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BUSINESS
May 14, 2001

NTT launches Internet certification exam

About 25,000 people took a computer test Sunday conducted by NTT Communications Corp. to receive a certificate of qualification in information technology.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
May 13, 2001

Don't take China so seriously

These days China is always in the news. If it's not the U.S. spy-plane incident, then it's Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympics or the Chinese Communist Party's human-rights record or Beijing's bullying of Taiwan. After decades of condescending reporting on China, the international media is finally starting...
CULTURE / Stage
May 13, 2001

The makings of an omozukai

Tamao Yoshida is a dominating figure in the bunraku theater of today: A living national treasure, he has a 62-year history as a puppeteer. Onstage, he is elegantly composed, his countenance impassive as he manipulates his puppet with the aid of two assistants covered in black. Offstage, he is vigorous...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 13, 2001

Death and the maidens

TBS's "Sekai Fushigi Hakken," currently the longest-running quiz show on commercial TV, was also one of the first series to combine education and entertainment in a way that didn't compromise either. Whereas the previous record-holder, "Naruhodo the World," which went off the air several years ago, presented...
JAPAN
May 12, 2001

Hansen's patients hope for dignity in society's eyes

Former patients of Hansen's disease are hoping their fight to restore the human rights they have long been deprived of will build public awareness and eventually lead to the creation of a society in which no one's dignity is denied.
JAPAN
May 12, 2001

State lodges appeal against Minamata disease ruling

The government filed an appeal Friday with the Supreme Court against an April 27 Osaka High Court ruling that found the state failed to act to prevent mercury poisoning and ordered it to pay damages to victims of Minamata disease.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2001

Europe's Korean venture reaps good will

SEOUL -- One of the Europeans' first concerns after their successful diplomatic mission to Pyongyang and Seoul was to dispatch emissaries to Tokyo and Washington to inform the main allies about the results of the visit. On more than one occasion, the EU delegation emphasized that what it was doing was...
COMMENTARY
May 11, 2001

Visit to Yasukuni a bad idea

What appears to be a revolutionary change occurred in Japanese politics two weeks ago when Junichiro Koizumi became prime minister following his stunning victory in the LDP presidential election. Koizumi's victory was unexpected since Japanese prime ministers had traditionally been picked by LDP kingmakers...
COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM
May 10, 2001

Another side of the New Economy

Many East Asian nations look to the New Economy as a possible cure for their recent economic ills, but they are short of good prescriptions. The term was coined to describe the decade-long economic expansion in the United States that was hard to explain on the basis of old economic theories. Lack of...
COMMENTARY
May 10, 2001

No case for direct election

LONDON -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is reported to have said that the only change he wants to make in the Japanese Constitution is to insert an article providing that the Japanese prime minister be elected by the people of Japan rather than by the Diet. In this he is endorsing a proposal originally...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
May 10, 2001

High marks for Bush at home

It's 100 days and counting for U.S. President George W. Bush. So far, so good. His approval ratings are better than those of most of his predecessors at this stage. He survived his first international crisis nicely, achieving the return of the American aircrew who ditched their EP-3 surveillance plane...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 10, 2001

Long-protected holy mountain to be gutted by highway project

Japan's Environment Minister, Yoriko Kawaguchi, recently told Mick Corliss of The Japan Times that she would like to incorporate an "environmental perspective" into public-works projects. If she is serious, there could be no better place to begin than Mount Takao.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 10, 2001

What's your cerebrotype?

In "The Prince," Machiavelli set out his manifesto of duplicity and deception. His name stands for cunning, for forming alliances with those in power. The theory of Machiavellian Intelligence proposes that with the advent of social interaction, the advantage gained by manipulating others was the driving...
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2001

The shock of the Nouveau

Like a femme fatale, Art Nouveau has long guarded her secrets well. Were her sinuous lines symbolic or erotic? Did she bring fresh beauty into the modern world, or exploit a fin de siecle taste for the decadent? And why did she suddenly disappear, after a rapid rise to fame?
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2001

An exhibition of temple treasures to rival any in the country

NARA -- Kofukuji holds a special place in Japanese history, rivaled by few other temples. Throughout its nearly 1,300 years, it has enjoyed the largess of imperial and noble patrons, been home to armies of warrior monks and been rebuilt time and again from the ashes of devastating fires.
JAPAN
May 8, 2001

Koizumi vows no sanctuaries from reform

The Prime minister's main policy points (Full text) The following is the gist of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy speech delivered Monday in the Diet.
JAPAN
May 8, 2001

Tanaka, Chinese foreign minister talk

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and her Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan agreed Monday to work together to improve soured bilateral relations, a Foreign Ministry official said.
JAPAN
May 5, 2001

Deportation move decried

The government's decision to deport the man claiming to be the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il without officially confirming his identity is apparently a diplomatic consideration aimed at steadying Japan's troubled relations with Pyongyang.
EDITORIALS
May 5, 2001

EU enters the Korean minefield

No doubt European Union leaders acted with the best of intentions when they undertook their Korean initiative. Concerned about a perceived lack of U.S. support for reconciliation between North and South, they have interjected themselves into the Korean dialogue. Their first foray has paid off: North...
JAPAN
May 5, 2001

Aging U.S. POWs still await slave labor redress

OSAKA -- For 56 years, Ben Comstock, 82, an American captured by Japanese forces on Wake Island in December 1941, has been waiting.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 4, 2001

Seibu's Cabrera cracks 18th homer in win over 'Wave

Alex Cabrera blasted a three-run homer -- his Pacific League-leading 18th roundtripper -- to highlight a four-run sixth inning, guiding the Seibu Lions to a 6-2 victory over the Orix BlueWave Thursday at the Seibu Dome.
CULTURE / Film
May 2, 2001

A war movie of guts, glory and heavy gloss

Merdeka Rating: * Director: Yukio Fuji Running time: 114 minutes Language: JapaneseNow showing War movies have a hard time telling the truth about one of humankind's most universal acts. Even when filmmakers loudly proclaim their intention to get it right, they nearly always make their films as...
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
May 2, 2001

Toyama sticks by controversial textbook

Newly appointed education chief Atsuko Toyama, continuing the policy of her predecessor, said her ministry will not seek additional revisions to a controversial history textbook even if South Korea officially lodges requests to this end.
CULTURE / Art
May 2, 2001

The golden age of Flemish art

"In the early 17th century, Antwerp was a kind of Hollywood," said Paul Huvenne, director general of Antwerp's Royal Museum of Fine Arts. "There were more painters in the city than bakers!"
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2001

Economic ills have a silver lining

Economic problems can have positive effects. They are providing the governments in Greece and Turkey with good reasons to follow up their political rapprochement with concrete security measures. Or, as in this case, to abstain from making arms purchases that would ratchet up tensions in the region.
Events
May 1, 2001

'Memoirs of a Geisha' muse vents spleen at author

KYOTO -- Arthur Golden's "Memoirs of a Geisha" sold over 4 million copies and lingered on the New York Times best seller list for 58 weeks. The story of a country girl sold into virtual slavery who rises to become one of Japan's most celebrated geisha captivated the world.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic