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Events
Apr 3, 2001

Learn about the craft of silkworm thread

The Japan Foundation Kyoto office is offering foreigners a seminar on the"nenshi-ya" twisted thread makers of the Nishijin district of Kyoto on April 13 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the office's auditorium in Nakagyo Ward.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2001

Majority of workers worried about jobs

The majority of workers in the Tokyo metropolitan are anxious about their employment future but are also confident in their current job situation, according to a survey released Monday by a job information and placement company.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

Japan wary about pushing U.S. on controversial Byrd law

Japan looks just like a knight throwing down the gauntlet without being fully prepared to actually fight.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2001

Poll shows public concerned about safety, education

A rising number of Japanese are concerned that public safety and education have worsened over the past few years, according to a government poll.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 4, 2001

Readers write about Monday night ball

In my column of Feb. 18 about the Pacific League's plan to play lots of games on Monday night during the coming season, I asked readers to send in their comments and ideas regarding the MPL (Monday Pacific League) format. Following are two e-mails I received and my response to each:
CULTURE / Film
Feb 9, 2001

There's something about Carrey

"Me, Myself & Irene," this season's most-hyped comedy, would seem to have a lot going for it: The Farrelly Brothers are following up on the mega-success of "There's Something About Mary," while Jim Carrey is returning to his crowd-pleasing antics after proving his range in "Man on the Moon" and "The...
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2001

Murakami will testify under oath about KSD

Masakuni Murakami, former head of the Liberal Democratic Party's House of Councilors members, agreed Monday to testify under oath over his ties to KSD, a mutual-aid foundation at the heart of a widening bribery scandal.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2001

Ishihara keeps Yokota return hopes alive

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, recently heard boasting of having personal connections to the newly empowered Republicans in Washington, appears energized toward achieving his campaign pledge of getting Yokota Air Base back from U.S. control.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2001

Nothing new about U.S. boom-bust cycle

Fears that a bear market in the United States will dampen consumer spending and cause a recession are unfounded. This is not to say that the U.S. economy will not experience a slowdown. But when the recession comes, it will be for a different reason.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2001

Avoiding generalizations about ASEAN

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Recent days have seen the emergence of a number of cliches in the press with reference to policies and trends in Asia and particularly to ASEAN. Among the most common are the following:
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2001

Don't fret about economy: IMF chief

International Monetary Fund chief Horst Koehler told Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Friday that there is no need to worry about the outlook for the Japanese economy, although Japan will experience pain as its labor market goes through a transitional period.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2001

Ohu professor 'boasted' about dentist exam leak

A former Ohu University professor arrested on suspicion of leaking questions on a national dentistry examination to students had bragged about obtaining information about the exam since 1999, university sources said Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jan 10, 2001

What's it all about, IT?

2001 may well be the year of the IT revolution, but as far as I'm concerned, we're talking about utilITy. From here on, usefulness is going to be the benchmark for information technologies.
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2001

Let Aibo tell you about brand image

Ku-Ku the kitten was top cat in the battle of the robo-pets in 2000, but guess which bionic beast got to snuggle up to Janet Jackson?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 3, 2001

Kicking up a stink about smelling as natural as a skunk

While beauty traditionally belongs to the beholder's eye, correct hygiene might be better ascribed to his or her nose.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 1, 2001

Much ado about nothing

In a fierce fit of free-market commercialism, ads in Moscow subway insist that the real new millennium will start today. With the economy weakened by crisis, revenues from the advent of Y2K were not as impressive as in the West, and now Russian boutiques, travel agencies and software stores are trying...
COMMUNITY
Nov 23, 2000

What's so great about the mod cons?

About two years ago, Hiroko Nakamura, a 40-year-old Tokyo housewife, decided she wanted only truly essential items in her home.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 5, 2000

Making no bones about corporeality

Jeanne Dunning has made an object called the "blob" -- an amorphous, skin-colored sack filled with a viscous substance that: crushes, oozes out, takes a bath with or sleeps with the subject. She uses it in a wide body of work to investigate the nature of corporeality.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2000

'I never worry about getting lost. I can feel the roads.'

Idid not start my education until I was 17. There are simply too few chances for blind kids to get an education in China, let alone a poor country boy like me. Only about 5 percent of blind Chinese have any schooling. Still, my childhood was a happy one. I did almost all the things a country boy does,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 22, 2000

All you ever wanted to know about voodoo

Gaston Jean-Baptiste, known as "Bonga," is a voodoo priest and a conga player. Bonga has been touring Japan giving workshops on Haitian music and teaching the traditions of Haiti. Luckily, one of the stops on his tour was my living room. A small, amiable man with dreadlocks, Bonga spoke from his "zabuton":...
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Oct 12, 2000

What bulging waistline? Let's talk about cheese

When your 8-year-old son suddenly starts thumping your belly gleefully like a bongo drum, chances are it means you've put on some weight. I confess that I've added 2-3 kg to my 190-cm frame since arriving more than a year ago in Belgium, a gastronomic paradise blessed with a tremendous variety of wines,...
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2000

What about the foreign residents?

Japan now has a record 1.55 million registered foreign residents, representing 1.23 percent of the population. These entirely legal residents are still being given short shrift in government planning, such as disaster-prevention and relief measures. It is two weeks since the nation as a whole -- nearly...

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