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JAPAN
Feb 8, 2000

Myanmar citizens see dual taxation as incentive to overstay

Staff writer The Feb. 18 revision of the Immigration Control Law has prompted many undocumented foreigners to return home, but some Myanmar citizens are unable even to go through deportation procedures because they find it hard to pay overdue taxes to their government. The Myanmar citizens said they...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 8, 2000

A great tradition resurrected

SEX AND THE FLOATING WORLD: Erotic Images in Japan 1700-1820, by Timon Screech. London: Reaktion Books, 1999, 320 pp., 156 illustrations, 36 color, 16.95 British pounds. Though there has been much scholarly research of the ukiyo-e, woodblock prints from premodern Japan, one sizable genre within this...
EDITORIALS
Feb 7, 2000

A voice of reason for cleaner air

A few days have passed since the Kobe District Court issued its landmark ruling that the central government and a local expressway corporation should reduce vehicle exhaust emissions on National Highway No. 43 in the city of Amagasaki in Hyogo Prefecture. Sufferers from pollution-related asthma and other...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 7, 2000

Hingis claims third Toray tennis title

Martina Hingis caught no one by surprise on Sunday. She was supposed to win the Toray Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament and that's exactly what she did. Victory, however, didn't come easily.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 6, 2000

Hingis vs. Testud in Toray final

After cruising past world No. 11 Anna Kournikova in Friday's quarterfinals, top-seeded Martina Hingis was forced to play competitive tennis on Saturday against Chanda Rubin of the U.S. The Swiss star responded with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory over Rubin to reach the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open tennis...
COMMUNITY
Feb 6, 2000

The best parents are both parents

David Brian Thomas (who with a name like that can only owe his heritage to Welsh Wales) carries two photos in his wallet. One shows a baby; the other a gravely sweet 3-year-old -- the age Thomas last saw his son seven years ago.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2000

It's not hard to get hooked on fly-fishing

Fly-fishing has a certain mystique. It's not uncommon for an angler equipped with a deep knowledge of aquatic insects and a perfect midair loop to stand in the cold for hours without netting a single trout.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2000

Rising tension in South Asia

ISLAMABAD -- India and Pakistan have maintained an ongoing standoff for much of their 52-year history, but it is only during moments of heightened tension that the international community focuses on South Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2000

A voice of reason campaigns for the return of Japan's Northern Territories

For Japan's ultraright, Feb. 7 is the holiest day of the year. The thuggish men in their loudspeaker-laden, slogan-painted vans will be out in force on "Northern Territories Day," once again testing the nation's aural-pain threshold.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2000

LDP's Nikaido dies of heart failure

Susumu Nikaido, a former vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, died at a Tokyo hospital Thursday due to heart failure, his family said. He was 90. Born in Kagoshima Prefecture, Nikaido graduated from the University of Southern California in 1941. He was elected to the Diet's House of Representatives...
LIFE
Feb 3, 2000

Harvesting the world's profusion

"In Japanese, we call that shrub an asebi," says botanist and potter Gufudo Watanabe. Without a pause, the sinewy man with the graying goatee tells me the two other common names in Japanese, the Latin name (Pieris japonica) and the English common name (Japanese andromeda).
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2000

Bengal tiger put down after killing its keeper

A 25-year-old man died Thursday after being mauled by a Bengal tiger in a holding pen operated by an animal leasing firm in Machida, western Tokyo, police said. The man was identified as Masaru Watanabe, a part-time employee at the facility. He appeared to have been bitten in the neck when he was feeding...
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 2, 2000

Look out for masked bandits at roadside

It is amazing what one can see out of the corner of an eye.
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2000

Chuo relinquishes helm of merged bank to Mitsui

Top executives of Mitsui Trust & Banking Co. and Chuo Trust & Banking Co. were inundated with questions from reporters Monday as they announced the reversal of an earlier decision regarding the leadership structure of a bank to be set up through a merger of the two firms in April.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 2, 2000

Valentine's in Japan, oh how sweet it is

Here's a fun fact to sweeten your life: The average Japanese consumes about 1.1 kg of chocolate per year.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Feb 2, 2000

Maintaining traditions

A gentleman is doing research on fireflies and asks about a service that provides fireflies for parties. He tells us he lives on a small hill surrounded by trees with a huge expanse of rice fields below. Ideal for fireflies, he says, but they are exceedingly rare; his son has seen more on a single night...
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2000

Today's full decontrols may put air fares in a dive

While the entry of new airlines two years ago accelerated industry competition in Japan, fares are likely to drop further as full deregulation is introduced today.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2000

Deregulation likely to send air fares into nosedive

Staff writer While the entry of new airlines two years ago accelerated competition in the industry in Japan, fares are likely to drop further as full deregulation is introduced today. The revised Civil Aeronautics Law will eliminate regulations on domestic air fares. As a result, domestic airlines will...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2000

Chuo relinquishes presidency of merged bank

Staff writer Top executives of Mitsui Trust & Banking Co. and Chuo Trust & Banking Co. were inundated with questions from reporters Monday as they announced the reversal of an earlier decision regarding the leadership structure of a bank to be set up through a merger of the two firms in April. When...
EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2000

Emperors of the rag trade

"Haute couture" -- high fashion -- has long been good for a laugh. One of the best therapies for gloom in Tokyo is to stroll along the southeastern end of Omotesando, in Aoyama, where the fashion boutiques cluster. The prison-block architecture (rain-streaked cement tastefully accessorized with rust)...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Jan 30, 2000

Success story

While no one can possibly take in all the exhibitions in Tokyo, some of you may be interested in a showing of Yoshihiro Kubo's oil paintings today through Tuesday at Ginza Art Plaza, phone (03) 3289-2345 for directions. If you don't know, Dr. Kubo opened what was perhaps the first dental clinic in Japan...
MORE SPORTS
Jan 30, 2000

Rams vs. Titans: the inside scoop

ATLANTA -- With the St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans going through their final full practices Friday at the Georgia Dome as the city braces for a huge snowstorm, the buildup to Super Bowl XXXIV has reached its crescendo.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2000

Can hard industry spike the Net bubble?

Time Warner's one-two megamerger punch, first with America Online then with British music giant EMI Group, followed last week by shares of Yahoo Japan Corp. exceeding 100 million yen, sent many investors and observers searching for a psychological safety blanket.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2000

Disaster dictated Ginza make-overs

JR Yurakucho Station is a well-known gateway to the shopping paradise of Tokyo's Ginza district, whose very name invokes images of luxury and big-name brands.
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 29, 2000

Maintaining Shiiba's proud history

A good chance to enjoy a glimpse of visual and performing arts of rural old Japan will come to Tokyo Feb. 19-20. The Kioi Small Hall will present a special program titled "Traditional Performing Arts of Shiiba, Miyazaki" to introduce rarely seen dances and chants performed in front of a profusely decorated...
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2000

A warning from cyberspace

Welcome to the digital world. That was not the actual wording of the message hackers left on Japanese government Web pages this week, but it was the meaning for anyone who bothered to read between the lines. This week's incidents were an embarrassment, or at most a nuisance. Next time, the damage could...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2000

Restructuring, but with a human touch

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The most popular "buzzwords" in this time of change must surely be "globalization" and "restructuring." Allow me to indulge in one more reference to the latter with some remarks that may be quickly criticized as an example of "old-school, bureaucratic" thinking.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 27, 2000

Dorsett father-son combo first to start in Super Bowl

ATLANTA -- Tennessee free safety Anthony Dorsett doesn't remember much about the first Super Bowl in which his father played. But he'll get to create his own memories when he starts for the Titans, who take on the St. Louis Rams here at the Georgia Dome on Sunday in Super Bowl XXXIV.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 27, 2000

Wineries to complement your travel plans

In the dead of winter, what's a wine lover to do? I'm almost tempted to say "Bring back the hot, spicy wine," the body-warming concoction quaffed at stalls in town center squares all over Europe toward year's end. It's a splendid custom, but actually what I had in mind is winery visits in California....
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2000

Serial killer claims he was forced into confessing

Convicted serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki told the Tokyo High Court on Thursday he was forced into confessing to the murders of three young girls on the first day of his arrest in July 1989 although he was apprehended on molestation charges. During defense questioning, Miyazaki, 37, said he was detained...

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