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CULTURE / Art
Oct 29, 2000

The painting of Zen: Seeing the funny side of it all

In art as in philosophy, Zen revels in contradiction. The picture of an ant running endlessly round a grindstone is a comment on futility. A priest, on the brink of spiritual discovery, is not in elegant robes or mystic postures but wearing a battered straw raincoat, resting on a walking stick.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 29, 2000

Local boy makes good on his own

It is practically impossible to beat the odds and attain major recognition and success in Japan as an individual artist. When an artist does achieve success it is usually the result of a miracle -- or nepotism. It is not uncommon for gallerists who want to promote a particular artist to arrange a show...
CULTURE / Music
Oct 29, 2000

Two chamber orchestras go for Baroque

Johann Sebastian Bach, who died in 1750, 250 years ago this year, has been lovingly remembered with significant performances of his great masterworks throughout the year. Recently eminent ensembles from Europe presented performances of the monumental "Saint Matthew Passion" almost simultaneously here....
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 29, 2000

Sasaki reflects on first season in majors

Seattle Mariners closer Kazuhiro Sasaki said he enjoyed his first year of pitching in the major leagues, but contends that Japanese baseball is still "interesting."
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2000

Sexism remains a rampant social disease

I am fortunate to be able to count among my relatives a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Felix Frankfurter. Felix, appointed to the court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was a cousin on my mother's side of the family and, needless to say, far removed from me in age.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 28, 2000

Takahashi steers Giants to 6-0 win

FUKUOKA -- This is supposed to be the "O-N" Series between the two megastars of yesteryear -- Daiei Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima, the Yomiuri Giants' skipper -- but the hero of Game 5 on Friday was a 25-year-old rookie who wasn't even born when the two managers were in their heyday...
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Sanyo rocked by fresh disclosure

OSAKA -- In this week's second revelation concerning defective products, Sanyo Electric Co. announced Friday that it will replace, free of charge, parts of refrigerators sold from 1995 with doors that could fall off.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Senior officials disciplined over MSDF spy affair

The Defense Agency announced disciplinary measures Friday against 52 senior agency officials over the spy scandal involving Shigehiro Hagisaki, a Maritime Self-Defense Force officer arrested last month for allegedly leaking secret military documents to a Russian Embassy official.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Pyongyang talks strategy: take it slow

Japan will try to narrow differences and seek points on which both sides can agree in bilateral normalization talks with North Korea next week, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Global effort to fight hormone disrupters

To successfully curb the threat of endocrine disrupting chemicals, an independent and global effort is needed and is expected to be initiated early next year, according to award-winning scientist Theo Colborn.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Mori talks about the importance of religion

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, already on record as declaring Japan "a divine nation with the Emperor at its center," was back on the subject of religion on Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Nakagawa resigns; Fukuda steps in

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa resigned Friday over scandals involving rightist connections and an extramarital affair, dealing a fresh political blow to embattled Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's administration.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Pyongyang plan better unsaid: Fukuda

Newly appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda hinted Friday that Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori should not have revealed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair a proposal made in 1997 to Pyongyang concerning Japanese allegedly kidnapped by North Korea.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

With shield gone, Mori may be next

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's decision Friday to accept Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa's resignation was apparently aimed at containing further damage to his administration, which was battered recently over his comments regarding a controversial proposal to North Korea.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 28, 2000

Burke returns to Wallabies lineup

Matthew Burke, Australia's star player at the 1999 Rugby Union World Cup, is back with the Wallabies and looking forward to his first match Saturday after a lengthy injury layoff.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

New Sanyo head promises 'customers first'

OSAKA -- Sanyo Electric Co.'s newly appointed president said Friday that he will do his utmost to recover public confidence in the company.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Adult smokers at record-low 32.9%

The proportion of Japanese adults who smoke has fallen to a record low for the fifth consecutive year, dropping to 32.9 percent from 33.6 percent last year, according to the latest survey by Japan Tobacco Inc.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 28, 2000

'International' festival is dominated by national talent as budgets pared

Tokyo International Festival of Performing Arts 2000 kicked off Oct. 13 with the production "Melancholy Baby" at Aoyama Enkei Gekijo, one of the main venues hosting the festival. In truth, though, there is little "international" about this year's festival, through mid-December.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Bill allowing at-sea checks sent to the Diet

The government on Friday submitted to the Diet a bill to allow the Self-Defense Forces to inspect civilian vessels at sea to enforce economic sanctions in the event of contingencies in areas surrounding Japan.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 28, 2000

Identity found among shifting personas

A tour-group traveler posing in front of the Empire State Building; a junkie punk jonesing on a dirty park bench; a mail-order bride photographed standing beside her snaggletoothed, shotgun-toting redneck husband -- Nikki S. Lee is all of these people, and then some.
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2000

Shortsighted electoral reform

The heavy-handed tactics the ruling parties employed to railroad a controversial Upper House electoral reform bill have left an ugly blot on the nation's parliamentary history. No substantial debate was conducted in the Diet. In the Upper House, the opposition parties boycotted discussion because of...
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 28, 2000

Cirque du Soleil set to dazzle Japan

There is usually a charismatic man behind any successful entertainment company, and the Canadian circus group Cirque du Soleil has Guy Laliberte to thank for its success.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2000

What price NATO's new philosophy?

CAMBRIDGE, England -- While you were on the beaches of Hawaii or Hainan or wherever else you spent the summer, the secretary general of NATO, or U.S.-led NATO as Beijing calls it, spelled out the new philosophy of that organization, as it was expressed in the Kosovo war. Referring to Kosovo in a speech...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Oct 28, 2000

Coal-crusted, ash-glazed, long-fired

From aspiring lawyer to automatic washing machine salesman to master potter, life has been an interesting but rocky road for Shigaraki ceramist Shiho Kanzaki.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight