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CULTURE / Film
Mar 17, 2001

Upon further meditation . . .

Sometime after Gus Van Sant had released "Goodwill Hunting," he took a trip to India. During his stay, he was faxed a screenplay from Sony Pictures. Written by an unknown anchorman called Mike Rich, "Finding Forrester" had everything that prompted Van Sant to cut off his journey and return to LA. Three...
COMMENTARY
Mar 17, 2001

Two old allies, two visions

LOS ANGELES -- Remember how the senior George Bush, when he was president, admitted to having trouble with "the vision thing." Has that deficiency been passed on to his son?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2001

Taliban fanaticism is not typical of Islam

LONDON -- The problem is that the world is actually a very provincial place. Most people in the non-Muslim parts of the world have never been in any Muslim country, so if Muslims anywhere in the world do something really stupid, they will readily believe that those actions are typical of Islam -- and...
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Miyazawa will not draft extra budget

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa reiterated Friday that he has no plans to draw up a supplementary budget for fiscal 2001, which starts April 1.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Foot cult leader failed to declare 750 million yen in income

The founder and former leader of the Honohana Sampogyo foot-reading cult failed to declare some 750 million yen in taxable income for four years until 1999, sources close to the case said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Eight-year English program is first of its kind for children

OSAKA -- In a pioneering move, the city of Osakasayama in Osaka Prefecture will in April begin a program to teach English to children over the eight-year period from nursery school through elementary school.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2001

Has cycle of peace begun?

NEW DELHI -- Sri Lanka's 18-year-old bloody ethnic crisis between Tamils demanding an independent homeland and the government has always been marked by hope. Even during some of the darkest days of the strife a little over a decade ago, there was always a glimmer of light. Then, New Delhi interfered...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 16, 2001

Cinnamon girls are forever

There have been a lot of odes to the '70s on film lately, but director Cameron Crowe ("Say Anything," "Jerry McGuire") certainly has a unique tale to tell. As a 15-year-old rock journalist for music magazines like Creem and Rolling Stone, Crowe spent his formative years in the mid-'70s on tour with stadium...
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Top academic criticizes university 'privatization'

University of Tokyo President Shigehiko Hasumi on Thursday criticized the government's move to turn national universities into quasi-independent agencies, calling it a political gambit.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Gene find could harness power of photosynthesis

A team of Japanese researchers has identified a gene in the mustard plant Arabidopsis that controls the movement of light-gathering cells in leaves. The discovery could lead to the construction of artificially enhanced plants, they say.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2001

Failed experiment haunts Jakarta

SINGAPORE -- As Indonesia assesses the carnage from the recent ethnic violence in its province of Kalimantan, a poignant legacy of the failure of its transmigration policy slowly but surely emerges.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2001

UFJ Group banks go into red

The three banks that will form the UFJ Group in April announced Thursday they will post pretax losses of 289 billion yen for fiscal 2000 due to writing off 1.13 trillion yen in nonperforming loans, around twice the amount they had earlier predicted.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Sumitomo execs to pay redress for losses

OSAKA -- Former executives of trading house Sumitomo Corp. reached a court-mediated settlement Thursday on a lawsuit filed by one of its shareholders over huge losses the firm sustained due to a rogue copper trader.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2001

All told, a strong rebound is in the offing?

There has been mounting alarm around the world that a global stock market rout might be developing.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Rise in shares stems fears of rout

Tokyo share prices rebounded strongly toward the close of trading Thursday, shrugging off worries about a global stock market rout.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Diesel woes spur truck firms to seek out alternative fuels

Delivery companies are starting to use trucks that run on compressed natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas in the face of stricter regulations on diesel-powered vehicles.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 16, 2001

Post-rockers toil in obscurity and they like it like that

Anonymity is the nemesis of pop. History is filled with earnest, well-meaning bands who did whatever they could to keep the music up front and the personalities in the background, often to the point where they wouldn't even reveal their names (like early Pavement). But unless you intend to toil in obscurity...
SUMO
Mar 16, 2001

Kaio grabs sole lead in Osaka

OSAKA -- Ozeki Kaio dodged a bullet Thursday to preserve his unbeaten record and take sole possession of the lead, while yokozuna duo Takanohana and Musashimaru joined a logjam of wrestlers at 4-1 in the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
EDITORIALS
Mar 15, 2001

Making sense of the slide

The blood-letting in international stock markets continues. The U.S. Nasdaq index plunged below the 2,000 level for the first time in 27 months. The S&P 500 lopped 20 percent of its peak, officially becoming a "bear market." The U.S. free fall triggered a domino effect, pushing Asian and European markets...
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2001

Slips of politicians' tongues hurt economy

The dollar appears likely to continue hovering around 120 yen for some time.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2001

The choice is North Korea's

WASHINGTON -- The curtain has come down on the first act of the Bush administration's Asia policy, and there are far more questions than answers about U.S. policy after President Kim Dae Jung's visit to Washington. The media feasted on the mixed messages from a skeptical President George W. Bush and...
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 15, 2001

Troussier names squad to face France

Japan manager Philippe Troussier was in a confident mood Wednesday as he announced his senior team for an upcoming friendly international against world champion France, slated for March 24 at Saint-Dennis.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan