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COMMUNITY
Apr 27, 2000

Celebration to wash away tears

A water festival without any water may sound like a contradiction in terms, but in Tokyo that's exactly how the Myanmarese community celebrate the New Year.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 27, 2000

Ohmatsuya: Down on the farm, just off the Ginza

You could call Ohmatsuya rustic -- but only in the most Ginza sense of the word. It sits just one floor above the brand-name bustle of the street, inside a modern multistory building little different from any others occupying that premium patch of real estate. Step inside, however, and you could have...
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2000

A last gasp by Iran's hardliners

Iran's hardliners refuse to give up. Despite a string of election defeats, conservatives are fighting reformers with every weapon at their disposal. A key battleground is the press, which has been a pillar of support for President Mohammad Khatami, leader of the reform movement. This week, fundamentalists...
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 26, 2000

Hawks cruise to 6-1 victory over Orix BlueWave

Hawks hurler Tomohiro Nagai tossed a six-hitter and gave up just one run on a homer by Ichiro Suzuki to lead defending champion Daiei over the Orix BlueWave 6-1 on Tuesday at the Fukuoka Dome. Melvin Nieves singled home the first run of the game in the sixth, then drilled a solo homer in Daiei's three-run...
COMMUNITY
Apr 26, 2000

Celebrating the other Korakuen: Okayama

If I were asked to describe this garden with just one word, I would definitely choose "fantastic."
CULTURE / Art
Apr 26, 2000

The home of Japanese porcelain

Arita is a fine spot for porcelain pots -- and cups, vases, buttons, wall sockets and even denture-holders. Need a cartwheel-sized ashtray (useful at Japanese banquets), or a 1.8-meter-high urn to brighten up a castle somewhere? You'll find them in all shapes, sizes and colors in this peaceful town,...
LIFE / Travel
Apr 26, 2000

Buddhist cave art and mummies on the Silk Road

An overnight stop in Urumqi (there's even a Holiday Inn) gives a chance to see the museum there at leisure. Especially the famous mummies, perfectly preserved by the dry desert air in the tombs of the region, and the variety of grave goods, textiles and designs in the tombs that testify to the mixing...
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Apr 26, 2000

Stirring up the dust of a Classic era

This column marks the one-year anniversary of Kissa Kultur. What started as a way to help freelancers find interesting spots to enjoy a coffee between jobs has now become a fascinating historical dig through postwar Tokyo.
COMMUNITY
Apr 26, 2000

Anne Frank exhibit offers family relics

Read by millions of people of all ages since it was first published in 1947, Anne Frank's diary is famous all around the world.
SUMO
Apr 25, 2000

JSA releases rankings for summer tourney

The Musashigawa Stable had its string of six tournament championships snapped in March, but returns with a yokozuna and two ozeki for next month's summer tourney, according to the rankings released Monday by the Japan Sumo Association.
EDITORIALS
Apr 25, 2000

Combating cross-border crime

With international exchanges of people and goods expanding at an accelerated pace, cross-border organized crime is also rising rapidly. In a concerted effort to combat the globalization of crime, the United Nations in 1999 set up a special panel to work out a global anticrime treaty. Now that drafting...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 25, 2000

The 400-year-old bridge

BRIDGING THE DIVIDE: 400 Years The Netherlands -- Japan, edited by Leonard Blusse, Willem Remmelink and Ivo Smits. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000, 288 pp., $60. Japan and the Netherlands have a special relationship. No two other European and Asian countries have maintained such long and continuous contact...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 25, 2000

Marco Polo's fantastic truths

MARCO POLO AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD, by John Larner. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999, 250 pp., with plates (14) and maps, unpriced. In 1271, a mere 17 years old, Marco Polo left Venice in company with his uncle and several other merchants. Twenty-four years later, in 1295, he returned,...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 25, 2000

Salute to a life of honesty, humanity and hard work

A SUMMER FOR A LIFETIME: The Life and Times of George I. Purdy, as told to Thomas Caldwell. Foreword by Michael J. Mansfield. Lost Coast Press, 2000, 144 pp., $24.95. When I was a librarian I was assigned to inventory a business biography collection. I didn't expect to find much excitement in the stacks,...
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Apr 25, 2000

Virtuosos from the fringes of Europe

Perhaps it's still too early to be talking about gigs of the year but the upcoming Altan Festival might prove hard to beat. There will be three outstanding acts. All come from the fringes of Europe, from peoples with a history of persecution, but all have an equally long and proud music tradition that...
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 25, 2000

Japan names Olympic swim squad

The Japan Amateur Swimming Federation (JASF) on Monday announced its team for the Sydney Olympics in September, naming gold medal hopes Mai Nakamura and Masami Tanaka, while ignoring veteran freestyler Suzu Chiba.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 25, 2000

Return to Ishiguro's fog-bound world

WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS, by Kazuo Ishiguro. London: Faber & Faber, 313 pp., 16.99 British pounds. Ever since "A Pale View of Hills" (1982), Kazuo Ishiguro has been playing games with his readers' minds. Some people find this infuriating, some fascinating, as the mixed reception accorded his novels...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2000

Kim unscathed in parliamentary vote

SEOUL -- South Korea's 16th general election for the National Assembly held two weeks ago was hardly a mandate for President Kim Dae Jung's ruling Millennium Democratic Party. Although it forced Kim to reach out to the opposition Grand National Party, it has not impaired his ability and authority to...
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2000

Mori's real test comes in July

Like many Japanese, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will travel overseas in the Golden Week holiday period, which starts April 29. He will have little time to relax, however. Mori, who will chair the Group of Eight summit in southern Japan in July, will visit the participating nations to prepare for the...
EDITORIALS
Apr 24, 2000

Disarmament in danger

Representatives from the 187 signatories to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty convene in New York today to assess the status of that treaty. Every five years that gather for one month; this year's meeting promises to be especially acrimonious. Since the last such forum, India and Pakistan have exploded...
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 24, 2000

Hoshino continues Hanshin streak

Veteran southpaw Nobuyuki Hoshino tossed a four-hitter Sunday as the Hanshin Tigers blanked the Yakult Swallows 1-0 at Koshien Stadium for their eighth straight victory.
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2000

Help Japan: take time off

Japan's unemployment rate remains disturbingly high, as companies step up job-cutting efforts and bankruptcies increase. Although there are signs that the economy is recovering, there are no indications that the serious job shortage is easing. The Federation of Employers Associations, in recent negotiations...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2000

Mongolian state faces its horrific past

ULAN BATOR -- G. Tserendulam remembers the year Josef Stalin detained her father and his family during a trip to Moscow and sent them to the Soviet Union's Black Sea. It was 1936, and the pro-Soviet government of Mongolia told the people that Prime Minister Genden had felt the urgent need for a holiday....
MORE SPORTS
Apr 24, 2000

Nakamura sets world mark in 50m backstroke

Mai Nakamura broke the world record in the women's 50 meters backstroke while Masami Tanaka completed the Japan Swimming Championships in "perfect" style on Sunday, clocking national records in all seven of her breaststroke races.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2000

NPT facing uncertain future

NEW DELHI -- When the complete history of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty gets written, its 1995 permanent extension will prove the beginning of its end. Although all nations of the world except four are today party to it, the NPT is in trouble, its future uncertain. From Japan to New Zealand, and...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 24, 2000

Whales, ivory, orangutans and Japanese wildlife policies

The argument goes something like this: Developing countries are just trying to feed their teeming poor and hungry. All they want is a chance to sell what is rightfully theirs to sell. Carefully managed, of course, to ensure "sustainable use."

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