Search - 2000

 
 
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2000

MSDF to join drill to rescue submarine

The Maritime Self-Defense Force will participate for the first time in a multilateral submarine rescue drill in the South China Sea next month, the MSDF said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Sep 6, 2000

America enters the election homestretch

At long last, it is time for the U.S. presidential campaign of 2000 to begin. The Labor Day weekend (Sept. 2-4) marked the unofficial end of summer, the start of school and the traditional kickoff of the political campaigns.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2000

Mori-Putin talks stay at impasse

Japan and Russia began negotiations Monday in Tokyo on sovereignty over Russian-held islands off Hokkaido but failed to narrow their differences, making a peace treaty, the conclusion of which has been targeted for year's end, appear as distant as ever.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 5, 2000

NHL's Crisp pumped for Japan games

Former NHL player and coach Terry Crisp shakes hands with Nashville Predators hopeful Yujiro Nakajima in Tokyo on Monday in front of the Stanley Cup. If the Nashville Predators put on half the show that Terry Crisp did Monday afternoon, the National Hockey League has nothing to worry about.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 5, 2000

Making love is making freedom

TABOU: Scenario, by Nagisa Oshima. Traduit du japonais par Nathalie Cazier et Katsuko Tsuchiya. Paris: Petite bibliotheque des Cahiers du Cinema, 2000, 144 pp., FFr69. This is a bilingual edition (French and Japanese, printed back to back) of Nagisa Oshima's scenario for the film "Gohatto," which was...
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2000

Disaster drill brings troops into Tokyo

A massive disaster drill was held Sunday in 10 locations throughout Tokyo, with the nation's Self-Defense Forces participating on an unprecedented scale.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2000

Putin arrives for isle talks with Mori

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tokyo Sunday afternoon, just hours after rejecting Japan's demand that a group of disputed islands off the northeastern island of Hokkaido be returned.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2000

Osaka's beer summit draws microbrewed stately heads

OSAKA -- If you're tired of the bland, mass-produced, artificially carbonated barley water that too many companies are pushing as beer, relief will soon be at hand.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 3, 2000

The making of alternative history

The xich lo (cyclo) is as ubiquitous in Vietnam as the tuk tuk is in Thailand, but completely man-powered: The driver peddles the vehicle behind the comfortably seated passenger. It is currently an important mode of transportation on Vietnam's streets, as well as a livelihood for countless drivers, and...
COMMUNITY
Sep 3, 2000

Extreme Goes Mainstream

SAN FRANCISCO As Cory "Nasty" Nastazio, 22, comes off his dirt jumping practice at the 2000 X-Games site in San Francisco, he pulls up to the ESPN cameraman on his little BMX bike and the first thing he does is remove his helmet.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2000

Sydneysiders counting down

SYDNEY -- Scrubbed and polished, the Olympics city is looking good. Sydneysiders are all-welcoming as the world jets in for Olympic Games 2000. So why are we so worried?
COMMUNITY
Sep 3, 2000

Kennedy gives answers with Tokyo Q online

Rick Kennedy loves Tokyo. He has been here for years, yet still can't get over the kindness of its citizens, the flawless attention to detail, the sensory feast to be partaken of at every twist and turn -- much of which can be eaten and drunk! So great is his enthusiasm that we missed our stop, Hamamatsucho,...
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2000

Tokyo disaster drill features SDF in big way

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's annual major disaster-relief drill Sunday will feature the participation of Self-Defense Forces troops on an unprecedented scale -- 7,100 service members, 1,090 vehicles, 80 aircraft and five ships -- at 10 venues throughout the capital.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2000

Toyota unveils remodeled luxury car

Toyota Motor Corp. unveiled the remodeled Celsior luxury sedan Thursday as part of its efforts to compete with quality European automobiles.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 1, 2000

Japanese rugby player Iwabuchi hopes to make mark at Saracens

The 2000-01 season will be a significant landmark for Kensuke Iwabuchi. The former Japan international rugby player joined English club Saracens, the team he has dreamed of playing for.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Sep 1, 2000

Play that funky Okinawan music

Asian folk music has become a rich source for progressive club music. Hang out in one of Tokyo's happening nightspots and one is apt to hear break beats ping-ponging past Indian sitars or fluttering around Balinese gamelan. But when it comes to Okinawan min'yo or traditional music, there hasn't been...
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2000

U.S. military lets press view emergency medical drills

U.S. service members stationed in Japan conduct an emergency medical drill Wednesday at the Sagami Grand Depot in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Pref. YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) The U.S. Army stationed in Japan opened to the media Wednesday a weeklong drill on emergency medical operations being conducted at a military site...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 31, 2000

Kudos to the Kinki kids

Since Hideo Nomo's spectacular rookie season in 1995, a number of Japanese pitchers have proven capable of competing at the major league level. Lately, it's the lesser lights from the Land of the Rising Sun who have been shining bright.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2000

Talks to hold up Kitakyushu as environmental success story

Asia, with more than half the world's population and economies that continue to grow, poses one of the biggest environmental challenges of the coming century. The United Nations predicts that by 2025 more than half the region's population will have moved to the already packed metropolises.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2000

Little reason to celebrate in East Timor

Just over a year ago, in August 1999, I was in the Baucau district of East Timor, helping to monitor the leadup to the referendum on independence as a U.N.-accredited observer with the independent International Federation for East Timor Observer Project.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 29, 2000

Captivating fragments of Southeast Asia

THE TRUTH ABOUT ANNA . . . and Other Stories, by William Warren. Archipelago Press, Singapore, 2000, 224 pp., unpriced. Most of these essays by William Warren, who has lived in Bangkok for 40 years, concern aspects of life in Thailand, about which the author has written copiously. There are also glimpses...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 29, 2000

End this dysfunctional relationship

LEAVING JAPAN: Observations on the Dysfunctional U.S.-Japan Relationship. By Mike Millard. M.E. Sharpe: Armonk, NY, 2000, 200 pp., $37.95. The $79-billion question is why does the United States continue to tolerate the lopsided economic relationship with Japan that led to a such a massive trade imbalance...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 28, 2000

General Motors humming along -- never mind the environment

A vacation is such a wonderful chance to seek out the unusual and inexplicable. This month my family and I are immersed in a foreign culture, intrigued and perplexed by the ways of an alien people. Most confounding, this culture is my own.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2000

Dai-ichi Mutual, Yasuda Fire considering tieup

Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co. and Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. plan to form a comprehensive tieup with a view to integrating their future operations, industrial sources said Saturday.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 27, 2000

Maestro Comissiona bows to talent of Asian youth

When Sergiu Comissiona was invited to take over as conductor of the Asian Youth Orchestra in 1993, one of his first concerns was whether he could take the heat.
EDITORIALS
Aug 26, 2000

Making peace the hard way

Next month, the United Nations convenes its Millennium Summit. One of the key issues the world body must face in the next century is its role in peacekeeping operations. The magnitude of the challenges were made plain this week when a special commission released its final report. It makes for grim reading....
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2000

Updated environment plan to add new economic options

The Basic Environment Plan -- Japan's 5-year-old master plan for a more environmentally sustainable society -- is in the middle of a seismic revision.

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