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JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

Tripartite policy talks start with sensitive issues aside

The Liberal Democratic Party, Liberal Party and New Komeito met together for the first time Wednesday to start policy coordination talks toward the launch of a tripartite coalition government.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

State writing law to better handle Aum

The government will draw up a new law that can specifically restrict the activities of religious cult Aum Shinrikyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

Okuda found guilty in DKB payoffs to 'sokaiya'

Tadashi Okuda, a former chairman of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, was sentenced Wednesday to nine months in prison, suspended for five years, for illegally lending some 11.8 billion yen to a "sokaiya" corporate racketeer in a scandal that shocked the nation's finance industry.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

Ishihara holds shindig to tackle school lunches

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara met with a group of celebrities and private-sector executives on Wednesday in an unstructured get-together where a new idea to help pare the budget came up -- doing away with school lunches.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

Knife-wielding man kills two in Ikebukuro

A knife- and hammer-wielding man went on a rampage in a shopping district in Tokyo's Toshima Ward Wednesday, killing two women and injuring six others, police said.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 1999

Beleaguered Pakistan faces tough choices

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is trying hard to put on a brave face, even as his nuclearized country's opposition politicians agitate increasingly loudly for his resignation.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

LDP race not just about winning

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

Japanese, Korean activists picket Kepco over MOX

OSAKA -- South Korean and Japanese antinuclear activists demonstrated in front of Kansai Electric Power Co. in central Osaka late Wednesday afternoon to protest the company's involvement in shipping mixed plutonium-uranium fuel (MOX).
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

Volunteers describe carnage in East Timor

Volunteers who arrived in Tokyo from East Timor earlier this week told their stories Wednesday of pro-Indonesia militias going on rampages, disturbing the voting in an independence referendum, torching homes and shooting civilians in the violence-torn province.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

NPA gets tough on Kanagawa police department

The National Police Agency decided Wednesday to take disciplinary action against senior officials of the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Department for a series of wrongdoings among its ranks and alleged attempts to cover them up, NPA sources said.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

U.S. firm eases decision-making on pension options

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

12-year-old illegal immigrant sent back to U.S.

OSAKA -- A 12-year-old runaway from Colorado who illegally entered Japan by pretending to have been separated from his mother has been returned to the United States, it was learned Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

Sri Lanka woos Japanese investors

Sri Lanka is the most liberalized market in South Asia and wants to increase trade with and investment from Japan, P. Amarasinghe, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 7, 1999

Tokyo declares war on diesels

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara is proving to be a man of his word -- up to a point. It remains to be seen whether or not he can keep some of his promises. Not long after announcing plans to seriously tackle the capital region's notorious traffic congestion, Mr. Ishihara and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government...
COMMENTARY
Sep 7, 1999

Merge -- and then to work

The blockbuster deal to combine Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan may be compared to an epic drama. Act one has opened with fanfare. But what if discord develops between the director and playwright? What if the actors turn out to be hams? What if the stage settings are...
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 1999

Independence for East Timor

The East Timorese have voted for independence. Twenty-four years after the Indonesian military invaded the former Portuguese territory and forcibly annexed it to their state, the people of the province have been given the opportunity to choose their own destiny. Despite intimidation and what appears...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 1999

California squares off on apology issue

SAN FRANCISCO -- "Apology diplomacy," a staple of politics in Asia, has made its way to the California State Assembly. Taking action on an issue that has divided Japanese Americans, the state assembly in the capital at Sacramento recently passed a resolution asking Japan to apologize for World War II...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 5, 1999

Ultranationalist groups: aliens with sunglasses

It's another Sunday in Japan as rightwing organizations in black buses the size of semi-trailer trucks roll through the city streets spewing nationalist slogans. These military-style buses are driven by men who are usually described by others as "wearing sunglasses." Japanese people hardly notice when...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Sep 5, 1999

Yeltsin's would-be successors

In December, Russia's Parliament will hold elections. Deprived by the constitution of any true political authority, the Duma is still important as a collective opinion-maker. In 1993-1999, it became an ongoing anti-Yeltsin show, the most prominent podium for any sharp criticism of the president. As a...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Sep 5, 1999

Late returns

A reader remembers a column about Gen. Douglas MacArthur's office in the Dai-Ichi Insurance building. It was ideally situated for the role he was to play -- it overlooked the Imperial Palace. He established his own imperial pre-eminence when the Chinese carpet he always used in his office was delivered:...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 1999

The politics of love and hate

LONDON -- Here we are on the second anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, and neither her life nor her death seems as momentous as it did this time last year. Does this mean she really was just a media phenomenon, ephemeral, superficial, appearing and disappearing in our lives without consequence?...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 5, 1999

Is it your place or mine?

Enormous excitement was generated back in May by a trial series of creative workshops for children in English and Japanese, organized by New Order Arts at Open Studio Nope in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
EDITORIALS
Sep 4, 1999

Business embraces the bit

The business of doing business underwent a radical transformation this week. First, Sun Microsystems announced that it would offer some of its critical business software free over the Internet. Responding to the challenge, Microsoft Corp. two days later revealed that it would offer its own top-selling...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Sep 4, 1999

Bang a gong, sing a sacred Buddhist song

Sound is an integral part of traditional Buddhist ceremony in Japanese temples. Time in the temple is structured around a procession of ceremonies: rising, meditating, giving alms, eating, etc., and each ceremony is accompanied by the sonorities of men chanting sutras in unison, called shomyo.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 4, 1999

Architect walks not-so straight line

In the 1960s and '70s, one book you were likely to find on the shelves of architect's offices and university architectural departments was "Architecture Without Architects," by Bernard Rudofsky -- a wide-ranging, predominantly photographic study of indigenous housing and structures built by man and insect....
COMMUNITY
Sep 4, 1999

In pursuit of glittering perfection

Mikimoto pearls have always ranked high among Japanese girls. They're the top choice for a first jewelry present from parents, for Coming-of-Age Day, or for weddings.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1999

Japan urged to see Taiwan as own entity

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1999

Lawyer challenges Japan to reveal WWII labor details

A California-based lawyer on Friday urged the Japanese government and Japanese companies to disclose wartime documents that would expose facts about the forced labor of American prisoners of war in Japan during World War II.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1999

Cultist says he could not defy 'poa' order

A former key member of Aum Shinrikyo said Friday he had doubts about killing a fellow cultist in 1989 but acted upon the order from Shoko Asahara because he was not in a position to defy the guru.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1999

Sshhhhh -- he's an 'enka' fan

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Jong Pil has admitted that he is a fan of Japanese popular songs, which are officially still banned in his country by a policy that limits the entry of Japanese culture.

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