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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2000

U.S. blocks the road to a greener planet

LONDON -- The Canadians and the Australians were just as bad, really, and the Saudi Arabians were outrageous: They want the world to compensate them for every barrel of oil they don't sell if it cuts back on burning fossil fuels to slow global warming. But the Americans were the real reason that the...
LIFE / Travel
Nov 29, 2000

Pilgrimage to Chiba's stone daibutsu

KYONAN, Chiba Pref. -- Finding the perfect, companionable Buddha can become an obsession. Foreigners living in Asia are often struck by this calm, enlightened face; its features contrast sharply with the figures of Western religious art and their often contrived depictions of the ecstasy of Christian...
EDITORIALS
Nov 28, 2000

Quit coddling NTT

The Telecommunications Council, an advisory panel to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, has produced a preliminary report calling for stepped-up competition within the NTT group. The report, however, falls far short of expectations. The overall impression is that the panel is keen to minimize...
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 28, 2000

Yokohama puts Rose on reserve list for possible new deal

The Yokohama BayStars put Bobby Rose on their reserve list Monday with an eye on signing a new deal with the infielder, who has drawn interest from some clubs despite his intention to retire from baseball.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Right On recalls fake-brand clothes

Right On Co. said Monday that some imported brand-name clothes sold at its outlets were allegedly fakes and that it has decided to recall them until Dec. 25.
SUMO
Nov 28, 2000

Wakanohana set to leave JSA

Former yokozuna Wakanohana is set to leave the Japan Sumo Association, sumo sources said Sunday, but the reasons behind his decision were not immediately known.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

State plans two big homeless shelters

The Health and Welfare Ministry plans to set up next year two centers to accommodate around 1,000 homeless people each, according to ministry sources.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Officer admits giving secrets to Russian spy

An ex-Maritime Self-Defense Force officer pleaded guilty Monday to passing two confidential documents to a Russian military attache in June and apologized for endangering the people of Japan.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Corrected train fares amount to confusion

Enough is hopefully enough and railway operators now hope to end the fare confusion once and for all.
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 28, 2000

Boca skips practice on eve of Toyota Cup

Boca Juniors failed to turn up for their scheduled Toyota Cup practice at Tokyo's National Stadium on Monday night. No explanation was given, although several players from both Boca and Real Madrid have reportedly been harassed by Argentine supporters while in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Councilors OK Juvenile Law change

The House of Councilors on Monday approved a Juvenile Law revision bill to lower the minimum age at which suspects can be held criminally responsible for their actions from 16 to 14, after adding an opposition-proposed provision to the bill.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Yahoo Japan raided over child porn

Police on Monday raided the Tokyo office of Yahoo Japan Corp., Japan's top Internet search site, in connection with an investigation into alleged sales of obscene videos featuring minors on the company's auction site.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Lending link seen in Osaka killing spree

OSAKA -- A former gangster found dead last week just as Osaka police began investigating his suspected involvement in a series of shootings may have had money issues with one of the victims, investigation sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Ministry to back fluorination of water supply

In a major policy change, the Health and Welfare Ministry plans to support water fluorination to help prevent tooth decay nationwide, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Mori to commend Paralympian

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori plans to present a commendation to swimmer Mayumi Narita, who won six gold medals at the Sydney Paralympic Games, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

State adopts national info-tech strategy

The government adopted a national strategy Monday to turn Japan into the world's most advanced country in the area of information technology within the next five years.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Railways brace for onslaught of holiday-season drunks

For most people, the end of the year is a time for making merry. For the nation's railroad employees, who have to deal with those merrymakers, it is a nightmare.
JAPAN / FREEDOM OF PRESS IN THE BALANCE
Nov 28, 2000

Media 'self-discipline' lacking: politicians

It was like a kangaroo court when the House of Representatives Communications Committee in March 1999 grilled the president and chief news editor of Asahi National Broadcasting Network about the contents of a popular news show, said Taizo Fukudomea, who was on the committee.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 28, 2000

Miserable every step of the way

REDISCOVERING NATSUME SOSEKI, with the first English translation of "Travels in Manchuria and Korea." Introduction and translation by Inger Sigrun Brodey and Sammy I. Tsunematsu. Folkestone, Kent: Global Books, 2000, 155 pp., 24 b/w plates, 2,950 yen. In the autumn of 1909, Natsume Soseki, already...
MORE SPORTS
Nov 28, 2000

The charm of an autocratic Frenchman

The big mistake many Japanese people make with Philippe Troussier is thinking he doesn't have a sense of humor. If he didn't, he probably wouldn't have survived over two years of dealing with the Japan Football Association.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Water-tossing lawmaker suspended

House of Representatives member Kenshiro Matsunami, who threw water on opposition lawmakers at one point during debate over a no-confidence motion in the Diet last week, is being punished with a 25-day suspension that takes effect today.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 28, 2000

Embracing both past and present, shakuhachi gala blows up a storm

KYOTO -- A gala concert by shakuhachi grandmaster Genzan Miyoshi Dec. 3 at the Kyoto Concert Hall promises something for everyone: An array of traditional and modern pieces performed as solos, "hogaku orchestras" and everything in between.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 28, 2000

Thunderstruck by the Asian ascent

THUNDER FROM THE EAST: Portrait of a Rising Asia, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000, 377 pp., $27.50. This is a mediocre potboiler of scant significance. One suspects that these Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters for The New York Times know a great deal more about...
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Fujimori staying in home of Nippon Foundation chief

Ousted Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has been staying at the house of popular writer Ayako Sono in Tokyo's Ota Ward, Sono told a hastily arranged press conference Monday.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 28, 2000

When writing Asia-Pacific history, the rhetoric is the reality

JAPAN AND PACIFIC INTEGRATION: Pacific Romances 1968-1996, by Pekka Korhonen. London/New York: Routledge, 1998, 246 pp., $50 (cloth). The title of this book suggests that it is about the integration of the Asia-Pacific area, about regionalism, and about the role Japan plays in this process.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2000

Back to square one in politics

Koichi Kato, a leading dissident in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, failed miserably in his latest attempt to unseat Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?