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COMMUNITY
Jul 30, 2000

Getting the measure of a master suitsmith

Vijay Wadhwani is an international tailor. A very super-duper master craftsman, who runs a miniempire of cutters, machinists and hand stitchers in Hong Kong under the name "NobleHouse." His job is to travel the world to court customers, discuss clients' needs and take the full complement of 30 required...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 30, 2000

How many all-star games are enough?

Is one all-star game enough? Are three games too many? Whatever happened to two? Those questions were being bantered about as Japan pro baseball took its weeklong, midsummer regular-season break July 21-27, during which a trio of all-star contests were played, from Tokyo to Nagasaki, with a stop in Kobe....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 30, 2000

A cell phone lets you say 'hello kitty' anytime

My suspicions have been confirmed: Cats need cell phones. If you think cats aren't smart enough to have cell phones, think again. Intelligence has never been a requirement for using a cell phone.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 30, 2000

Nigel Mortimer

When he was a youth, Kiyomu Shimomura found his mentor in the late scholar Masahiro Yasuoka. Yasuoka wrote the draft of the statement made by the Emperor Showa at the end of World War II. That was the first time for a Japanese emperor to speak to the people, and in his radio address to the nation he...
CULTURE / Art
Jul 30, 2000

Brown as they wanna be -- ganguro phenomenon on film

Katrin Paul is making good use of her time studying photography in Tokyo. Full of intense Germanic energy, Paul observes the social environment of Tokyo from the perspective of an outsider in "Playing Summer," her second exhibition in as many months. A closer look at the Shibuya youth scene, the exhibition...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 30, 2000

Buffs rough up Lions 5-2

Kintetsu lefty Katsuhiko Maekawa went the distance for the fourth time this season against the Seibu Lions on Saturday to lead the Buffaloes to a 5-2 triumph at the Osaka Dome.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 30, 2000

Of solitude and simple settings

In the early 20th century, Europe played host to a procession of distinct art movements which continued until a procession of black boots stomped the creative life out of the continent.
EDITORIALS
Jul 30, 2000

Pulp-free fiction, at a price

"There's a fellow sitting up in Maine having fun," said one American literary agent last week, "but (what he's doing) is not a way to run a business."
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2000

Summer nights and transient beauty

For many Japanese, summer just isn't summer without fireworks. The popularity of the displays can be attributed to the transient nature of their beauty, the same reason the short-lived cherry blossom is so appreciated.
COMMENTARY
Jul 30, 2000

Summit's worth questionable

LONDON — The Japanese government spent huge amounts of money in an attempt to ensure that the Okinawa summit and related events in Fukuoka and Miyazaki was a success, but was the money well spent and did the summit increase Japan's prestige in the world? The answer to both questions that I as a generally...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2000

ASEAN strives to make a comeback

CHANG MAI, Thailand -- The attention paid by the international media to the ASEAN gathering in Bangkok has been unusually lavish. If the Association of Southeast Asian Nations forum was in need of publicity, it was certainly obtained in abundance. The beautiful land scape near the River of Kings, usually...
CULTURE / Music
Jul 30, 2000

Music for repressed romantics

Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku Opera
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2000

Enlist currency speculators in poverty war

BRUSSELS -- How can we eradicate world poverty? This is a question all developed nations have a responsibility to consider. At the beginning of the new millennium, we may have found the answer -- a global tax on capital transfers.
EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 2000

Fujimori's last chance

Peru's president, Mr. Alberto Fujimori, was sworn in to begin his third term Friday. It was a bittersweet occasion for the president. The festivities were marred by massive protests against an election tainted by charges of fraud. Mr. Fujimori, a combative man who never backs down from a challenge, has...
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2000

Judge sentences third Aum cultist to death for role in Sakamoto killings

A key Aum Shinrikyo figure was sentenced to death Friday for playing an important role in the murders of an anticult lawyer, the lawyer's family and another member who wanted to leave the cult.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2000

Government eyes more big spending

Leaders of the government and the ruling coalition parties effectively agreed Friday that policy-related spending in the fiscal 2001 budget should at least be as expansionary as this year's 48 trillion yen, to help achieve a full-fledged economic recovery.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2000

Debt-hit Kansai airport sinking fast

OSAKA -- Without a 20 billion yen reconstruction effort, those who land at Kansai International Airport may find themselves having to swim to the passenger terminal.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2000

Salaried households pare spending 2.6%

Average consumption spending by households of salaried workers fell an inflation-adjusted 2.6 percent in June from a year earlier for the second straight month of decline, according to a preliminary report released Friday by the Management and Coordination Agency.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2000

Jobless rate climbs back to 4.7%

Japan's jobless rate climbed back to 4.7 percent in June, up 0.1 percentage point from May, the Management and Coordination Agency said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2000

Ministry ignored report on risk of catching CJD

The Health and Welfare Ministry in 1988 ignored a report compiled by a ministry research team warning that transplant patients who received imported dura mater could contract Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare and fatal disease, an internal ministry investigation revealed Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2000

Mori stresses IT as path to self-sustained recovery

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori opened a 13-day extraordinary Diet session Friday by renewing pledges to exert leadership to put the economy on a self-sustained recovery track. He also pledged to work on structural reforms by promoting the development of information technology.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2000

Defense Agency cautious over Korean developments

Although the historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung last month is expected to ease military tension on the peninsula, how this will affect the Asia-Pacific security equation remains unclear, according to the Defense Agency's 2000 white paper, released...
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2000

FRC chief defends payments, benefits from Mitsubishi Trust

A scandal involving the chairman of the Financial Reconstruction Commission erupted Friday when it was reported that he had received millions of yen in advisory fees as well as money to cover the rental of offices and staff from Mitsubishi Trust & Banking Corp. over a seven-year period.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2000

Pyongyang offers files on missing pair

North Korea's Red Cross Society has handed its Japanese counterpart files on two missing Japanese, but the pair are not among the 10 Japanese believed to have been abducted by North Korean agents, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2000

DDI to unite cell-phone providers into 'au'

Telecom carrier DDI Corp. said Friday it will merge seven of its eight regional cell-phone service providers on Nov. 1 to increase efficiency, naming the merged entity "au."
COMMUNITY
Jul 29, 2000

The miracle of life awaits at the end of a long, hard road

Organ donation is not something most of us have to think much about. But for Fernando, a Peruvian with a life-threatening kidney condition residing in Tokyo, the only option that offers any hope for the future is a kidney transplant.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 29, 2000

Matsuzaka flirts with no-hitter

Daisuke Matsuzaka threw a no-hitter over eight-plus innings and Susumu Otomo hit a two-run homer to pace the Seibu Lions to a 6-0 victory over the last-placed Kintetsu Buffaloes at the Osaka Dome on Friday.

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