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LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Aug 30, 2000

Architects reach for the sky

www.geocities.com/PicketFence/5192/ The address above is actually a really nice metaphor. The "picket fence" it refers to is the chain formed by the world's tallest buildings. Add "center_of_india.html" to the end of the address and take a look at an artist's rendering of what some day might be the...
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2000

MMC chief to exit over coverup

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. President Katsuhiko Kawasoe plans to resign in connection with the firm's concealment of customer complaints and recalls, company sources said Monday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 29, 2000

Japan sits out antismoking campaign

While attending the 11th World Conference on Tobacco or Health from Aug. 7 in Chicago, I was very impressed by the enthusiasm of participants seeking tighter controls on smoking. The first conference, hosted by the American Cancer Society, was held in New York in 1967. The latest conference was hosted...
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2000

Wiretap, but carefully

The wiretap law against organized crime that took effect on Aug. 15 could prove a double-edged sword. It allows law-enforcement officials to eavesdrop on phone conversations (including cell-phone conversations), fax messages and e-mail. Unless properly enforced, however, the law could violate basic rights,...
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2000

Fiber-optic cable network planned to connect schools

The Education Ministry plans to build a fiber-optic cable network to link schools in some parts of the country to allow the transfer of audio and visual information between them, ministry officials said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2000

Listen to the market

The market is the judge in the market-driven economy. For instance, the stock market tells -- through prices formed by the collective will of investors -- where the real economy stands. Although this fact is self-evident, it is often forgotten or misunderstood. The current slump in the Tokyo stock market,...
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2000

Public works should serve the public

Highly conscious of public criticism of the role played by public-works projects in its politics, the Liberal Democratic Party is overhauling the much-maligned system. The party is supposed to be trying to phase out programs that have outlived their usefulness and to classify those related to information...
COMMENTARY
Aug 19, 2000

Labor challenges for Japan

Since the end of the Cold War -- symbolized by the collapse of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989 -- "globalization" has become the world's most controversial subject. But what does "globalization" mean?
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2000

Panel to mediate in disputes over Net domain names

The Arbitration Center for Industrial Property on Oct. 19 will begin arbitration services to resolve ownership disputes over Internet domain names, association officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2000

Kepco urged to explain MOX mess

OSAKA -- Fearful that history will repeat itself, antinuclear groups are calling on Kansai Electric Power Co. to provide data on a batch of mixed uranium and plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel now being processed in France.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 12, 2000

Bringing out the flavor of the clay

Shuroku Harada is the consummate potter. First off, this highly successful ceramist doesn't put on any proud airs; he maintains a humbleness that is important when working with the earth. He shapes the clay and the clay has shaped him, so to speak, into what he is today; mutual respect at its best.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 10, 2000

When you least expect distinction in Shimbashi . . .

It's always refreshing to come across a new sake pub, in particular one that breaks the mold of tradition and convention. It's even more refreshing to come upon one that defies all efforts at categorization, yet still satisfies in every way.
COMMENTARY
Aug 7, 2000

Updating the nuclear debate

LONDON -- Appearing before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary William Cohen has confirmed that he and his colleagues see the threat to the United States of long-range missile attack as growing. The intention to develop a national missile defense system against is therefore still...
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2000

Dioxin-ridden incinerator may be scrapped but local distrust smolders

NOSE, Osaka Pref. -- Despite the accord reached last month to settle the nation's worst dioxin pollution, which hit this rural town, deep-rooted distrust of local authorities lingers among town residents.
COMMENTARY
Aug 2, 2000

A decade of transformation

The 37th annual U.S.-Japan Business Conference that met in Tokyo last month reflected the vast changes that have taken place in the U.S.-Japan economic relationship over the past 10 years.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2000

Weak are victimized as loan guarantors

Yoshikazu Kudo (not his real name) and his wife have both been deaf from birth. For decades they have lived at ease in an old but neat house built by Kudo's brother in Musashino, Tokyo. But things changed after the husband of Kudo's late sister disappeared, leaving behind over 80 million yen in debts....
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2000

Scandal drops Nikkei to 16-month low

The key 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell to a fresh 16-month closing low Monday despite a partial recovery from its intraday low.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2000

Turf war delays naming of Japan's IT task force

Japan's selection of its members for a Group of Eight working group on the information technology revolution is being delayed due to a turf war among government ministries, government sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2000

ASEAN strives to make a comeback

CHANG MAI, Thailand -- The attention paid by the international media to the ASEAN gathering in Bangkok has been unusually lavish. If the Association of Southeast Asian Nations forum was in need of publicity, it was certainly obtained in abundance. The beautiful land scape near the River of Kings, usually...
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2000

Matsushita's quarterly profit slides 2%

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Thursday that it registered a consolidated net profit of 9.4 billion yen in the April-June quarter, down 2 percent from a year earlier.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2000

Transport Ministry to beef up defect-inquiry system

The Transport Ministry will launch investigations after directly gathering information from users on defective motor vehicles, Vice Transport Minister Hisashi Umezaki said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2000

Posts ministry panel to examine telecom industry

The Posts and Telecommunications Ministry on Wednesday commissioned an advisory panel to compile a report on the desired future structure of the nation's telecom industry.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2000

AOL, DoCoMo eye phone tieup

Japan's top mobile phone operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc., is negotiating with the world's largest Internet service provider, America Online Inc., to tie up in online business for cellular phones, it was learned Wednesday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jul 27, 2000

For new sake sensations, seek out the 'brat pack'

After tasting sake for some time, we begin to search for sake we have not yet tried. Of course, we have our favorites, sake we can fall back on and drink any day of the week. And we already know about good, well-publicized sake, be they blue chips such as Kubota or powerful upstarts like Juyondai.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2000

Summit Mori's career high?

NAGO, Okinawa Pref. — Concluding the Group of Eight summit with a smile under the scorching sun, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori may boast he has cleared a key hurdle for his administration — but it is just one hurdle of many.
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2000

Echelon knows what you're thinking

Echelon is the code name for an exclusive club of Anglo-Saxon nations that long ago set out to spy on all global communications. Only now are some of its activities coming to light. The French are angry and want indignantly to know why Britain, their alleged EU partner, has joined with the United States...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2000

G8 nations vs. the rest of the planet

On July 17, the United Nations University hosted a symposium on "The Kyushu-Okinawa Summit: The Challenges and Opportunities for the Developing World in the 21st Century." The conference was jointly organized by the Tokyo-based Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development, the Toronto-based...
BUSINESS
Jul 22, 2000

Softbank to set up sports site

Softbank Media & Marketing Corp., a media-related business unit of Softbank Corp., announced Friday that it will set up a joint venture with Rivals.com Inc. of the United States to launch a Japanese version of Rivals' sports Web site.
EDITORIALS
Jul 21, 2000

Make the summit a success

The world's attention is focused on Okinawa, as heads of the eight leading industrialized nations kick off their 26th annual summit. Japan, the chair of this year's meeting, has invested heavily in the get-together. The 81 billion yen that the government has spent on the summit indicates the significance...

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