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COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Mar 21, 1999

Obligations

What a downer! A reader has just looked at his calendar and realized that March 15 has passed -- and he forgot to file his Japanese tax return. While he should do it as soon as possible, he does not need to worry. Japan's bureaucracy tends to be compassionate in such matters, especially when the wrongdoer...
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 20, 1999

Passing time and timeless passion

The Kabukiza this month features such outstanding actors as Danjuro Ichikawa, Koshiro Matsumoto, Kikugoro Onoe, Jakuemon Nakamura and Tamasaburo Bando.
COMMENTARY
Mar 20, 1999

A cloudy outlook for spring

The Dow-Jones industrial average on the New York Stock Exchange broke through the barrier of 10,000 March 16. Following the overnight rally, the benchmark Nikkei average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange regained the 16,000 level for the first time in seven and a half months. The advances appear to signal...
JAPAN
Mar 19, 1999

Government announces members of resuscitation panel

The government Friday announced the members of a new panel to be established under Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi to discuss ways to beef up the competitiveness of the Japanese industry.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 1999

Fired Kobe teaching aides win compensation, not jobs

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 19, 1999

Honda, Mitsubishi cruise along on minicar sales

Honda Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. enjoyed increased domestic sales in February on a year-on-year basis, helped by continuing demand for new minivehicles.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 1999

Diet begins full debate on defense cooperation bills

Full debate kicked off Thursday on bills covering updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi stressing that the legislation will contribute to Japan's peace and security.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 1999

Kubota execs to step down April 1

OSAKA -- Kubota Corp. announced Thursday that its executives will resign on April 1 to take responsibility for a water pipe cartel scandal in which three of its officials have been indicted.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 1999

FRC gives banking license to HLAC

The Financial Reconstruction Commission on Wednesday gave a banking license to the Housing Loan Administration Corp. so that it can expand operations to recover bad loans in the banking sector.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Mar 17, 1999

But . . .

Recently I wrote about my visit to Myanmar (also known as Burma), of how the once-wealthy country is now slipping ever downward, its infrastructure in disrepair. Of Suu Kyi, whose house we were not allowed to see. Of how avidly the people watched her on TV. But mostly, of the beauty of the country and...
JAPAN
Mar 16, 1999

Slash corporate levies, raise sales tax, think tank urges

The government should scrap the 5.4 percent residential tax for businesses and halve the 9.9 percent local corporate tax to reinvigorate business activity, a private think tank proposed Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 1999

Chiyoda, UNUM strengthen ties

Midsize insurer Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co. and Maine-based disability insurance firm UNUM Corp. will strengthen business ties hoping to jointly develop and market products, the firms' officials announced Monday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 1999

Safety regulations must be enforced

Pedestrians on Tokyo's sidewalks could only welcome the report last week that the Metropolitan Police Department intends to crack down on bicycle riders who violate traffic regulations. Thirteen accidents in which cyclists were killed were registered in the capital as of the end of February, an increase...
COMMENTARY
Mar 13, 1999

GOP backs off as taxpayers' champions

The Republican Party may be the majority political party, in control of Congress and the vast majority of state governorships. But U.S. President Bill Clinton controls U.S.' political agenda.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1999

Osaka resolution would let minorities vote, run for office

OSAKA -- The Osaka Prefectural Assembly adopted a resolution early Friday urging the central government to grant long-term foreign residents in the country the right to run and vote in local elections.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1999

Diet finally takes up defense guidelines

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Friday renewed calls for "quick and smooth" passage of bills covering defense cooperation with the United States, as the Diet finally began deliberating the long-simmering issue.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1999

Slovak ambassador praises yen loans

The new ambassador of the Slovak Republic hopes that Japan will help his country shift from a centrally planned socialist economy to a democratic, market-oriented industrial economy.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 1999

Defense guidelines fail to receive municipal sanction

Roughly 60 percent of the 107 municipal assemblies nationwide that have approved or adopted nonbinding statements regarding the revised Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines and related bills have called for amendments or abolition, according to results of a survey released Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Mar 10, 1999

Garden weathers stormy decades

The Kyoto Botanic Gardens were first opened to the public on Jan. 11, 1924. Located in Sakyo Ward in northern Kyoto City along the banks of the scenic Kamo River, they are run by Kyoto's prefectural government.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1999

ACCJ urges Tokyo to guard trade agreements

The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan urged Tokyo on Tuesday to adequately implement trade agreements with the United States -- especially in areas such as flat glass and insurance -- so as to not politicize the issues during a skyrocketing trade imbalance.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1999

State willing to help plan Urasoe port, defense chief says

The central government is willing to help the Okinawa Prefectural Government map out the outlines of a multipurpose port in the prefecture's city of Urasoe, Defense Agency chief Hosei Norota said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 9, 1999

Musician serves up jazz du jour

If you are a jazz fan Web-surfing maniac, you might have discovered the Page d'admiratrice de Louis Sclavis (page of a Louis Sclavis admirer, www.netlaputa.ne.jp~/lili/) Web site. Fully dedicated to the French clarinetist, bass-clarinetist and soprano saxophonist, this site comes complete with photographs,...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 9, 1999

Building a nation in time and space

REINVENTING JAPAN: Time, Space, Nation, by Tessa Morris-Suzuki. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1998, 236 pp., $19.95. Every country exists in time and in space. This is a simple fact that is often taken for granted.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 9, 1999

A love affair with the elephant

THE ELEPHANT IN THAI LIFE AND LEGEND, main text by William Warren, main photography by Pin Amranand. Bangkok: Monsoon Editions, 249 pp., 1,495 baht. William Warren has written the texts of a number of illustrated books: "Legendary Thailand," "Thai Style," "The Chao Phraya River" and "Thai Garden Style."...
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

Groups seek to help victims of violence

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

High school students boycott graduation over flag, anthem

URAWA, Saitama Pref. -- In the latest protest of Japan's de facto national anthem and flag, the majority of third-year students at a high school in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, skipped their graduation ceremony Monday for the second consecutive year.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 7, 1999

Is patience a Russian virtue?

Amid the apocalyptic news about Russian pensioners being unable to afford any medicines beyond traditional folk remedies, Russian workers not paid salaries for months and Russian children in the on the verge of starvation, one piece of news is conspicuously missing: reports of mass protests. It is true...
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 1999

Old men and bad dreams

Two unrelated news stories that have been gathering momentum in the United States in the past few weeks have focused attention all over again on the touchy issue of old crimes and delayed punishments. The conflicts involved are not novel -- they surfaced as recently as last year, when Spain attempted...
JAPAN
Mar 4, 1999

Younger politicians demand firm stand on Pyongyang

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 4, 1999

Japan should foster risk-takers, MIT president says

Staff writer

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