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JAPAN
Sep 20, 2000

Obituary: Ichiro Mikuni

Television celebrity Ichiro Mikuni died Friday of malignant lymphoma at a Tokyo hospital, his family said Tuesday. He was 79.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2000

Firms back Windows CE in cars

Six companies, including Nevada-based Microsoft Product Development Ltd., Clarion Co., Denso Corp. and Mitsui & Co., announced Tuesday they will cooperate to develop a car information system that can be operated by voice and will automatically read e-mail messages.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 20, 2000

The night train to Nha Trang

A few minutes before dawn on the night train to Nha Trang I awake to the sound of a nonstop diesel speeding past in the opposite direction. It hurtles past just inches away from the open windows of our own side-tracked train, sending us rocking nearly out of our bunks.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Sep 20, 2000

Harry Potter, Castles and Voodoo

www.cesnur.org/recens/potter_00.htm One of the best Harry Potter sites comes from an organization that fights censorship of modern-day culture. There's chapter-by-chapter notes for "The Goblet of Fire," the latest in the series. But most of the site is dedicated to news articles (culled from all over...
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2000

Tokyo called on to protect gays' rights

Private groups are calling on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to add homosexuals to its list of people whose basic human rights need to be protected.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2000

Bishop urges pressure on Jakarta to oust militias

Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, East Timor's top Catholic leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, called on the world to pressure Jakarta to relocate Indonesian army-backed militias still operating with impunity in West Timor and outlined the current state of the reconciliation and reconstruction process...
COMMUNITY
Sep 19, 2000

Urban life's high cost in health

The bright lights of the city are drawing a record number of people in search of careers and excitement. But city life comes at a price. Recent studies have found that Japan's city dwellers are jeopardizing their lives and their offspring.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2000

Sky Perfect to issue 400,000 new shares

Sky Perfect Communications Inc., operator of communication satellite broadcaster Sky PerfecTV, said Monday it will issue 400,000 new shares by public offering in a bid to raise some 105.1 billion yen to boost its business.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 19, 2000

Poetry that brings countries together

THE WEATHER IN JAPAN, by Michael Longley. Jonathan Cape, 2000, 70 pp., 8 British pounds. HAY, by Paul MULDOON. Faber & Faber, 140 pp., 7.99 British pounds. A SMELL OF FISH, by Matthew Sweeney. Jonathan Cape, 2000, 64 pp., 8 British pounds. Irland and Japan: two countries at the far extremities of the...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 19, 2000

Program laying groundwork to conserve rivers and trails

John Monroe jokingly refers to himself as a "conservation venture capitalist." Unlike most investment bankers, however, Monroe is investing for the long term.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 19, 2000

A fascinating figure of 13th-century Japan

CHARISMA AND COMMUNITY FORMATION IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN, by S.A. Thornton. Ithaca: Cornell University East Asia Series, 1999, 290 pp., unpriced. The "charisma" of the title of this carefully researched and impressively thorough work of scholarship refers, in the first instance, to the medieval Buddhist...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 19, 2000

Laos' fractured human map

LAO HILL TRIBES: Traditions and Patterns of Existence, by Stephen Mansfield. Images of Asia: Oxford University Press, 2000. 120 pp., 21 color plates, 24 monochrome, unpriced. In a sense, Laos remains closer to a conglomeration of tribes than it does to a conventional state composed of a unified people....
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2000

Quick economic steps said crucial

The need for Japan and other Asian countries to make quick decisions on economic policies is growing in step with the pace of economic globalization, according to Thomas Donohue, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2000

Photos present child's view of life after Turkey quake

KYOTO -- A black-and-white photograph shows a mother preparing breakfast in a tent. Another picture depicts two children playing outside a row of tents.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2000

Current 'soft' Myanmar policy was threatened by Suu Kyi's detention

Foreign-policy makers are relieved -- at least for now -- that their long-standing policy of "constructive engagement" toward Myanmar survived its biggest potential challenge with Thursday's release of prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from 12 days of effective house arrest.
COMMUNITY
Sep 17, 2000

Fusing technology, arts in fabulous future shocks

Omote-sando's cafe-restaurant Las Chicas needs no introduction. But few realize that the two-floor building in which it is situated was once a consulate, designed to wrap around the central courtyard -- one of the nicest places to eat in town. Under the umbrella organization Vision Network, the complex...
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2000

More rice mulled for Pyongyang

Japan will consider providing between 200,000 tons and 300,000 tons of rice to North Korea when the World Food Program makes an appeal for food aid to the country, according to government sources.
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2000

Young people play key role in IT ventures

Young people are increasingly playing a key role in Internet-related ventures amid the information-technology revolution in Japan.
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 16, 2000

A gentler, softer Dairakudakan

It is tempting to look at the new Dairakudakan production, "Kanzen-naru Hitobito (Complete People)," as being in some way connected to the title. Searching for meaning in butoh performances has always been a mad sport, though, and the premiere by the largest butoh company extant, at Tokyo's Art Sphere...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Sep 16, 2000

Japanese music millennium: new music for the Heisei Era

As the days grow shorter and evenings cooler, the hogaku season begins to pick up. September, October and November are the best months for experiencing the arts in Japan as the creative impulses, stifled by the summer's oppressive humidity, break forth in an array of interesting concerts, recitals and...
COMMENTARY
Sep 16, 2000

Public TV in the digital era

LONDON -- The British Broadcasting Corporation was a pioneer of public-service broadcasting when it was established in the 1920s. It built up a strong reputation in its early years under its first director, General Lord Reith, although it also earned the nick-name of "Auntie" because it was regarded...
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2000

Elderly population reaches record high of 21.9 million

The number of Japanese 65 or older stands at 21.9 million, accounting for 17.3 percent of the population, or one in 5.8 people, the Management and Coordination Agency said in a report Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2000

Koreans welcome 'cultural invasion'

SEOUL -- The Japanese are coming -- but this time they're being welcomed with open arms.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 15, 2000

An activist Emperor, pulling the strings

HIROHITO AND THE MAKING OF MODERN JAPAN, by Herbert P. Bix. New York: HarperCollins, 2000, 800 pp, $28 (cloth). This is a blistering and persuasive reassessment of Emperor Showa's reign, debunking the various myths that have accumulated about his allegedly powerless role in Japan's prolonged period...

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell