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COMMUNITY
Jul 2, 2000

Noh master calling U.K. college alumni

There was some initial confusion when Naohiko Umewaka requested help in finding graduates of Royal Holloway. What was he talking about? The only Holloway known to this Londoner is the district north of the River Thames best known for the prison of the same name. Now here was a story! Japan's best known...
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2000

Measles up sharply among adults

The number of adults suffering from measles has risen sharply in recent months, with a Tokyo hospital reporting about 20 such cases in the last two months, according to officials at the Health and Welfare Ministry.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 2, 2000

High art from cold metal: Brass music matures at last

There is something powerfully appealing about an ensemble of brass players. Brilliant trumpets and trombones, mellow horns and tubas -- when they are beautifully played, the sound, the strength and the artistry of the playing is quite compelling.
COMMUNITY
Jul 2, 2000

Lovers of blood and sand form Tauro Tokyo Club

There are a huge variety of clubs in Japan. Table-tennis clubs and social dance clubs, hostess clubs and clubs where you can polish up your karaoke. But there is only one club devoted to the art of bullfighting.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2000

Radical Hindus wrecking India's tolerant secularism

NEW DELHI -- The new millennium has been terribly cruel to Christians in India. Fanatical Hindu organizations -- which are wings of the country's ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- have unleashed a reign of terror on the second-largest minority group after the Muslims. Murder and mayhem and...
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2000

Key cultist sentenced to die for role in two sarin attacks

Senior Aum Shinrikyo follower Yasuo Hayashi was sentenced to death Thursday for releasing nerve gas on a Tokyo subway train in March 1995 and for his role in the deadly June 1994 sarin attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
COMMUNITY
Jun 29, 2000

Fresh ideas keep old traditions alive

"A hundred people must have told me it was impossible," said Sarah Cummings as we sipped sake in the stylish Kurabu restaurant in the village of Obuse.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2000

A Chinese teenager's dream of a better life ends in tragedy in the back of a truck

CHANGLE, Fujian -- Smartly dressed in a Calvin Klein T-shirt, jeans and white trainers, the teenager props up a motorbike in Changle, a city in the southern Chinese province of Fujian. His hair flopping over sunglasses, he flashes a shy grin at the camera. Jin Xicai hardly resembles the stereotype refugee,...
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2000

Top farm bureaucrat pleads not guilty to bribery

An elite farm ministry bureaucrat pleaded not guilty Tuesday to helping an agricultural cooperative in Kagawa Prefecture secure farm subsidies in exchange for entertainment worth 2.9 million yen.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 28, 2000

Venables likes France's chances at Euro 2000

BRUSSELS -- Former England manager Terry Venables is tipping France to win the European Championship. Venables, who led England to the semifinals of Euro 96 in England, has been impressed by the improvement in the French team since it won the World Cup two years ago.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 28, 2000

Online education

A high school graduate who wants to wait a year before going home for her university education was invited to attend the University of Maryland University College graduation in April. There she heard reference to a program that provides online courses at a global university. She wonders if she could...
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 28, 2000

Nature's playground welcomes kids of all ages

Located on low hills (67 meters above sea level) in Yokohama's Minami Ward, the Yokohama Children's Botanic Garden opened to the public in 1979 (the Year of the Child) with an area of 4 hectares. Since then, many of the trees have matured, creating a woodland atmosphere.
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).
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2000

Foreign investors' stock sales may abate

The catalyst for the recent corrections in Tokyo share prices was selling by foreign investors.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 27, 2000

Orange-flavored Dutch treats

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- There's only one thing that goes through your mind when you enter De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam: the Netherlands can never lose here.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 27, 2000

Art, enlightenment and empire

THE IDEALS OF THE EAST, by Okakura Kakuzo. Tokyo: ICG Muse Inc., 2000, 250 pp., 1,300 yen.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

Two Cabinet ministers lose, dealing blow to Mori

Two Cabinet ministers seem to have lost their seats in Sunday's general election, dealing a blow to the government led by Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
COMMUNITY
Jun 26, 2000

It's true! Chocolate is good for you!

The academic name for cacao beans is Theobroma cacao, which means "God's food." They are said to have first been found in pre-Columbian Mexico, where they were valued as an elixir of life among the royalty. The native Mexicans believed that with one block of crushed chocolate, one could work five to...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 26, 2000

Is there free speech in Japan? Greenpeace activists arrested

"For the sake of good environmental policy, it is necessary to have freedom of expression which forms public opinion." These are the words of Sweden's environment minister, part of a press release issued in March 1999, following the arrest of several Greenpeace activists who were in Tokyo protesting...
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2000

James Treece named new FCCJ head

James Treece of Automotive News has narrowly beaten Anthony Rowley of the Singapore Business Times to become president of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, official election results showed Friday.
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,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2000

Making humanitarian aid more effective

NEW YORK -- One of the greatest challenges facing governments and international aid agencies today is how to respond better to humanitarian disasters.
SOCCER / J. League
Jun 24, 2000

J. League second-stage race looks wide open

After the Yokohama F. Marinos dramatically won the first stage a month ago, the J. League Division One second stage is set to get underway Saturday.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Talks address Japan, U.S. e-commerce

While it may appear that the United States is far ahead of Japan and the rest of the world in embracing e-business, the U.S. itself is a newcomer to the field, and tremendous challenges lie ahead, a U.S. business school educator told a symposium organized by Keizai Koho Center.
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

Close digital divide: ministry

An environment better suited to the Internet and cellular phones is urgently needed for the development of the rapidly growing "new economy" in Japan, the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said in a report released Tuesday.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes