Tokyo

TOKYO -- In most cities that issue marriage licenses, it's up to the participants to find each other. But Tokyo takes it a step further. The city will help you find a spouse.Since 1933, with a brief break for World War II, Tokyo has run a serious marriage bureau.On a recent Tuesday just after lunch, a half-dozen men and women were sitting inside the "omiai" -- or matchmaking -- office in a municipal skyscraper, rereading an official brochure with the optimistic slogan: "We are simply giving you a chance."

TOKYO -- Anxieties over the faltering Japanese economy have intensified as the stock market plunged yesterday to its lowest point since 1987, closing below the psychologically important 20,000 level on the Nikkei index.The closely watched index lost 618.90 points, or 3 percent, to close at 19,837.16 in extremely thin trading -- 200 million shares. The last time the index closed below 20,000 was on Feb. 23, 1987, when it plunged 139.89 points, to close at 19,940.50.The index sank another 129.37 points by the end of the morning session today, but traders said there were no signs of the panic selling that some analysts had predicted.

TOKYO -- Without realizing it, the Americans sit on one side of the conference table and the Japanese the other.And when it comes time to discuss management styles, the Americans do most of the talking.In the Tokyo Bay Sheraton Hotel less than a mile from Tokyo Disneyland, managers from two worlds -- East and West -- had come to compare notes. The critical question was who has the best management style."The answer is somewhere in the middle," says James Cramer, executive director of the University of Maryland's International Business and Management Institute (IBMI)

TOKYO -- Mom, the man's here with the carry-out food -- where's the $500?A scene something like that is being played out in homes all over Tokyo this holiday weekend, as it is at this time every year when Japanese families receive take-home food orders that will give Mom a break from cooking during the biggest annual celebration on the country's calendar.This food didn't come from the neighborhood pizzeria.Packaged not in paper or plastic but in elegantly hand-made bamboo or lacquer boxes, these carry-out provisions have their own name, osechi.

TOKYO -- Being the king of The King's impersonators is no guarantee of a princely life in Japan.In fact, the life is so lean it may drive Yasumasa Mori to get a job to help his wife support him.At age 31, Mr. Mori won his title as the world-champion Elvis Presley impersonator fair and square last August -- in Memphis, Tenn., on the 15th anniversary of the king of rock 'n' roll's death. He was up against 200 U.S. and foreign Elvis look-alikes, sound-alikes and assorted other hopefuls. He is the first non-American to win.He competed with no sideburns, no potbelly and no shades.

Tokyo again tops list of most expensive cities in the world Defying notions about Japanese deflation, Tokyo is again the most expensive city in the world. A 4 percent drop in the exchange value of the dollar against the Japanese yen helped put Tokyo in first place and Osaka in third place in an annual cost-of-living survey of 144 major world cities conducted in March by Mercer Human Resources Consulting of Geneva, a Marsh & McLennan company. With cab fares starting at $5, $10,000-a-month apartment rents not uncommon and intercity rail travel expensive, Tokyo residents notice the 1 percent annual deflation rate of prices in yen. Moscow, which has an extremely expensive housing market for foreigners, was the world's second-most-expensive city, unchanged from last year.

TOKYO -- Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright dropped by today on her way back from China to give Japan a reassuring hug and emphasize that the United States values its ties with Tokyo as much as ever.But Albright, in addition to comments about the "unshakable friendship" between Japan and the United States, also prodded Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to take further steps to bolster the Japanese economy.The mood in Japan is so doleful and insecure these days that many Japanese were hurt by President Clinton's decision to spend nine days in China without even a brief visit to Japan.

ANNAPOLIS -- Citing budgetary reasons, Maryland has decided to close its $500,000-a-year office in Tokyo, a state official said yesterday.Because the office had not been producing enough Japanese investment in Maryland, and because the state's budget problems were worsening, the Department of Economic and Employment Development decided to consolidate its Far East presence in Honk Kong, said Mark L. Wasserman, secretary of the department. The Maryland International Division's foreign operations have drawn fire from state legislators and auditors.

TOKYO -- Japan said it is considering further action against U.S. steel trade policy, after filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over U.S. sanctions on hot-rolled steel.Tokyo filed a complaint yesterday to protest a June decision by the United States to impose duties as high as 67 percent on hot-rolled steel shipments of Kawasaki Steel Corp., 19.65 percent on shipments of Nippon Steel Corp. and 17.86 percent on shipments of NKK Corp.The sanctions were imposed after U.S. steelmakers said their Japanese counterparts were flooding the U.S. market with steel priced too low."

TOKYO - Judging by the warnings of the electricity company here in the world's largest city, this will be a summer unlike all others, with severe power shortages and blackouts predicted. Industry officials hedge these alarming forecasts with one big "if." The Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, says it will be able to keep its customers' tempers from boiling over only if it is allowed to press 16 nuclear power plants back into operation. The plants were temporarily taken out of service last year after a scandal over falsified inspections and poor maintenance.