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COMMENTARY
May 21, 2001

U.S. policy toward Taiwan defies reason

In 1938 Nazi Germany tried to mediate the war between Japan and China. At the time Japanese troops were advancing far into south China, massacring large numbers of Chinese at Nanjing and elsewhere and cruelly seeking to bomb the Nationalist government into submission. If German mediation had succeeded,...
BUSINESS
May 21, 2001

Blazing policy paths in Kasumigaseki

It's a little before 9 a.m., and Masahiko Aoki is discussing complex adaptive systems and path dependency. It's an odd conversation even though the topics are familiar ones for Aoki, a professor of economics at Stanford University and an author of several standard texts on the Japanese economy.
JAPAN
May 20, 2001

Visually challenged violinist's career is an accidental passion

Seeing violinist Narimichi Kawabata in the spotlight at a concert, people often believe him to be one of the lucky few who have made a career out of what they love.
SOCCER / J. League
May 20, 2001

Antlers open stadium with win over Kashiwa

BY FRED VARCOE Staff writer KASHIMA, Ibaraki Pref. -- The Kashima Antlers and their fans had to go through a lot of anguish before celebrating the opening of the rebuilt Kashima Stadium with a 99th-minute goal from substitute Yoshiyuki Hasegawa and a 3-2 win over Kashiwa Reysol.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 20, 2001

Yoshimoto's talent for comedy

There was a time when parents in Osaka used to scold their kids by threatening, "I will send you to Yoshimoto!" if they were fooling around. Today, though, Yoshimoto Kogyo Co. has become Japan's largest entertainment agency, and most parents would be happy if their children worked for it. Its tarento...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 20, 2001

The importance of being Osakan

"Osaka? You think Osaka is the same as Tokyo?"
JAPAN
May 20, 2001

MSDF to join Singapore mine drills

The Maritime Self-Defense Force will participate in a multilateral mine-sweeping exercise between June 10 and June 22 in the Malacca Strait, the Defense Agency said Saturday.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2001

Urban renewal key to revival: Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday urban renewal is key to economic structural reform and reviving Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2001

Koreans' dream of unity is still remote

SEOUL -- In less than a month, Koreans will commemorate the first anniversary of the historic inter-Korean summit. In mid-June last year, the leaders of the divided country met for the first time and vowed to open a new chapter in peninsular relations. Numerous political and academic events will take...
BUSINESS
May 19, 2001

Meager gains in premiums precede mergers of insurers

Increased competition saw premium revenue rise only incrementally at Japan's largest property insurance companies, according to fiscal 2000 earnings reports released Friday.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2001

Ukraine says 'yes' to missile defense

KIEV -- The Bush administration is reviewing U.S. security policy, including deployment of a national missile defense. Washington's decision should be made easier by Ukraine's offer to help turn NMD into a reality.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Corporate bankruptcies soared in April

The number of corporate bankruptcies in April hit 1,631, climbing 4.4 percent for the first year-on-year rise in two months, a private research institute said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

Softbank chief No. 3 taxpayer

Softbank Corp. President Masayoshi Son ranked as Japan's third-largest individual taxpayer in 2000, up from 16th in 1999, the National Tax Administration said Wednesday in an annual report listing the top 100 taxpayers.
JAPAN
May 16, 2001

Solution eyed to defense issue

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday that although he would prefer to revise the Constitution in order to clarify Japan's right to collective defense, another option would be to pass a Diet resolution allowing Tokyo to exercise this right.
COMMENTARY
May 16, 2001

New metaphors for Europe

LONDON -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his Social Democratic Party have done Europe a great service -- although it may not have been the one Schroeder intended.
CULTURE / Film
May 16, 2001

Bluntness of yuppie satire dulled further on big screen

American Psycho Rating: * * Director: Mary Harron Running time: 102 minutes Language: EnglishNow showing Anybody who's been on an Internet mailing list or in a chat room for a while will surely know of the "Hitler Rule." What this rule establishes is that any discussion, thread or flame-war shall...
CULTURE / Music
May 16, 2001

The Sonig circuit

Back in 1960 when he was a strapping egghead of 31, Karlheinz Stockhausen, the father of taped electronic music, had a vision: Every major city in the world would build an auditorium for the appreciation of "space music." Stockhausen's prediction was simply the optimistic ramblings of an intellectual...
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2001

Kishida's short but brilliant career

When Japan opened up to the West after the Meiji Restoration, it had a lot of catching up to do. Achievements that took hundreds of years to develop in European civilization were transplanted to Japan in a few decades.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2001

JETRO to offer tariff data online

The Japan External Trade Organization said Tuesday it will begin offering worldwide tariff information free via the Internet on Thursday.
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2001

Redon's world of myth

A retrospective of works by the French Symbolist painter Odilon Redon (1840-1916) starts today at Shinjuku's Odakyu department store.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2001

Study group considered to assess Japan, Mexico FTA

Japan and Mexico appear ready to launch a study group next month that will work toward concluding a bilateral free-trade agreement, said Takeo Hiranuma, minister of the economy, trade and industry.
JAPAN
May 16, 2001

Tokyo eatery an Ainu specialty

A restaurant in Tokyo has been sending out a simple but poignant message for more than seven years: It's not bad to be Ainu.
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2001

Revealing the mystery hidden in the ordinary

A vase of flowers. A bowl of fruit. Why have images of still, unmoving life fascinated artists for centuries?
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2001

Coloring the fabric of the universe

"The World of the Galaxy," an exhibition of dyed work by Shihoko Fukumoto, will be on view at Tokyo's Bunkamura Gallery from May 22.
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2001

There goes the neighborhood. . . into the future

Until last week, I thought there were basically three types of factories: oily old clunkers where maybe the beaten-down workers go on strike and a gritty hero emerges who is played by Jeff Bridges in the made-for-television movie; gleaming, robot-dominated technological wonders; and grim Third World...
EDITORIALS
May 15, 2001

Plans for NTT overhaul fall short

Two revision bills now before the Diet, designed to update the laws governing telecommunications business, do not go far enough to meet the demands of a competitive market. In December last year, the Telecommunications Council, a government advisory panel, called for a review of the NTT group's holding-company...
JAPAN
May 14, 2001

New frameworks slated for disputed isles: Mori

Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori revealed Sunday that Japan and Russia agreed during working-level talks in early April to set up two frameworks regarding the return of Russian-held islands at the center of a decades-old bilateral dispute.

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