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LIFE / Travel
Oct 25, 2000

Bubbling with energy

If you can accept its gimmickry and brazen commercialism, the glitzy, neon-lit hot spring resort of Beppu, a melange of pachinko parlors, love hotels, sleazy bars, night clubs and hot baths visited by over 12 million tourists a year, constitutes an amazing thermal and entertainment roller-coaster.
COMMENTARY
Oct 25, 2000

When leaders fail to lead

LONDON -- Countries and peoples that make peace after years or even generations of enmity require very strong leaders. Just as it needed a Charles de Gaulle to tell the French to stop fighting the Algerians, a Konrad Adenauer to tell the Germans to love the French, a Harry Truman or a Douglas MacArthur...
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Kawada sees victory as step to changing politics

Etsuko Kawada, winner of Sunday's House of Representatives by-election in Tokyo's No. 21 single-seat constituency, said Monday she felt a great sense of mission in being elected at a time of strong public distrust in politics.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

New version given of Mori's secret proposal

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa on Monday contradicted Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori by saying the prime minister did not make a secret proposal to Pyongyang to resolve alleged abductions of Japanese.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 24, 2000

Portrait of Laos, Asia's 'forgotten country'

LAOS: Culture and Society, edited by Grant Evans. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books, 2000, 313 pp., $24.95 The colorful volumes of anthropology produced in the past by gifted amateurs, lady travelers of independent means, colonial officers and the like, have been replaced by the works of highly trained...
COMMENTARY
Oct 23, 2000

LDP is up to its old tricks

The current 150th Diet session is in unprecedented chaos over an electoral reform bill to revise the Upper House voting system. The bill would change the roster system for candidates nominated in the proportional-representation segment of the Upper House polls. Currently, parties predetermine the ranks...
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2000

Libraries without limits

We human beings, especially those of us who are getting on in years, are always complaining that "anything goes these days." It's a habit that defines the species. Elderly Neanderthals probably tottered about fretting that the cave was going to the dogs and it was time for tighter standards and firmer...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2000

Letters shed new light on Nosaka's espionage acts

New facts have emerged regarding the clandestine activities of Sanzo Nosaka, a controversial Japanese Communist Party leader who was expelled by his party in 1992 and died seven years ago aged 101.
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2000

Reform starts with big business

Two of Japan's four largest business organizations, Keidanren (Federation of Economic Organizations) and Nikkeiren (Federation of Employers Associations), have decided to merge by May 2002. A task force will be working out details by the end of the year, including the proposed name and articles of association...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Troubled insurer Kyoei seeks court protection

Kyoei Life Insurance Co., a troubled midsize insurer with liabilities of about 4.5 trillion yen, filed for protection from creditors with the Tokyo District Court on Friday, making it the largest life insurer to collapse since World War II, company officials said.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 21, 2000

Songs and sausages in Balkan backwoods

KOPRIVSHTITSA, Bulgaria -- Bulgaria may be one of the worst places to visit in Europe if you're looking for an advanced level of economic development, but it is a great place to go if you want a music festival where you can take off your shirt.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Shirakawa urges firsthand science classes

Nobel laureate Hideki Shirakawa suggested Friday that elementary school children in Japan more firsthand experience in their science education.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Oct 21, 2000

Koto reclaims place of honor in Japanese cultural parlor

Just as every cultured Western household during the early 20th century was expected to have a piano in the parlor, almost all Japanese upper-class households, until well past World War II, had a koto. Training on this lovely 13-stringed zither, originally imported into Japan from China as part of the...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Mourning Empress refuses to celebrate 66th birthday

The Empress turned 66 on Friday, but no celebrations are scheduled to mark her birthday as the Imperial family is still mourning the passing in June of the Empress Dowager, the Imperial Household Agency said.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

11 trillion yen plan gets official nod

The government adopted a comprehensive stimulus package Thursday worth nearly 11 trillion yen in its latest bid to place the long-stagnant economy on a full-fledged recovery track.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 20, 2000

World Sports Awards name 75 finalists for 2000

LONDON -- The year 2000 has been good to many of the world's top athletes. For a select few, it just got even better. The World Sports Awards 2000 announced the names of 75 finalists at a press conference in London on Wednesday. Athletes such as track star Marion Jones, golfing sensation Tiger Woods...
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 19, 2000

Ichiro outshines Oh, Nagashima

Orix BlueWave outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, apparently on his way to the major leagues next season, was the fans' favorite selection for the All-Century Team in Japanese baseball, as poll organizers announced their final results Wednesday.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Oct 19, 2000

Restoring health with flowers

To continue with our rather jolly theme of happiness-inducing strategies, today we take a look at the Bach Flower Remedies.
COMMUNITY
Oct 19, 2000

Kyushu reaches out to Asia through education

FUKUOKA -- For years it's been said that Kyushu's economic nerve center, Fukuoka, is one of Japan's most promising areas when it comes to forging new business and cultural links overseas. The city's proximity to the East Asian continent, as well as government and business activity, have all contributed...
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2000

Fathers of juvenile victims call for tougher laws at Diet

Two fathers whose sons were killed by other juveniles spoke at the Diet as witnesses Tuesday, calling for revisions to the Juvenile Law to deter youths from committing heinous crimes and to better protect the human rights of crime victims.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Oct 18, 2000

Singing a different tune

With the Oct. 3 release of "Kid A," Radiohead's hotly anticipated but allegedly "difficult" album (i.e., no guitar solos, love ballads or sing-along chants), the British band accomplished quite a feat: It shot to the top of album charts worldwide, including Billboard's U.S. album charts, the holy grail...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2000

Sri Lanka and the Bandaranaike legacy

Almost drowned out by the blare of daily horrors in the Middle East, the world's first elected woman prime minister, Sirima Bandaranaike, died last week in Sri Lanka aged 84. Fittingly, she died on the way home from casting her vote in an election called by her daughter, the country's current president....
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 18, 2000

Seeing spots before your eyes

Rain brings changes to the African savanna. As storm clouds near, even the smells change. The temperature flutters, falls; the stuttering, buzzing and sawing of insects takes on a different pitch; then a hush, before the pittering of raindrops splashes dust from the baked ground. The pittering turns...
EDITORIALS
Oct 17, 2000

Economy inspires cautious optimism

The Bank of Japan's latest quarterly "tankan" survey of business sentiments, conducted in September, provides further evidence that the Japanese economy is slowly recovering from its worst postwar recession. Leading the recovery are large corporations riding the crest of the information-technology revolution....

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’