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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 8, 2001

Confessions of a 'queen'

Karen's father never had any reason to go into her bedroom closet. Whenever he stayed at his daughter's Tokyo apartment while on business trips, she always told him not to bother putting away the futon in the morning and unfailingly reminded him not to touch anything.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 8, 2001

The Japanese Constitution gets a provocative look

FIVE DECADES OF CONSTITUTIONALISM IN JAPANESE SOCIETY, edited by Yoshio Higuchi. University of Tokyo Press, 2001, 368 pp., 8,000 yen. A major stumbling block for Japan on its road to becoming a more influential member of the global community has been a profound absence of voice. Japanese politicians,...
EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2001

Next round of the word wars

There's a lot going on in the world this month. Heads of state are exchanging visits; China is finally getting a foot inside the WTO's door; and Wimbledon is hosting yet another prim-and-proper tennis championship. But for English-speakers who have their priorities straight, the big event of early July...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2001

U.S. stays silent on its own 'dirty wars'

Carlos Mauricio and Martin Almada can only marvel at the self-righteousness with which the United States has insisted on punishment for former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2001

Mahathir digs deep into old roots

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad took two hours to deliver a 21-page address at the opening ceremony of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) assembly on June 21. During the assembly's closing session two days later, he took another two hours to elaborate on the key...
COMMENTARY
Jul 5, 2001

Serve justice by ending Microsoft suit

WASHINGTON -- It may not be the end, but it may be the beginning of the end. The Bush administration should use the dramatic reversal of the court-ordered break up of Microsoft to end the case.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2001

Love: The final frontier

In science fiction, technological progress is often portrayed as bringing humankind ever closer to God in terms of understanding and exploiting the universe. At the beginning of Steven Spielberg's "A.I.," a scientist with the interesting name of Dr. Hobby (William Hurt) expounds before a group of underlings...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 4, 2001

Baseball & Beer Blast at Sapporo Dome

Japan's sixth all-weather stadium was the setting last week as the Yomiuri Giants and Chunichi Dragons played the first official pro baseball games at the Sapporo Dome. The June 26-28 series was won by the Giants, who took the first and third games. Chunichi won Game 2.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2001

The real backbone of Japan

Japan pays about 2,000 yen for each ton of iron ore it imports. Sheet iron made from the ore sells for 50,000 yen a ton and automobiles built with the sheet iron sell for 1 million yen a ton. The Japanese economy thrives by creating added value in the manufacturing of industrial products from raw materials....
EDITORIALS
Jul 2, 2001

Yugoslavia bends, justice prevails

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has been handed over to the international war-crimes tribunal in The Hague. He is the first head of state to be brought to the court, where he is accused of committing war crimes during the brutal offensive he launched against the province of Kosovo. The decision...
COMMENTARY
Jul 1, 2001

Tanaka should think twice before speaking

Calm does not seem to prevail in the words and deeds attributed to Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka. She caused a considerable controversy when she expressed the view that Japan should join hands with European countries to persuade the United States not to go ahead with the missile-defense initiative....
CULTURE / Books
Jul 1, 2001

Nakasone as No. 1 reformer

JAPANESE EDUCATION REFORM: Nakasone's Legacy, by Christopher P. Hood. London and New York: Sheffield Centre for Japanese Studies/Routledge, 2001. 222 pp., 50 UK pounds (cloth). When neoconservatism was riding high, a leftwing cartoonist drew a pastiche of Edward Hopper's famous painting of a sad roadside...
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2001

Koizumi: a new type of leader

Two months have passed since the inauguration of the popular administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Thanks to the prime minister's enormous popularity, the Liberal Democratic Party easily triumphed in this week's election for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, which was the first test for...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2001

India and Pakistan both stand to gain

The sudden invitation extended by Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to attend a summit talk in New Delhi might have taken some observers by surprise but in reality it is a calculated move based on South Asian geopolitics.
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2001

Time for a strategic dialogue

HONOLULU -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will have a lot to talk about with U.S. President George W. Bush when the two meet for the first time at Camp David this weekend. High on the agenda should be the initiation of a strategic dialogue aimed at redefining the U.S.-Japan security relationship....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 30, 2001

Cracking foreign code

The problem with foreign languages is that they change all the normal rules. Normal language meaning YOUR native language, and not anyone else's. Those people who invented foreign languages changed the rules just so you wouldn't be able to imitate their language easily. Like protecting their secret code....
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2001

Coming out at the workplace the next big challenge for gays

During a party celebrating his election to a Tokyo ward assembly in April 1999, the candidate was being congratulated by supporters, as were his parents, who were hailed as the biggest contributors to the successful campaign.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2001

Bad-loan disposal urged over profits

How many bad loans did banks write off in fiscal 2000? How many years will it take for banks to dispose of all their bad loans?
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2001

Court rules serial killer Miyazaki sane

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday upheld the death penalty for Tsutomu Miyazaki, 38, for the abduction and murder of four girls in a 1988-1989 serial killing spree that shocked the nation.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2001

Young need NPO experience, Ghosn says

Nissan Motor Co. President Carlos Ghosn stressed the importance of young people experiencing work at nonprofit organizations, as he greeted participants to this year's NPO scholarship program sponsored by the automaker.
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2001

Long-stayers in Europe nixed as donors

A health ministry committee on Wednesday decided to ban organ donations from people who have spent six months or more in some European countries since 1980.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2001

Firms must pick and choose when pursuing western ways

As Japanese firms seek to adopt more elements of western-style business management practices and ideas, pressure appears to be mounting on corporate executives to increase shareholder value.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2001

More improvements to come: Ghosn

Carlos Ghosn, president of Nissan Motor Co., said Tuesday that while the automaker deserves an "A or A-plus" for its rehabilitation efforts so far, its performance has yet to match all that it is capable of.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 27, 2001

The chrysanthemum and the rose

LONDON -- Anybody turning up at London's Hyde Park to walk their dog on the morning of Saturday, May 19, could have been forgiven for thinking they'd wandered into some kind of space and time warp. Instead of a few squirrels and strollers enjoying the pale, watery sunshine, they would have found a full-blown...
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2001

Cuban dancer teaches salsa to promote cultural exchange

Swinging in from half a world away, Alberto Romay, a Cuban dance instructor based in Tokyo, is bringing a taste of the Caribbean country's culture closer to the people of Japan.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2001

Japan to give $100 million to AIDS fund

The government will pay about $100 million for a fund proposed by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to promote the international crusade against AIDS, government sources said Sunday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

All in a (24-hour) day's work

I've barely sat down with Ken Joseph Jr. and taken a sip of my coffee when his cellphone rings.
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

Old specs reveal a brighter future

Got glasses? Eyeglasses, that is. When you use them, they are one of the most necessary things in your life. When you're done with a pair, though, what can you do with them? If you are not planning to use them for an aspiring avant-garde art project or frying bugs in the hot summer sun, they could be...
COMMENTARY
Jun 24, 2001

In diplomacy, two tracks is better than one

There is a better than even chance that this is the only article you will ever read about the Asia Pacific Roundtable that was held earlier this month in Kuala Lumpur. That's a pity. Not only because the meeting has some history behind it -- this year marked the 15th annual get-together -- or because...

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo