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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2000

The odd debacle in the Diet

In an unprecedented development in Japanese political history, the opposition forces are boycotting all Diet proceedings to protest the ruling coalition's handling of the controversial legislation for reducing the number of Lower House seats. The Democratic Party of Japan, the Japan Communist Party and...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2000

Japan changes -- its own way

"Is Japan changing?" This is the question asked by virtually every recent visitor to Japan. The question reveals both the long-standing desire by many non-Japanese to see Japan change in fundamental ways and the heightened expectations fostered by years of hope-inducing Japanese rhetoric that the country...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2000

The real reason the U.S. stays in Japan

The greatest naval armada the world had ever seen assembled on April 1, 1945, before the Ryukyu island chain. Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa by Allied forces, was about to begin. The fleet assembled for the task consisted of more than 40 aircraft carriers, 18 battleships, 200 destroyers and...
EDITORIALS
Feb 4, 2000

Time to stop playing games

The Diet is stuck in turmoil, with all opposition parties boycotting both plenary and committee sessions. In both Houses, all legislative procedures -- the delivery of key policy speeches, questions and answers, and even a vote -- have been conducted by and for the benefit of only the ruling-party members....
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2000

Wounded dragon dances again in Jakarta

SINGAPORE -- The first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year will be celebrated Saturday on a grand scale in many shops and homes. This has been the tradition among overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, particularly in Singapore and Malaysia.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2000

Calligraphy: window to soul of disabled

Staff writer NARA -- Keitaro Shimotsu, 21, leans forward over a desk from his wheelchair and moves his calligraphy brush on the paper. Suffering from cerebral palsy, he needs to gather great strength to complete one kanji character. But working on calligraphy is an expression of his inner spirit, creating...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2000

Koreans want governor to push for their rights

Staff writer OSAKA -- A new Osaka governor will be elected today by some 7 million eligible voters in the prefecture, which has a population of 8.83 million. While voter turnout figures show nearly half did not cast ballots in the last three gubernatorial elections, some are unable to vote in local...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2000

Diet boycott shows no sign of letting up

The opposition camp's boycott of all Diet sessions went into its ninth day Friday and shows no sign of letting up. The Lower House Budget Committee, which started deliberation on the fiscal 2000 national budget Thursday, adjourned Friday morning immediately after opening because all the opposition interpellators...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 4, 2000

Rescuing abandoned electones from a grim fate

The electone, better known as the home organ, might recall memories of drunken uncles playing shambolic versions of Christmas songs, or upwardly mobile parents forcing a bit of culture down junior's throat. In many family homes, it is a dust-gathering fixture, a hulking monument to the musically dasai....
CULTURE / Art
Feb 4, 2000

Digital world bids farewell to Soseki

The Japanese press doesn't seem to have had quite the frenzy of millennium coverage that took place in America, but there were various attempts to look back at the recent past of Japanese literature and to forecast its future. I found two discussions in particular interesting for their contrasting viewpoints....
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2000

Exhibition teaches U.S. kids there are no samurai in Ginza

Staff writer Attention American kids! There are no samurai striding down the streets of Tokyo anymore. And, you know, the "Pokemon" character you're so crazy about actually originated in Japan. Despite the long-standing partnership with Japan and the permeation of Japanese products into daily life in...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2000

Rising tension in South Asia

ISLAMABAD -- India and Pakistan have maintained an ongoing standoff for much of their 52-year history, but it is only during moments of heightened tension that the international community focuses on South Asia.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2000

Japan to face WTO pressures at Nara meeting

OSAKA -- At a meeting this weekend in Nara to prepare for the Group of Eight summit in July, the U.S. will press Japan to move quickly toward the next round of World Trade Organization negotiations, a senior U.S. State Department official said in Osaka on Friday.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 4, 2000

Dance fests spotlight solo performances

Tokyo is awash with festivals of dance this month, mostly by solo dancers, which is not surprising since the majority of performers here prefer the controlled environment of one-man shows. But what is surprising is that even with all the organization involved in planning these events, the sudden accumulation...
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2000

Greenback looks ready to test 110 yen level

The dollar has broken out of a narrow range, recouping much of its recent losses against the yen.
EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 2000

The showdown in Indonesia

This week, the old order and the new squared off in Indonesia. An official inquiry concluded that the violence that erupted in East Timor last year was planned, carried out and abetted by a group that included top-ranking members of the country's military. The report incriminated 40 members of the armed...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2000

A voice of reason campaigns for the return of Japan's Northern Territories

For Japan's ultraright, Feb. 7 is the holiest day of the year. The thuggish men in their loudspeaker-laden, slogan-painted vans will be out in force on "Northern Territories Day," once again testing the nation's aural-pain threshold.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Feb 3, 2000

Why represent Japan in Olympics when you could stay home instead?

Most professional baseball players in Japan would jump at the chance to represent their country in the Olympics. Apparently Ichiro Suzuki isn't one of them.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2000

British visit aims to restore public trust in MOX fuel

Staff writer OSAKA -- In an effort to restore trust in Britain's mixed oxide uranium plutonium fuel program, high ranking British officials will visit Japan next week to meet with Ministry of International Trade and Industry officials, executives of Kansai Electric Power Co. and an antinuclear group....
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2000

Tarento Shepherd bids farewell after two decades in show biz

When they walk into a room, heads turn, tongues wag, fingers point. They've got something no one can define but everyone recognizes. If anybody's got it, it's gaikokujin tarento Joan Shepherd.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2000

Ruling, opposition blocs duel over 2000 budget

Ruling bloc lawmakers on Thursday praised the expanded, bond-heavy fiscal 2000 budget compiled by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's administration as Lower House Budget Committee deliberations got under way. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition force, convened "an alternative...
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2000

Joblessness of high school graduates hits record

A record-low 71.3 percent of high school students hoping to work after graduation last March had found jobs as of the end of December, according to the results of an Education Ministry survey released Thursday. The figure was 5.5 percentage points down from the previous low logged for the same period...
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2000

A mountain-high price for goat chic

Admit it. You don't know what or who pashmina is. And you certainly would never let anyone touch your shatoosh. Never fear: If you have not encountered these words until recently -- or ever -- you are not alone.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2000

Five Aum sites to be searched

Officers from a Justice Ministry agency will inspect five premises belonging to the Aum Shinrikyo cult today under the new anti-Aum law, agency officials said Thursday. The Public Security Investigation Agency announced its plan to an independent panel, the Public Security Examination Commission, which...
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2000

LDP's Nikaido dies of heart failure

Susumu Nikaido, a former vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, died at a Tokyo hospital Thursday due to heart failure, his family said. He was 90. Born in Kagoshima Prefecture, Nikaido graduated from the University of Southern California in 1941. He was elected to the Diet's House of Representatives...
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2000

Citigroup unit to participate in pension business

A Japanese unit of Citigroup of the United States is ready to tie up with the vast nationwide network of state-run post offices in entering the new pension business.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2000

Undecided voters seen as key to Osaka poll

Staff writer OSAKA -- With the gubernatorial by-election just around the corner, campaign officials for the three major candidates are making last-ditch efforts to win the support of the floating voters, who may once again decide the outcome of the poll. Recent media surveys have found that Fusae Ota,...
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2000

DCI unveils programming for digital data broadcasts

Digital Cast International Ltd. on Thursday unveiled programs it plans to deliver on a digital data broadcasting service it is planning to launch Dec. 1. The Tokyo-based broadcaster will offer a 24-hour schedule of news, weather forecasts, local government bulletins, sales programs for books, regional...
JAPAN / Media
Feb 3, 2000

The made-for-TV tragedy of Rumiko and Kenya

He: "She always said, 'I made you what you are today.' It was too much for me."
LIFE / Style & Design
Feb 3, 2000

Clues to health are at your fingertips

In the West, there is a general acknowledgment that the appearance of one's nails can reflect the state of one's health, but in many Eastern medical traditions the nails are used quite directly in the diagnosis. Despite their role as protective shields for the fingertips, nails are actually more sensitive...

Longform

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