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LIFE / Travel
Jun 7, 2000

A magical world of wonder on the urban fringes

Hotaru (fireflies) are one of nature's smaller, yet sublime occurrences. The tiny, 15-mm-long bugs live only two weeks after hatching, but are blessed with phosphorescent rear ends which make clusters of them a captivating sight on summer nights. Their almost-fluorescent glow also ensures the continuation...
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2000

G8 chiefs' wives to pray for peace at memorial

The wives of the leaders of the Group of Eight nations will visit a peace memorial in Okinawa while in the prefecture for the G8 summit slated for July 21-23, government sources said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2000

Aiding Palestinian refugees aids peace

Fifty years ago this month, the United Nations began a unique humanitarian undertaking that continues today, unknown to most of the world, but still critically important to nearly 4 million Palestine refugees -- and to the cause of peace. There is no larger group of refugees anywhere else in the world;...
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2000

Drag racing finds new meaning with plow horses

ASAHIKAWA, Hokkaido — Skirting a fresh pile of manure, I settle in behind the well-muscled, veiny flanks of a Banei racehorse.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2000

U.S. mulling Net tax, adviser to Bush says

Visiting Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, a special adviser on information technology to Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, suggested Monday that the United States may introduce some kind of Internet taxation.
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2000

Seven parties election pledges released

Election pledges presented by seven major political parties show that the ruling and opposition blocs differ markedly on fiscal policies, the taxation system and ways to finance social security schemes.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2000

NPOs key to revitalizing nation, union chief says

Political leaders can mitigate the country's record-high jobless rate and help solve other important national problems by generating citizens' power in the field of grassroots businesses, according to the president of the Japanese Workers' Cooperative Union.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2000

U.S. utilities target mammoth Japanese market

KANSAS CITY, Kansas -- U.S. utilities are paying close attention to Japan's $150 billion electricity market, where rates are high, monolithic utilities unready for competition and rival competitors virtually nonexistent.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2000

Parties split over plan to lower tax threshold

Both the ruling and opposition blocs were divided Sunday over an earlier proposal by the Democratic Party of Japan to lower the minimum income-tax threshold to increase tax revenue.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2000

More in U.S. support Japan: poll

Fewer Americans see economic and trade issues as major problems with Japan, with a record number expressing overall positive views on bilateral ties, especially in security, an opinion poll released Sunday by the Foreign Ministry indicates.
COMMENTARY
Jun 5, 2000

President Clinton's regulatory miasma

It is a sad spectacle. U.S. President Bill Clinton, desperate to salvage his scandal-laced legacy, crisscrossing the nation proposing new spending programs and regulatory initiatives with wild abandon. He seems determined to jettison his one good bequest to the United States: a less loony Democratic...
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2000

And one for the dame

The world of culture, broadly considered, suffered a trio of notable losses recently. At the high end of the spectrum, widely and uncontroversially mourned, were the British Shakespearean actor Sir John Gielgud (with his voice "like a silken trumpet") and the French flutist ("the man with the golden...
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2000

Free HIV testing offered for illegals

Free, confidential HIV testing for foreigners who have overstayed their visas will start today in Tokyo, with the cooperation of Japanese and Chinese doctors, hospital officials said Saturday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 4, 2000

Songs to be sung

Some of the world's most beautiful poems were sung in Japan well before the introduction of writing to record them. The writing came from China some 1,200 years ago, the songs are an even older oral tradition that was not recorded in words and preserved until the 8th century. The poems demonstrate the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2000

An alignment with India? Think again

According to recent reports, some Japanese officials are attracted by the idea of an alignment with India against China. India, they say, occupies an important position astride Japan's sea routes to the Persian Gulf. They note that India is the world's largest democracy, so Japan can work with it on...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2000

Pakistani Islamists put a lid on reform

ISLAMABAD -- There are still no signs of religious activists taking to the streets across Pakistan, but the country is once again in the grips of a new controversy over religious tenets and their application in daily life.
EDITORIALS
Jun 3, 2000

Pointless war in Africa

Most wars are senseless. Some, however, are especially pointless. That is certainly the best way to describe the tragedy that has befallen the African nations of Ethiopia and Eritrea. A poorly demarcated border provided the excuse for a war that two of the world's poorest countries can ill afford. This...
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2000

Usu victims to get cheap loans

The government will grant zero- and low-interest loans to aid small business owners in Hokkaido who have been adversely affected by the eruption of Mount Usu, Ministry of International Trade and Industry chief Takashi Fukaya said Friday.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2000
Jun 3, 2000

Opposition plans to shake up ruling bloc

Following Friday's dissolution of the Lower House, opposition leaders began talking up their plans for a takeover of the Cabinet in the June 25 general election.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2000

Murayama bows out with relief, memories

Former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama spent Friday — his last day in politics — reminiscing about the past.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2000

Lower House dissolved for June 25 poll

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori dissolved the Lower House on Friday and called a general election for June 25, placing the fate of his leadership in the hands of voters.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

Imperial Couple return from tour

The Emperor and Empress returned to Tokyo on Thursday morning after a 13-day, four-nation European tour.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

Doctor removed healthy breasts

OSAKA — Two women had their breasts removed by a surgeon at a hospital in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, in 1996 and 1998 even though pathological tests showed that their tumors were not cancerous, it was learned Thursday.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.