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CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 25, 2001

A stunningly beautiful work of Great 3 genius

One sure sign of the maturation of a pop-music culture is when artists start releasing albums that are organic, cohesive works of art, instead of collections of their latest hit singles with some B-grade tracks as filler. "May and December," the latest from Japanese pop/rock band the Great 3, is such...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 25, 2001

Radiohead

Concert Preview by PHILIP BRASOR If you are conflicted about going to the trouble of obtaining tickets for Radiohead's autumn shows without first hearing their new album, "Amnesiac," which doesn't hit the stores until the end of May, you may be reassured to know that the material was recorded during...
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2001

Mexico keen to boost ties with Japan

The new democratic government of Mexico is eager to strengthen ties with Japan and promote cultural exchanges between the two countries, the Central American country's new ambassador to Japan said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2001

Bush may not be wrong to reject Kyoto

U.S. President George W. Bush has announced his opposition to an international global-warming treaty, citing the harm it could do the U.S. economy and the costs it would impose upon its workers. Predictably, this decision not to pursue approval of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change generated a firestorm...
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2001

49% of leading firms plan increased recruiting in spring '02

About half of Japan's 150 leading companies plan to hire more new graduates in spring 2002 than they did this spring, according to a Kyodo News poll.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2001

Cheap leek imports from China seen as a problem Japan helped to create

Last summer, Toichi Ubukata stood aghast before vast fields of leeks in the village of Shalingzhen in Shandong Peninsula, about 500 km southeast of Beijing.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

'Gyudon,' PCs, phone fees tossed into new CPI mix

The government will soon add mobile phone fees, personal computers and "gyudon" beef bowls to items monitored when compiling monthly consumer price indexes as part of a reshuffle of the gauges' components, government officials said Wednesday. The new items will be used to calculate the CPIs starting...
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2001

Kawasaki Steel, U.S. firm join forces

Kawasaki Steel Corp. said Wednesday it has signed an agreement with AK Steel Corp. of the United States to cooperate on research and technology for automotive steel.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Apr 19, 2001

Calling all Internauts...

www.zingasia.com An Asia travel site that for some reason wants to be a portal. The only other shopping experience on the Net that offers so much to contemplate is Amazon. But looking for vacation possibilities just isn't the same as browsing through books, and the reams information and suggestions can...
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2001

South Africa eyes business in Kansai

OSAKA -- South Africa will open up a trade office in Osaka within three months, the country's Minister of Trade and Industry announced Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2001

Angel firm to invest in university-bred ventures

A group of experts headed by Keio University professor Takatoshi Matsumoto has established an investment firm for information technology ventures set up by college professors and students.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2001

Decision imminent on Lee visa problem

Japan may decide by as early as this afternoon whether to issue a visa to former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui, who wants to visit Japan later this month to undergo a medical checkup for his heart condition, government sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2001

More youth exchanges

OSAKA -- New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark on Monday called for more youth exchanges between New Zealand and Japan.
Events
Apr 17, 2001

Makers won't throw in towel amid cheap import threat

KUMATORI, Osaka Pref. -- In a bid to survive fierce competition from foreign makers, some towel manufacturers and related firms here have joined forces to launch eco-friendly towels next month.
Events
Apr 17, 2001

Primary school venue for multicultural festival

Tobiuo International, a Kyoto-based network supporting foreign residents and promoting multicultural exchanges, is hosting an international festival next Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Seibo Primary School in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto.
Events
Apr 17, 2001

International arts and crafts show in Kobe

Kobe YMCA Cross Cultural Center will hold an exhibition to display international artworks and crafts Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sorakuen Hall in Kobe's Chuo Ward.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2001

Shared interests bolster Sino-Pakistani ties

ISLAMABAD -- As the United States and China were trying to resolve their standoff over the downing of a Chinese plane and the subsequent landing of a U.S. surveillance aircraft on Hainan Island, Pakistan was preparing to welcome Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji.
COMMUNITY
Apr 15, 2001

A yen for thrift

There was a time when Japan prided itself on its thriftiness. Hard times after World War II produced the need to save money and cut every corner. Children were taught that each grain of rice was sacred and not to be wasted. Sardines and mackerel were standard fare, beef reserved only for special occasions....
CULTURE / Books
Apr 15, 2001

Cracks in the great wall of China

CHINESE SOCIETY: Change, Conflict and Resistance, edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden. London, Routledge, 2000, 249 pp., $27.99. A single image dominates Western perceptions of the regime in China since the Tiananmen massacre of 1989: that of a government willing to crack down mercilessly...
LIFE / Travel
Apr 15, 2001

Grand Imperial Palace tour offered gratis

Cut off from the outside world by wide moats and high stone walls, the Imperial Palace is an especially mysterious place for us "commoners." But it doesn't have to be.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 15, 2001

Style as something you buy rather than cultivate

I always leaf through Katei Gaho in my dentist's waiting room. In fact, it's the only place I've ever had a chance to peruse it. Printed on the heaviest glossy paper money can buy, the magazine is more notable for its heft than its content, which is beautifully photographed clothing and household goods...
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

Gadget guy puts ideology over profit

On a cluttered desk in a dimly lit office in central Tokyo lies a golden, cylindrical object you can't find in any store. It's a combination lock that would take 3.2 trillion years to crack, about 160 times the age of the universe.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

LDP rivals back approval of textbook

All four candidates vying for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency are defending the government's recent approval of a junior high school history textbook that critics say glosses over Japan's wartime aggression in Asia.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

New rules to trim public organizations

The Cabinet on Friday approved a set of guidelines to reform public organizations financially aided by the government or conducting charity, academic or other work on behalf of the state.
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2001

Bankruptcies increase 12.1%

Corporate bankruptcies in Japan rose 12.1 percent in fiscal 2000 from a year earlier to 18,926 cases, while debts left behind surged 130.7 percent to 25.98 trillion yen, a record postwar high, a private research institute said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 13, 2001

Diplomacy does the trick

The United States and China have resolved their crisis. Diplomats crafted a statement that allowed both sides to save face and permitted the 24 members of the U.S. spy plane to go home. The peaceful resolution of the standoff is a victory for diplomacy. Just as important, however, both governments now...
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2001

Tokyo families spend more on education in 2000

Despite the prolonged recession, Tokyo households spent more on their children's education during the 2000 academic year -- which ended last month -- than during the previous year, according to an annual survey by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government released Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 12, 2001

Investors sought for cancer probe

U.S. biotechnology venture is soliciting Japanese investors for what it claims is a next-generation medical device that can identify early-stage cancers with real-time analysis.
BUSINESS
Apr 12, 2001

U.S. plunge tips markets

Equity markets around the world continued to reverberate from the effects of plunges on Wall Street in the first quarter. Among developed markets, only Austria and New Zealand were overall positive, while year-to-date losses in dollar terms ranged from Spain's 2.8 percent fall to Finland's 42.8 percent...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami