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EDITORIALS
Apr 8, 1999

A reprieve, not a recovery

There are growing signs that Japan's protracted economic slump may be finally coming to an end. Fiscal and monetary measures for recovery are already in place. The fiscal 1999 government budget, with its large public-works outlays and tax cuts, has cleared the Diet ahead of schedule. The Bank of Japan,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CROSSING CULTURES
Apr 8, 1999

But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

In my last column I wrote about change, and staying with that theme, I will here answer a question I am asked often:
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Apr 7, 1999

Turnabout

Life is full of surprises. Did you know that anyone can open an English language school in Japan? While most are started by people with some experience in teaching, there are no such requirements. No one will come to inspect your school to see how and what you are teaching. This will be bad news for...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Apr 7, 1999

The savage splendors of Singapore

SINGAPORE -- In 1907 a tiger was discovered hiding beneath the billiard table in the Long Bar of Raffles Hotel. Probably. Some have questioned the tiger's authenticity. Particularly if they have visited the Raffles Hotel's Long Bar. It is on the second and third floor. Not traditional tiger country....
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 1999

Foreign policy to the fore in Washington

WASHINGTON -- After a year that was unusual, peculiar and unbelievable enough to qualify as one long April Fool's Day, the U.S. government is finally back doing governmental work. It isn't boring, but it is less colorful than the year of Monica et al. We have lost some of our more entertaining characters...
EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 1999

Lunchtime in Lotus-land

Is nothing sacred? Even though we live in a place famous for its workaholic habits and stressful schedules, there has always been the comforting thought that in other, warmer countries people do things differently. In these Lotus-lands of the imagination, or so we believed, workers hardly merit the name:...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Apr 4, 1999

Many paths to follow

There are lots of ways to have fun, some centering on the Yamanote, Tokyo's more-or-less circular commuter line. Few remember that not so long ago it was known as the Yamate Line and there was great consternation when the name was changed. From the beginning, people tended to speak of inside and outside...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 4, 1999

A hare-raising interview with the Easter bunny

Happy Easter. This morning, I bring you this exclusive interview excerpted from my unpublished book, "The Unauthorized Biography of Peter Cottontail."
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Apr 3, 1999

Block-printed paper beauty

Chiyogami is colorful handmade paper printed with Japanese traditional patterns or designs, and is usually used by girls for making kimono-clad dolls, small boxes, or bookmarks.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Apr 2, 1999

Sonic adventures in mixed media

Samm Bennett's ideal record store would be organized alphabetically, each floor dedicated to a segment of the alphabet rather than a particular musical genre. This would be perhaps the only way of finding all of his work in the same place.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 1999

First bullfight delights recruits, irks activists

Staff writer
COMMUNITY
Apr 1, 1999

Strike a pose, posing questions -- Klein's vogue

We've all seen the sexy, sultry, precarious, provocative and often preposterous poses of fashion models in fashion magazines. But rarely do we think about the person at the other end of the camera -- the fashion photographer. In the world of fashion, he (and they are mostly men) has become an icon on...
JAPAN
Mar 25, 1999

The Asahara Trial: Ex-Aum member mum on murder

Three former Aum Shinrikyo members were brought to the witness stand at Thursday's trial session of cult founder Shoko Asahara in connection with the 1995 kidnap and murder of a Tokyo notary worker, but one of them refused to testify.
COMMUNITY / CROSSING CULTURES
Mar 25, 1999

Glacial change hard for people more used to avalanche speed

Japan can't change. Change in Japan is glacial. Japanese are stuck in their ways. In Japan, disappointment is what you can expect if you expect change.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Mar 24, 1999

Degrees of separation

You could say they have an affliction. You've probably bumped into them on the street. That is, they bump into you, because they often walk with their eyes fixated on their task, oblivious to any obstacles in their path. You've definitely overheard them chatting on trains, in coffee shops, perhaps even...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 24, 1999

Martin and the king of Siam

A RESOUNDING FAILURE: Martin and the French in Siam, 1672-1693, by Michael Smithies. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1998, 156 pp., 395 baht. Of the many mercantile adventures that marked European exploitations of Asia, one of the most entertaining is that of the French in Siam. This is a well-known...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 21, 1999

Reach out and touch your four-footed friends

Do you ever get the feeling that your cat isn't listening to you? Have you ever tried to find a gift for the dog who has everything? Don't despair. The latest in pet communication is here: greeting cards for cats and dogs.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 20, 1999

Passing time and timeless passion

The Kabukiza this month features such outstanding actors as Danjuro Ichikawa, Koshiro Matsumoto, Kikugoro Onoe, Jakuemon Nakamura and Tamasaburo Bando.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 1999

Learning on the job can be a good idea

The value of education has become a cliche. But few people seem to realize that school-based education can often prove a liability. Consider the views of Ram Mohan, a young farmer from the Indian state of Rajasthan, who refused to go to school. "My father wanted me to go," he said, "but I didn't. My...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 20, 1999

The squirrel or the eagle?

Thirty-five years ago, during the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," China's Chairman Mao Zedong announced the coming of an uncompromising global struggle between the City and the Village. China, in Mao's eyes the best country in the world, symbolized the sturdy and righteous Village. Haughty and...
JAPAN
Mar 19, 1999

Kobe airport foes submit petitions

KOBE -- A group of Kobe citizens opposed to the construction of Kobe airport presented two petitions to two government agencies in Tokyo, urging that the city's request to reclaim land for the project not be approved.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 1999

Enterprise Spirit: New camera sells on nostalgia

27th in an occasional series
JAPAN
Mar 18, 1999

Palette Town opens to public today

Organizers of a new theme park opening today in Tokyo Bay's waterfront development project expressed hope Thursday that the park will spark life in the Japanese economy.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 17, 1999

Last glimpses of a vanishing people

THE VANISHING TRIBES OF BURMA, by Richard K. Diran. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 240 pp., $60. Coffee-table photo books are usually too expensive, space-consuming or indistinguishable in content from the art of the glossy postcard for most of us to consider buying. Every once in a while, however,...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 1999

Amuro's mother slain; brother-in-law suspected

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- The mother of pop singer Namie Amuro was slain Wednesday morning on an Okinawa road in what police suspect may have been a murder- suicide involving the younger brother of her widowed husband.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 17, 1999

When international relations get all steamed up

When asked what part of Japan they would most like to take back home, many foreigners respond by saying, "a Japanese bathtub."
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 17, 1999

Disputed territory is a paradise in peril

Any Japanese schoolchild can wax eloquent about the Hoppo Ryodo or "Northern Territories," the tiny islands Japan has demanded back from Russia since World War II. And with Japan keen to resolve its border dispute with Russia and wrap up a peace treaty by the end of next year, the issue looks likely...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Mar 17, 1999

'Managing' marine mammals to death

Part two of two parts
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Mar 16, 1999

Sounds to soothe the savaged beast

Never drink a bottle of tequila with champagne chasers and then try to demonstrate your gymnastic prowess, I advise, lying here in my hospital bed.
EDITORIALS
Mar 13, 1999

Is shorter always sweeter?

The U.S. publisher Viking recently hit on a bright idea. Biographies, always reliable sellers, were nevertheless getting too long, they thought. Lives of even minor luminaries were routinely checking in at 800 or more pages, sometimes in multiple volumes; there was no such thing as an incident trivial...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past