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BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2001

Domestic firms balk at Mori's IT initiative requiring investment abroad

Just seven months after Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori announced with much fanfare a $15 billion aid initiative in the area of information technology, concerns are already growing within the government that the plan may eventually fizzle out.
COMMUNITY
Feb 11, 2001

Still thrilled every spring by start of Wimbledon

There was America's No. 2 seed, Lindsey Davenport, on court in the final stages of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, thrashing Croatia's Iva Majoli, and looking a lot softer and prettier in the flesh than TV ever suggests.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 10, 2001

One for the guy upstairs

If God was in the mood for a really good movie, chances are he'd flip through the listings and make tracks for "Unbreakable." Everything about it has a huge appeal to the Omniscient: the dynamics of Good and Evil, the fundamental questions of Existence, man's helplessness in the face of accidental fate....
COMMENTARY
Feb 9, 2001

Which 'global standard'?

At the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland last month, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara reportedly attracted more attention than Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Feb 7, 2001

LDP still kowtows to vested interests at the economy's expense

Pop into a convenience store and you may still find inconvenience: They don't sell medicine and you may not find cigarettes or alcohol at some shops.
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2001

Reaching out to problem children

School teachers throughout the country recently held brainstorming sessions as part of a voluntary effort to promote educational reform. Reports and discussions at those meetings, attended by members of the Japan Teachers Union (Nikkyoso) and the National Teachers Union (Zenkyo), reinforced the perception...
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2001

Trauma in a sepia-tinged Kyushu

It's not easy filming the inner lives of human beings. Novelists can go on at length about their protagonist's stream of consciousness (see "Ulysses") while filmmakers cannot show scene after voiced-over scene of that same stream without inducing audience catatonia. See Joseph Strick's misbegotten 1967...
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.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Feb 1, 2001

Beauty standard takes a new shape

The big news from the Paris collections is that the hourglass figure is back. Perhaps it was the only direction the silhouette could take -- the fashionable form had become so super-skinny that it couldn't go any further without vanishing. With the preferred dress size in Hollywood recently reported...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2001

Otaku loose in a noirish world

Dark future movies are, by now, as established an SF subgenre as creature features or space operas. Their world view is usually a cross between an Orwellian nightmare and a Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show: grim, oppressive and dangerous but sexy, radical and cool. In other words, you wouldn't mind visiting,...
COMMENTARY
Jan 29, 2001

'Bubble' ethics cripple Japan

Chaos prevailed at some of the coming-of-age ceremonies held across the nation on Jan. 8. Youngsters who had joined the ranks of adults behaved like rogues, swilling sake from king-size bottles, throwing firecrackers at a mayor, or shouting "go home" to a governor. These and other acts of gross incivility,...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 28, 2001

A return to chillier times?

The Cold War is dead, long live the Cold War. Such seems to be the mood in the corridors of power in Moscow. Many Russians believe the inauguration of U.S. President George W. Bush may initiate a new period of tension between Washington and Moscow
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2001

Faked digs put archaeologists on defensive

Shock waves ran through Japan in November after it was revealed that revered amateur archaeologist Shinichi Fujimura had planted findings of early Paleolithic relics at two of his dig sites.
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2001

Tokyo Sowa buyer to restore bank's niche role

Officials of Tokyo Sowa Bank's new owner-to-be said Thursday they intend to rebuild the failed regional bank's "niche retail" functions by targeting small firms and individuals left behind in the era of megabank mergers.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 25, 2001

Isegen: Stoking the inner embers, Edo style

As the snow wafts down and the forecasters warn of arctic conditions to come, spare a thought for the folks of ancient Edo, who had to make it through the winter months without such essential survival tools as fleece jackets, cup ramen and Hokaron hand warmers.
COMMENTARY
Jan 24, 2001

Time for Japan to root out corruption

LONDON -- Fifty years ago this year, the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed and the Japanese government began preparing to resume full sovereignty. Then-Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida was a shrewd politician. He knew that the peace treaty, despite the difficulties some of the clauses would cause for...
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2001

Dealing with regional anxiety

HONOLULU -- With the inauguration of President George W. Bush's administrations, anxiety levels about future U.S. policy in Asia remain high. In Tokyo, there are apprehensions that Japan will be liked too much; that Washington will expect more from its steadfast ally than Japan is prepared to deliver....
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2001

Two cultures cross in Osaka's Namba

OSAKA -- The Namba district that stretches between Osaka's Chuo and Naniwa wards always bustles with people attracted by the variety of stores, restaurants and amusement spots.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 20, 2001

Do you really wanna know?

So it's said that Freud's dying words were: "What do women want?" Whether any female on the premises answered: "I'll tell you, only if you'll give it to me," is unknown, but the point is, women are a mystery. Even to the greatest of minds, not to mention our own.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2001

No wonder Seoul's politicos get no respect

SEOUL -- Some days ago I received a telephone call from the Office of the Chief Spokesman of the National Assembly. A friendly public-relations officer invited me to write an article for the National Assembly Review with personal observations regarding the challenges for parliamentary politics in South...
EDITORIALS
Jan 14, 2001

Hope for Myanmar's democrats

The announcement that Myanmar's military government and prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi had entered into direct talks is a welcome surprise from a country that has only managed to disappoint in recent years. Given the junta's stubborn refusal to negotiate with Ms. Suu Kyi, it is hard to be optimistic...
CULTURE / Art
Jan 14, 2001

Pursuing Japan's great love affair with Toulouse-Lautrec

The Japanese love Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). His art is lively and interesting, and strong Japanese influences can be detected in it. The current exhibition at the Tobu Museum of Art makes much of this mutual admiration, with the French artist's work revealing his love for Japan while the...
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2001

Godzilla working the crowds on promotional campaign tour

Japan's long-beloved sci-fi creature, Godzilla, is currently advancing across the country in the form of various mascots making rounds to promote the giant reptile's latest movie.
COMMENTARY
Jan 10, 2001

Tests loom for U.S.-China ties

How will the election of George W. Bush affect U.S.-China relations? The conventional wisdom was that a Gore administration would have been more favorable to China -- a questionable assumption based in part on the belief that Al Gore would be more inclined to continue President Bill Clinton's policies...
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Jan 9, 2001

Hitting the high notes of jazz

At the age of 5 or 6, Cassandra Wilson recalls hearing the music of Miles Davis for the first time. "Sketches of Spain" was part of her father's record collection, himself a jazz musician and was one of the records he would often play in their home in Jackson, Mississippi.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jan 6, 2001

Japanese music gets support from New Year's tradition

New Year's in Japan is a period when Japanese suddenly seem to "rediscover" their traditional music. Radio and television stations, which, except for NHK, practically ignore traditional music for most of the year, get into the seasonal spirit and air programs of the classical performing and theatrical...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 5, 2001

A film genius in his own mind

Harmony Korine -- screenwriter of "Kids," director of "Gummo" -- fancies himself the enfant terrible of contemporary cinema. Well, he is . . . terrible. Certain critics have been calling him "the new Godard," and I'd agreewith that too. But when was the last time Godard made anything that played better...
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2001

Tickets here for Asia

By the time the lunch gong sounded in the great hall of the Heng Yang monastery, I had already placed generous votive offerings at a shrine in the Temple of the Goddess of Mercy, watched a flour-doll and knot maker at work, witnessed minor grievances being aired at the Ancient Courthouse and met a talking...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

Can peace be globalized in the 21st century?

The 20th century is usually referred to as a century of "war and revolution" that brought unprecedented bloodshed and misery. While this is true, the description is not sufficiently accurate. During the religious wars of the 17th century, for example, Germany, as the main battlefield, lost an estimated...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2000

Arms sales exacerbating global poverty

At the U.N. Millennium Summit held in September, world leaders pledged both to "free our peoples from the scourge of war, whether within or between states" and to halve global poverty by 2015.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.