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EDITORIALS
Jun 29, 1999

Getting tough on dioxin pollution

After years of neglect, politicians and bureaucrats are finally getting their acts together and addressing the issue of dioxin contamination. In March, the government announced plans to cut nationwide dioxin emissions by 90 percent of its 1997 level by 2002, and the ruling parties are poised to submit...
JAPAN
Jun 29, 1999

Telecom Realignment: Rival carriers prepare to combat Goliath

Second in a five-part series on reorganizing the domestic telecommunications industry
JAPAN
Jun 28, 1999

Scientists move closer to proving neutrino mass

An international group of scientists announced Monday that they were on the way to determining that neutrinos have mass, a finding that could overturn the current understanding of the universe.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jun 25, 1999

J rockers want free Tibet, wherever that is

"Tibet . . . hmm . . . it's a foreign country, I know that," mused one young man.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 1999

Author says Nanjing death toll politically inflated

Akira Suzuki, prize-winning author of the controversial book "Nanjing: How the World Was Fed Facts and Fakes," reasserted at a press conference Thursday that the Nanjing Massacre death toll of 300,000 cited by the Chinese government lacks credibility from a historical standpoint.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 23, 1999

On the fringe of the fray

I had dinner with two friends last week and eventually the conversation came around to the Web (I generally try to avoid the topic in polite conversation but what can you do?). Anyone overhearing our conversation might have thought we were a trio of hopeless geeks, or digerati wannabes, but the truth...
JAPAN
Jun 23, 1999

Researchers to regain intellectual property rights

The government has decided to hand back intellectual property rights to private- sector researchers who conducted research and development on its behalf, Trade Minister Kaoru Yosano told biotechnology leaders Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 1999

Disabled train air crews to handle with care

To help handle the increasing number of physically disabled people flying overseas, two support groups for the handicapped held class Tuesday for airline crews at Narita Airport to show them how their flights can be made more comfortable.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 1999

Fall-prone builders get air bag option

The high number of fatal falls at construction sites has prompted a firm to produce a human version of the automobile air bag.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 1999

Norway ambassador leaves satisfied after five-year term

John Bjornebye, who is leaving for Oslo today after nearly five years in Tokyo as the Norwegian ambassador, expressed satisfaction that the two countries' relations have become more globally oriented.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 1999

Stricter dioxin standard urged for biggest industrial emitter

The government should drop the maximum tolerable daily intake of dioxin to 4 picograms per kilogram of body weight, a government advisory panel said in a report released Monday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 20, 1999

All it takes is a miracle to save the Earth

Last weekend I attended the 55th All Japan UNESCO conference in Okayama, where together we solved Japan's environmental problems. It's easy for everybody to do their part to help the environment. But it's surprising how many people don't do anything. So many people are environmentally unconscious --...
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 1999

Scary home companion

Just a couple of weeks after R2D2 and C3PO clicked and whirred their way back into public consciousness with the release of the latest "Star Wars" movie, Sony Corp. unveiled a rich person's toy that may be the best preview humanity has yet had of real-life "droids" to come. It was an instant hit, too....
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 1999

China's oppression of Tibet continues

Fifty years after being invaded by Chinese troops in 1949, Tibet is still experiencing repression and violence on the part of Chinese occupying forces. According to Amnesty International reports, human-rights violations such as ill-treatment of prisoners and torture are widespread in Tibet. Even those...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jun 19, 1999

From court to village across the centuries

During the upcoming early summer weeks, one can experience a wide variety of fine hogaku concerts, including sublime gagaku court music, a lively group of kagura performers from Iwate Prefecture, contemporary koto music played by several fine young women performers, a large-scale biwa presentation and...
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 19, 1999

Exploring tropical forests of poetry

Stephen Forster has released a new volume of poetry titled "The Good Mouth." In this collection of poems, Forster takes the reader on an imaginative journey to distant lands where conquistadors in tropical forests meet their savage doom, or to places where the omniscient voice of a child uttering the...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 1999

Environment groups critique revised Sanbanze plan

Four nongovernmental organizations on Thursday submitted critical opinions to Chiba Gov. Takeshi Numata regarding the local government's revised plan to reclaim 101 hectares of Tokyo Bay's Sanbanze tidal flats.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 1999

War currency need not be honored, court rules

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday rejected reimbursement and compensation demands by 17 Hong Kong residents who had been forced during World War II to exchange their money for Japanese military currency, which became worthless when the war ended.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 1999

WPP launches group in Tokyo

WPP Group, the world's second-largest advertising group, on Thursday launched a new media planning company in Tokyo to offer consulting services on strategic investments in advertisement.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 16, 1999

Vocal as we wanna be

"The process of tying two items together is the important thing," wrote Vannevar Bush in a seminal essay titled "As We Think," published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1945. Bush described a hypothetical device that would allow the storage and retrieval of data, the memory of mankind. It would be constructed...
JAPAN
Jun 16, 1999

Offices offered for use by the out-of-work

OSAKA — It looks like a normal office — desks and chairs, personal computers and telephones, business magazines in a corner magazine rack.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 1999

Dream school shuns educational norms

ONNA, Okinawa Pref. — A healthy techno beat pounds against the walls of the studio where dancers groove, their motions sharp as they study their moves critically in the mirror.
EDITORIALS
Jun 12, 1999

The prospect of peace in Kosovo

The proper response to the Kosovo peace accord agreed to last week by NATO and Yugoslavia is caution. Caution because agreement is easy, and implementation is not; the lesson of Bosnia is that making an enduring peace is a long and tedious process. Caution because Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jun 12, 1999

Legacies live on in kingdom of Kato

In many ceramic centers around Japan a common thread in the community is not only a particular style but also a last name. For instance, if you walked into the middle of Tachikui, where Tanba is made, and shouted "Ichino-san!" almost all the houses would empty.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 1999

Come clean on defense policy

In July last year I took issue with an article written by former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa ("Japan-U.S. Security Treaty: A kind of insurance policy" July 11, 1998). In his recent May 31 article "A de facto treaty revision," Hosokawa called for "a full dress debate on se curity issues, including...
JAPAN
Jun 11, 1999

Expanded SDF peacekeeping role urged

Staff writer
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jun 11, 1999

When did originality go out of focus?

Hiromix, the person credited with the current popularity of "girl" photographers, has thus far lived a charmed life: After stints as a "serious" artist, a band leader and, most recently, a mayonnaise spokeswoman, she has restyled herself as a singer-songwriter with the release of her new record "Hiromix...
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 11, 1999

How to play Hamlet, that is the question

"There are few rules about playing Shakespeare, but many possibilities," said Shakespearean director, educator and theoretician John Barton, in his edifying book "Playing Shakespeare."
JAPAN
Jun 10, 1999

Teachers to oppose flag, song bill

The Japan Teachers' Union began a three-day regular meeting Thursday in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward to discuss action plans with a special aim to oppose government moves to legally recognize the Hinomaru as the nation's flag and "Kimigayo" as the anthem.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1999

C&W wins IDC stakes

Toyota Motor Corp. and Itochu Corp. on Wednesday announced their decisions to sell their 17.7 percent stakes in International Digital Communications Inc. to Britain's Cable and Wireless PLC.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’