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BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 28, 2000

Tigers edge Carp to extend streak

Catcher Akihiro Yano scored the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning Thursday as the Hanshin Tigers edged the Hiroshima Carp 1-0 to extend their unbeaten streak to 10 games and grab the Central League lead.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 26, 2000

The home of Japanese porcelain

Arita is a fine spot for porcelain pots -- and cups, vases, buttons, wall sockets and even denture-holders. Need a cartwheel-sized ashtray (useful at Japanese banquets), or a 1.8-meter-high urn to brighten up a castle somewhere? You'll find them in all shapes, sizes and colors in this peaceful town,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 25, 2000

Marco Polo's fantastic truths

MARCO POLO AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD, by John Larner. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999, 250 pp., with plates (14) and maps, unpriced. In 1271, a mere 17 years old, Marco Polo left Venice in company with his uncle and several other merchants. Twenty-four years later, in 1295, he returned,...
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Apr 25, 2000

Virtuosos from the fringes of Europe

Perhaps it's still too early to be talking about gigs of the year but the upcoming Altan Festival might prove hard to beat. There will be three outstanding acts. All come from the fringes of Europe, from peoples with a history of persecution, but all have an equally long and proud music tradition that...
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2000

Mori's real test comes in July

Like many Japanese, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will travel overseas in the Golden Week holiday period, which starts April 29. He will have little time to relax, however. Mori, who will chair the Group of Eight summit in southern Japan in July, will visit the participating nations to prepare for the...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2000

Mongolian state faces its horrific past

ULAN BATOR -- G. Tserendulam remembers the year Josef Stalin detained her father and his family during a trip to Moscow and sent them to the Soviet Union's Black Sea. It was 1936, and the pro-Soviet government of Mongolia told the people that Prime Minister Genden had felt the urgent need for a holiday....
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 24, 2000

Whales, ivory, orangutans and Japanese wildlife policies

The argument goes something like this: Developing countries are just trying to feed their teeming poor and hungry. All they want is a chance to sell what is rightfully theirs to sell. Carefully managed, of course, to ensure "sustainable use."
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 23, 2000

Battlin' Battle just can't stop winning

Hanshin Tigers third baseman Howard Battle began the 2000 Japan pro baseball season on a 15-game winning streak, and team manager Katsuya Nomura is probably wondering why he sent the former Atlanta Braves player to the farm team following the spring exhibition schedule.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 23, 2000

Neo-Japonisme takes stage

One of the highlights of the Golden Week holiday this year is the Philip Morris Art Award 2000 Exhibition, on display April 24-May 7 at Yebisu Garden Place. The show presents a refreshingly diverse grouping of 100 contemporary works of art including paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures and installations,...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Apr 23, 2000

On to Hawaii -- maybe

It is not surprising that I often become quite involved with readers and their problems. Take June Wong, who grew up in Hawaii but had to come to Japan to learn the hula. She was impressed by a group of Japanese women dancers and joined them. "I love my teacher and every one of my hula sisters," she...
COMMENTARY
Apr 22, 2000

Leave Korean diplomacy to the Koreas

The planned summit between President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea and Communist Party head Kim Jong Il of North Korea offers the hope of ending the Korean Peninsula's cold war. Washington should use this opportunity to reduce its involvement in Korean affairs.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 22, 2000

Myriad layers emerge in Matsue's macrovision

On the wall is a field of 24 monochrome prints, light gray in tone, arranged in an eight-by-three horizontal grid. From a distance, the pictures all appear to be similar. They look a little like simple texture shots -- you know, burlap, canvas, that sort of thing. But step a little closer to Taiji Matsue's...
EDITORIALS
Apr 20, 2000

Russia votes for nuclear sanity

After years of resistance, Russia's Duma finally ratified the START II Treaty last week, thereby sending a statement that President-elect Vladimir Putin wants improved relations with Western nations rather than confrontation.
COMMUNITY
Apr 20, 2000

The TW200 takes a ride on the wild side

If the TW200 was a person rather than a motorbike, it would be flooded with offers to star in before-and-after ads for a trendy esthetic salon.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 19, 2000

Family life full of give and take

After 20 years of wedlock, my Japanese wife and I usually see things eyeball-to-eyeball, especially when staring at each other. Yet, there is one case where we match up like sushi and whipped cream.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 19, 2000

Kashgar to Turpan along the Silk Road

A journey on the Silk Road in the year 2000 is a less adventurous undertaking than when General Zhang Qian, the "Great Traveler," set off in 138 B.C. toward the unknown lands of Central Asia. His mission for the Han Emperor Wudi was to locate Western allies against the Huns and find the famous horses...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Apr 19, 2000

The first to go

The outlook for the economy may be brightening, but the glow is not apparent among museums. First to close was Seibu's museum in Ikebukuro, followed by the Roppongi Arts and Crafts Museum in 1998 and Mitsukoshi's Shinjuku museum which closed last year. Next will be Tobu's Ikebukuro museum, which will...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 19, 2000

Too harsh for humans, perfect for birds

Think of the automobile and which country comes to mind first? America, of course.
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 18, 2000

Festival of fools makes its Tokyo debut

In Europe, clown and mime performances have always been acknowledged as respected forms of entertainment, with some countries even establishing national circus schools. These types of entertainment have never enjoyed the same level of recognition in Japan, however, where clowning and mime have traditionally...
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 2000

URL burial is grave news

Is there anyone who still really thinks the Internet is not transforming the world -- or at least those spreading patches of the planet that are connected to it? Every day, some new swath of mental territory falls prey to the Web, as if a gigantic, benevolent spider had suddenly taken control of humanity...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 17, 2000

Chance meeting provides valuable insights on Japan and environment

In early April I had a chance to meet with Rea Litty, an environmentalist from the Netherlands, and Fushi Zen, president of the Association for the Conservation of Humans Against the Natural Environment, and former director of Humans First!
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2000

A challenge to democracies

Democracies pride themselves on their efficient transfer of power from one elected leader to the next. But death or disability can strike a leader and cause immediate crisis.
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2000

When the safety net breaks down

In what has regrettably become a matter of routine recently, a senior regional police official has again publicly apologized for the ineffective handling by local police of a major case of alleged criminal activity. The latest instance involves the slowness of the Aichi Prefectural Police to begin investigating...
CULTURE / Books / POETRY MIGNETTE
Apr 16, 2000

The silken soul of modern poetry in Japan

At the Power of the Spoken Word reading at Ben's Cafe last month, Yasuo Fujitomi, John Solt, Masafumi Suzuki and Misako Yarita read from their works. Scholar and poet Fujitomi read from poems published in his CD of the highmoonoon spoken literature series, "whatnever" (3,500 yen), a sophisticated production...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 16, 2000

Picasso, magic and childhood

You may not like Picasso very much. You may even agree with the American who said, "If I can do it, it ain't art!" But you would have to be very thick-skinned to remain unmoved by "Picasso's World of Children."
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Apr 16, 2000

The season

Last week I made a pilgrimage to my favorite places for "ohanami," cherry-blossom viewing. They were late this year. The cold weather and rain were enough to make us all but give up, but that day the sun came out and so did the blossoms. Once in a rare while, when they bloom while it is still cold, there...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 16, 2000

Cindy Fueki

More than 70 years ago, a group of women living in Yokohama founded the International Women's Club. They devised lively social programs and gave their attention to welfare work. The outbreak of World War II meant that the club ceased its activities.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 15, 2000

Paintings with lives of their own

Painter Michael Hofmann says his best work starts and finishes before he's even realized it.

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’