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EDITORIALS

Oct 31, 1999

The end of a movie era

In this multimedia age, when new electronic entertainment devices for use in the privacy of one's home -- or anywhere -- proliferate endlessly, it can seem hopelessly old-fashioned to trendsetters to sit in a darkened movie theater watching stars emote in heart-tugging dramas, daredevil adventure stories...

EDITORIALS

Oct 30, 1999

Leaving the scene

An odd thing has happened in the wake of the disaster in London three weeks ago in which two commuter trains collided, killing as many as 100 -- or was it only 30? -- people. The tally has dropped sharply since the accident, as police find many of those who were initially presumed dead turning up alive...

EDITORIALS

Oct 29, 1999

Lessons unlearned in Chechnya

Mr. Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister, has embarked on a high-stakes gamble. After a series of mysterious bomb blasts in Russia and armed incursions into the Russian republic of Dagestan, Mr. Putin has declared war on Islamic extremists who, he claimed, were being sheltered by the Muslim government...

EDITORIALS

Oct 27, 1999

The risks of getting involved

The four Japanese mining engineers and their Kyrgyz translator who had been held hostage by Islamic rebels were released Monday after 63 days of captivity. The five men, the last of 13 hostages seized in August by the militants, were healthy and in good spirits. We extend our thanks and congratulations...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 27, 1999

Jospin rides high, blessed by luck and skill

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- When Lionel Jospin was appointed prime minister of France in June 1997, there were not many people willing to bet on his longevity in office. The "plural left" majority on which he had to rely looked too divided on most issues, from Europe to immigration, to enable him -- or so it seemed at...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 27, 1999

New policy left driverless

By Robert A. Manning

Nine months in the making, revision of a now admittedly flawed policy toward North Korea is an important step in the right direction in dealing with a problem where there is no good option. But there is a troubling gap in logic between former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry's sagacious assessment...

EDITORIALS

Oct 26, 1999

Money talks in U.S. politics

Ms. Elizabeth Dole last week ended her trailblazing bid for the U.S. Republican Party's presidential nomination. Hers was the first serious run for the presidency by a woman in either party. Yet Ms. Dole's withdrawal from the race highlights not only the failure of American voters to take a woman candidate...

EDITORIALS

Oct 24, 1999

Save the beaches

There are words that wake us up -- like "free" or "prize" or "espresso" -- and then there are words that put us to sleep. Unfortunately, the latter group includes most of the working vocabulary of some very well-meaning people: "environment," "global warming," "greenhouse gases," all the way up to the...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 24, 1999

Australia out for justice in East Timor

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- Still the broken skulls are being unearthed. And still the United Nations talks on. Soon, Australia fears, the evidence of atrocities in East Timor will be scattered and, worse, forgotten.

COMMENTARY / World / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Oct 24, 1999

Farewell to Russia's final Romanov

By Constantine Pleshakov

Few years in recent Russian history have been as turbulent as 1999. In five months, from May till October, the country has seen three different prime ministers, an Islamic fundamentalist invasion in Dagestan and five terrorist assaults against Russian cities that cost the lives of 300 civilians. In the...

EDITORIALS

Oct 22, 1999

Speaking without thinking

Barely two weeks after he was named parliamentary vice minister for defense, Mr. Shingo Nishimura of the Liberal Party was forced to resign Wednesday over outrageous views made public in a Japanese weekly magazine. In a two-hour interview, Mr. Nishimura suggested that the Diet consider discussing whether...

COMMENTARY

Oct 22, 1999

Voters send LDP a message

By Kenzo Uchida

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi won re-election in the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election held Sept. 21. Four days later, Yukio Hatoyama was elected chief of the top opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan. On Oct. 5, Obuchi launched his new three-party coalition government after New...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.

If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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