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COMMENTARY
May 5, 1999

A game plan for Ishihara

I was not surprised at all by Shintaro Ishihara's overwhelming victory in the April 11 Tokyo gubernatorial election. Several journalist friends of mine and I had correctly predicted the election results, including the order of all the major candidates by the number of votes. More than anything else,...
JAPAN
May 4, 1999

Daiei says aloha to Ala Moana for $810 million

Debt-ridden supermarket chain Daiei Inc. has finished negotiations to sell the upscale Ala Moana Center mall in Hawaii to major U.S. shopping mall operator General Growth Properties Limited Partnership, company officials said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 1999

India rightly resists the Chinese model

India has often been advised to follow the path of China in public investment in human capital. China has done well in the last decade, but it would be a disaster if India were to follow her example. China's approach can be called "two quick steps forward, one slow step back." India's approach, in contrast,...
JAPAN
May 3, 1999

Kan's policy quest undeterred despite party's slump

Staff writer
COMMUNITY
May 2, 1999

Relaxation therapy for busy people

Shiatsu, acupuncture and moxibustion are for older men -- at least, that's what was believed.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 1999

Sega slammed by poor Dreamcast sales

Electronics game machine maker Sega Enterprises Ltd. said Wednesday that it will suffer net losses of 32.8 billion yen for fiscal 1998, a sharp deviation from a projected 4.6 billion yen net profit.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 1999

Obuchi sees chance to bolster ties with U.S.

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Wednesday called for reinforced security ties and an overall partnership with the United States, underlining Japan-U.S. relations as the main pillar of Japanese diplomatic policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 1999

NATO steps into a quagmire

Call it the first humanitarian empire. For a moment, look beyond the horrific slaughter and the terrible plight of ethnic Albanian refugees. The immediate crisis obscures a host of profound long-term -- and largely unintended consequences -- of the current Balkan intervention that will impact U.S. foreign...
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Apr 24, 1999

Combing through antiquity for quality

Unlike in those days when everyone wore kimono, Tsutomu Takeuchi's customers today are somewhat limited in number: hairdressers for sumo wrestlers, theatrical coiffeurs and makers of Japanese coiffure bridal wigs, and a few longtime aficionados.
EDITORIALS
Apr 21, 1999

MOF by any other name

The long-running debate over breaking up the Ministry of Finance has ended with a compromise that will keep the ministry more or less as it is -- the most powerful of Japan's government offices. The MOF will be renamed the "Treasury Ministry," and will be charged mainly with fiscal and budgetary affairs,...
EDITORIALS
Apr 20, 1999

Foot-dragging in South Korea

The signs from South Korea are promising. After shrinking 5.8 percent in 1998, the economy registered 3.1 percent growth in the first quarter of 1999. Analysts now forecast that the economy will expand nearly 4 percent this year, twice the original predictions. In one indication of the new mood, government...
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 20, 1999

Nakamuras highlight double-suicide plays

During the month of April, the Kabukiza in Ginza is offering its annual Nakamura-kai program, featuring such major actors as Kichiemon, Jakuemon, Ganjiro, Tomijuro and Baigyoku, who belong to the Nakamura line of kabuki actors.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 1999

East Timor reveals West's hypocrisy

Two places on opposite sides of the world share similar circumstances: innocent people killed and displaced by government forces and paramilitaries. The violence on one side of the world begets harsh condemnation and a series of threats from Western powers, followed by a massive bombing campaign. The...
JAPAN
Apr 20, 1999

Coupons fail to spur shopping, but 'dango' sales up

Although municipalities have finished distributing the central government's shopping coupons to the public, the result of the hard-fought effort to boost domestic demand seems as flat as the vouchers themselves.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 1999

U.S. trade policy all at sea

When Pat Buchanan launched his third campaign for the presidency of the United States, the protectionist candidate visited the archetypal steel town of Weirton, West Virginia. Buffeted by a surge in imported steel, Weirton offered a natural backdrop for Buchanan's xenophobic fulminations.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 1999

Fukuoka's megamall to let you shop till you drop

Combining a huge cinema complex, a membership wholesale warehouse and a number of specialty shops and restaurants, an American-style megamall -- the largest in Japan -- will open Friday in a suburb of Fukuoka.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 1999

OECD says Japan has bottomed out

The economy has bottomed out and will likely achieve positive, albeit minimal, growth in the current fiscal year, said Herwig Schloegl, deputy secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 1999

A clear victory for NATO

LONDON -- This time the critics and skeptics are turning out to be wrong. Conventional wisdom holds that one cannot halt an enemy from the air, let alone force a capitulation. Only troops on the ground can do that. This is supposed to be the overriding lesson from the disaster that was the Vietnam War....
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Apr 13, 1999

A Japanese musician's songs in 'The Homes of Donegal'

Hiroshi Yamaguchi of the group Heat Wave looks like any other worker at his manager's office. He sits at a desk, busily working away on a computer. After a few words, however, it's clear he could never be just any other worker. "I hate it here," he half confesses, half jokes. "I've never had to come...
JAPAN
Apr 13, 1999

State accepts prosecutor's resignation

The resignation of the nation's No. 2 prosecutor, Mamoru Norisada, was accepted by the government Tuesday in connection with his affair with a 28-year-old former bar hostess.
JAPAN
Apr 12, 1999

Keidanren backs off debt-equity swap scheme

Takashi Imai, chairman of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), on Monday turned cautious on a debt-equity swap scheme proposed to save manufacturers from folding under mountains of debt.
JAPAN
Apr 12, 1999

MITI pledges aid for Egyptian exports

Trade chief Kaoru Yosano and visiting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak agreed Monday to step up joint efforts to boost Egypt's exports to Japan and develop social infrastructure in the region, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said.
JAPAN
Apr 12, 1999

Kofuku Bank faces capital shortage

OSAKA -- Kofuku Bank said Monday that its capital-to-asset ratio may have fallen below the government-prescribed level of 4 percent when it closed its books at the end of March.
EDITORIALS
Apr 9, 1999

Justice for victims of Pan Am 103

On Dec. 21, 1988, Pan Am flight 103 exploded in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Three years after the blast, a Scottish court petition named two Libyan officials, Mr. Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah and Mr. Abdel Basset Ali al Megrahi, as the individuals responsible for the atrocity. Earlier...
JAPAN
Apr 8, 1999

Agency unveils bank inspection manual

The Financial Supervisory Agency unveiled an inspection manual Thursday that covers evaluating bank managers on whether they have fulfilled their responsibilities.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Apr 8, 1999

Sommeliers blowing smoke over corks

Years ago as a university student in Tokyo it was my good fortune to have a job with a famous design firm that had me in every week to critique their designs, write the English-language text for their creative work and occasionally translate and interpret for colleagues visiting from abroad.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 1999

200 billion yen eyed to kick start baby boom

The Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and New Komeito agreed at a working-level meeting to provide up to 200 billion yen to local governments to help reverse Japan's declining birth rate, officials of the three parties said Wednesday.
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...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 1999

In the wake of the spy boats

Two North Korean spy boats disguised as trawlers recently intruded deep into Japanese territorial waters in the Sea of Japan. This was the second incident to have heightened tension between Tokyo and Pyongyang since last August, when a Taepodong ballistic missile test-fired by North Korea flew over northern...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 7, 1999

Fading hopes for faltering Japan

JAPAN TODAY, by Roger Buckley. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1999, (3rd edition), 233 pp. This is a succinct and reliable introductory survey of post-World War II Japanese history. This third edition is substantially rewritten and updated by the inclusion of recent material and analysis....

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan