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CULTURE / Books
Oct 17, 2000

A celebration of interracial marriages

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER?, by Brenda Lane Richardson. Wildcat Canyon Press/Circulus Publishing Group, Inc., 2000, Berkeley, Calif., $14.95. Brenda Richardson is an award-winning African-American writer and partner in a 16-year marriage to a Swedish-American Episcopalian priest. She set out nearly...
EDITORIALS
Oct 16, 2000

A Nobel lesson for Japan

The selection of Mr. Hideki Shirakawa, professor emeritus of Tsukuba University, as a recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry is wonderful news. It has cheered up the nation in a difficult moment. We extend him our hearty congratulations. The prize is shared by two American professors, Mr. Alan...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 15, 2000

Former Carp farmhand making impact with Mets

It's always nice to see a player from Japan make it in the major leagues, whether it be a Japanese pitcher such as Hideo Nomo or Kazuhiro Sasaki, or a foreigner such as Matt Stairs, Rob Ducey or Lee Stevens getting another shot at the Bigs after spending time in the Central or Pacific Leagues in Dai...
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 15, 2000

Hawks pitcher Fujii passes away at 31

Daiei Hawks pitcher Masao Fujii died at a Fukuoka hospital Friday. He was 31, three days short of his 32nd birthday. Fujii had been hospitalized at the National Kyushu Medical Center for interstitial pneumonia.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2000

Lions pitcher faces scrutiny of prosecutors

Police on Friday sent papers to public prosecutors on Seibu Lions pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, accusing him of driving a car without a valid license last month in Tokyo and of other traffic offenses, they said.
EDITORIALS
Oct 13, 2000

Mr. Mori's misplaced priorities

Six months after an uncertain start, the administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is enjoying a period of stability, or so it seems. In contrast, immediately after the Liberal Democratic Party's defeat in June's Lower House election, the governing party was gripped by a feeling that it would not...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2000

Arrested man also suspect in Blackman case

A 48-year-old Tokyo man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of molesting a Canadian woman three years ago and will also be questioned in connection with the recent disappearance of a British bar hostess, police said.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2000

Nobel Prize surprises Tsukuba chemist

Hideki Shirakawa of Japan and Americans Alan Heeger and Alan MacDiarmid have been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their discovery that some plastics can conduct electricity. Shirakawa, 64, a professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, said the honor came as a total...
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2000

Japan 776.5 trillion yen in red . . . maybe

The government's liabilities exceeded its assets by as much as 776.5 trillion yen at the end of March 1999, according to the country's first-ever national balance sheet released Tuesday by the Finance Ministry.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2000

1970 hijacking still up in air

A recent joint statement issued by the United States and North Korea on international terrorism may not help resolve the 1970 hijacking of a Japan Airlines jetliner by Japanese Red Army members, who remain in North Korea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2000

Patient safety must come first

If the situation that is developing in many Japanese hospitals is not yet a national emergency, it soon will be. The frequency with which medication errors and other medical accidents are occurring has many people legitimately concerned about undergoing a hospital stay. Those fears can only be heightened...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2000

Palestinians fight decades of injustice

AL-BIREH, West Bank -- Areen, my 6-year-old daughter, has been unusually quiet. This normally energetic, very talkative child could not fully understand why school was canceled on Saturday after she was dressed and ready to go. On Sunday, during the news broadcast of the death of 12-year-old Mohammed...
COMMENTARY
Oct 9, 2000

A chicken in every pot, TVs in every home

WASHINGTON -- With a tough election looming in the United States, congressional Republicans have opened the Treasury to every interest group with a letterhead. Budget analysts Stephen Moore and Stephen Slivinski figure this Congress may end up as the biggest social spender since the 1970s.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2000

Localities urge Tokyo to lead on suffrage issue

Almost 50 percent of major municipalities believe the central government should determine whether foreigners are granted suffrage in local elections rather than leaving the decision to local authorities, a Kyodo News survey said Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 8, 2000

The Japanese people really are different

This year there were two Olympics. One was for the world generally. The other was for Japan, with audiences glued to events where hysterical announcers could declare a Japanese victory.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2000

KSD probed in breach of clients' trust

Tokyo public prosecutors launched an investigation Friday into an alleged breach-of-trust case involving the head of a Tokyo-based mutual aid organization for small enterprises.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2000

Japan to give Pyongyang rice aid despite kidnap claims

The government on Friday officially announced plans to send 500,000 tons of rice as additional food aid to North Korea.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2000

Taiwan shift away from reactors may deal blow to Japanese firms

Taiwan's Economics Ministry has taken a step toward loosening the island's reliance on nuclear power in a move that could be a major blow to Japanese firms in the atomic power industry.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 6, 2000

'Exodus' to a country of hope?

In recent years Murakami Ryu has received much attention for his uncanny knack of writing novels taking up themes, such as teen crime and hikikomori (withdrawing from the world and shutting oneself up in one's room), just before they come to public awareness as social problems. Now Murakami's new novel...
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2000

Support rate for Mori up marginally to 33.4%

The public approval rate for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's administration is up 1 percent to 33.4 percent but remains far below his disapproval rate of 58.2 percent, according to a Kyodo News poll released Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Nakasone named diplomacy adviser

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Tuesday appointed former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone as his special adviser on diplomatic affairs, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa said.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Experiments on humans outpacing ethics, WMA chief warns

The incoming head of an international physicians' association says excessive experiments involving human subjects should be curbed amid the growing range of experiments in this age of advanced medical science.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Talks on management of Nago base to begin

The central government and local governments in Okinawa Prefecture agreed Tuesday to commence talks on managing the U.S. military facility expected to take over the heliport functions of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan city.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Foreign Ministry opens NGO center

The Foreign Ministry launches a new "NGO Center" today that is designed to improve communication and cooperation with nongovernmental organizations.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2000

Tokyo hails visit of Pyongyang envoy

Japan welcomes North Korea's plan to dispatch a senior official to the United States next month, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa said Monday.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell