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JAPAN
Nov 4, 1999

'The Body' admits he can't get used to media attention

Jesse "The Body" Ventura has taken on sharpshooters in the jungle and bloodthirsty fighters in the ring. The one thing the governor of Minnesota, who is on a 10-day visit to Japan, can't get used to is the media frenzy that swarms around him.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Nov 3, 1999

For better or worse

November? Already? How different it is for little kids who think there is a generation between one Christmas and another. November is a stepping stone to the yearend holiday celebration, which this year will have both special meaning and reasons for concern. Regardless of assurances, people wonder what...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 2, 1999

And a drum shall lead them

THE ROUSING DRUM: Ritual Practice in a Japanese Community, by Scott Schnell. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, pp.364 with b/w photos xxvi and maps. $59.00 (cloth); $33.95 (paper). Interpretations of that folk festival, the "matsuri," vary. Kunio Yanagida, the founder of folklore studies in Japan,...
JAPAN
Oct 29, 1999

Four hormone disrupter suspects tagged for study

The Environment Agency said Friday it will put priority on studying four chemicals believed to disrupt the endocrine systems of humans and wildlife after a survey found them in concentrations that could affect living organisms.
JAPAN
Oct 29, 1999

Public urged to stockpile food ahead of Y2K

The government recommended Friday that the public stockpile several days' worth of food and water at the year's end as a precaution against the Year 2000 computer problem.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 1999

Short-sighted policy hinders disabled voters

Staff writer
CULTURE / Books
Oct 26, 1999

This 'East Wind' blows ill

RIDING THE EAST WIND, by Otohiko Kaga. Kodansha International, 1999, pp. 518, 3,500 yen (cloth). The history of Japanese-American soldiers who fought for the United States in World War II is well-documented, but the story of an American-Japanese pilot who served in the Japanese Imperial Army remains...
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 1999

Speaking without thinking

Barely two weeks after he was named parliamentary vice minister for defense, Mr. Shingo Nishimura of the Liberal Party was forced to resign Wednesday over outrageous views made public in a Japanese weekly magazine. In a two-hour interview, Mr. Nishimura suggested that the Diet consider discussing whether...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

Housework guru reveals cleaning secrets

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1999

Eatery gives elderly more than good food

Staff writer
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 20, 1999

Ducking out for a nature moment

Among the smaller waterfowl, there are basically two types: There are ducks that dive, and there are those that dabble. Diving ducks, such as the tufted duck, scaup, scoter, harlequin and long-tailed duck, are birds of open, deep water, birds of lakes, coasts and the open ocean. Dabbling ducks, on the...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

Clans gather for a bit of Scottish tradition in Japan

Staff writer
CULTURE / Books
Oct 19, 1999

Simple testimony to tragedy

COMFORT WOMAN, A Filipina's Story of Prostitution and Slavery under the Japanese Military, by Maria Rosa Henson, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., Lanham, MD, USA, 1999, 120 pages, $19.95 (paper). Here is yet another witness to World War II atrocities committed by Japanese forces. Maria Rosa Henson...
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

Global sports body promotes 'sacred unity'

Staff writer
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 15, 1999

Kim Itoh puts the future on the map

This year's Tokyo International Festival of Performing Arts, ongoing through Oct. 31, is a scaled-down version of previous festivals, with only six official participants and few of international interest. While this shifts the onus to domestic dance companies such as Min Tanaka and Kenshi Nomi, expectations...
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Queensland seeks biotech exchange with Japan

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Sakura-Sumitomo alliance wins rave reviews

Staff writer
LIFE / Travel
Oct 14, 1999

Back-to-nature nomads on the open sea

SEATTLE, Wash. -- "I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by."
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Oct 14, 1999

Heeding the siren call of Sopron's wine country

A Japanese friend I recently met amid the late-summer amalgam of humid heat, mucky air and urban frenzy suddenly assumed a rather wistful faraway look and expressed the desire to get away from the whole maddening throng and disappear into nature.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1999

Regional Special: KYUSHU

Reclamation project splits locals, power elite> Staff writer
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Skeletons in Yeltsin's closet

The debate over who lost Russia is intensifying as the U.S. presidential election draws near. Although the United States' policies toward post-Soviet Russia have been bipartisan, politicians sense that Vice President Al Gore is especially vulnerable because of his cochairmanship of the Gore-Chernomyrdin...
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Oct 9, 1999

Whisked away by an age-old tradition

IKOMA, Nara Pref. -- "It is totally handmade and finely crafted work, but no matter how well it is made, chasen (a bamboo tea whisk) is a commodity with a limited life span," says Keizo Kubo, 59, who has been manufacturing the tea-ceremony utensil for 36 years.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Chongqing leads the next China boom

Japan is poised to lead foreign investment in the next important phase of China's development, centered on Chongqing, an inland city whose name most outsiders have never heard.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Oct 9, 1999

Different stokes for Iowan folks

I never thought my interest in Japanese pottery would lead me to Iowa.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 8, 1999

Waking dream in 'City of Virgins'

NEW YORK -- How do you transport a quintessential Japanese play to the United States and still make it feel genuine?
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Diplomat corps offers fresh views of Japan

An exhibition of 71 photographs by foreign diplomats in Japan opened Thursday at the Printemps Department Store in Ginza, Tokyo, for a 10-day run through Oct. 16.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Four promoters of Japan culture awarded

The Japan Foundation presented this year's awards for overseas promotion of Japanese culture to four individuals and an institutional recipient at a presentation ceremony held Thursday at a hotel in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 1999

Grim lessons from East Timor

"Promising too much can be as cruel as caring too little" was the truly mind-boggling statemen of U.S. President Bill Clinton before the United Nations Sept. 21. Now he tells us. So much for the "Clinton Doctrine" of humanitarian intervention. Yet as international peacekeepers pour into a devastated...
LIFE / Travel
Oct 6, 1999

Fall in Kyushu unique after all

AKIZUKI, Fukuoka Pref. -- "Japan," I am frequently informed, with looks of grave importance, "has four seasons." I always wonder if I should feign amazement at this fact, or be silly and ask whether this is because Japan is an island country and all foreigners hate natto. But I can never be told enough...

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