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JAPAN
Nov 20, 1999

LTCB execs plead not guilty to window-dressing

Three former top executives of the failed Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan pleaded not guilty Friday before the Tokyo District Court to hiding 313 billion yen in losses in the bank's financial report for fiscal 1997.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 20, 1999

Indigo dyers singing the artisan blues

The deep blue color of aizome (indigo dyeing), is often referred to as the color of Japan. Made from the ai (indigo) plant, a type of tade (smartweed) grown in Japan, aizome has also gained a great deal of popularity worldwide. Although indigo comes in an array of hues, the most popular is one that is...
JAPAN
Nov 20, 1999

Tokai mayor blames Tokyo for 'nuclear safety myth'

The Tokai nuclear accident was caused and mishandled by the central government, which has propagated a "nuclear safety myth" and failed to build up adequate emergency measures, Tokai Mayor Tatsuya Murakami said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 1999

Eight top banks claim profits

Eight of the nation's 17 major banks released their fiscal 1999 midterm earnings reports Friday in which all posted both pretax and after-tax profits at the end of September.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 19, 1999

Should auld new wavers be forgot

A film that zeroes in on the forced enthusiasm of New Year's Eve celebrations, "200 Cigarettes" will certainly appeal to those who are already tiring of this year's millennial madness. As one cynic in the film puts it, "Every year it's the same desperate scrambling around, pretending to be happy."
CULTURE / Music
Nov 19, 1999

Got juice? Cleve does

If my man Cleveland Williams' 35th birthday party at Boogies in Roppongi this past week was not the coolest off-the-hook, mind-blowing, no-holds-barred, woman-chasing, brain-cell-damaging event of the year so far, then I fear the party that might top it. It's a good thing parties like this only happen...
JAPAN
Nov 18, 1999

Japan files WTO complaint, seeks talks with U.S.

Japan formally filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization on Thursday, calling a U.S. ruling made in June against Japanese hot-rolled steel imports unfair.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 1999

Beijing boycotts sister-city celebrations

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Nov 17, 1999

Bringing China into the fold

The breakthrough trade agreement signed in Beijing on Monday between China and the United States heralds the imminent global debut of the world's last-remaining large market that is basically free and operates on the basis of common global rules. This is a real boon, not only for the two nations concerned,...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 17, 1999

An 'overseas Vietnamese' goes home

CATFISH AND MANDALA: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam, by Andrew X. Pham. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999; 344 pp., $25. After Vietnam's "American War" ended, the victorious Viet Cong captured and imprisoned Andrew X. Pham and his family as, along with scores...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 17, 1999

An eyewitness to early Meiji

REMEMBERING AIZU: The Testament of Shiba Goro, edited by Ishimitsu Mahito, translated with an introduction and notes by Teruko Craig. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999; 160 pp., $37 (cloth), $19.95 (paper). A popular account of the beginnings of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) has it that the...
COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 1999

Japan on the verge of change?

LONDON -- A three-week visit to Japan in October left me somewhat more optimistic about the Japanese scene than I was six months or a year ago. Why? There seemed to be a greater recognition that Japan had to change if its economy were not only to deliver continued prosperity to the Japanese people but...
LIFE / Travel
Nov 17, 1999

Voices of stone in the Oita mountains

Deep in a quiet valley northeast of Kyushu's Mount Aso lies the town of Innai, its central river filled with an absurdly picturesque number of stone bridges. I first read about the town and its equally fascinating surroundings a few years ago, but only recently made the long drive there, a stunning descent...
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 1999

A 'final push' for recovery

The government has unveiled a new economic pack age designed to pep up the frail economy and give further impetus to structural economic reforms going into the 21st century. Titled "Economic Rebirth Measures," the package, which was announced last Thursday, focuses on building social infrastructure,...
JAPAN
Nov 15, 1999

Wahid to announce referendum for restive Aceh

Visiting Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid indicated Monday that he would announce within a month a referendum on independence for the country's restive Aceh province, according to a senior Japanese politician.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 1999

Photos urge students to study selves

Staff writer
JAPAN
Nov 15, 1999

Nissan auto mall aims to enhance buying experience

ZAMA, Kanagawa Pref. -- Nissan Motor Co. unveiled a new automotive mall here Monday, the largest of its kind in Japan, as one of its efforts to offer customers easy access to new and used cars and improve sales efficiency.
EDITORIALS
Nov 12, 1999

Mr. Bush's quiz show

There is no doubt about it. U.S. presidential hopeful George W. Bush handed his rivals some welcome ammunition last week when he flubbed that pop quiz. Asked to identify the leaders of Chechnya, Taiwan, Pakistan and India, a stunned Mr. Bush could only come up with "Lee" for Taiwan and (an admittedly...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 1999

Crown tops bush hat, for now

Two definitive historical events of the past quarter-century have determined the agenda for 21st-century Australia: the dismissal of the Whitlam government by Governor General John Kerr in November 1975; and the defeat of the republican cause in the referendum of November 1999.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 1999

Government unveils 18 trillion yen stimulus

The government unveiled an 18 trillion yen economic stimulus package Thursday that it hopes will put the economy on a full recovery track in the second half of fiscal 2000.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 1999

Will WTO waiting game pay off for Japan?

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 1999

Cracking down on loan sharks

Japan's continuing credit squeeze is turning the spotlight onto small-business loans from commercial moneylenders -- so-called "shoko" (commerce and industry) loans that carry extremely high interest rates because they require no collateral, only a third-party guarantee. To collect loans, the lenders...
COMMUNITY
Nov 10, 1999

Walking the way of the gods

As long as there has been Japan there has been Shinto: the "way of the gods." Shintoism is not organized around any central religious text or authority. It is perhaps best described as an amalgam of thousands of local deities (kami) and beliefs observed within a base framework of rituals and customs....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 10, 1999

Homage to an image maker

HAYAO MIYAZAKI: Master of Japanese Animation, by Helen McCarthy. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 1999, 240 pp., 8 pages in color and 60 b/w images. $18.95. The biggest domestic movie hit of all in Japan was the 1997 "Princess Mononoke," an animated film created by Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli....
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Nov 10, 1999

Pre-holiday planning

It seems a bit early to be writing about Christmas, but there is a lot of planning to do if you must ship things home, or even pack them to take with you. That's why the Tokyo charity-oriented International Ladies Benevolent Society now schedules its ILBS Christmas Fair even before we have ordered the...
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Nov 10, 1999

Soaring voice of modern Africa unifies the world music scene

Youssou N'Dour, one of Africa's (and the world's) greatest singers, makes a welcome return to Japan this month. The last time he was in Japan was for the 1994 WOMAD festival in Yokohama. World music was still on a roll back then, with some African artists such as Papa Wemba becoming genuinely "big in...
JAPAN
Nov 9, 1999

Politicians brace for one-on-one Diet debate

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 1999

A welcome step toward Pyongyang

The government's decision last week to lift the ban on chartered flights between Japan and North Korea comes amid an easing of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The ban was part of the economic sanctions that Tokyo imposed in August last year to protest the test-firing of a Taepodong ballistic missile....
JAPAN
Nov 8, 1999

Coalition's nursing care rift on the mend

Staff writer
JAPAN
Nov 8, 1999

LDP executives cave in to corporate donation ban

Reversing an earlier decision, top executives of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party agreed Monday that corporate donations should be banned beginning next year as stipulated in a 1995 law.

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’