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JAPAN
Mar 3, 2000

Aum computer firm got list of 3,000 Honda execs

Aum Shinrikyo obtained a list of some 3,000 officials of Honda Motor Co. through a computer software company linked to the cult, the Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 3, 2000

Don't believe the hype, just cue up the record

You can tell because it's become a staple of boy bands and television commercials, selling everything from hair dryers to soft drinks. Even the least offensive manifestations of hip hop's mainstream acceptance, Dragon Ash, has all the substance of white bread.
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2000

Gone, but not forgotten

Mr. Joerg Haider, the controversial leader of Austria's Freedom Party, has resigned as head of the party. The move is intended to quiet the firestorm of international criticism that followed the decision to include Freedom in the new coalition government in Vienna. In fact, it changes very little. Although...
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2000

Machinery orders presage smooth sailing

The latest batch of encouraging economic and corporate earnings reports could presage a more stable stock market in the near term.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2000

Japan needs a new, better Constitution

At long last, deliberations on the Constitution have started at both Houses of the Diet. It is not clear, however, what kind of conclusion will be reached and when. Indications are that the participants in those deliberations want to draw up a conclusion by 2003 at the latest. But this is by no means...
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2000

Seven-Eleven joins nursing market

Seven-Eleven Japan Co., the nation's biggest convenience store chain, and three other companies on Tuesday announced plans for a joint venture in the nursing-support business, a lucrative sector amid the country's rapidly aging population.
COMMUNITY
Mar 1, 2000

In quest of Amelia Earhart

Ric Gillespie has been chasing the same lady for more than 12 years. Now he reckons he knows where she is. If he's right -- and the evidence his foundation has collected is pretty compelling -- then one of the longest-running mysteries in the history of aviation has been solved.
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2000

Nippon Asset's rehab plan approved by Tokyo court

The Tokyo District Court has approved a rehabilitation plan submitted by Nippon Asset Management Inc. pledging to repay roughly 30 percent of its debts in five years.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 1, 2000

Always more

In recent columns I explored purchasing English-friendly computers in Japan. Here is a little more information submitted by a reader who thinks it will be useful for those needing extended language capabilities for their computers, but first he has something to say about agreements, both local and international,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 1, 2000

Conversation: enough said

I heard once that the average male speaks 2,000 words a day, while the average female speaks 7,000.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 29, 2000

Japanese politics are gray, not green

GREEN POLITICS IN JAPAN, by Lam Peng Er. Routledge, March 1999, 232 pp., $90. The next 100 years have been dubbed the century of the environment. While this pronouncement may be a bit premature, even inflated, it reflects the swelling interest in environmental issues. From global warming and dioxins,...
COMMENTARY
Feb 29, 2000

No backtracking allowed

The peace-treaty talks between Japan and Russia are off to a fresh start because Boris Yeltsin suddenly resigned as Russian president at the end of last year. Yeltsin had agreed at a Russo-Japanese summit meeting in 1997 that the two nations should "strive" to sign a long-pending peace pact by the end...
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 29, 2000

Anti-glamor Idevian Crew hit the stage

Shigehiro Ide is back on stage with his dance company Idevian Crew after all too long an absence from performing. His comeback in "Which," the piece he choreographed to open the Next Dance Festival at Shinjuku Park Tower Hall Feb. 18, establishes him as the most promising dancer/choreographer on the...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 29, 2000

Staying on the beaten track in darkest Saitama

THE CITY OF YES, by Peter Oliva. Toronto, Canada: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1999; 336 pp., $21.99. Like many another young, sensitive, well-intentioned foreigner, Canadian-born Peter Oliva -- or his protagonist -- came to Japan for a year and was so bowled over by the place that he felt the world...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2000

Artistic exchange leaves a rich legacy

"Yokohama does not improve on further acquaintance," wrote Isabella Bird in 1878. "It has a dead-alive look. . . . I long to get away into real Japan." She quickly left and went in search of authenticity, complete with its dangers and delights. Bird was a purist to the point of eccentricity, but most...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 27, 2000

Muazaz Kasrawi and Maria Edileuza Reis

Two ladies from countries across the world from each other have come together as cochairwomen for this year's Cherry Blossom Charity Ball. The ball with its featured raffle is a major fundraising event organized each year by the International Ladies Benevolent Society. Money raised is donated directly...
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2000

Dutch war display given no place to go

Staff writer OSAKA -- One month after an Osaka International Peace Center symposium denying the Nanjing Massacre took place, another controversy over Japan's wartime past is brewing after the center and a Tokyo nursing home rejected an exhibition on the occupation of the Dutch East Indies. The Osaka...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 24, 2000

The go-mi system of sake tasting

Describing and conveying the flavor of sake has always been problematic. How does one explain a gustatory experience in words alone? It certainly isn't easy. And, as sake flavor profiles become more complex and subtle, it is bound to become even more difficult.
COMMUNITY
Feb 24, 2000

Home is where change is

A visit to Tobetsu would surprise anyone looking for a glimpse of "old Japan" in the countryside.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2000

Berlin panel looks at Japan economy, management

This was the general consensus of panelists at a symposium held Feb. 17 at the Japanese-German Center Berlin. The symposium was called The Japanese Economy and the Renewal of Japanese Management, and it was sponsored by the center and the Keizai Koho Center (Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs)....
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2000

Sega, Swatch to join forces in Internet projects

Sega Enterprises, Ltd. and Swatch, A.G. on Thursday announced three new collaboration projects to enhance their Internet entertainment services. The two firms said one of the projects will entail the launch this year of a new service called "Internet & Wearable," for which Swatch will begin marketing...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2000

Talks on drilling rights go down to the wire

Staff writer If Arabian Oil Co.'s last-ditch negotiations with Saudi Arabia to renew its 40-year oil drilling rights fail, the pioneer Japanese driller will be hard hit, but officials don't fear a national crisis. With his firm's rights in the Khafji oil field in the former neutral zone between Saudi...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2000

Pipe firms fined over cartel; execs get suspended terms

Three firms and 10 of their former employees were found guilty Wednesday by the Tokyo High Court for maintaining a cartel in ductile pipes in violation of the Antimonopoly Law. Affected by the ruling were Osaka-based Kubota Corp. and Kurimoto Ltd., as well as Nippon Chutetsukan Co. of Tokyo. The companies...
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2000

Allergy-prone get jump on hay fever

Staff writer For the past 10 years, spring has been tough on Mari Koi, with her seasonal allergy leaving her with itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose from February through March. But this year, the 30-year-old Tokyo woman has been well so far -- possibly due to early preparation. "I have been taking...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2000

The mathematics of love and loss

RABBIT OF THE NETHERWORLD, by Reiko Koyanagi. Illustrated by Monica Tamano, translated by Hiroaki Sato. Red Moon Press, 1999, 62 pp., $12 (paper). "Rabbit of the Netherworld" is a unique and often compelling memoir, a fragmentary poetic recreation of the author's wartime childhood and its many painful...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2000

Some very serious pillow talk

CARTOGRAPHIES OF DESIRE: Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600-1950, by Gregory M. Pflugfelder. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999, 200 pp., unpriced. As the author of this detailed, closely reasoned and beautifully written study reminds us, "Rather than sexual practice, this book...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2000

Pinochet's contribution to humanity

NEW YORK -- The greatest contribution Gen. Augusto Pinochet has made to the rule of international law and to the reign of justice goes beyond his rightful detention in Britain, something never even imagined by Chile's most powerful dictator. Rather, it is to have made real the validity of extraterritoriality...
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2000

WHO wants battle against disease on agenda of G8 summit

The World Health Organization has asked Japan to prioritize the battle against infectious and parasitic diseases by placing the topic high on the agenda for the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa this summer, government sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2000

Development of human resources vital to ending Asian economic crisis

The last two or three years of the 1990s will probably be long remembered in the minds of those in East Asia and around the globe as the Asian Economic and Currency Crisis. Has this crisis actually ended?

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji