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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2001

Myanmar solutions require three-way talks

Myanmar's junta, the State Peace and Development Council, is engaged in secret reconciliation talks with democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi. For now, exiled dissidents and ethnic opponents of the junta watch cautiously from the sidelines. Any solution to Myanmar's problems, though, will have to consider...
COMMENTARY
Apr 18, 2001

The crew's home; now what?

HONOLULU -- The release of the crew of the American EP-3E reconnaissance plane from Chinese "protective custody" may have defused the crisis but hardly represents the end of this affair. Meetings are now under way between U.S. and Chinese officials to deal with the aftereffects. While both sides agree...
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2001

Slaves to enduring myths of the Civil War

America's Civil War is still being fought. Mississippi voters will be going to the polls in April to decide the fate of their state flag. Virginia Gov. James Gilmore recently scrapped his state's annual proclamation honoring Confederate History Month. After an emotional debate, the Georgia legislature...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 18, 2001

Tsuyoshi Akiyama

According to Dr. Tsuyoshi Akiyama, until rather recently psychiatry as a branch of medicine did not receive in Japan the recognition it merits. He, however, made psychiatry his specialty. His reasons at the time were very specific.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2001

Crime rise fuels quest for security

Increasing numbers of people are flocking to the home-security sections of their local hardware and do-it-yourself stores on weekends amid reports of a growing crime wave in Japan.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 6, 2001

Two perspectives on a gray tomorrow

CARING FOR THE ELDERLY IN JAPAN AND THE U.S.: Practices and Policies, edited by Susan Orpett Long. Routledge: London, 2000. 358 pp., $100. By the year 2025, some 26 percent of Japan's population will be over 65 years old, meaning that society and families will need to cope with the various needs of...
COMMUNITY
Mar 4, 2001

Japanese estate agent right at home in London

"I'll have the agreement drafted by Monday, then fax it over," Kazuyuki Nakamura was saying to a client over the phone last week in northwest London. "It's not your property? So who is the landlord? Well, he can appoint you to collect (rents) on his behalf. Otherwise we can, but then that will cost you;...
COMMUNITY
Mar 1, 2001

Spreading the word of Zen

They don't hold formal conferences or seek out media coverage of their more than 20 years of charitable work in Myanmar. Rather, members of the Asian Buddhist Association put their time into the project itself and traversing Japan drumming up interest among grassroots Buddhist groups, nongovernmental...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 25, 2001

Tim and Lee Pierce

Ever since they first came to Tokyo nearly 30 years ago, Tim and Lee Pierce have been committed, reliable, community people. Separately and as a duo, they have allied themselves to associations that appeal to them. They came as parents, and are now grandparents, whose conversations often bring in mention...
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2001

Osaka leaders' talk fest serves up more than usual platitudes

KYOTO -- When the Kansai region's leaders gather here every year for a two-day seminar to discuss the regional economy, corporate heads, economists and local government officials pontificate on issues ranging from information technology to employment.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2001

Symposium discusses African conflicts

The key to resolving and preventing conflicts in Africa is empowering citizens and decentralizing political systems currently controlled by power elites, participants at a two-day Tokyo symposium on African conflicts agreed Thursday.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 12, 2001

Into the heart of darkness

What is it about deeply rural places and deeply strange religion and sex? In the United States, one has the stereotype of the hills of Appalachia as refuges for snake-handling preachers and cousin-marrying hillbillies. In Japan, one has the mountains of Shikoku in Masato Harada's "Inugami," where ancient...
COMMUNITY
Feb 11, 2001

Shinto priestess finds freedom while minding duties of past

On summer weekends, Kugenuma Beach turns into a parody of the nearby metropolis' encroachment on the holidaymaker, with girls in bikinis and 20-cm platform sandals struggling across the sand while loudspeakers on towers belch J-pop at 50-meter intervals, making it difficult to find a moment for quiet...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2001

CD-ROMs aid the visually impaired

KYOTO -- Yuko Shiomi, a professional narrator with the radio station KBS Kyoto, speaks into a microphone. Her role is that of "Kakuunsai," a fictional character depicting a distinguished calligrapher.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2001

CD-ROMs aid the visually impaired

KYOTO -- Yuko Shiomi, a professional narrator with the radio station KBS Kyoto, speaks into a microphone. Her role is that of "Kakuunsai," a fictional character depicting a distinguished calligrapher.
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2001

Bush can win over African Americans

WASHINGTON -- America's 2000 election was essentially a tie. President George W. Bush won among whites, but received only about 10 percent of black votes. What he should do to reach out to minorities has generated a torrent of political commentary.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2001

Keio president set to lead new education panel

An advisory panel to Education Minister Nobutaka Machimura selected Keio University President Yasuhiko Torii as its leader Thursday at its first meeting since the central government was realigned in January.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2001

Keio president set to lead new education panel

An advisory panel to Education Minister Nobutaka Machimura selected Keio University President Yasuhiko Torii as its leader Thursday at its first meeting since the central government was realigned in January.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2001

Partnerships for humanitarian crises

The number of refugees, displaced people and others of concern to the UNHCR jumped from under 15 million in 1990 to over 22 million in 2000: a 50 percent increase over the decade. Refugees are a symptom of a deeper malaise in the polities from which they have fled. The failure to establish satisfactory...
COMMENTARY
Jan 20, 2001

A good pick for key Asian-policy post

Nice guys don't always finish last. Soon after Gen. Colin Powell heard from President-elect George W. Bush that he was indeed to be nominated secretary of state, he picked up the telephone and asked someone he has known for years to join his team as the next assistant secretary of state for East Asian...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 12, 2001

Curry on my wayward sons

Culture clash comedy is a shtick often brought to the big screen, but its success depends heavily on the details. For "East Is East," the particulars lie in the U.K.-Asian community of Manchester,circa 1971. Focusing on first-generation Pakistani immigrant George Khan, his British wife Ella and their...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2001

Caution and patience are key to Japan-North Korea relations

There have been earthshaking developments on the Korean Peninsula in the past six months. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il began to play a central role in Pyongyang's international relations, a year after the country started making diplomatic overtures worldwide. North Korea relaxed tense relations with...
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2001

Young information technology execs join social revolution

The role played by young people in promoting information technology in society was highlighted in early December when a teenage company executive was recognized and won an award for being the person most representative of the IT revolution.
BUSINESS
Jan 5, 2001

Cooperative-style condos let owners realize dreams

New condo owner Emiko Kaji says her brand new color-coordinated kitchen keeps her happy while she slaves over the stove cooking for her family.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2001

The high human cost of anticapitalism

There has been a rising swell of voices to denounce the forces of capitalism and globalization. It has gone beyond the normal complaints of professors, journalists and politicians who criticize capitalism and markets and, if not the wealth they create, the way it is distributed. Demonstrations at the...
BUSINESS
Jan 4, 2001

Railway firms on track to profit from elderly

OSAKA -- Railway companies are introducing nursing care services in an attempt to cash in on Japan's aging population and on the potentially lucrative elderly market.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2001

Mori's pledges to enhance security role in new century

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori pledged in his New Year's address that the 21st century will see Japan doing away with its traditional insularity and enhancing its global security role to help maintain order in the international community.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight