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COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 1999

Japan's 'darkness at noon' Korean policy

U.S. diplomat William Perry has a policy of "cautious realism" regarding North Korea, and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung is identified with his positive "sunshine policy" vis-a-vis Pyongyang. It would be generous and accurate to characterize Japan's policy toward the North Korean regime of Kim Jong...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 1999

Seafood contamination scare overblown

Special to The Japan Times Recently, concern has been expressed in Japan about the contaminants found in whales and other marine mammals. It has been reported that contaminant levels are dangerously high and the government should take steps to reduce the risk to consumers' health. It may be helpful to...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 1999

Russia's Jewish homeland: a Stalinist experiment in social engineering lingers on

BIROBIDZHAN, RUSSIA -- Mikhail Kul was a soldier in the Soviet Army that helped defeat Germany in 1945, but he returned home to find that the Holocaust had emptied his Ukrainian village of most of its inhabitants.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 1999

Writer, artist unite to portray Okinawa's problems

Staff writer OSAKA -- When artist Seitaro Kuroda was videotaping a series of war stories for children written by prize-winning author Akiyuki Nosaka, he noticed something was missing. The stories, which first appeared in a magazine in 1971, described the hardship brought upon children and animals by...
JAPAN
Dec 29, 1999

Titanic bell to ring in Nagoya's new year

Staff writer A bell recovered from the RMS Titanic will be rung for the first time in 88 years in a unique event to usher in 2000 in Nagoya. The brass bell was recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic, at a depth of more than 4,000 meters, in 1998. Andrew Quinn, the U.S. consul general to Nagoya, will...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1999

Nishimura urges military upgrade, carrier fleet

Former Parliamentary Vice Minister of Defense Shingo Nishimura urged Japan on Wednesday to adopt a more positive role for the security of East Asia through such steps as forming its own legitimate military forces and introducing its own aircraft carriers. Nishimura, who resigned in October after suggesting...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1999

High court upholds dismissal of Korean redress suit

The Tokyo High Court has upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit by 189 Koreans demanding that the government officially apologize and pay each of them between 30 million yen and 50 million yen in damages for their suffering after they were conscripted into the Imperial Japanese forces...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1999

JCO worker succumbs after 83 days

One of three JCO Co. workers exposed to massive radiation in September in the nation's worst nuclear accident died of organ failure at a Tokyo hospital late Tuesday night, becoming the first fatality of his kind in Japan. Hisashi Ouchi, 35, was critically injured during an accident Sept. 30 at the JCO...
LIFE / Travel
Dec 22, 1999

Sun shines again for the city on the Neva

If it wasn't for me, the terrace of the bar would be deserted. The leaves on the plane trees are just beginning to take on their autumn colors, a breeze off the River Neva is blowing in through the massive gateway to the Peter and Paul Fortress and directly in front of me rises the almost sheer golden...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 1999

High court nixes redress suit

Korean conscripts' demand for compensation denied b The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit by 189 Koreans demanding that the government officially apologize and pay each of them between 30 million yen and 50 million yen in damages for their suffering after...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 1999

No shortage of challenges for Musharraf

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's new military regime led by Gen. Pervez Musharraf is eager to demonstrate that its decision to put former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on trial on charges of attempted murder and kidnapping is not necessarily driven by malicious intent. If convicted, Sharif could be sentenced to...
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 1999

'Get out or die'

Russia has always talked tough. Last week, the world got a double dose of invective, however. First, residents of the Chechen capital of Grozny were told to "get out or die" before the Russian military launched an assault. A few days later, Russian President Boris Yeltsin expressed his displeasure with...
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 1999

Victims of money politics

Mr. Helmut Kohl may no longer be Germany's chancellor, a position he held for 16 years, but he continues to be one of the country's most revered statesmen. He presided over the reunification of Germany and in the process helped the country become "a normal nation." While each of his predecessors pushed...
JAPAN
Dec 10, 1999

GM to acquire 20% stake in Fuji Heavy

In another move to enhance its Asian presence, General Motors Corp. of the United States will invest 140 billion yen to obtain a 20 percent stake in Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. as part of a strategic alliance, top officials of the two automakers announced Friday. Fuji Heavy will become the third Japanese...
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Dec 9, 1999

Could you be drinking a glass of freaky Frankenstein wine?

How about a glass or two of Frankenstein wine?
JAPAN
Dec 9, 1999

Tokyo to host conference on future role of U.N.

Staff writer Some of the world's leading experts on development, security, governance and the environment will meet in Tokyo in mid-January for an international conference on the role the U.N. will play in the 21st century. According to a provisional program, the Millennium Conference will be held for...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Dec 8, 1999

Beyond coping

Certain products come in many shapes and sizes, and a reader must thank the Italian Trade Commission in Tokyo for the successful ending of her search. She was looking for a special kind of Italian support hose made by IBICI and she wondered where she could buy them in Japan. It could be an endless search,...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 5, 1999

Fantasy, drama: visions of a blind artist

When Carter's, the biggest children's clothes maker in the U.S., chose to use blind artist Emu Namae's pastel drawings on their children's line, new doors opened in Namae's life.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 5, 1999

Mellow, smooth and clear -- classical orchestras fill a niche

Chamber orchestras vary in size, just as people do. A chamber orchestra may comprise as few as 13 (the smallest number that can sound like an orchestra) or as many as 20 string players, plus winds. A symphony orchestra usually musters a string body ranging upward from, say, 35 string players.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 5, 1999

Down Under music with Asian flair

The renowned Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe vividly recalls gifts he received as a young boy growing up in 1930s rural Tasmania, given to him by family friends on return from Japan. One gift was a much-thumbed children's version of the "Tale of Genji," the other a cardboard-cutout castle.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 1999

Filipino teen recalls sexploitation, Japanese tricks

KAWASAKI -- A 15-year-old Filipino girl told a group of Japanese high school students of her experiences of being sexually exploited by foreign travelers and called for a world in which children's rights are not abused. Raised by poor relatives, of whom she only remembers "shouting and slapping," after...
JAPAN
Dec 1, 1999

Beethoven concert to fete students' wartime sendoff

Staff writer
JAPAN
Dec 1, 1999

Grocers' group aids family businesses

Staff writer
CULTURE / Music
Nov 27, 1999

Finding freedom through 'Affirmation'

The liberty and experimentation of the 1970s still hold a nostalgic place in the memory of jazz pianist and composer Tomoko Ohno. It is a period, she says, that "most people remember fondly."
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Nov 27, 1999

The potter who set the scene on fire

In a brief span of time a few decades ago, one Japanese potter set the ceramic scene on fire, and as quickly as a brilliant meteor shooting across a night sky, disappeared. Yet his name and influence still circle the wheel that spins in most potters' studios; his immense impact on contemporary ceramics...
EDITORIALS
Nov 26, 1999

The computer giant stumbles

In the era of globalization, the management mantra seems to be "bigger is better." From automakers to securities traders, every business aspires to the size and weight that would allow it to influence -- if not dictate -- developments in its particular industry. In the fast-moving world of high-technology,...
EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 1999

'The primary tools of violence'

During the Cold War, arms-control efforts focused on weapons of mass destruction. Diplomats struggled to find ways to limit biological, chemical and nuclear arsenals. They met with varying degrees of success, and they are laboring still to protect humanity from their destructive power. In recent years,...
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 1999

Japan's Middle East role

In January 1996, I was dispatched by the Japanese government to observe the election of the Palestine Council and the president of the Palestinian Authority. Because Palestine was still under Israeli occupation, it was not a sovereign state: Sending international observers to such a region was unprecedented....
EDITORIALS
Nov 23, 1999

Terror for the 21st century

A few weeks ago, New York was hit by an outbreak of the West Nile virus. Five people died and another 50 were sickened before authorities were able to respond. West Nile fever is a rare, encephalitic virus that is common in Africa and Asia, but had never before been diagnosed in the Western Hemisphere....
JAPAN
Nov 22, 1999

Matsushita, Daikin plan AC alliance

OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Daikin Industries, Ltd. announced plans Monday to collaborate in the air conditioning business that will include establishing a joint venture company in April.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’