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LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Sep 23, 1999

Osaka still has reasons to be proud of its brewing culture

Osaka has long been a great center of commerce and activity, but likely doesn't stand out as a major brewing center in the minds of most people. True, it has never been nearly as significant as its Kansai cousins -- Kyoto, Hyogo and Nara -- but the sake brewing culture was, and still is, strong there....
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 23, 1999

Through the lens of kyogen

Mansai Nomura gave his first kyogen performance at age 4, appeared in Akira Kurosawa's "Ran" at age 17 and began lecturing in aesthetics at Tokyo University when he was 25. No wonder he hadn't much time for my tardiness.
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 1999

A woman on the narrow road

One might not imagine that Lesley Downer -- author of books on Basho's travels, Japan's richest family and now geisha -- started out in the culinary arena.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 1999

Australia's belated epiphany

SYDNEY -- As an Australian-led multinational rescue mission landed at burned-out Dili on Monday, a shocked nation is asking: How could Indonesia have permitted such horror? And could we have done more to prevent this Asian holocaust?
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Ex-pop idol, manager admit to drug use

A former member and the ex-manager of the popular rock group Four Leaves admitted Wednesday at their first Tokyo District Court hearing that they took illegal stimulant drugs.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Nonaka says he won't join the next Cabinet

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka on Wednesday told Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi that he intends to resign when the new Cabinet is formed.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

High waves hamper MOX fuel delivery

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Obuchi talks of a mandate for coalition

One day after winning re-election in a sweeping victory as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said he is confident that his plan to form a new tripartite coalition with the Liberal Party and New Komeito has been endorsed by his party colleagues.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Sep 22, 1999

Where the women are

No presses need to be stopped to inform you of the growing number of women on the Internet in Japan. And the sizes of our headlines won't increase to tell you that number will continue to rise steadily, if not dramatically, over the next few years
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Japan grabs for promise of MOX

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Railway, works outlays back on track

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Liberal Party agreed Wednesday to use part of 500 billion yen in reserves for public works -- allocated in the initial budget for fiscal 1999 -- to build new bullet train lines, officials of the two coalition partners said.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Measures sought to seize more Aum assets

Court-appointed administrators for Aum Shinrikyo will seek legislative measures to enable them to seize additional assets from the religious cult, their representative said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Small business law outdated, panel tells state

Japan must change its policy from supporting all small businesses -- including weak ones -- to promoting competitive small companies and startups, the Small and Medium Enterprise Policymaking Council said in a report submitted to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Ruling party slams BOJ over policy decision

A top economic adviser to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi harshly criticized the Bank of Japan's decision Wednesday not to ease its monetary policy, a matter he said Obuchi took "very seriously."
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Weather, condo sales slow service industry

Monthly service industry activities slipped 0.3 percent in July from the previous month, the first decline in three months, due to cool weather and a big drop in condominium sales, according to a preliminary report released Wednesday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 1999

'Advance Australia fair' takes on a whole new meaning

"There goes another shiftless Aboriginal," said the Pioneer bus driver to those of us taking the half-day tour of Alice Springs. "We give them cars, they drive them till they're out of petrol, then, bloody hell, they just leave the bloody things by the side of the road."
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Sep 22, 1999

Green-tea cappuccino under the Ark Hills leaves

Looking for a stylish spot to meet a client? Blossoming romance needs to be nurtured over a cappuccino? Maybe, like most of us, you just need a respite from the mad rush of the city, but don't have the time (or cash) to catch the next train out of town.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 1999

Americans debate the whys and whens of intervention

WASHINGTON -- When is military intervention justified? What is a just war? Are some wars mere whims? Americans have been debating these questions recently as the crisis in East Timor escalated.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Sep 22, 1999

Borrowing scenery for a lord's lagoon

A short distance from the center of Wakayama City, on an inlet very close to the sea, is a flat piece of land called Suiken, where a well-preserved daimyo garden known as Yosui-en stands.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Alleged Aum driver faces life for role in subway gassing

Prosecutors demanded a life sentence Wednesday for former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive Kiyotaka Tonozaki, who is charged with driving a getaway car for one of the cultists accused of releasing sarin in the March 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attack.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Court rejects Chinese war victims' damages case

The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday dismissed claims from 10 Chinese demanding a formal apology and 100 million yen from the state over suffering they endured due to Japan's wartime activities in China.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Typhoon-triggered landslide kills two

A landslide triggered by heavy rain killed two people Wednesday morning in the city of Oita as a major typhoon headed north-northeast over the sea southwest of Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, hitting Okinawa's main island with wind up to 90 kph.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Keidanren suggests increased use of tied loans

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) called on the Japanese government to increase the ratio of tied loans in yen loans to Asia as part of proposals on Japan's official development assistance announced Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

The Asahara Trial: Guru speaks, blames cultists for attack

Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara on Wednesday blamed senior cultists for the deadly March 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system, saying he never discussed it with anyone.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Sep 22, 1999

Qualified clarification

Today's column attempts to clarify some common questions about Japanese health insurance. First it is necessary to understand the differences between the two types. Shakai Hoken (SH), or Employees Health Insurance, covers employees/dependents of companies that subscribe to some health insurance plan....
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Ex-Im Bank hit by protests over dam loans

As the board of directors prepared to meet inside, activists rallied outside the Export-Import Bank of Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday, protesting the organization's plan to resume funding for a controversial dam in the Philippines.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 22, 1999

Good things come in Iki packages

Iki Island, administratively part of Nagasaki Prefecture but located in the straits between Fukuoka and Korea, has some of the finest white sand beaches in Kyushu.
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 1999

When the whole world is watching

What can we do when faced with atrocities being committed on a monstrous scale? It is an old question, but it has taken on a renewed urgency with the advent of new communications technologies and mass media eager to exploit them in the competition for viewers. Being blind to distant injustices is a luxury...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Sep 21, 1999

Honeys, ah sugar, sugar

I'm sitting opposite Vivi, Yuri, Kotome and Zina, trying desperately hard not to think about sex. But it's hard, it's very hard.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 21, 1999

Get ready for the second nuclear age

FIRE IN THE EAST: The Rise of Asian Military Power and the Second Nuclear Age, by Paul Bracken. HarperCollins, 1999, 186 pp., $25 (cloth). The last two years have upset a lot of strategic certainties. Rather than moving toward nuclear disarmament, the nuclear club has expanded as India and Pakistan exploded...

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