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CULTURE / Books
Mar 28, 2000

Compassion, discretion and social pressure key to rehabilitation

LINKING COMMUNITY AND CORRECTIONS IN JAPAN, by Elmer H. Johnson with Carol H. Johnson. Carbondale and Edwardsville, U.S.: Southern Illinois University Press; 2000; 413 pp., $44.95. One morning a Japanese farmer sees his deranged wife trying to hang herself. Rushing to her side he manages to calm her...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2000

No stopping the IT revolution

Most economic experts seem to agree that the information-technology revolution will bring profound changes to the global economy, and to the Japanese economy as well. Some people still believe that the revolution and the development of multimedia communications technology are only a bubble. However,...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2000

Obuchi hails Putin's win in Russia

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Monday congratulated acting Russian President Vladimir Putin via telephone on his victory in Sunday's presidential elections, a Foreign Ministry official said.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2000

Excessive currency liquidity fuels speculative rise in crude

Crude oil prices, which just a year ago appeared on the verge of falling below $10 per barrel, began a steep climb this year, at one point hitting $34 per barrel -- the highest level since the Persian Gulf Crisis. There are two major reasons behind this phenomenon.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 27, 2000

World's forests cut to feed voracious Japanese industry

For those who suffer from cedar pollen allergies, these dry, sunny days of spring are sheer torture. After Finland and Sweden, Japan has the most forest cover in the world: 67 percent. My itchy eyes tell me 98 percent of those trees must be cedar.
COMMUNITY
Mar 26, 2000

So many blossoms, so little time

The last flower viewing of the century will be here and gone in a matter of weeks.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 26, 2000

Music with the romantic touch

Each year, the City of Tokyo invites the Japan Federation of Musicians to organize a 10-week festival of concerts, opera, ballet, popular and traditional music -- the Tokyo Performing Arts Festival. It presents all the city's major performing companies, including concerts by each of the city's nine symphony...
COMMUNITY
Mar 26, 2000

A fighting chance in the ring

VIENTIANE, Laos -- While tourists settle at the outdoor eateries along the levee beside the Mekong River to catch another stirring Vientiane sunset, a handful of Laotians nearby gawk equally intently at a middle-aged Caucasian man punching a local youth.
SUMO
Mar 26, 2000

Triumph still within grasp for Takatoriki

Yokozuna Akebono turned the tables on nemesis Takatoriki on Saturday, denying the No. 14 maegashira a chance to win his first-ever Emperor's Cup at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2000

The day the Muzak dies

"If music be the food of love, play on..." The famous opening line of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," despite its wary "if," became a cliche for a reason. It draws on the common human experience of music as something associated with good things: in this case, as Duke Orsino surmises, with romance, but...
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2000

Takeshita's political influence radiates even from his sickbed

A year after disappearing from sight following hospitalization for a back injury, former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita maintains his reputation as a major behind-the-scenes political influence.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 25, 2000

Heike epic spellbinds a new audience

PARIS -- More than 800 years ago a feud between two powerful clans closed the most glorious period of refined court culture in Japan. The downfall of the Heike clan was considered equal to bringing an end to the Heian Period (794-1185). The stories of the rise and fall of this family, whose leading members...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 25, 2000

The masters of kabuki coiffure

One of the joys of watching kabuki for most lovers of the art lies in the visual presentation of the costumes and katsura (wigs) of the performers. Katsura are almost equal in importance to the costumes themselves, and tremendous attention is paid to the details of this finely crafted prop; from its...
EDITORIALS
Mar 24, 2000

Haze returns to Southeast Asia

It is the burning season in Southeast Asia. Landowners eager to clear land light fires to do the job quickly. At the best of times, it is a destructive process; when the weather is especially dry, as in 1997 and again this year, it creates a choking haze that blots out the sun and poisons the air. Although...
SUMO
Mar 24, 2000

Takatoriki continues perfect run

OSAKA -- Veteran No. 14 maegashira Takatoriki extended his improbable win streak Thursday by mugging sekiwake Musoyama to boost his record to a perfect 12-0 at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2000

Toyota, GM, Yamaha tie up on Web

Toyota Motor Corp. is planning to advertise on its Web site cars manufactured by General Motors Corp. of the United States and motorcycles made by Yamaha Motor Co., company sources said Thursday.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 24, 2000

Tony Bennett: a true master of the fine art of sincerity

Hyperbole becomes Tony Bennett. His effusiveness is all-encompassing, gathering his audience, his musicians, the people who wrote the songs he sings, and even the singers who covered those songs before him into a warm, gushing embrace. Performing more than 90 minutes' worth of material at Suntory Hall...
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2000

Domestic slump cuts Brazil's chances of gaining funds

Brazil is turning to Japan to raise badly needed funds for a new four-year development program that is expected to go into effect this year.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2000

Breaking down the doors of Japan's discriminatory press clubs

In May 1993, David Butts, then Tokyo bureau chief of Bloomberg Business News, was fed up. After years of unsuccessful efforts to penetrate Japan's press clubs through polite negotiation, the tall Texan chose a more direct approach. On the day annual company reports were released, Butts, with other foreign...
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2000

Miyazawa tells IMF chief Asians need more votes

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Wednesday reminded the next head of the International Monetary Fund of the need to give Asian countries more voting power at the IMF.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 23, 2000

In the realm of the culinary senses

Some people celebrate the cherry-blossom season in doggedly internationalist mode: Aoyama cemetery or the Tamagawa embankment; a few bottles of bubbly with cheese and crackers; maybe even some beluga roe if they're feeling flush. Others prefer to stagger down the well-worn path of traditionalism: Ueno...
EDITORIALS
Mar 22, 2000

The CDU's new image

Reeling from financing scandals that threaten former Chancellor Helmut Kohl with criminal prosecution, Germany's Christian Democrats have turned to Ms. Angela Merkel to cleanse the party. It is a gamble, but it could pay off.
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2000

Haneda eyed for nighttime international flights

The Transport Ministry set up an internal panel Tuesday to study the possibility of late-night and early-morning international flights at Tokyo's Haneda airport, Transport Minister Toshihiro Nikai said.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 22, 2000

China faces democracy bug

LONDON -- Taiwan's transition to democracy is complete. On Saturday, after half a century of rule by the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party), the offshore island's 15 million voters elected a president from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Chen Shui-bian. "I feel very, very badly about this,"...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 22, 2000

Chinois chic in Tokyo's 'experimental' cyber cafe

Can't be bothered with waitresses? Not in the mood for a menu? Just want to grab a hot beverage and snack, plug in and kick back?
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2000

Palm pilots into Japanese market

The head of a new Japanese subsidiary of California-based Palm Inc. sees Japan as a potentially lucrative market for its hand-held computers.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 22, 2000

NTT then and now

Last week's column dealt with NHK's fees and why we should pay them. Similarly, there are complaints from readers about paying the initial 72,000 yen plus 2,184 yen consumption tax and 800 yen contract charge to NTT for the standard telephone installation fee. None of this amount is refundable although...

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo