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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2000

Indonesia tempted by authoritarianism

Does the recent crisis in Indonesia indicate that democratizing a nation too rapidly will lead to disorder? The crux of the issue involves the effectiveness and limitations of authoritarian and military control that guarantee stability.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2000

Diet boycott resolved

After 11 days of turmoil under an opposition boycott, the Diet is ready to return to normal today after the ruling triumvirate and the Democratic Party of Japan on Tuesday agreed on an arbitrated proposal from the Lower House speaker. Executives of the six main parties met with Speaker Soichiro Ito...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 8, 2000

The cat in the hat goes to war like that

DR. SEUSS GOES TO WAR: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel, by Richard Minear, introduction by Art Spiegelman. The New Press, 1999, 272 pp. To most Americans who grew up with Dr. Seuss' oddly, endearingly drawn critters and facile rhymes ("And then he ran out. / And, then, fast...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2000

Myanmar citizens see dual taxation as incentive to overstay

Staff writer The Feb. 18 revision of the Immigration Control Law has prompted many undocumented foreigners to return home, but some Myanmar citizens are unable even to go through deportation procedures because they find it hard to pay overdue taxes to their government. The Myanmar citizens said they...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2000

Foreigner sues bank over loan rejection

An American journalist filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Asahi Bank after it refused his application for a housing loan because he does not have permanent residence status. The suit, filed with the Tokyo District Court, seeks 11 million yen in damages for the mental anguish inflicted by the bank's refusal. According...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2000

Ota assumes official duties

OSAKA -- New Osaka Gov. Fusae Ota assumed her official duties Tuesday, renewing her determination to work with all prefectural officials, including its three current vice governors, to defuse Osaka's crisis. Ota arrived at the prefectural government building in Chuo Ward at 9:30 a.m. and was welcomed...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2000

State appeals Amagasaki pollution ruling

The central government and Hanshin Expressway Public Corp. filed an appeal Tuesday with the Kobe District Court over a Jan. 31 ruling ordering them to compensate residents in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, for air pollution-related health damages allegedly caused by an expressway. The ruling states that...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 8, 2000

A great tradition resurrected

SEX AND THE FLOATING WORLD: Erotic Images in Japan 1700-1820, by Timon Screech. London: Reaktion Books, 1999, 320 pp., 156 illustrations, 36 color, 16.95 British pounds. Though there has been much scholarly research of the ukiyo-e, woodblock prints from premodern Japan, one sizable genre within this...
EDITORIALS
Feb 7, 2000

A voice of reason for cleaner air

A few days have passed since the Kobe District Court issued its landmark ruling that the central government and a local expressway corporation should reduce vehicle exhaust emissions on National Highway No. 43 in the city of Amagasaki in Hyogo Prefecture. Sufferers from pollution-related asthma and other...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2000

U.S. Taiwan policy adding fuel to the fire

As Taiwan approaches the first presidential election that the ruling Nationalist Party (KMT) might lose, tensions between Beijing and Taipei are likely to rise. U.S. policy has, unfortunately, made the situation more flammable.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

New immigration law misunderstood, experts say

Staff writer In the days before the revised Immigration Control Law takes effect, hundreds of undocumented foreign residents have been flocking to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau in Kita Ward to initiate deportation procedures, but experts say many of them may be misguided about the amendment. An...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

Ishihara wants to tax Tokyo banks, including BOJ

Tokyo Metropolitan Gov. Shintaro Ishihara proposed Monday that the metropolitan government start imposing a 3 percent tax on gross profits of large banks operating in Tokyo. The announcement prompted immediate protests from the Japanese Bankers Association, which issued a statement calling the plan...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

Reversal by top court casts doubt on boys' convictions in '85 murder

The Supreme Court on Monday reversed a lower court ruling in a civil suit filed over the 1985 murder of a 15-year-old girl in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, saying it doubted the credibility of the confessions made by the boys accused of killing her. Six men were found guilty of committing the murder by...
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2000

Fiscal surplus, external deficit: Can the U.S. thrive on technology alone?

This year's State of the Union address by U.S. President Bill Clinton lasted 89 minutes.
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 7, 2000

Craning for a look at a natural monument

TSURUI VILLAGE, Hokkaido -- The meandering local bus takes over an hour to reach this quiet hamlet of dairy farms in southeastern Hokkaido. For out-of-town passengers, the approach to Tsurui comes as something of a shock. Those black-and-white creatures stepping delicately across the pasture most definitely...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

Coalition, opposition chiefs fail to bridge differences

In a bid to break the Diet impasse, the ruling and opposition camps began high-level talks Monday as the opposition boycott entered its 10th day. But the six parties' Diet affairs chiefs met for only 15 minutes and made no headway as the opposition bloc insisted that all ongoing committee sessions be...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 7, 2000

Hingis claims third Toray tennis title

Martina Hingis caught no one by surprise on Sunday. She was supposed to win the Toray Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament and that's exactly what she did. Victory, however, didn't come easily.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2000

Choose: equality or freedom

The third ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization, held in Seattle Nov. 30 through Dec. 3, ended in unexpected failure. The push for new global trade talks collapsed due to opposition by developing countries, which account for more than 100 of the WTO's 134 member nations. The developing...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

Bill would allow academics to hold business posts

The government will submit to the Diet a bill today to allow national and public university professors and researchers to concurrently serve as corporate board members to facilitate technology transfer from the academic to industrial sectors, government officials said. The move is part of efforts to...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

U.K. official vouches for safety of MOX

A senior official of the British Department of Trade and Industry met with Japanese counterparts Monday in an effort to restore confidence in British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. after revelations that the firm falsified data on mixed-oxide fuel for Japanese reactors. Anna Walker, head of the department's energy...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

Analysis: Ota's first priority is to refill city coffers

Staff writer OSAKA -- Fusae Ota's election win here Sunday night is good news for local residents and the nation as a whole, in the sense that Osaka has elected the nation's first female governor. It is also good news for Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, because since a win for Ota, a former bureaucrat...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

Poland seeks full EU status by '03

Staff writer Poland hopes to become a full member of the European Union as early as 2003 by adjusting its economy to EU standards, according to visiting Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek. "We hope to achieve good results in the process of adjusting Poland's economic structure," Geremek said...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2000

The Nanjing number game

So the book titled "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II," by -year-old Chinese-American writer Iris Chang has the Japanese critics stirred up. Everyone from the former Japanese ambassador in Washington and Japan's powerful conservative commentators down to the rightwing academics...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

Collaborative stock index in the cards for spring

The Tokyo Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, Deutsche Boerse AG and Standard & Poor's are planning to introduce an international index in an attempt to squelch increasing competition from smaller bourses. A global index jointly operated by the world's major stock exchanges is unprecedented. By...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

NTT to establish cybermarket

NTT Communications Corp. plans to start providing a marketplace on the Internet for companies to sell a broad range of products, from financial services to music and game software, company sources said Monday. NTT Communications, a domestic and international long-distance carrier, plans to start what...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

Ota ready to slash Osaka government jobs

Staff writer OSAKA -- Newly elected Osaka Gov. Fusae Ota said Monday that her priority is to restore financial health to the prefecture, noting she is confident she can push through plans for major cuts in local government jobs as part of the effort. "If prefectural officials really want to save Osaka...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

Experts deplore flaws in Japanese court system

Staff writer Legal experts watching the confused and drawn-out legal proceedings surrounding the 1985 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, say the case reflects common defects that plague Japanese criminal trials. The case, in which six juveniles were found guilty in a...
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2000

Flying fingers, sluggish brains

"Yo what's up? how bout those rams. *grin*. erm, gotta run, ttyl :]"
CULTURE / Music
Feb 6, 2000

Tokyo's musical riches are many, mighty and marvelous

The year end is filled with performances of the beloved Beethoven Ninth, known familiarly as the "Choral" symphony, prized for its message of hope in the lofty poetry of Schiller's "Ode to Joy."
MORE SPORTS
Feb 6, 2000

Hingis vs. Testud in Toray final

After cruising past world No. 11 Anna Kournikova in Friday's quarterfinals, top-seeded Martina Hingis was forced to play competitive tennis on Saturday against Chanda Rubin of the U.S. The Swiss star responded with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory over Rubin to reach the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open tennis...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji