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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...
EDITORIALS
Jul 16, 2000

The reliable magic of Harry Potter

It's been a bit of a Quidditch match this week in bookstores across the English-speaking world as children from 8 to 80 scrambled for their copies of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the latest book in the series that has become the biggest publishing phenomenon of the decade.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2000

Berlin Phil brings greetings: from one capital to another

Political and economic capital of Germany and home of the famed Berlin Philharmonic, Berlin is high on the list of cities Tokyoites most wish to visit and explore, as I did recently. Berlin and Tokyo have much in common, certainly including the quantity and quality of the musical scene.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jul 13, 2000

Compulsories of sake keeps brewers in top form

Last month, I gave an overview of the Shinshu Kanpyokai, the national new-sake tasting competition held each spring, and its logistics. Here is a look at what kind of sake wins, and what the big deal is about anyway.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jul 5, 2000

The tyranny of the square

When talking to Ted Nelson, strap in tight. It's quite a ride. Trained as a philosopher and film director, he is equal parts visionary and crank. Many consider him to be one of the fathers of the World Wide Web. He coined the word "hypertext" in 1965, but he has become a scathing critic of the Web and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2000

Australia warily watches arc of insecurity

SYDNEY -- Once the world romanticized about the South Pacific paradise. Today, Australia is guardedly debating the Balkanization of the South Pacific.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

Two Cabinet ministers lose, dealing blow to Mori

Two Cabinet ministers seem to have lost their seats in Sunday's general election, dealing a blow to the government led by Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

Name isn't everything

The results of Sunday's general election indicated that while candidates from "traditional" political families did well, some legislators whose names were relatively well-known were unable to return to the Lower House.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 18, 2000

Never too long

I have perhaps the world's longest list of You have been here too long if. . . It is often easy to see oneself in such lists, recognizing a trait you have absorbed since living here. It has become an automatic reflex, unnoticed until you return home and realize that no one else does it. My moment of...
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Japan's faith rising in Indian software

Isamu Nitta, a former Japanese diplomat in Sri Lanka and the United States, clearly enjoys setting out a map of the world and pointing out where Japanese strategic interests lie.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

Mori set to dissolve Diet for elections on June 25

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is set to dissolve the Lower House today, effectively kicking off campaigning for general elections slated for June 25.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

No-confidence motion won't get vote

The Lower House Steering Committee said Thursday it will hold a plenary session of the chamber at 1 p.m. today to vote on a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori submitted by the opposition Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
May 31, 2000

The Net impact of giving

Last week I looked at the power of bulk buying that is being unleashed on Web sites such as Mercata and Mobshop. I genuinely like the concept, particularly because I like new models of e-commerce that push the Web's potential. If the aggregated consumer trend takes off like eBay, the wired consumer might...
MORE SPORTS
May 28, 2000

Japanese soccer finished, or glory days still ahead?

This past week the lists of the top income taxpayers in Japan were announced and bantered about in all the media. And, as this country loves youth like just about no other, 17-year-old singing sensation Hikaru Utada and 19-year-old Seibu Lions pitching phenom Daisuke Matsuzaka garnered more attention...
JAPAN
May 18, 2000

Greenpeace complains over seizure of data

Greenpeace Japan has filed a legal complaint with the Tokyo District Court demanding that police return documents seized during an investigation into the environmentalist group's recent protest over dioxin pollution, members said.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
May 17, 2000

Flurry of fast food

www.mcspotlight.orgThe first revolution the world eagerly followed the Americans into after World War II went largely unnoticed as a revolution. But perhaps even more than the Internet, fast food has allowed hundreds of millions of people to drastically alter their lifestyles. Now when we discuss the...
LIFE / Digital
May 17, 2000

In.five.words.or.less

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Webbys may bill themselves as the antidote to the Academy Awards, but the truth is that this Internet awards gala has a severe case of Oscar envy.
COMMUNITY
May 14, 2000

Ex-garbage man bags career as pro caddie

If Jeff Mulberry has any aspirations beyond the odd hole in one, it is to lead as uncomplicated a life as possible. His needs are modest and his interests narrowing down as he focuses on pro golf. Not that he has his eye set on being a winning player, but rather on being the best caddie that friendship,...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 13, 2000

Celebrating the cream of Japanese pottery

Believe it or not, a new museum has opened in Japan. In the midst of hearing about this or that institution shutting its doors for good it's refreshing to hear of one opening its doors for the first time, especially one entirely devoted to pottery.
COMMUNITY
May 5, 2000

Two Murakamis mull quake in Japanese life

A look at recent best-seller lists reveals several familiar faces. "Eien no Ko," a two-volume novel about the long-term effects of child abuse, is back with the broadcasting of a TV dramatization (Monday nights on NTV). There's another mystery by Nishimura Kyotaro and a book for improving one's English,...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Apr 13, 2000

Fish, sake and crowds come together at Uoshin

Like the indigenous beverages of most countries, sake developed along with its national cuisine. Indeed, there are great differences in Japanese cuisine from region to region, small country though Japan may be, and these differences are reflected in the subtle differences in the sake.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 12, 2000

Fingleton deflates the New Economy

IN PRAISE OF HARD INDUSTRIES: Why Manufacturing, Not the Information Technology, Is the Key to Future Prosperity, by Eamonn Fingleton. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999, 273 pp., $26 (cloth). A 24-year-old Englishman with a ponytail waltzed into the offices of a London venture-capital company...
EDITORIALS
Apr 7, 2000

Two steps forward, one step back

On the face of it, Russia's refusal to let Ms. Mary Robinson, the United Nations' chief human-rights official, visit sites where atrocities are alleged to have occurred during the Chechen war is a setback for her cause. But appearances are deceiving. Moscow's readiness to pretend such things did not...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Apr 4, 2000

You still think music is fun? Crank the volume, this is war

My first successful venture in creative writing took place when I was 12. To avoid being picked on by bullies I would provide the school psychopaths with inventive ways to victimize other kids.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2000

Daiei negotiating sale of hotels to Goldman Sachs

The struggling supermarket chain Daiei Inc. is in the final stage of talks aimed at reaching an agreement on the sale of almost all of its group's Japanese hotels to the Goldman Sachs Group of the United States, industry sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2000

Fukaya, Lamy to push WTO round

Trade chief Takashi Fukaya said he and Pascal Lamy, the European Union's trade commissioner, agreed Monday to pursue efforts to jointly hold working-level meetings with the United States and Canada in Geneva on Friday to encourage the World Trade Organization to swiftly launch a new round of free-trade...
COMMUNITY
Mar 26, 2000

Lebanese Marie-Rose has a lot to say on love

Last Tuesday Marie-Rose Ishiguro was at odds with her handbag. Dressed in a bright red suit, with gold jewelry and matching buttons, she looked every inch the power executive. But her battered brown leather bag -- more a holdall really, handles secured with string and spilling papers, books and clothes...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight