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COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 2000

Tide turning against coalition

Only three weeks ago, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's tripartite coalition was in a celebratory mood after the opposition forces ended their boycott of the Diet and all proceedings returned to normal.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2000

DirecTV subscribers SKY-ward

DirecTV Japan Inc. has agreed to disband and hand over all its satellite television subscribers to the operator of rival SKYPerfecTV services.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2000

Niigata cop scandal puts heat on NPA

The National Police Agency was to consult Thursday evening with the National Public Safety Commission on whether NPA head Setsuo Tanaka should be reprimanded for failing to adequately supervise a senior NPA official at the center of a scandal involving Niigata Prefectural Police, commission sources said....
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2000

Complimentary consoles to link Dreamcast retailers

Major Japanese video-game maker Sega Enterprises Ltd. said Thursday it is planning to use the Dreamcast game console to link some 5,000 retailers online by this spring to provide marketing information quickly.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2000

Aum computer firm got list of 3,000 Honda execs

Aum Shinrikyo obtained a list of some 3,000 officials of Honda Motor Co. through a computer software company linked to the cult, the Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Agencies examine software supplied by Aum-linked firms

Government agencies and major companies opted to double check various computer systems Wednesday after it was discovered that some of the the software may have been developed by a firm controlled by Aum Shinrikyo.
LIFE
Mar 2, 2000

Breaking from shame into song

When Tama Ozaki left for India at 19, she felt that she would never want to come back to Japan. "I was in a real emergency situation at the time," she says in a warm but powerful voice. "I was eating compulsively, and drinking too. I was completely unhappy."
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 2, 2000

Harajuku tea shop kicks that Seattle habit

Serene and calm, Saikolee Tsukamoto's piano project, "Museum of Plate," is music to kick back and relax to. With a dollop of Erik Satie and a hint of ambient electronica of the gentlest kind, her latest album "Saon (Music for Tea)" is, as the name implies, inspired by tea drinking. Listen to the record...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Dai-Tokyo, Chiyoda announce merger

Midsize nonlife insurers Dai-Tokyo Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and Chiyoda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. announced Wednesday they will merge in April 2001.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2000

Japan needs a new, better Constitution

At long last, deliberations on the Constitution have started at both Houses of the Diet. It is not clear, however, what kind of conclusion will be reached and when. Indications are that the participants in those deliberations want to draw up a conclusion by 2003 at the latest. But this is by no means...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Sea charts to be revised with GPS

The Maritime Safety Agency plans to fully revise Japan's nautical charts by the summer of 2002 because they are oriented 400-500 meters too far southeast agency officials said Wednesday.
COMMUNITY
Mar 2, 2000

All in the name of the perfect cut

We live in an age where technology pushes us to be faster, more efficient and more connected than ever. We make phone calls while walking down the street. We send e-mail messages from handheld electronic organizers. We have oceans of informations just on the other side of a mouse click.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Low-cost cruises are reeling them in

Singapore-based Star Cruises, the leading ocean cruise line in the Asia-Pacific region, is enjoying an overwhelming response after it recently announced the operation of low-priced luxury cruises.
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2000

Nippon Asset's rehab plan approved by Tokyo court

The Tokyo District Court has approved a rehabilitation plan submitted by Nippon Asset Management Inc. pledging to repay roughly 30 percent of its debts in five years.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

WTO rules against U.S. antidumping law

The World Trade Organization's dispute settlement panel on Monday supported Japan's claims that a U.S. antidumping law allowing individual firms to seek civil damages violates WTO rules, trade sources said.
COMMUNITY
Mar 1, 2000

Conspiracy theories: just waiting to be shot down

Amelia Earhart's fate has long been fertile hunting ground for conspiracy theorists, leading to some credibility-stretching explanations for her disappearance over the Pacific in July 1937.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Japan to take part in global probe into Net child porn

The National Police Agency said Tuesday it will join U.S. and European police to investigate Internet-based child pornography, in a move aimed at countering international criticism of the availability of Web-based child pornography in Japan.
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2000

Jobless rate holds at 4.7%

The unemployment rate stood at a seasonally adjusted 4.7 percent in January, unchanged from December's revised figure, with the rate at 4.8 percent for men and 4.5 percent for women, the Management and Coordination Agency said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Mar 1, 2000

Conversation: enough said

I heard once that the average male speaks 2,000 words a day, while the average female speaks 7,000.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 29, 2000

Afghanistan drags Pakistan down with it

ISLAMABAD -- More than 20 years after Soviet troops marched into Afghanistan in support of the last communist coup, the central Asian country's turmoil is unending. Descriptions such as "extreme impoverishment," "a lost generation" and "the ultimate pariah state" are just some of the ways that Afghanistan...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 29, 2000

Pilgrimage for the 21st century

EXPLORING KANTO: Weekend Pilgrimages from Tokyo, by Michael Plastow. New York: Weatherall, 1996, 262 pp., with color photos and maps, $19.95. A long journey of exalted purpose is one of the dictionary definitions of pilgrimage. One makes such a demanding endeavor for personal or, if you will, spiritual...
JAPAN
Feb 29, 2000

Ishihara says 3% tax to affect banks only

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said Tuesday that he has no intention of slapping a tax on the gross profits of any businesses other than banks. He also reiterated his position that major financial institutions are obliged to pay for the administrative services they enjoy. Speaking before the Tokyo Metropolitan...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 29, 2000

Staying on the beaten track in darkest Saitama

THE CITY OF YES, by Peter Oliva. Toronto, Canada: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1999; 336 pp., $21.99. Like many another young, sensitive, well-intentioned foreigner, Canadian-born Peter Oliva -- or his protagonist -- came to Japan for a year and was so bowled over by the place that he felt the world...
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2000

Road ahead clears for Tokyo stock market

After struggling to find its direction for weeks, the Tokyo stock market appears poised to test higher ground.
COMMUNITY
Feb 27, 2000

'Dalit' priest researches caste system in Japan

As a child the Rev. Busi Suneel Bhanu had no inkling of his status in the Indian caste system. Enlightenment came in his early teens, when a teacher voiced shock on being told that Suneel was "Dalit," the name used for those Indians regarded as "untouchable" because of the traditional nature of their...
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 26, 2000

Ex-BayStars scout Ushigome knows talent when he sees it

When it comes to searching the North American major, and minor, leagues for raw talent to bring to Japan, few have the credentials or track record of former Yokohama BayStars scout Tadahiro Ushigome.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 26, 2000

Fair and flea market pot-hunting

"How can I learn more about Japanese pottery?" is a question I'm often asked. The answer is simple: Get out and see as much as you can.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 26, 2000

Religious art meets shamanism

People in the village of Monobe, Kochi Prefecture, nestled deep in the mountains, have passed down from generation to generation a mysterious folk religion that worships paper gods.

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