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EDITORIALS
Nov 2, 1999

An unconvincing debut

The extraordinary Diet session that convened last Friday is the first parliamentary sitting since the tripartite coalition administration of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi was launched about a month ago. The public's main concern is with what Mr. Obuchi is trying to accomplish under the expanded coalition...
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

High-tech first-aid kit gives elderly help in rural areas

OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. has developed a next-generation first-aid kit for people who live in remote locations where there are no medical facilities.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Oct 31, 1999

When there's a need

What is KEEP? a reader asks. Friends in the United States want to know about its activities before making a donation.
EDITORIALS
Oct 30, 1999

Leaving the scene

An odd thing has happened in the wake of the disaster in London three weeks ago in which two commuter trains collided, killing as many as 100 -- or was it only 30? -- people. The tally has dropped sharply since the accident, as police find many of those who were initially presumed dead turning up alive...
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

Illegal workers, families petition Justice Ministry

A group of foreign nationals who have remained in Japan past the expiration of their visas submitted a petition to the Justice Ministry on Monday, urging the ministry to issue special permission for them to stay in Japan.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

A dream to revive the woolly mammoth

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Professor calls for legal panel to aid media victims

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Stores attempt to invent new holiday

Staff writer
CULTURE / Art
Oct 14, 1999

It's a grill, it's a mini-kiln, it's a shichirin!

Pottery making is one of the most popular hobbies in Japan. Thousands of amateur potters reach the semiprofessional level, but they seldom fire their works by themselves. Unless they have their own kiln, they have to ask pottery schools or professionals to fire their pieces -- a service for which they...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 1999

Behind the Echizen-Rutgers connection

HONOLULU -- It is commonly assumed that the first Japanese students to study in the United States arrived during Japan's dash toward modernization in the early years of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) but, in fact, a number of these young men arrived during the latter years of the long Tokugawa Period (1600-1867)....
LIFE / ALTERNATIVE LUXURIES
Oct 7, 1999

Taking time to simply stop and think

We are sitting up late sipping plum wine from small glasses at Atsuko Watanabe's dinner table next to the woodstove in an old farmhouse deep in the mountains of Shikoku. Her husband, Gufudo, is washing the dishes (the Watanabes' own handmade pottery) from tonight's seven-course Indian vegetarian meal....
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Oct 6, 1999

International outlook

There are a lot of people who would like to get out and see Japan, but often it seems the cost outweigh the experience. Now U.S. citizens can avoid this dilemma, thanks to a wide-ranging exchange program based on one of the first Japan-American cultural exchange projects. It dates back to 1841 when Nakahama...
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 1999

Celebrations and sublimations

China this week celebrates the 50 years of the People's Republic. Of course, it is not celebrating all of those years: The Great Leap Forward, which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese, and the Great Cultural Revolution, the decade of terror that turned the country upside down, will...
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 1999

A last chance for Indonesia

Nearly four months after the first free and fair elections in four decades, Indonesia's new Parliament, the People's Consultative Assembly, convened Friday. The opening session marked a new era in the nation's politics. The MPR, as the Parliament is known, is being seated at a difficult time. Indonesia...
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Cut in broker commissions to bring unheralded competition

Staff writer
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 30, 1999

Iron stomachs and chefs give it their all

Japan has produced a fair number of marathon stars. It's an achievement that probably has less to do with genetically bound physical attributes than with culturally bound psychological ones. The "gambaru" mentality that governs so many endeavors in Japan, especially in the world of sports, is central...
EDITORIALS
Sep 28, 1999

Indonesia's armed forces strike back

Indonesia's powerful military is not giving up. After humiliating the country with its mishandling of East Timor, the armed forces have rammed legislation through the Parliament that gives the government new powers in the event of an emergency. Opponents fear that the groundwork is being laid for a coup,...
JAPAN
Sep 24, 1999

Lawyer, professor accuse police of coercion

Staff writer
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 1999

Translator bridges Japan-Spain gap

SEVILLE, Spain -- Seville in the summer is so hot, they say, that even the dogs don't go outside. The athletes didn't at the recent World Championships, at least from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. The white walls of the city reflect the southern Spanish sun down the narrow corridors that resemble wintry Alpine passes...
JAPAN
Sep 23, 1999

'Tako-yaki' tentacles grip Kanto region

OSAKA -- "Tako-yaki," the dumplings with octopus chunks that many people consider a traditional Kansai treat, are gaining popularity in other parts of the country, including the Kanto region, according to Osaka-based Zojirushi Corp.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 1999

A true believer's perspective on the Pyongyang regime

The Korean Central News Agency is the official English-language press agency of North Korea. When tensions escalate between the two Koreas, it is to this agency that the world press corps turns for comment.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 1999

Don Quijote sees itself as lord of discount 'jungle'

Staff writer
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 15, 1999

Obtrusive nails, squeaky wheels

Not so very often I recall the following words of advice from my dear old mother, a tiding of the heart delivered straight from parent to child.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Taiwanese youths becoming Japan fans

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 9, 1999

Ikebukuro slasher wrote of desire to 'kill fools'

A 23-year-old man who went on a stabbing and clubbing spree in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district Wednesday had left notes in his apartment indicating he wanted to kill people, investigators said.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Sep 9, 1999

The healing power of the grape

What's your pleasure? Wine? Or Pepto-Bismol? Since returning two weeks ago from some fascinating times in sundry climes -- 60 days worth -- I've been particularly mindful of human health, not least my own. Travel can be tiring, and lower physical resistance. This airport, that airport. This station,...
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 1999

Independence for East Timor

The East Timorese have voted for independence. Twenty-four years after the Indonesian military invaded the former Portuguese territory and forcibly annexed it to their state, the people of the province have been given the opportunity to choose their own destiny. Despite intimidation and what appears...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Sep 1, 1999

Walking into the millennial sunrise

If you still haven't made up your mind about where you're going to be come sunrise of the year 2000, here's one to contemplate. How about Barrow, Alaska followed by a leisurely stroll 14 km to Point Barrow at the utmost north of the Americas?
JAPAN
Aug 27, 1999

Day laborers slam plans for tent city

OSAKA -- A group of local day laborers slammed the Osaka Municipal Government's plans to erect a tent village to provide evening shelter for the city's growing homeless population, citing insufficient conditions and limited capacity, it was learned Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 1999

Ministry ponders widening of med school curricula

The Education Ministry will set up a panel to review medical school curricula for students with bachelor degrees in other fields, to allow people with more varied backgrounds to study medicine.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’