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LIFE / Digital
Jun 28, 2000

A thinker's journey back to the future

Paul Saffo spends a lot of his time thinking about the past. That might seem a bit odd for a man who makes his living as a futurist, but perspective is critical, argues Saffo, director of the Institute for the Future, a Silicon Valley think tank that contemplates the way things will be.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2000

Youthful victors rejuvenate Diet

Newcomers to the Diet account for 22 percent of the 480 winners in Sunday's Lower House election and have lowered the average age in the chamber from 55 to 54.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2000

LDP result is 'stinging setback': U.S. newspaper

Following the Liberal Democratic Party's poor showing in Sunday's election, the world's media seemed unanimous in its description of the results as a major setback to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and his party.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

Ruling coalition secures majority

The Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling triumvirate suffered a major setback but secured a majority in the Lower House in the general election held Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

Coalition wins a stable majority

The Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling triumvirate suffered a major setback but managed to secure a comfortable majority in the Lower House in Sunday's general election.
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2000

English is not the answer

Earlier this year, the Forum on 21st Century Japan, a private panel to the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, proposed a national debate on whether English should be used in Japan as a second official language. That proposal has added fuel to the long-standing discussions on English education in this...
EDITORIALS
Jun 25, 2000

Unbinding the ties

There is news from the Western fashion front this month that will make men breathe a little easier, especially as the days grow hotter. The tie, after having had its victims by the throat for several centuries, may finally be seeing its grip loosened.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 25, 2000

The do's and don'ts of business card etiquette

Please don't tell Mr. Watanabe that his business card is now in a million pieces strewn among the bras and underwear in my washing machine. This is just the latest faux pas in my history of malicious treatment of business cards.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2000

2000 Kyoto Prize winners named

KYOTO — A British computer scientist, a Swiss developmental biologist and a French philosopher will receive the 2000 Kyoto Prize in recognition of their contributions to mankind's scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment, it was announced Friday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 22, 2000

How 'bout them Dallas Cowgirls!

This was one assignment I didn't want to miss.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 21, 2000

Elvira no-hits Lions

Southpaw Narciso Elvira, formerly of the Milwaukee Brewers, tossed a no-hitter while fanning nine batters Tuesday as the Kintetsu Buffaloes blanked the Central League-leading Seibu Lions 4-0.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 21, 2000

Forgetfulness

Does it happen to you? You are looking for something which you can't find, but what you do find are all sorts of things you have looked for previously but have not been able to locate. One "something" I found was about indiscreet remarks by politicians, many of whom are still making similar indiscreet...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2000

Two Kims now face a win-win situation

SEOUL -- Both North Korea's Kim Jong Il, the younger host, and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, his older guest, have come off last week's world-dazzling summit with a bounce. But can they keep the momentum going?
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2000

Continue irresponsible politics or vote for my party: Ozawa

A series of apparent setbacks in the political arena have not dented the aspirations of the Liberal Party to shake the foundations of the system, according to its maverick leader, Ichiro Ozawa.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 20, 2000

Shallow pits and rabbit hutches

JAPANESE HOMES AND LIFESTYLES: An Illustrated Journey through History, by Kazuya Inaba and Shigenobu Nakayama. Translated by John Bester. Kodansha International, 2000, 144 pp., $32. Do you curse costly rents, cramped quarters and cluttered cupboards? Do you think tatami are terrific, futons fabulous...
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2000

In 'the Lion's' shadow

The death last week of Mr. Hafez Assad, the president of Syria, leaves a gaping hole in the Middle East. Mr. Assad was one of the last of the region's strongmen. He ruled Syria with an iron fist. He was an unbending defender of the Arab cause and one of the most resolute opponents of the state of Israel....
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 19, 2000

Project Phoenix: sitting by the phone

The SETI Institute, based in Mountain View, Calif., is currently conducting the world's most sensitive and comprehensive search for extraterrestrial intelligence, Project Phoenix. Phoenix searches for signs of other civilizations by listening for radio signals directly transmitted from other planets,...
COMMUNITY
Jun 18, 2000

So, uh, what century did you say this is?

Whisper it softly but these are bad times we live in, literally.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 18, 2000

Japan's premier graphic designer revisited

One of the most striking aspects of city life in Japan is the bold use of graphics: Posters and magazines continually shout for our attention on busy trains and streets. Artistically, we see the good, the bad and the ugly, but the work of Japan's first great graphic designer was consistently impressive....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 18, 2000

Three weeks is a lifetime for pet crickets

Welcome to Japan's rainy season, also known as the Insect Season. Although I live in an old Japanese house with generations of insects going back as far as the Heian Period, I also live with the comfort of knowing I'll never starve to death. "Getemono," the Japanese word for "gross things to eat," includes...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 18, 2000

The end for Kim Jong Il?

My trip to North Korea 11 years ago was one of the most depressing times in my whole life. I have never seen a sadder country. It was not simply an issue of appalling poverty: In 1989, the shelves of stores in Moscow were also barren, and Beijing still sported a maze of miniature slums -- the notorious...
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2000

Racial storms in the South Pacific

A second coup attempt in the South Pacific has many wondering what has fouled the tropical air. The answer is simple: corruption and inefficiency. In both Fiji and the Solomon Islands, ethnic groups have used the cause of indigenous rights to shield practices that often verge on the criminal. Inept governments...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Empress Dowager dies at 97; family at her side

The Empress Dowager, the widow of Emperor Showa, died Friday afternoon, two days after she began experiencing breathing difficulties, the Imperial Household Agency said. She was 97.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Great changed witnessed in her life

The Empress Dowager, who died Friday afternoon aged 97, saw firsthand the sweeping changes that engulfed the Imperial system after World War II as the wife of Emperor Showa.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2000

Pakistan gains clear edge over India in race for nuclear prowess

NEW DELHI -- It seems sad rather than tragic that warring India and Pakistan have not learned lessons that history taught us after such pain and suffering. In the summer of 1998, India exploded nuclear bombs. Pakistan did the same within days to begin what is clearly a disturbing sign in the subcontinent:...
COMMENTARY
Jun 16, 2000

Voter turnout key to election

Official campaigning is under way for the June 25 general election. This will be the first Japanese general election to be held in three years and eight months, following the last poll in October 1996. The new Lower House, whose term will run to 2004, will be the center of national politics as Japan...
LIFE / Travel
Jun 14, 2000

The return of an old classic: fresh fish and soccer for all

Shimizu, a port city in Shizuoka Prefecture, is back in fashion again. In the Edo Period, Shimizu was a popular post town on the Tokaido Highway. Travelers liked its fresh fish and tasty Oiwake yokan bean paste. But the inauguration of train service between Tokyo and Kyoto spelled doom for Shimizu, as...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 14, 2000

Kyogen's hero is Everyman

KYOGEN COMPANION, by Don Kenny, with a brief history by Kazuo Toguchi. Tokyo: National Noh Theater, 1999. 308 pp. with b/w plates. 1,800 yen. Kyogen are short comic plays sometimes a part of, but more often sandwiched between, the longer and often tragic noh dramas. They are spoken in the vernacular...
COMMENTARY
Jun 14, 2000

The chancy politics of weather

In less than two weeks, on Sunday, June 25, Japanese voters will cast their ballots in what will be Japan's last general election of the 20th century. This may well turn out to be the most important Japanese general election since July 18, 1993, which resulted in the inauguration, on Aug. 9 of that year,...

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