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BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2001

Toyota tackles China desertification

Toyota Motor Corp. and the Green Earth Center, a Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization, said Tuesday they will launch this month a three-year joint reforestation project in China to hinder the expansion of its deserts.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2001

Global green alliance swells Down Under

SYDNEY -- The trouble with hosting an international Greens convention is that the host country draws the criticism. Japan is still agonizing over the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Now Australia is left holding the bag following far-reaching pro-Kyoto support demonstrated at last week's Canberra talkfest.
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2001

Nikon to recall 55,000 cameras

Nikon Corp. said Tuesday it will recall its Nikon u single-reflex camera to fix a defect that shortens the life of a battery used to record the date and time.
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 25, 2001

Japan hopes Spain match will get it back on course

Japan will play against Spain in Cordoba on Wednesday night (Thursday morning Japan time) in its second friendly this year as it continues its preparations for the 2002 World Cup.
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Novel ideas

Some great books have made great movies. It's a safe bet that many people, asked to reel off their top five, would name one of the following: "The Godfather" (Mario Puzo); "A Clockwork Orange" (Anthony Burgess); "Blade Runner" (from Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"); and "2001:...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Gambling with reality, double or nothing

Doubles Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Satoru Isaka Running time: 90 minutes Language: JapaneseNow showing The title of Satoru Isaka's new film, "Doubles," is ironic, but appropriate. Its two heroes -- a middle-aged locksmith (Kenichi Hagiwara) and young computer nerd (Kazuma Suzuki) -- are unlikely partners...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Drugs, lies and policy debate

Traffic Rating: * * * * Director: Steven Soderbergh Running time: 148 minutes Language: English and Spanish (with subtitles in Japanese and English)Now showing It's rare enough that Hollywood makes an issue film, rarer still when it's an ongoing debate and not one where history has already decided...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 25, 2001

Seoul through the eyes of Araki

Untitled photographs from "Shosetsu Seoul" by Nobuyoshi Araki Attracted by its people and landscapes, photographer Nobuyoshi Araki has visited South Korea several times since 1983. An exhibition of his photographs of the country will be on from April 28 to May 9 at the Spiral Hall in Minami-Aoyama,...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2001

Riding roughshod over planet and people

While many of us were celebrating Earth Day on Sunday, environmental activists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera spent another day in a Mexican jail. Soldiers arrested the pair in May 1999 and, says Amnesty International, tortured them until they confessed to guerrilla ties. Amnesty rejects this, saying...
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2001

Mitsubishi Rayon to merge fiber division with sales unit

Mitsubishi Rayon Co. said Tuesday it will spin off its continuous fiber division and merge it with its textile sales unit, Dia Textile Inc., to create a new company Oct. 1.
EDITORIALS
Apr 25, 2001

A new era for the Americas

That is the best way to describe the decision reached last weekend by 34 Pan-American leaders. Gathering in Quebec City, they defied thousands of violent protesters and agreed to create the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The removal of trade barriers from the Arctic to the southern tip of Argentina,...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Wake up, it's just a bad movie

The Family Man Rating: * * Director: Brett Ratner Running time: 125 minutes Language: EnglishNow showing This is Kafka's nightmare scenario: One morning, a man wakes up and finds he's turned into a giant bug. He must deal with the inner turmoil that follows. This is writer/director Brett Ratner's...
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2001

Business confidence plunged in latest quarter

Business confidence in Japan deteriorated sharply in the January-March quarter amid declines in share prices and the deceleration in the U.S. economy, according to a government survey released Tuesday.
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 25, 2001

Undying loyalty in ancient China

Ennosuke Ichikawa is presenting his latest "Super Kabuki" production, "Shin Sangokushi II (New Record of the Three Kingdoms, Part II)" at Tokyo's Shinbashi Enbujo Theater through May, leading members of his personal troupe including Danshiro (his younger brother), Ukon, En'ya, Emiya, Emisaburo and Shun'en....
CULTURE / Art
Apr 25, 2001

Homegrown approach to British Art Now

A couple of years ago, just outside the Japanese pavilion at the Venice Biennale, a troupe of butoh dancers wowed the assembled art glitterati with a street performance. Afterward, more than a few people congratulated representatives of the Japan Foundation for the refreshingly alive and unaffected happening,...
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 25, 2001

A stunningly beautiful work of Great 3 genius

One sure sign of the maturation of a pop-music culture is when artists start releasing albums that are organic, cohesive works of art, instead of collections of their latest hit singles with some B-grade tracks as filler. "May and December," the latest from Japanese pop/rock band the Great 3, is such...
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2001

Yen, stocks begin rebound

Reflecting a shift in market sentiment, the yen has recouped much of its recent losses, while stocks and bonds have also reversed their recent downtrend and tended higher in recent weeks.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2001

Japan, U.S. settle squabble over port calls

Japan and the United States agreed Tuesday that the U.S. Navy will improve measures for giving prior notification to the Japanese government of port calls by U.S. submarines.
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2001

FTC raids elevator firm over charges of obstruction

Investigators from the Fair Trade Commission raided the offices of Mitsubishi Electric Corp.'s elevator maintenance unit and other locations Tuesday, following allegations that the company obstructed its rivals' bids to repair Mitsubishi elevators.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 25, 2001

Tokyo Leaders Big Band

Concert Preview by MICHAEL PRONKO Several nights of jazz is just the thing to clear out the spring allergies, Golden Week hangovers and dread of the rainy season. Here's a roundup of some picks for the week.
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Science fare

There are two scientist types that have traditionally made it to the big screen: the mad and evil (Dr. Frankenstein) or the bold and dashing (Dr. Indiana Jones). Sometimes they are bold, dashing and mad (Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly"). If women, they are usually babes (Linda Fiorentino in "Men in Black,"...
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2001

Koizumi takes LDP helm

Junichiro Koizumi was elected Tuesday as the 20th president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, gaining 298 votes in the initial balloting of the party's lawmakers.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 25, 2001

Hawks soar to top of PL

Daiei sluggers Hiroki Kokubo and Pedro Valdez slugged two homers each and combined for 10 RBIs as the defending Pacific League champions Daiei Hawks climbed into first place in the PL standings with a 13-1 triumph over the Nippon Ham Fighters at the Tokyo DOme on Tuesday.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 25, 2001

'Outsider art' gets showing inside gallery

"Man With Hair Mouth" by Mose Tolliver (top) and "Noah's Ark" by George Narvey Sometimes those who were previously indifferent to art all of a sudden discover amazing hidden talents. Such artistic revelations hit Bill Traylor when he was freed from slavery. For Inez Nathaniel Walker, prison was the...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 25, 2001

Baaba Maal

In 1989, Senegalese singer Baaba Maal released an album with blind guitarist Mansour Seck titled "Djam Leeli." A mix of two acoustic guitars, a dash of percussion and Maal's intense singing, it was simple but hypnotic and, for many, a revelation to hear the connection between West African guitar...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 25, 2001

Sogetsu-style ikebana display

From May 2 to 6, Omotesando-dori will become an exhibition site of Sogetsu-style flower arrangements by 350 artists.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2001

Mori wins 3 million yen in magazine libel suit

Outgoing Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, whose tenure can be described as one long run-in with the media, won 3 million yen in damages Tuesday in a libel suit against a monthly magazine.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 25, 2001

Nick Cave

Nick Cave has never been one to just "get on with life," to wander through it blind, intent on getting to the end with the least trouble. He needs to know why we are here and what happens to us when we've gone. And, like the rest of us, he'll never know, at least not in this life.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person