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JAPAN
Feb 9, 2000

Kyoto business seminar kicks off with eye on reform

KYOTO -- The two-day Kansai Business Seminar opened here Wednesday with organizers calling on business leaders to reform Japan's business practices and to revitalize the Kansai economy in the face of global competition. Before about 380 business leaders, government officials and university professors,...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2000

Boeing 737 nearly collides with fighter jet

An Air Nippon jetliner and an unidentified fighter jet passed within close proximity of each other Friday over the sea around 65 km northwest of Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, the Transport Ministry said Tuesday. At the point where the two craft were closest, there was only a 60-meter altitude difference...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2000

Bulletin Board

Youth scholarships aimed at fostering worldly mind-set> The Japan National Committee for United World Colleges, a nongovernmental corporate body, is offering high school students scholarships to study at its institutions around the world to encourage young people to acquire an international way of thinking....
CULTURE / Books
Feb 8, 2000

The cat in the hat goes to war like that

DR. SEUSS GOES TO WAR: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel, by Richard Minear, introduction by Art Spiegelman. The New Press, 1999, 272 pp. To most Americans who grew up with Dr. Seuss' oddly, endearingly drawn critters and facile rhymes ("And then he ran out. / And, then, fast...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

New immigration law misunderstood, experts say

Staff writer In the days before the revised Immigration Control Law takes effect, hundreds of undocumented foreign residents have been flocking to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau in Kita Ward to initiate deportation procedures, but experts say many of them may be misguided about the amendment. An...
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2000

Fiscal surplus, external deficit: Can the U.S. thrive on technology alone?

This year's State of the Union address by U.S. President Bill Clinton lasted 89 minutes.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

Collaborative stock index in the cards for spring

The Tokyo Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, Deutsche Boerse AG and Standard & Poor's are planning to introduce an international index in an attempt to squelch increasing competition from smaller bourses. A global index jointly operated by the world's major stock exchanges is unprecedented. By...
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2000

NTT to establish cybermarket

NTT Communications Corp. plans to start providing a marketplace on the Internet for companies to sell a broad range of products, from financial services to music and game software, company sources said Monday. NTT Communications, a domestic and international long-distance carrier, plans to start what...
COMMUNITY
Feb 6, 2000

The best parents are both parents

David Brian Thomas (who with a name like that can only owe his heritage to Welsh Wales) carries two photos in his wallet. One shows a baby; the other a gravely sweet 3-year-old -- the age Thomas last saw his son seven years ago.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 4, 2000

Rescuing abandoned electones from a grim fate

The electone, better known as the home organ, might recall memories of drunken uncles playing shambolic versions of Christmas songs, or upwardly mobile parents forcing a bit of culture down junior's throat. In many family homes, it is a dust-gathering fixture, a hulking monument to the musically dasai....
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 2, 2000

Look out for masked bandits at roadside

It is amazing what one can see out of the corner of an eye.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2000

Report fails to link chemicals to illnesses

The Environment Agency presented its first report on "chemical sensitivity conditions" to the head of Tokyo's Suginami Ward, explaining Wednesday that experts have yet to agree that the rising number of unexplained health complaints are in fact the result of chemicals. In recent years, illnesses generally...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2000

High-tech juggernaut is a dangerous ride

Apparently, sales of dog food by the U.S. shopping giant Wal-Mart were bigger than the worldwide sales chalked up by e-commerce last year. Even if that is true, the current media frenzy about e-commerce makes it hard to countenance. There is a danger that this current fashion for one particular technology...
COMMUNITY
Feb 1, 2000

Dance craze swinging into action

The 1996 hit movie "Shall We Dance?" has helped the Japanese appreciate the charm of ballroom dancing. Yet despite the surging popularity of dance schools across the country, social dance continues to play a minor role in the local nightlife. Now, some devotees are promoting swing, a more casual version...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2000

Voting on Taiwan's future

Taiwan's presidential campaign is moving toward the final stretch. It is being fought among three top contenders: Vice President Lien Chan of the Nationalist Party, Chen Shui-pien of the Democratic Progressive Party and James Soong, an independent. The second free, direct presidential election on March...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2000

Analysis: Aum's survival in doubt as watch begins

Staff writer Monday's decision by the Public Security Examination Commission to invoke a law to monitor Aum Shinrikyo will inevitably deal a major blow to the cult -- possibly even leading to its breakup. According to the law, enacted in December, Aum must submit a list of its current members as well...
COMMENTARY
Jan 31, 2000

Let the great debate begin

The Diet is finally launching debate on constitutional issues, breaking a long-standing political taboo. As the ordinary Diet session opened Jan. 20, both houses created panels to conduct the first parliamentary debate on the pros and cons of constitutional amendments. All political parties will take...
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 29, 2000

Maintaining Shiiba's proud history

A good chance to enjoy a glimpse of visual and performing arts of rural old Japan will come to Tokyo Feb. 19-20. The Kioi Small Hall will present a special program titled "Traditional Performing Arts of Shiiba, Miyazaki" to introduce rarely seen dances and chants performed in front of a profusely decorated...
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2000

A warning from cyberspace

Welcome to the digital world. That was not the actual wording of the message hackers left on Japanese government Web pages this week, but it was the meaning for anyone who bothered to read between the lines. This week's incidents were an embarrassment, or at most a nuisance. Next time, the damage could...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2000

MITI broadens yen-loan eligibility

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry announced Friday it will broaden the range of countries and projects the government yen-loan scheme targets to aid economic reform in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis. The special yen-loan scheme was established in 1998 on the initiative of...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2000

World Cup goal is to show off improved ties, new envoy says

Staff writer The 2002 World Cup soccer finals will be a test for Japan and South Korea, joint hosts of the tournament, to demonstrate their enhanced partnership in recent years, according to Japan's new ambassador to South Korea. Terusuke Terada, 61, former ambassador to the Korean Peninsula Energy...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2000

Miyazawa says government spending spree must continue

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Friday called for swift passage of the 84.99 trillion yen fiscal 2000 state budget in an attempt to achieve a full economic recovery. In a fiscal policy speech before the House of Representatives plenary session, Miyazawa said the worst is over for the economy thanks...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2000

Restructuring, but with a human touch

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The most popular "buzzwords" in this time of change must surely be "globalization" and "restructuring." Allow me to indulge in one more reference to the latter with some remarks that may be quickly criticized as an example of "old-school, bureaucratic" thinking.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2000

In defense of U Thant

VICTORIA, Australia -- Much criticism has been written about U Thant, the third secretary general of the United Nations, who died from cancer 25 years ago on Nov. 25, 1974. While some of it may be just, much of it is not.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2000

NTT-Matsushita venture to sell music by PHS

NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc. and Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. announced Thursday that they will establish a joint venture early next month to distribute music over PHS phones. Air Media Incorporation will be capitalized at 400 million yen. NTT DoCoMo will own 51 percent and Matsushita...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 26, 2000

Korean owners play hardball, expel players from professional league for organizing union

After a group of Korean professional baseball players from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) formally announced they had formed a player union last Friday, the KBO and team presidents held an emergency meeting the following morning in Seoul and expelled all union members from the league.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2000

Panel asked to find better ways of teaching English

To produce more Japanese who can communicate effectively in the international community in the 21st century, the Education Ministry set up an advisory panel Wednesday to map out recommendations on better ways of teaching English. At the panel's first meeting, Education Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 25, 2000

Women pay for Asia's successes

WOMEN IN THE NEW ASIA, by Yayori Matsui. London: Zed Books, 1999, 194 pp., $19.95 (paper). THE SEX SECTOR: The Economic and Social Bases of Prostitution in Southeast Asia, edited by Linda Lean Lim. Geneva: International Labor Office, 1998, 232 pp., SFR35. Yayori Matsui, author of "Women in the New...
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2000

Kobe Steel exec admits paying 'sokaiya' 30 million yen

OSAKA -- A former managing director of Kobe Steel Ltd. admitted during his first court hearing Tuesday that the firm paid 30 million yen in cash to a "sokaiya" corporate extortionist in violation of the Commercial Code. Hiroshi Kajiwara, 58, acknowledged the facts outlined by prosecutors and said he...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Jan 23, 2000

Buried in time

A woman writes of her problem. It is likely to remain one. She has a collection of what she calls bark pictures, produced in Japan after World War II. She describes them as landscapes composed of mountains made of tree bark, trees made of moss, and painted water and skies. She doubts if they were considered...

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