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EDITORIALS
Sep 15, 2000

The Olympic love-hate affair

The quadrennial soap opera that is the Summer Olympics gets under way again today in Sydney, inspiring the usual mixed response of blahs and hurrahs. Nobody disputes that the Summer Games have become the world's biggest recurrent spectacle, costing more than some countries' GDP and cornier than Kansas....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 15, 2000

Ever-unfashionable Akutagawa

JAPANESE SHORT STORIES, by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, translated by Takashi Kojima, foreword by John McVittie. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing, 1981, 240 pp. with 15 illustrations, $14.95. THE ESSENTIAL AKUTAGAWA, by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, edited by Seiji Lippit, foreword by Jorge Luis Borges. New York: Marsililio...
COMMENTARY
Sep 15, 2000

Looking for Mori's successor

A couple of weeks ago, Koichi Kato, former secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, appeared at a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo. Kato is receiving growing public attention as a potential contender for the post of prime minister to replace unpopular Yoshiro...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 14, 2000

Hannibal: Tunisian flavors in Shin-Okubo

Don't roll up at Hannibal with ideas about mysterious Middle Eastern souks, exotic belly dancers or desert caravansaries. Nor should you expect ancient classical motifs and provender of Punic proportions. Just forget you ever saw the movie "Casablanca" (and don't even mention "The Silence of the Lambs")....
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 14, 2000

Tunisian flavors in Shin-Okubo

Don't roll up at Hannibal with ideas about mysterious Middle Eastern souks, exotic belly dancers or desert caravansaries. Nor should you expect ancient classical motifs and provender of Punic proportions. Just forget you ever saw the movie "Casablanca" (and don't even mention "The Silence of the Lambs")....
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2000

Hatoyama elected DPJ president again

Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, was elected party president for a second term at a party convention Saturday in Tokyo, pledging to establish a new DPJ-led government after the Upper House elections next summer.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Sep 9, 2000

Putin's obscure mind games

I know very little about judo. Actually, I know nothing about it at all. Yet I like the image of two people wearing cool outfits accentuated by stylish belts, circling the mat with stony faces, waiting for the right moment to jump at each other like two splendid bobcats. It is undoubtedly the sport of...
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

Top LDP faction set to back Mori: Aoki

Mikio Aoki, a key member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's most powerful faction and the chief Cabinet secretary to two prime ministers, said his faction will support Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori until the Upper House election next summer.
COMMENTARY
Sep 6, 2000

A haphazard path to recovery

LONDON -- Reports from Tokyo suggest that Japanese government and business leaders have not properly thought through economic policies designed to ensure recovery. Each problem seems to be treated in isolation, and decisions appear to be taken on the basis of what is most likely to satisfy the various...
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2000

On the precipice in Colombia

The United States last month approved a $1.3 billion aid package to Colombia. The military and social assistance is intended to help that country's government fight leftist guerrillas who have become key players in the drug trade. President Bill Clinton pledged last week during a one-day visit to Colombia...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 31, 2000

Frugality boom highlights fun and fulfillment of the simple life

As explained in this column several months ago, Japanese TV often adapts successful programming ideas from abroad. Still, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a local version of "Survivor." Reality-based programming is already available in Japan. Years ago, "Denpa Shonen" moved beyond such simplistic...
COMMENTARY
Aug 28, 2000

U.N. central to future peace

Hisashi Owada, former ambassador to the United Nations and now president of the Japan Institute of International Affairs, emphasized in a recent interview with this writer that Japan should play a larger role in the 188-member world body, saying: "Japan should contribute to the resolution of global issues,...
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....
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2000

Pride before a fall

After a nine-day rescue operation that transfixed the world, the Russian government announced Monday that all 118 crew members of the downed submarine Kursk were dead. An international rescue team discovered that all the compartments in the vessel were flooded; it is likely that almost all of the crew...
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2000

Japan, North Korea resume talks

Japan and North Korea launched a 10th round of normalization talks Tuesday in Tokyo, reiterating basic positions over which the two sides clashed during the previous round of discussions in Pyongyang in April.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2000

Policymakers visit Yoshino dam site

LDP policy chief Shizuka Kamei leads a ruling coalition mission on an inspection of the planned site of a dam along the Yoshino River. TOKUSHIMA (Kyodo) Policymakers from the Liberal Democratic Party, New Conservative Party and New Komeito on Monday inspected the planned site for a controversial project...
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2000

Trade framework for Asia requires neighborhood effort

On July 19 the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) held the fifth Asian Neighbors' Forum, with participants freely ex- changing opinions over two main themes -- "Searching for a new model of Asian regional cooperation" and "The progress of globalization and cooperation among Asian...
EDITORIALS
Aug 19, 2000

Who is Al Gore?

That is the single most important question that the Democratic Party candidate for the U.S. presidency must answer in the months ahead. What is most troubling for Mr. Gore and his party is that, despite his 24 years of public service as a congressman, senator, vice president and two-time presidential...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2000

State-owned enterprises continue to hinder Chinese growth

WASHINGTON -- In January, Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Wu Bangguo said that whether or not China gets into the World Trade Organization, China's policy would be "to reform and build a market economy." Now that China is assured of entering the WTO, the hard work of transforming China's socialist market...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 17, 2000

Support the economy -- take a vacation

If all you knew about Japan was what you saw on Japanese TV, you might think the Japanese are the most well-traveled citizens in the world. No other broadcast culture offers as many travel programs in which happy-go-lucky celebrity guides see the sights, interact freely with the natives and, most importantly,...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2000

Australia splits on single mothers' rights

SYDNEY -- Sex and the single woman: This unlikely topic has suddenly become a political cause celebre in Australia. Even the Olympics are taking a temporary back seat to the debate on unmarried women's right to motherhood.
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2000

Mori reign remains shaky

It has been four months since Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori launched his coalition government. Mori's first Cabinet, inaugurated April 5, remained in office for less than three months before the general election was held June 25. He established his second Cabinet July 3.
EDITORIALS
Aug 9, 2000

Gore's surprising choice

Vice President Al Gore has made his first bold move in the race for the U.S. presidency. The selection of Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut as his running mate has won applause from both sides of the aisle. The senator is a thoughtful and serious politician, who is guided by a strong moral code. He...
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2000

Nakaumi land-reclamation project likely to be spiked

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry has informally decided to terminate a controversial national project to reclaim part of Lake Nakaumi in Shimane Prefecture, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori effectively acknowledged Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2000

Bank officials tried to put an end to World War II

A Swedish international financial official, who later became the third managing director of the International Monetary Fund, engaged in secret maneuvers to help end World War II from neutral Switzerland at the request of his Japanese colleagues, declassified documents from Princeton University show....

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