Search - 2000

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 16, 2000

Shining a light on global 'Big Brother'

Perhaps more appropriately to the world of James Bond than to the European Union, Echelon -- an international spying network in which governments covertly cooperate to intercept global communications -- is causing a stir in the European Parliament.
OLYMPICS
Sep 16, 2000

Two Koreas make history during opening ceremony

SYDNEY -- While Japan kicked off its Sydney Olympic campaign without many of its star athletes at the opening ceremony, it was the country's Asian neighbors who grabbed the spotlight in the four-hour spectacular on Friday night.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2000

OECD calls for life-long learning

Academic achievement was the goal of Japan's exam-oriented education system when life-time employment was intact.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2000

Foreigners' crimes slightly down

The number of crimes committed by foreigners in Japan in the first half of 2000 dropped slightly from a year earlier, but thefts and burglaries are on the rise, according to a survey by the National Police Agency released Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2000

Tokyo to recognize car-free day

Eight Tokyo-based nongovernment organizations are hoping people will give their cars a break on Tokyo Car Free Day 2000, scheduled for Sept. 23.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 15, 2000

The periphery vs. the center

LOCAL VOICES, NATIONAL ISSUES: The Impact of Local Initiative in Japanese Policy-making, edited by Sheila A. Smith. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2000, 136 pp., $32.95 (cloth). For students of power and politics in Japan, Tokyo is where the action is. Important decisions are made in...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 15, 2000

An activist Emperor, pulling the strings

HIROHITO AND THE MAKING OF MODERN JAPAN, by Herbert P. Bix. New York: HarperCollins, 2000, 800 pp, $28 (cloth). This is a blistering and persuasive reassessment of Emperor Showa's reign, debunking the various myths that have accumulated about his allegedly powerless role in Japan's prolonged period...
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2000

Extra 1.4 billion yen set aside to observe Miyake eruptions

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's Cabinet decided Tuesday to use 1.4 billion yen from the fiscal 2000 budget to increase monitoring of volcanic activity on Miyake Island, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa said.
OLYMPICS
Sep 13, 2000

What's new in Sydney? How about taekwondo, triathlon and keirin

A total of 300 gold medals will be up for grabs in Sydney as athletes from over 30 different sports take to the various arenas, stadiums, diamonds, pools, lakes -- even beaches -- that will play host to Olympic events at the 2000 Summer Games.
OLYMPICS
Sep 13, 2000

'The Greatest Show on Earth' hits Sydney

The "Greatest Show on Earth" is back and badly in need of an image makeover.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2000

Parties agree supplementary budget is needed

Senior officials of the government and the ruling coalition on Tuesday agreed on the need to draw up a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2000

Economy up 1% in quarter: EPA

The staggering nature of Japan's recovery was reflected Monday by the latest gross domestic product report, which showed that the economy grew 1 percent during the April-June quarter.
EDITORIALS
Sep 10, 2000

Old friends are the best

Reports from the United States tell us that some Americans are having their faith restored in a popular postwar Japanese export. The subject of their revived affection is not a car or a motorcycle, not a camera or an audiovisual device, not a laptop personal computer or other advanced information-technology...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 10, 2000

A philosopher behind the video camera

Hitherto, people confronted by "video art" would mentally steel themselves to be bored by an alienating experience that excluded rather than included. This is the reason why an artist such as Pipilotta Rist, originally a rock-video director, has gained such enormous popularity for being the easy and...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 8, 2000

'Squadzilla' squashes Japan

OMIYA, Saitama Pref. -- The United States men's Olympic team put a wrap on its brief Japan tour Wednesday night by scoring a decisive 105-49 victory over the host nation in the final game of the Super Dream Games 2000 tournament at the new Saitama Super Arena.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2000

Jobless grads opt for civil service sector

The National Personnel Authority said Wednesday a record 49.2 percent of candidates who passed the "category 2" senior civil service exam for fiscal 2000 are jobless graduates.
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2000

Symantec, DoCoMo discuss virus measures for i-mode

Antivirus software maker Symantec Japan Inc., the Japan unit of Symantec Corp. of the United States, is in talks with NTT DoCoMo Inc. on supplying the mobile phone services provider with software to protect its i-mode Internet phones, Symantec officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2000

DaimlerChrysler seeks bigger MMC stake

DaimlerChrysler AG is likely to increase its proposed stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to between 36 percent and 38 percent from the originally planned 34 percent, sources close to negotiations between the German-U.S. auto giant and the scandal-hit Japanese automaker said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2000

Sumitomo sells coal mine concession

Sumitomo Corp. said Wednesday wholly owned Australian subsidiary Sumisho Coal Development Pty. Ltd. has agreed in principle to sell 100 percent of its coal mining concession to two corporations based in Australia.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Sep 7, 2000

Dream Team foes face mission impossible

I left Team USA's practice on Tuesday with one lingering thought: poor Angola. At the time, I didn't even know exactly where Angola was (it turns out it's just north of Namibia along the Rio Cunene, if that helps any). But here's what I already knew about the country: It has a basketball team that's...
COMMUNITY
Sep 7, 2000

Fiesta Mexicana kicks off Sept. 15

Under the auspices of the Mexican Embassy, Fiesta Mexicana 2000 in Odaiba will be held at the Aqua City complex Sept. 15-17.
EDITORIALS
Sep 6, 2000

Slow progress toward a peace treaty

To no one's surprise, Japan and Russia were unable to reach agreement on a peace treaty during this week's visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Even though Mr. Putin's predecessor, Mr. Boris Yeltsin, agreed at a summit three years ago to conclude a treaty by the end of this year, the distance between...
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2000

Ward considers tax on plastic bags

Tokyo's Suginami Ward office is considering introducing a tax on plastic bags that are handed out to customers at stores as a way to reduce the quantity of garbage, ward officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2000

Analysis: State upbeat despite lack of progress

Japan seems to have managed to clear the lowest conceivable hurdle during the latest round of peace treaty negotiations with Russia that ended Tuesday: convincing the other side to confirm its resolve to continue negotiations on the basis of past agreements.
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2000

Sumitomo to invest in WDM technology

Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. said Tuesday it will invest 35 billion yen in fiscal 2000 on the construction of manufacturing facilities for optical fibers and other telecommunications devices related to wavelength division multiplexing technology.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 6, 2000

U.S. team a nightmare for Spain

OMIYA, Saitama Pref. -- Tuesday's game between the Dream Team and Spain was a surprisingly close affair -- for the first 20 minutes, at least. After that, the heavily favored U.S. turned the contest into a blowout.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2000

Japanese-Nordic 'green' talks planned in Nagano

An environment conference between Japan and Nordic countries, the first of its kind, will be held in November in Nagano, organizers announced Tuesday.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan