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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2001

Vipassana spirituality a refreshing breeze

BANGKOK -- There was recently a cultural event in Bangkok that deserves to be singled out. It was a special Dhamma talk given by the foremost Vipassana meditation teacher of our times, Satya Narayan Goenka, to a select audience presided over by Princess Galyani, the sister of the King of Thailand.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 12, 2001

Tokai nuke incident still shows afterglow

Hisashi Ouchi died Dec. 21, 1999, less than three months after he and two colleagues set off a criticality accident at JCO Co. in the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture. Masato Shinohara died seven months later, also a victim of lethal radiation exposure. The third employee, Yutaka Yokokawa, was hospitalized...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jul 11, 2001

Pottering in a forest of memory

"A magnificent sunset burns beyond the horizon. Trees are ablaze against the fiery sky. The beauty of the dark silhouettes left an everlasting sensation." These are the words of potter Moriyoshi Saeki from a book published in 1995 titled "The Vibrant Potters of Tochigi."
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jul 8, 2001

When your number's up . . .

Although all that you will ever need to know about a sake is contained in one, intention-laden sip, sometimes the technical mumbo jumbo can be fun to study as well. The industry always seems to offer one more piece of information every few years, be it the amino acid level, the number of days the tank...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 8, 2001

The Japanese Constitution gets a provocative look

FIVE DECADES OF CONSTITUTIONALISM IN JAPANESE SOCIETY, edited by Yoshio Higuchi. University of Tokyo Press, 2001, 368 pp., 8,000 yen. A major stumbling block for Japan on its road to becoming a more influential member of the global community has been a profound absence of voice. Japanese politicians,...
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2001

The danger of further monetary easing

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board's decision last week to cut interest rates for a sixth time is a sobering reminder that there is a wide gulf in freedom of monetary action between the world's two largest economies. While the Fed can make further cuts if necessary, the Bank of Japan has practically no elbowroom...
COMMENTARY
Jul 5, 2001

Serve justice by ending Microsoft suit

WASHINGTON -- It may not be the end, but it may be the beginning of the end. The Bush administration should use the dramatic reversal of the court-ordered break up of Microsoft to end the case.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2001

NTT launches L-mode Internet service

In a bid to halt the ongoing demise of fixed phone services, the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone group on Friday launched L-mode, a text-based Internet browsing service that does not require a computer.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2001

OECD policy equals fiscal imperialism

There has been a lot of noise over the issue of tax laundering and tax havens. While much of the focus of publicity will be on stopping money-laundering associated with criminal activities, the subtext of it all will be to restrain tax competition. Despite the initial aim to limit "harmful tax competition,"...
COMMUNITY
Jun 30, 2001

The Three Sisters Inn: owned by three sisters

It is not as if Kikue, Sadako and Terumi Yamada have not been interviewed before. Not so long ago it was for The New York Times, which really put them on the map.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2001

TSE-listed firms enjoyed sales increases

Many major Japanese companies, especially manufacturing firms, saw sales increases and net profits in fiscal 2000, which ended March 31, 2001.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2001

Accounting-rule changes skew financial statements in 2000

During periods of economic transition, such as the introduction of new accounting standards, companies' financial statements do not necessarily reflect their actual financial soundness. Balance sheets, income statements and other financial reports, therefore, should be analyzed from multiple viewpoints....
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2001

2,100 firms face shareholders

Some 2,100 companies across the country held general shareholders' meetings Thursday following the closing of books in March, making it the peak day for such gatherings for listed and unlisted firms, the National Police Agency said.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2001

Sharp drop in confidence expected in June 'tankan'

A closely watched Bank of Japan business survey due out Monday is expected to show significant deterioration in confidence among major manufacturers, according to a Kyodo News survey of 27 economists.
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2001

Circuit glitch suspected in accidental strafing

An Air Self-Defense Force chief inspector said Wednesday his team found a glitch in an electric circuit that might have inadvertently caused an ASDF F-4 fighter jet's 20mm cannon to fire into a civilian area in Hokkaido during an air-to-ground firing drill Monday. During testing, the jet's 20mm cannon...
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2001

The government must share the pain

The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, an advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, last week announced a set of policy guidelines aimed at reviving Japan's moribund economy. The comprehensive program, titled "Basic Policies Concerning Economic and Fiscal Management and Structural Reform,"...
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2001

Professors get suspended terms for dental test leak

The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced two former professors to suspended 10-month prison terms for leaking questions in a state dentistry exam held last year.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2001

Asian literacy conference kicks off

A five-day international conference to discuss how to improve literacy rates in Asia kicked off Tuesday in Tokyo with representatives from 19 countries.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2001

Exported fishing boat in North Korea spy port

A used Japanese fishing boat allegedly exported last August to North Korea without government approval is believed to have entered a port in the northeast of the country where two apparent spy ships fled after being chased out of Japanese waters in 1999, Tokyo police said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 25, 2001

Supporting the nation's scientists

Professor Shuji Nakamura, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, is known as the inventor of a semiconductor diode, an electronic element that emits a bluish purple color. Of course, he is one of the most noted Japanese scientists in the world. He is also the hero of the scientific equivalent...
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2001

Textbook criticism on target

China and South Korea are demanding revisions in Japanese history textbooks approved by the government for use at middle schools, arguing that they contain distortions of facts. In making the demands, China singled out a textbook compiled by the Society for History Textbook Reform; South Korea directed...
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2001

Cool and cooler

Summer is back, with its alternating days of broiling sun and warm, sticky rain. Time to unpack the sweaters and scarves again.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2001

More than words are needed in Myanmar

Myanmar is no longer a closed-door country and people who have an interest in it and its people now enjoy much greater access than in the past. Information that would have remained secret in the past quickly becomes public knowledge in today's global village. The old adage "Honesty is the best policy"...
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

An A-Z of helping out

Many foreign residents in Japan with a genuine desire to take part in volunteer activities probably stumble at the same hurdle: where to find out what options are available. "The Volunteering Directory," compiled and published by the nonprofit organization Foreign Executive Women, holds the answer.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 24, 2001

Spanish city puts its foot down on dog-do plague

MADRID -- To keep them clean, most cities have their own army of street cleaners. More meticulous cities employ leaf blowers and tree-branch cutters. Madrid goes so far as to employ its own force of dog-poop cleaners.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 24, 2001

When reason became treason in China

JAPAN'S IMPERIAL DIPLOMACY: Consuls, Treaty Ports and War in China 1895-1938, by Barbara Brooks. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2000, 272 pp., $55. Why did Japan suddenly lurch from being a good international citizen in the 1920s to becoming a regional rogue in the 1930s? Usually Japan's Asian...

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