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LIFE / Travel
Jun 28, 2000

Beguiling smiles along an ancient road

All Silk Roads lead to Xian, China's capital during some 2,000 years of its history and the cosmopolitan center of East-West trade during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2000

Signs of generational change

The voters' real message in Sunday's elections for the House of Representatives is ambiguous at best. It can be interpreted in several important ways. In terms of the sheer number of seats won, it means a victory for the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the Conservative...
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2000

G7 to agree on reform of IMF lending process

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven economic powers are likely to agree on a set of reforms to International Monetary Fund lending mechanisms at their talks in Japan in July, a source in international finance said Monday.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2000

Bread Man not quite off his loaf

Tatsumi Orimoto, otherwise known as the "Bread Man," has finally cracked the Japanese art scene with "Art Mama + Bread Man," an extraordinary exhibition of photos, videos and live performances at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art. Street performance is in the house and Orimoto will nevermore be a "dirty,...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 25, 2000

Again and again

A part of this is from a column written in 1993 about "ijime" (bullying). It was not the first, and today I can't even recall that specific case. There have been so many. At the time I objected to the newspaper comment that ijime had been a serious problem for a decade. Brutal discrimination against...
COMMENTARY
Jun 23, 2000

Victory predicted for LDP

The major Japanese newspapers that conducted polls on the June 25 Lower House election this week made these stunning forecasts:
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2000

High school nurses compile Battle of Okinawa memoirs

The alumnae association of a girls' high school in Okinawa has published a collection of testimonies by former students who survived the World War II Battle of Okinawa, officials of the group said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Bankruptcy declared for realtor, unit

Real estate developer EIE International Corp. and its affiliate General Lease Co. have been declared bankrupt by the Tokyo District Court, a private credit research agency said Wednesday.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2000: VOX POPULI
Jun 22, 2000

Kin want focus on youth crime

While economic recovery may be the focal issue for the June 25 election, Ruriko Take, head of the Association for Victims of Juvenile Crimes citizens group, believes juvenile issues should be given more attention as they concern the people who will lead society in the future.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Sanwa plans Internet bank by yearend

Sanwa Bank said Wednesday it plans to establish an Internet bank in July at the earliest, with an eye to launching deposit-taking and settlement operations by year's end.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jun 22, 2000

Can Daley win it for Gore?

WASHINGTON -- I saw it coming. Tony Coehlo, chairman of the Gore 2000 presidential campaign, was reported to be hospitalized for some form of unidentifiable stomach problem and his aides are reporting that he is suffering from fatigue. Yes, his end was coming.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2000

Toxic compound found in breast milk

OSAKA — High concentrations of a chemical compound widely used as a flame retardant have been detected in mother's milk and marine life in Japan, according to a study announced this week by Japanese researchers.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2000

Panel advocates two-week holidays

An advisory panel to the labor minister will propose the introduction of a two-week vacation system in a report to be presented in July, Labor Ministry sources said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 20, 2000

Tales of love, pride, loyalty and death

Murder leads off and finishes up the Kabukiza's June playbill in the usual midori sampler of acts from different plays separated by dance numbers.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 20, 2000

Po Chu-i's eternal pleasures

PO CHU-I: Selected Poems. Translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000, 172 pp., unpriced. When he died at the age of 75 in 846, Po Chu-i left behind a legacy of some 2,800 poems. A civil servant, he early on wrote poetry critical of authority and was consequently demoted...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2000

No easy fix for Japan's economic woes

The debate over monetary policy in Tokyo is shaping up to be the mother-of-all-battles over economic policy. The latest skirmish began when Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami spoke out in favor of ending Japan's zero-interest policy.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2000

Expansion of whale sanctuary proposed

Australia and New Zealand have proposed that the International Whaling Commission designate a wide area of water between Australia and Chile as a whale sanctuary, Japanese Fisheries Agency sources said Sunday.
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 19, 2000

Chromosome 21: new hope for Down's

The second human chromosome sequence to be mapped, chromosome 21, was published in the science journal Nature May 18, and is available free on the Internet.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2000

Japan needs system to handle emergencies, crisis expert says

Any government to be formed after the June 25 Lower House election should take steps to increase Japan's preparedness for natural disasters and other emergencies that could endanger national security or the lives of the citizens, said Kazuhisa Ogawa, an expert in crisis management.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2000

Domestic violence victims demand new law

Ninety-six percent of female victims of life-threatening domestic violence and their supporters say a law to prevent such acts should be drawn up, a survey by a women's group showed Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 18, 2000

Rain, rain, go away

It's that time of year again. Perpetually iron-gray skies, puddles, mud, clashing umbrellas, fogged-up train windows, damp shoes and damper spirits. It's "tsuyu": the rainy season, when nature goes into its annual wet-blanket act.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2000

Fuse burning on the Mideast powder keg

LONDON -- Ignore all the empty chatter about the future of a "Middle East peace process" that died months ago, and waste no time in futile speculation about the character of Syria's new president, mild-mannered ophthalmologist Dr. Bashar Assad. The regime that was run for the past 30 years by Bashar's...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Empress Dowager dies at 97; family at her side

The Empress Dowager, the widow of Emperor Showa, died Friday afternoon, two days after she began experiencing breathing difficulties, the Imperial Household Agency said. She was 97.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Milan bombing suspect files libel suit in Japan

A 52-year-old man wanted by Italian authorities for his alleged involvement in the deadly 1969 bombing of a Milan bank filed a defamation suit Friday with the Tokyo District Court against two newspapers and two magazine publishers.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 17, 2000

Putting things into perspective

Imagine a social mixer for celestial beings. A casual affair, a brunch maybe, with olives and wine and the tones of a harp wafting through the ether. Our God is there, looking good, and by way of introduction he reaches into his wallet and takes out some photographs to pass around for the other cosmic...
CULTURE / Art
Jun 17, 2000

Sculptures that capture the mysterious rhythms of nature

The press release for the sculptor Susumu Shingu's "Wind Caravan" project opens charmingly with a quote from Christina Rossetti: "Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I, but when the trees bow down their heads, the wind is blowing by."
COMMUNITY
Jun 16, 2000

Healing relationships bloom in 'renga'

A Japanese proverb says: Doki ai motomu (Like minds are drawn to one another).
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 16, 2000

A ghost brings actress back into the spotlight

"I was deeply impressed by the beauty of the words," says actress Keiko Matsuzaka, 47, breathless with enthusiasm as she talks about the play she's producing: "Tenshu Monogatari."

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