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COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Oct 10, 1999

Loyalty

A gentleman writes with great affection about his hairbrush. It is, he says, a very nice, heavy hairbrush with a teak back and it is in need of new boar bristles, not surprising since he has used it for 20 years. He hopes to find a shop that can do this kind of work, but where?
COMMENTARY
Oct 10, 1999

Munich and Pat Buchanan

For decades now, the mere mention of the word Munich has invoked an image of craven appeasement. In the name of preventing more "Munichs," the postwar Western world has seen fit to intervene in a variety of conflicts, from Indochina to Kosovo.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 10, 1999

It's a wonder more letter writers don't go postal

Everyone in Japan is worried about unemployment but islands like mine are suffering from overemployment.
EDITORIALS
Oct 9, 1999

A resounding win for Mr. Vajpayee

Political stability has been a rare commodity in India of late. In the last three years, the country has had five governments and three general elections. The cycle seems to have been broken in the national elections held five weeks ago, however. As the final results come in, it looks as if Mr. Atal...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Toward a leaner, meaner defense budget

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Republicans and Democrats alike claim to support fiscal responsibility, but you wouldn't know it from the defense budget. The House-Senate Conference Committee has approved $8 billion in budget authority for next year -- $8.3 billion more than requested by the Clinton administration,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Skeletons in Yeltsin's closet

The debate over who lost Russia is intensifying as the U.S. presidential election draws near. Although the United States' policies toward post-Soviet Russia have been bipartisan, politicians sense that Vice President Al Gore is especially vulnerable because of his cochairmanship of the Gore-Chernomyrdin...
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Oct 9, 1999

Whisked away by an age-old tradition

IKOMA, Nara Pref. -- "It is totally handmade and finely crafted work, but no matter how well it is made, chasen (a bamboo tea whisk) is a commodity with a limited life span," says Keizo Kubo, 59, who has been manufacturing the tea-ceremony utensil for 36 years.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 9, 1999

Beijing throws new light on Silk Roads

BEIJING -- As China celebrates the 50th anniversary of communist society and evolves toward a more prosperous future, it is once again recognizing the value of its rich past.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

China's canny strategy in East Timor

China supported the U.N. Security Council resolution clearing the way for the deployment of an International Force for East Timor and also offered to send a civilian police contingent to be part of the U.N. peacemaking operation. Given China's advocacy of the principle of noninterference in internal...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Chongqing leads the next China boom

Japan is poised to lead foreign investment in the next important phase of China's development, centered on Chongqing, an inland city whose name most outsiders have never heard.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Oct 9, 1999

Different stokes for Iowan folks

I never thought my interest in Japanese pottery would lead me to Iowa.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Cabinet Interview: Usui adamant on Aum-restraint law

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Kono pines for Yeltsin's Japan visit

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono reiterated Tokyo's earnest hope Friday that a date can be set soon for Russian President Boris Yeltsin's visit to Japan -- a long-delayed bilateral summit expected to take place by the end of this year.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Mitsubishi, Volvo form bus-truck alliance

In the latest realignment in the global automotive industry, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and AB Volvo of Sweden will form a strategic alliance in the field of trucks and buses that includes a capital tieup, top officials of the two firms announced Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Takatsuki plane went into 'graveyard spiral'

A September 1998 plane crash in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, that killed all five people aboard was the result of the aircraft going into a "graveyard spiral," a Transport Ministry task force concluded Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Realtor charged in murder of Tokyo temple guard

A 51-year-old real estate broker in custody on a gun-possession charge was served a new warrant Friday in connection with the fatal shooting of a security guard last month at Kuhonbutsu Joshinji Temple in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

State won't appeal case of thrice-acquitted teacher

OSAKA -- The Osaka High Public Prosecutor's Office formally decided Friday not to appeal the case of a former nursery school teacher acquitted three times of murdering a boy in her care in 1974.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

The Asahara Trial: Lines dwindle as trial shifts to VX

For the first time since the trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara began at the Tokyo District Court about 3 1/2 years ago, there was no need Friday to draw straws for seats at the guru's hearing.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Middle East peace talks scheduled

International aid donors to Palestine will convene next week in Tokyo to discuss ways to add momentum to the Middle East peace process after a pledge for peace was recently put forward by Israel and Palestine, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Hospital staff punished for patient's death

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Friday issued punitive measures against the director of a municipal hospital and nine employees in connection with a patient's death in February caused by a disinfectant drip.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Inter FM to air Net Aid concerts

Inter FM will broadcast Net Aid live on Sunday from London, New York and Geneva.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Top LDP execs to put wrangles aside

Staff writer
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 8, 1999

Waking dream in 'City of Virgins'

NEW YORK -- How do you transport a quintessential Japanese play to the United States and still make it feel genuine?
CULTURE / Music
Oct 8, 1999

Have no fear, the real Soul Train has arrived

So what's up! It's been a little while since I had a chance to talk to my Tokyo soulmates. But have no fear, I am still here.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Stimulus package may top 11 trillion yen

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Friday ordered his Cabinet to draft an economic stimulus package worth more than 10 trillion yen, Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said.
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 1999

From a cakewalk to a campaign

It might be a race after all. The signs from the hustings are that the 2000 U.S. presidential nominations, once thought to have been sewn up by Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush (as Democrat and Republican, respectively), might not be guaranteed. Mr. Gore's position looks more precarious...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 1999

U.S. alliances under strain

The U.N.-authorized humanitarian intervention in East Timor might provide the model for ad hoc coalitions among democracies in East Asia -- based on the U.S. alliance structure, supported by Washington, but not requiring U.S. combat forces. Australia is leading the International Force for East Timor....
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

U.S. universities open house today in Osaka

The Japan-United States Educational Commission is holding U.S. University Fair '99 in Osaka and Tokyo to provide information to individuals interested in studying in the United States.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Kofuku knowingly lent to ailing firm

OSAKA -- Documents from a Finance Ministry inspection of the defunct Kofuku Bank in 1995 showed a real estate firm with which the bank had ties was "saddled with a myriad of problems," it was learned Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Diplomat corps offers fresh views of Japan

An exhibition of 71 photographs by foreign diplomats in Japan opened Thursday at the Printemps Department Store in Ginza, Tokyo, for a 10-day run through Oct. 16.

Longform

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What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji