rules.Earlier this year, MasterCard took four surveys, including one survey of 200 cardholders that showed they believed that 50 percent of the time, hotels did not explain their reservation-cancellation policies in the reservations call.

A headline and an article in The Sun yesterday conveyed the impression that author Kevin O'Malley was contemplating a lawsuit against the Baltimore County school system over cancellation of an appearance at Church Lane Elementary School and loss of an $800 fee.O'Malley said he is not contemplating a suit over the cancellation and lost fee. He said that he is following the prescribed appeal process to challenge the ban on his version of "Froggy Went A-Courtin'"...

Noise Cancellation Technologies Inc. is expanding into another market for its electronic approach to noise and vibration control that the company thinks has enormous potential.The Stamford, Conn.-based company, which has its research and development operations in Linthicum, announced yesterday that it has an agreement with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. to design and develop a system to quiet power transformers.The transformers, which are typically located in a field surrounded by fences, give off a noise similar to a household vacuum cleaner.

The failure of Congress last week to pass reform legislation on one of the hottest consumer issues in real estate -- overpayment of private mortgage insurance (PMI) premiums by homeowners -- raises serious questions about whether legislative relief will be possible during 1998, a year in which the entire House is up for re-election.It also raises practical questions for millions of homeowners who already are paying PMI premiums, but may be unclear about how and under what conditions they can terminate their mortgage insurance policies.

Howard County students will be attending school for two days beyond next spring's scheduled last day -- and counting.The cancellation of school yesterday means an extra day will be added to the end of year to ensure that pupils attend for the state-required 180 days.An extra day already has been added to make up for last Thursday's cancellation -- which means that the last day of the school year should be June 13 instead of June 11.If more school days are canceled, the Howard school year could grow longer.

THE ON-AGAIN, off-again "Nick & Nora" is off again. The $6-million musical, which was to have played the Mechanic during the season that just ended, then was re-scheduled to open the 1991-92 season, won't be playing here next season, either.According to co-producer Elizabeth McCann, who was speaking for the four other producers, all five decided to open the show in New York rather than do so in Baltimore ''after reviewing the economics and the consistency of the performance schedule.''We had a very strong advance in Baltimore, and the Mechanic Theatre has been a great supporter of the production,'' said McCann, ''but the take-in and take-out costs alone would be approximately $525,000.

IN THE WAKE of Pier Six Concert Pavilion's sudden cancellation of last night's show, the amphitheater's management has begun to take a hard look at its schedule and consider measures to take to prevent any more cancellations.Pier Six, which has held eight shows since reopening on July 25 with almost 1,200 additional seats, has lost money on all but two acts -- John Denver and Patti LaBelle -- and it just broke even on those, managers said.Key managers of Pier Six and the Baltimore Center for the Performing Arts, which runs the theater, will hold meetings this week to discuss the soft ticket sales of the bulk of the season's shows, general manager Karen Ritgert said.

In the wake of Pier Six Concert Pavilion's sudden cancellation of last night's show, the amphitheater's management has begun to take a hard look at its schedule and consider measures to prevent more cancellations.Pier Six has held eight shows since reopening July 25 with almost 1,200 additional seats as part of a $4.9-million renovation. It has lost money on all but two acts -- John Denver and Patti LaBelle -- and it just broke even on those, managers said.Managers of Pier Six and the Baltimore Center for the Performing Arts, the non-profit organization that owns and manages the pavilion, will hold meetings this week to discuss soft ticket sales of the bulk of the season's shows, according to Karen Ritgert, Pier Six general manager.

If your first resolution of the new year was to take better care of your body, your second resolution ought to be not being suckered into buying the wrong health club membership. Health clubs put on a big sales push each January, and they sell more memberships this month than in any other. The reputation of the fitness business has been tarnished by high-pressure sales tactics used by some club operators. If you're not careful, you may end up shackled to contracts that are difficult to cancel, even with legitimate medical reasons.