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LIFE
Mar 16, 2000

Slowing down to the pace of nature

When he first came to Rebun Island, wilderness guide and temple carpenter Miyuki Kobayashi was struck speechless with the natural pageantry before his eyes.
JAPAN / Media
Mar 16, 2000

Mercian salutes cluelessness with New Frontier awards

Spring is in the air, and a young publicist's thoughts turn to awards ceremonies. Across the sea, we've seen the Golden Globes and the Grammys, and at the end of the month there's the Oscars.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 15, 2000

Wild animal tales -- with a pinch of salt

The image of wild animals visiting a salt lick is probably a familiar one to you if you are a regular watcher of television natural history documentaries. The scene is repeated over and over again, as large African or Indian mammals approach this particularly rich source of minerals.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 14, 2000

Celtic music takes a sure-footed stand in Tokyo

For anyone interested in "world music," gigs in Japan have been comparatively thin on the ground during the last five years or so, compared to the first years of the '90s. This is a situation that is perhaps set to change.
SUMO
Mar 12, 2000

Osaka to see yokozuna battle

For the first time ever, the four current yokozuna -- Takanohana, Akebono, Musashimaru and Wakanohana -- are expected to compete in the same basho when the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament (Haru Basho) gets under way in Osaka today.
COMMUNITY
Mar 12, 2000

Retailer joins big boys with Little Me for kids

If there was one thing Ron Kessler was sure of growing up in Chicago, he was not the corporate type. Yet surrounded by uncles in business, he really liked the idea of being an entrepreneur, working for himself. The irony, he said, is that "success forces you to become a manager. Starting up something...
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 12, 2000

Jubilo, Grampus crash in openers

J. League champions Jubilo Iwata, winners of the season-opening Xerox Super Cup last week, came down to Earth with a bump Saturday when they were beaten 1-0 in extra time at home to Kashiwa Reysol.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 12, 2000

Day of reckoning

The question of sexual harassment -- "seku hara" -- has, after years of neglect, become one of the hottest media topics. Not that suddenly men are beginning to harass women. It is that women are making accusations while before many tended to view it as inevitable, something that went along with employment...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 12, 2000

NHK Symphony Orchestra performs American classics

The world of music is global indeed. Great musicians have originated from a bewildering array of places, studied far from home and made their careers around the world. The United States of America can claim its share of eminent instrumentalists and singers, giving birth to some, training others and nurturing...
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2000

La resistance is futile

Once again, France is attempting to draw a line in the sand against the encroaching tide of English. This time, reportedly, the language police are focusing on business and computer-related vocabulary. Marketplace and cyberspace must now be conceived of en francais, thank you, even if that means talking...
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2000

Aum cultists told to pay 668 million yen for attack

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered former members of Aum Shinrikyo to pay a total of 668 million yen to survivors and the next of kin of those killed in the March 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2000

Pyongyang's intransigence must end

The Japanese government on Tuesday formally announced that it will provide 100,000 tons of rice to North Korea through the U.N. World Food Program. Japan is taking humanitarian action to follow up an agreement that the countries recently reached to resume the normalization talks -- which broke down in...
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 9, 2000

FIFA's unified calendar needs flexibility

The problem for people who come up with good ideas is that these pearls of wisdom are often put into practice by people with no idea.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2000

Adventures in global dining with Tokyo's restaurant king

From stand-and-slurp ramen shops to authentic French cuisine, Tokyo is a diner's paradise. Certainly, finding places that appeal to your palate isn't a problem; hoping they'll be there the next time around is. Tokyo restaurants go out of business faster than Shibuya girls change their nail colors.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2000

No stereotypes in 'the House of Weeds'

So you think Korean food is all smoky yakiniku, meat-laden stews and fiery, spicy kimchi? That's a bit like saying Chinese people eat nothing but ramen and gyoza; or that Thai cuisine begins and ends with tom yam kung. Or that there's nothing to eat in Japan except sushi, tempura and sukiyaki.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2000

Life of North Korean spy laid bare

When Pak Chung Sun met her former boyfriend in Seoul in January, he was no longer the reticent, tender-hearted gentleman with whom she had lived a quarter of a century ago in Tokyo.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Mar 8, 2000

The check's in the e-mail

My wallet bulges, but it isn't because of money. No, it is a hefty critter because it's stuffed with train passes, metro passes, telephone cards, bank cards, credit cards, ID cards, point cards for individual stores, video store cards, meishi from people and restaurants, and random scraps of paper littered...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2000

Educating girls means better lives for all

Shalina is a Bangladeshi girl who is about to finish school. But for Shalina, there will be no pre-exam jitters, no university applications, no diplomas, no career plans. There will not even be a graduation. Shalina is 13, and she is about to join 73 million school-age girls around the world who are...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 8, 2000

Where it counts

People would often like to take their vacations in Japan to learn more of the history and culture, but when they start checking, they discover the price is too high and end up in other Asian countries that offer multi-bargains. A reader has heard of the new low fares soon to be available within Japan...
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2000

Shoplifting stains welcome mat

FUSHIKI MINATO, Toyama Pref. -- While the Fushiki Chamber of Commerce has stepped up efforts in recent years to improve relations with Russian visitors, a number of thefts in the town have left some residents wondering if cars, and the ruble, would be better left as rubble.
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 2000

Aiming at a million

It had to happen. The slick but savvy TV quiz show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?," which first took Britain by storm and then went on to conquer America, is poised to invade Japan. Fuji Television announced last month that it will begin airing a tailored-for-Japan version of the show -- to be called...
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2000

Debit cards aim to break spending habits

Full-scale use of the debit card system, which allows consumers to pay for purchases with ordinary bank cards, is to begin in Japan on Monday amid hopes that it will alter the deeply ingrained habit of consumers paying in cash and also become an effective business tool.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 5, 2000

Goalkeeper Ozaki the hero as Jubilo wins Xerox Cup

Jubilo Iwata goalkeeper Yushi Ozaki blocked three shots in a penalty shootout to lead the J. League champion to victory over Emperor's Cup winner Nagoya Grampus Eight in the Xerox Super Cup Saturday at Tokyo's National Stadium.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 4, 2000

Olympic wrestler fights for money to fuel dream of reaching Sydney

Dan Henderson wishes he didn't have to compete in last weekend's King of Kings no-holds-barred tournament in Tokyo. But the stocky American has an Olympic dream, and if he wants to realize it he needs money.
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2000

China menaced by corruption

In the runup to the National People's Congress that opens Sunday, Chinese authorities have intensified their crackdown on corruption and smuggling. Chinese leaders, who see 2000 as a milestone in their anticorruption drive, are gripped by a sense of crisis: They will lose the trust and support of the...
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2000

German ambassador focuses on promoting G8's success

Building seems to be very much on Uwe Kurt Kaestner's mind.
COMMUNITY
Mar 2, 2000

All in the name of the perfect cut

We live in an age where technology pushes us to be faster, more efficient and more connected than ever. We make phone calls while walking down the street. We send e-mail messages from handheld electronic organizers. We have oceans of informations just on the other side of a mouse click.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2000

How not to liberalize trade

LONDON -- Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once famously described -- or is alleged to have described -- the Japanese language as an unfair obstacle to trade. How, she is said to have demanded, could foreign suppliers possibly penetrate the rich Japanese market when it was protected by an impenetrable...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 1, 2000

Conversation: enough said

I heard once that the average male speaks 2,000 words a day, while the average female speaks 7,000.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 29, 2000

Kobe tops Toyota for rugby double

Japan company champion Kobe Steel completed the "double" on Sunday by winning the Japan Rugby Union Championship with a convincing 49-20 triumph over Toyota Motor at Tokyo's National Stadium.

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