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SOCCER / World cup
Apr 25, 2000

Japan names Olympic swim squad

The Japan Amateur Swimming Federation (JASF) on Monday announced its team for the Sydney Olympics in September, naming gold medal hopes Mai Nakamura and Masami Tanaka, while ignoring veteran freestyler Suzu Chiba.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 25, 2000

Return to Ishiguro's fog-bound world

WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS, by Kazuo Ishiguro. London: Faber & Faber, 313 pp., 16.99 British pounds. Ever since "A Pale View of Hills" (1982), Kazuo Ishiguro has been playing games with his readers' minds. Some people find this infuriating, some fascinating, as the mixed reception accorded his novels...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2000

Kim unscathed in parliamentary vote

SEOUL -- South Korea's 16th general election for the National Assembly held two weeks ago was hardly a mandate for President Kim Dae Jung's ruling Millennium Democratic Party. Although it forced Kim to reach out to the opposition Grand National Party, it has not impaired his ability and authority to...
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2000

Mori's real test comes in July

Like many Japanese, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will travel overseas in the Golden Week holiday period, which starts April 29. He will have little time to relax, however. Mori, who will chair the Group of Eight summit in southern Japan in July, will visit the participating nations to prepare for the...
EDITORIALS
Apr 24, 2000

Disarmament in danger

Representatives from the 187 signatories to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty convene in New York today to assess the status of that treaty. Every five years that gather for one month; this year's meeting promises to be especially acrimonious. Since the last such forum, India and Pakistan have exploded...
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 24, 2000

Hoshino continues Hanshin streak

Veteran southpaw Nobuyuki Hoshino tossed a four-hitter Sunday as the Hanshin Tigers blanked the Yakult Swallows 1-0 at Koshien Stadium for their eighth straight victory.
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2000

Help Japan: take time off

Japan's unemployment rate remains disturbingly high, as companies step up job-cutting efforts and bankruptcies increase. Although there are signs that the economy is recovering, there are no indications that the serious job shortage is easing. The Federation of Employers Associations, in recent negotiations...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2000

Mongolian state faces its horrific past

ULAN BATOR -- G. Tserendulam remembers the year Josef Stalin detained her father and his family during a trip to Moscow and sent them to the Soviet Union's Black Sea. It was 1936, and the pro-Soviet government of Mongolia told the people that Prime Minister Genden had felt the urgent need for a holiday....
MORE SPORTS
Apr 24, 2000

Nakamura sets world mark in 50m backstroke

Mai Nakamura broke the world record in the women's 50 meters backstroke while Masami Tanaka completed the Japan Swimming Championships in "perfect" style on Sunday, clocking national records in all seven of her breaststroke races.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2000

NPT facing uncertain future

NEW DELHI -- When the complete history of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty gets written, its 1995 permanent extension will prove the beginning of its end. Although all nations of the world except four are today party to it, the NPT is in trouble, its future uncertain. From Japan to New Zealand, and...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 24, 2000

Whales, ivory, orangutans and Japanese wildlife policies

The argument goes something like this: Developing countries are just trying to feed their teeming poor and hungry. All they want is a chance to sell what is rightfully theirs to sell. Carefully managed, of course, to ensure "sustainable use."
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 23, 2000

FIFA 'insults' Japan over use of language

Staff writer
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 23, 2000

Tigers win 7th straight game

Pinch hitter Yutaka Wada smacked a go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning as the Hanshin Tigers edged the Yakult Swallows 5-4 at Koshien Stadium on Saturday for their seventh straight victory -- their longest streak in seven years.
EDITORIALS
Apr 23, 2000

A nation of chatterboxes

People who at first glance seem to be carrying on animated conversations with themselves, complete with bows and gestures and sometimes so loudly they annoy anyone near them, are a common sight nationwide. Of course, they are not conversing with imaginary listeners. As most of us know because we are...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2000

Pakistani leader: world's toughest job?

Is it unsafe to become a prime minister in Pakistan? Many aspiring politicians would agree. In the 1950s, Pakistan's first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, was killed by an assassin. In the 1970s, populist Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged following his conviction on the controversial charge...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 23, 2000

Japan as No. 1 (in being bullied by U.S.)

With a refreshing bit of journalistic acuity, the USA Today reporter James Cox has reminded me how bizarre the U.S. attitude toward Japan has become. Under the headline, "U.S. bullies Japan like no other nation," Cox noted the astonishing extent of U.S. high-handed meddlesomeness with Japan, suggesting...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 23, 2000

Battlin' Battle just can't stop winning

Hanshin Tigers third baseman Howard Battle began the 2000 Japan pro baseball season on a 15-game winning streak, and team manager Katsuya Nomura is probably wondering why he sent the former Atlanta Braves player to the farm team following the spring exhibition schedule.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 23, 2000

New York-style soup bars offer tasty stock options

New York-style coffee and bagel shops have been on the scene for years now, but another Manhattan staple is just beginning to spill into Tokyo's streets: soup cafes.
COMMUNITY
Apr 23, 2000

JR East's No. 20 'just your average station'

Like many Yamanote Loop stations, Gotanda's name speaks of the area's past. Gotanda literally means 5,000 sq. meters of rice paddies, "tan" formerly being a measure for land area equivalent to 1,000 sq. meters.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 23, 2000

Neo-Japonisme takes stage

One of the highlights of the Golden Week holiday this year is the Philip Morris Art Award 2000 Exhibition, on display April 24-May 7 at Yebisu Garden Place. The show presents a refreshingly diverse grouping of 100 contemporary works of art including paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures and installations,...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 23, 2000

Collection shows Warhol's scope

Andy Warhol's death, 13 years ago, was an ignominious one: A man who had access to the best medical care, Warhol died after a routine but botched gall bladder operation.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 23, 2000

Peter Wakefield

"One of the benefits of retirement is that you still have the energy to go to another career. When I came out of diplomatic service, I decided I wanted to do two things: charitable work and art. I am lucky to be able to do both. Now as chairman of Asia House, here I am again," said Sir Peter Wakefield....
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Apr 23, 2000

On to Hawaii -- maybe

It is not surprising that I often become quite involved with readers and their problems. Take June Wong, who grew up in Hawaii but had to come to Japan to learn the hula. She was impressed by a group of Japanese women dancers and joined them. "I love my teacher and every one of my hula sisters," she...
COMMUNITY
Apr 23, 2000

Man of many parts puts dreams in action

It's not unusual to meet people who are adept at juggling. But dish-spinning is a whole new ball game -- the ability to conjure up one form of creative activity and set it in motion while starting up a second, third or more. Yet according to Milton Katselas, an American of Greek parentage based in Los...
EDITORIALS
Apr 22, 2000

Mr. Mugabe's desperate play

The president of Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert Mugabe, is engaged in a cynical political ploy. The country's 70,000 white farmers are the pawns in his bid to regain the political initiative in elections scheduled for next month. His tools are Zimbabwe's war veterans, many of whom are poor -- as a result of the...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2000

Use Earth's ecosystems more sustainably

The findings of a new report sponsored by the U.N. Development Program, the U.N. Environmental Program and the World Bank, titled "World Resources 2000-2001: People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life," underscore the fact that the growing worldwide demand for resources is threatening the world's...

Longform

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