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CULTURE / Art
Dec 30, 2000

Shadow between abstract and concrete

The geometrical dreams of Omar Rayo are awaking at Shinjuku Park Tower.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2000

New Year's travelers head out of the city

The New Year's rush began Friday, with vacationers mobbing airports, railroad stations and highways.
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2000

A good year for democracy

In a triumphant conclusion to a tumultuous year, reformers concluded their rout of the old order in Yugoslavia. In parliamentary elections held last weekend, an alliance of democratic parties won nearly two-thirds of the vote, crushing former President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party which took...
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

20 held, 86 warned over stalking so far

Police have arrested 20 men and warned 86 other people for stalking offenses since an antistalking law took effect Nov. 24, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2000

Downsizing victims to open second pub

A union comprised mainly of middle-aged Japanese who lost their jobs due to restructuring drives is set to open its second pub in February, union members said.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

Century reaches last work day

Employees of public organizations and many private companies experienced the last business day of the century in various ways across Japan on Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2000

Protect the rights of children

Japanese children are in the news these days with a frequency that would have astonished earlier generations. Hardly a day goes by without reports of some new disturbing incident, ranging from heinous crimes committed by minors to instances of serious child abuse or neglect. When the news is not about...
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2000

Three years sought for health official in HIV contamination case

Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded that a former health official be given a three-year prison term for failing to stop the use of HIV-tainted blood products in the mid-1980s.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2000

NPA eyes harsher traffic penalties

The National Police Agency on Wednesday announced a drafted amendment to current traffic laws that would increase prison terms and fines for some violations.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 28, 2000

Japan Sports Awards 2000

Driver of The Year: Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 28, 2000

Looking back at the future

In honor of that particularly Japanese custom of creating instant tradition ("Since 1999"), this last column of the year peers forward by looking back. Here are just three of the many new places we have visited and enjoyed during the past 12 months but never got around to writing up.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Vice ministers named for merging ministries

The Cabinet on Tuesday named the career bureaucrats who will take up posts as vice ministers at the Cabinet Office and the seven ministries to be created under sweeping reforms that will take effect Jan. 6, when the current 23 government entities will be reduced to 13.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Dec 27, 2000

Brewing up a winning formula: Starbucks hits it big in Japan

I admit it: I had a breakdown. It probably happened sometime after Starbucks Store No. 100 opened in the cavernous Tameike-Sanno subway station. My first reaction was: What, another one? How many more of these places, full of smiling, happy crowds, nursing "bold expressions" and munching on brownies...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2000

Surging arms sales exacerbate Third World poverty

NEW YORK -- In recent public statements, world leaders such as the pope, U.S. President Bill Clinton and World Bank President James Wolfensohn have called attention to the urgent need to end world poverty. Almost lost among their proposals to remedy the situation was any mention of the need to curb arms...
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Tokyo prices fall by record 1%

Consumer prices in Tokyo in 2000 logged the largest decline on record, 1 percent on a preliminary basis, the central government said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2000

Mycal to shut 45 stores, cut jobs in restructuring

OSAKA -- Major retailer Mycal Corp. plans to close some 45 struggling stores and cut about 1,500 jobs from its group workforce by introducing an early retirement program, company officials said Monday.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2000

Economy may not feel stock market's pain: EPA

The Economic Planning Agency on Monday reckoned that the downward trend in Tokyo stock prices might not have a negative impact on the overall economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2000

Don't retreat from the sunshine policy

SEOUL -- Government transitions are good times for political analysts. Before the new team moves into office, these experts share their knowledge, make evaluations and sometimes even predictions. These days the newspapers are full explanations of what the new U.S. leadership might do and should not do....
CULTURE / Books
Dec 26, 2000

Cold War roots of a noisy marriage

AMERICA AND THE JAPANESE MIRACLE: The Cold War Context of Japan's Postwar Economic Revival, 1950-1960, by Aaron Forsberg. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2000. 332 pp. $45. Recurring Japan-U.S. trade disputes have hogged the limelight for way too long, forcing assiduous readers...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Dec 25, 2000

Emotion trumps logic in whaling debate

Over a sushi lunch with Scott Latham, I mention "whaling," and Scott, my trade-consultant friend, doesn't miss a beat: "The Whaling Wall."
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2000

China's U.S. envoy is no stranger to Bush

WASHINGTON -- How many nations can send to America an ambassador who has been a personal friend of the Bush family for nearly a quarter-century?
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2000

Nation records greater interest in athletes

Interest in the nation's athletes competing in international sporting events reached a record 87.2 percent this year due partly to their performance at the Sydney Olympic Games, according to a survey by the Prime Minister's Office released Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2000

Survey results shed light on problems facing students

Nearly 30 percent of elementary and junior high school students find it too noisy to concentrate on study during class, according to a government survey released Saturday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / RENDEZVOUS
Dec 24, 2000

Rendezvous

MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . Have a great day. And the best is yet to come for Japan, with the unique welcoming of the new year -- a festival that can take as long as two weeks or a shorter period of about five days, beginning with what westerners call New Year's...
COMMENTARY
Dec 24, 2000

English-education reform gets watered down

Imagine the fuss if Japan's car industry was producing a million defective cars a year. But for some reason no one bothers much if Japan's English-education industry produces roughly that number of defective English speakers each year.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2000

Arms policy playing into China's hands

WASHINGTON -- As tensions continue to simmer between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan, the Bush administration will come under increasing pressure to provide Taiwan with a firm security guarantee. That could be dangerous and put the United States directly at risk. Instead, the U.S. should increase...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 24, 2000

Vatican hears a different drummer

The fax came from Rome. It said: "Your name has been forwarded to us by Richard Geoffroy of Dom Perignon and Clair Panzer, director of the film shot at Epernay. . . . We are keen to invite M. Shonosuke Okura to perform in our upcoming event." It was signed by Marisa Marcella of Prime Time Promotions,...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 24, 2000

MoT's 'Gift' gets every visitor involved

Eleven Japanese and foreign artists are featured in "The Gift of Hope," the third exhibition in the "MoT Annual" series, which previously only showcased emerging Japanese artists. It was decided to expand the format this year because of the transition from the 20th to the 21st century. The artists were...

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