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COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 2001

Two unloved bureaucratic behemoths

LOS ANGELES -- With the free-market Bush administration settling into power, what's to become of those controversial twin pillars of the world economic system, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank? Those two institutions -- both based in Washington, D.C. and sharing reputations for arrogance...
COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 2001

No quick fixes for Japan's ills

TOKYO and LONDON -- The 17th annual meeting of the U.K.-Japan 21st Century Group -- the bilateral think tank set up by Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher way back in the '80s -- took place this year on Awaji Island in Kobe Bay, island of gods and puppets and,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2001

Tightening the noose on war criminals

LONDON -- For years, former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic lived openly in Belgrade at 119 Vlagoja Parovica Street. He treated with utter contempt his indictment by the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia for directing the slaughter of 7,045 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in July,...
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2001

Tokyo monument honors victims

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government unveiled a peace monument Friday at Sumida Ward park, honoring some 100,000 people who died or were listed as missing as a result of the firebombing of Tokyo during World War II.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2001

TSE plunges to lowest level in 151/2 years

The Tokyo Stock Exchange was again plagued by seemingly endless declines Friday as the key Nikkei index closed at its lowest level in 15 years and seven months.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2001

Japan, South Korea firms see bigger benefits in forging more alliances

Kyodo News Relations between Japanese and South Korean business enterprises have deepened in the past two or three years with increases in business alliances and joint ventures as well as full-scale sales offensives in the Japanese market by firms such as Hyundai Motor Co.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2001

Foes of Isahaya project get more good news

Yoshio Yatsu, head of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, on Friday expressed qualified readiness to open the lock gates of a huge reclamation dike that traverses Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Mar 3, 2001

New frontiers for hogaku

Music in Japan tends to be highly categorized. Ongaku is the Japanese generic term for music, but most Japanese understand it to refer to Western music (the word yogaku is more specific). Hogaku (Japanese music) indicates both Japanese music in general or, more specifically, the music of the Edo Period....
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2001

Union wants to pressure Myanmar

The secretary general of a major global trade union body wants the international community to review its relations with Myanmar to pressure the military leadership to stop using its people as forced laborers.
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2001

The challenge facing Turkey

Turkey teeters on the brink of a financial and economic crisis. A political feud sparked the troubles, the effects of which have been felt far beyond the country's borders. The Turkish government has moved quickly, but some of its new policies may well create their own difficulties. International support...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2001

Researcher publishes third study on toilets

OSAKA -- A 53-year-old civil servant in Osaka Prefecture who has been researching the history of toilets in Japan for more than 30 years has published his latest findings in what he calls "The Journal of Toilet Culture."
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2001

Antigraft law takes effect despite criticism of loopholes

An antigraft law that bars politicians and their secretaries from accepting money or goods in exchange for influencing local and central government officials took effect Thursday, despite criticism that it is full of loopholes.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2001

Nikkei average plunges to lowest close in 15 years

The Nikkei Stock Average plummeted Thursday to close at its lowest level in more than 15 years.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 2, 2001

Dogmatic 'King Lear' stranded in the dunes

The Dogma '95 film movement, started by a group of Danish filmmakers, is a short-list of 10 rules known as the "vow of chastity" -- a pledge to eschew action, sets, props, soundtracks, lighting, stable camerawork, genre conventions and directorial credit. Like many a radical movement, it is entirely...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2001

Deep-sea water targeted for next big health fad

Salt water deep in the sea and beyond the reach of sunlight is attracting the attention of local government officials, fishermen and businesspeople who see seawater products as a promising new business.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 2, 2001

Marathon champion set to profit

Kyodo News Sydney Olympic gold medalist Naoko Takahashi appears set to join the ranks of other prominent figures who have attained fame and fortune after becoming champions in major sporting events.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Mar 2, 2001

Dub Squad takes a journey into time

Dub is easily identified but difficult to define. Is it a style, a genre, or an approach to sound?
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2001

Earth Summit has to keep up with times

Globalization and scientific advances are reshaping the debate over environment and development policy and will merit attention at next year's Rio Plus 10 Earth Summit, according to a senior World Bank official.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2001

Mori quote seen as hint he is ready to quit

Speculation in political circles that Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will soon resign was rife Thursday as the embattled leader promised to make a "sensible decision" about his future amid a series of scandals that have rocked his administration.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 2, 2001

Ex-OL, self-described everyman take Naoki prize

The winners of the Naoki literary prize for the second half of 2000 have been announced. This time, both winners -- "Planaria" by Yamamoto Fumio and "Vitamin F" by Shigematsu Kiyoshi -- are short-story collections, as were three of the other four short-listed works.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2001

Nasdaq Japan passes record share volume

Trading volume on Nasdaq Japan, the domestic version of the technology-laden U.S. Nasdaq market, topped 10 million shares in February for the first time since its launch in June, the Osaka Securities Exchange said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2001

Truth of scandal remains buried

There is always something very frustrating about Diet questioning of legislators involved in corruption scandals. So it was with Monday's inquiry of Mr. Fukushiro Nukaga, former economics minister, at a Lower House Council on Political Ethics. As expected, Mr. Nukaga, a Liberal Democrat, denied allegations...
COMMENTARY
Mar 1, 2001

Lessons of failed Iraq policy elude Bush

"We bomb, therefore we bomb," seems to be Washington's policy toward Iraq. Ten years of sanctions and military strikes have failed to tame or oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Yet the Bush administration thinks only of doing more of the same.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2001

Yamasaki unsure what stance to take on Mori vote

Senior LDP member Taku Yamasaki said Wednesday he has not decided what stance he will take if a no-confidence motion is introduced against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

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