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JAPAN
Oct 27, 1999

Lenders hit for exhorbitant interest rates

Amid rising criticism of commercial loan firms over their exorbitant interest rates and frequent trouble with clients, the Financial Supervisory Agency said Wednesday the three leaders in the industry have charged an average of 20.87 percent in interest on loans, or about nine times the rate they pay...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 1999

New policy left driverless

Nine months in the making, revision of a now admittedly flawed policy toward North Korea is an important step in the right direction in dealing with a problem where there is no good option. But there is a troubling gap in logic between former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry's sagacious assessment...
JAPAN
Oct 27, 1999

Former hostages reported in good health

The four mining engineers who returned to Japan on Tuesday night after being held hostage for more than two months by Islamic rebels in Central Asia do not suffer from any serious health problems, doctors said Wednesday after the four underwent medical checkups at Tokyo hospitals.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Oct 27, 1999

What's going on

Last summer I wrote about Tokyo's upcoming wine event, the prestigious Japan International Wine Challenge, a competition that brings together the world's leading sommeliers, producers, importers and experts, giving devotees a chance to meet leaders in the world of wine and to taste some of the world's...
EDITORIALS
Oct 26, 1999

Money talks in U.S. politics

Ms. Elizabeth Dole last week ended her trailblazing bid for the U.S. Republican Party's presidential nomination. Hers was the first serious run for the presidency by a woman in either party. Yet Ms. Dole's withdrawal from the race highlights not only the failure of American voters to take a woman candidate...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 26, 1999

This 'East Wind' blows ill

RIDING THE EAST WIND, by Otohiko Kaga. Kodansha International, 1999, pp. 518, 3,500 yen (cloth). The history of Japanese-American soldiers who fought for the United States in World War II is well-documented, but the story of an American-Japanese pilot who served in the Japanese Imperial Army remains...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 26, 1999

Enjoy the neglected noh plays

DRAMATIC REPRESENTATIONS OF FILIAL PIETY: Five Noh in Translation, by Mae J. Smethurst. Cornell East Asia Series, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 1998, pp. 172, unpriced. Most Western writings on noh have been concerned with that category known as "mugenno," visional noh -- highly poetic, spiritually...
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Oct 26, 1999

The times for Nenes, they are a-changin'

I feel like I'm writing something akin to an obituary for the group Nenes, though Sadao China, the group's mentor, composer, sanshin player and the man whose idea the group was in the first place, wouldn't agree.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 1999

Parties to freeze health premiums for elderly

The three ruling coalition parties agreed in principle on Monday to temporarily freeze collection of premiums for a planned public-care insurance system for the elderly, to be launched in April, party officials said.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 1999

Nasdaq is ready to go head-to-head with Mothers

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 25, 1999

Jospin's first visit to Japan slated for December

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin will make his first official visit to Japan in mid-December for talks with Japanese leaders on international issues and ways to further strengthen bilateral relations, government sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 1999

DSL technology enables high-speed digital data

transmissions through existing telephone lines.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 1999

Hostages released; no ransom paid

The Japanese government has confirmed the release of all four Japanese nationals captured by Islamic rebels two months ago in Kyrgyzstan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 1999

Save the beaches

There are words that wake us up -- like "free" or "prize" or "espresso" -- and then there are words that put us to sleep. Unfortunately, the latter group includes most of the working vocabulary of some very well-meaning people: "environment," "global warming," "greenhouse gases," all the way up to the...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 1999

Australia out for justice in East Timor

SYDNEY -- Still the broken skulls are being unearthed. And still the United Nations talks on. Soon, Australia fears, the evidence of atrocities in East Timor will be scattered and, worse, forgotten.
COMMENTARY / World / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Oct 24, 1999

Farewell to Russia's final Romanov

Few years in recent Russian history have been as turbulent as 1999. In five months, from May till October, the country has seen three different prime ministers, an Islamic fundamentalist invasion in Dagestan and five terrorist assaults against Russian cities that cost the lives of 300 civilians. In the...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 24, 1999

Who needs coffee when you've got kids around?

On Saturdays I volunteer at the Shiraishi Island Kindergarten, where I teach English at high volume. That's because Japanese kindergarten students are taught to shout everything in unison. So, a simple "good morning" becomes "GOOD MORNING!" Multiply that by 15 students and it's kind of like an alarm...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Oct 24, 1999

Never-ending need

There could have been no better selection for the Nobel Peace Prize than Doctors Without Borders with its volunteers who ignore hardships and dangers and go to the world's most troubled places. Doctors Without Borders is a symbol, standing for many other organizations, groups and individuals who give...
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 1999

Speaking without thinking

Barely two weeks after he was named parliamentary vice minister for defense, Mr. Shingo Nishimura of the Liberal Party was forced to resign Wednesday over outrageous views made public in a Japanese weekly magazine. In a two-hour interview, Mr. Nishimura suggested that the Diet consider discussing whether...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Renault may execute Nissan share option

Renault SA of France may exercise an option to raise its stake in Nissan Motor Co. in the near future, Louis Schweitzer, chairman of the automaker, hinted Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Suicides left 12,000 orphans in '98, group says

The number of children under 18 orphaned by suicides last year is estimated to have reached about 12,000, a report released by an educational organization revealed Friday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 22, 1999

Voters send LDP a message

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi won re-election in the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election held Sept. 21. Four days later, Yukio Hatoyama was elected chief of the top opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan. On Oct. 5, Obuchi launched his new three-party coalition government after New...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

State to bolster credit guarantees by 10 trillion yen

The government decided Friday to add 10 trillion yen to a special 20 trillion yen credit-guarantee scheme to help small firms and startup ventures overcome fundraising difficulties, trade chief Takashi Fukaya said. The program will be extended through the end of fiscal 2000.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Keene to lecture on Emperor Meiji

Donald Keene, an expert on Japanese literature, will give a lecture in English titled "Emperor Meiji and War" on Oct. 30 at Ueno Gakuen University in Tokyo's Taito Ward.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Obuchi offers apology for Nishimura's remarks

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi apologized to the public Friday for recently appointed Parliamentary Vice Defense Minister Shingo Nishimura's remarks on rape and nuclear armament, which have led to Nishimura's resignation.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Tax Commission questions need for 401(k) breaks

The Tax Commission, an advisory panel to the prime minister, expressed caution on Friday about granting tax advantages under the planned new pension system.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

The 401(K) Approach: Firm offers pension guidance

Staff writer
COMMUNITY
Oct 22, 1999

Creator of offbeat manga happy to break the rules

Manga artist Sekaiichi Asakura has three types of fans: Those who enjoy his work purely for the humor; those who read philosophy and world religion into his comic strips; and those who claim that they are as weird as him.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Nomura, Nikko post hefty first-half profits

Boosted by a stock market surge that began in spring, Nomura Securities Co. and Nikko Securities Co. posted bubble era-like pretax profits in the first half of fiscal 1999, according to their earnings reports released Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Bilateral talks set for World Cup traffic surge

Transport Minister Toshihiro Nikai will attend a bilateral ministerial conference this weekend with South Korea to discuss cooperation on air traffic and tourism toward the countries' joint hosting of the World Cup in 2002.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past