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CULTURE / Art
Feb 11, 2001

A passage to modern sculpture

There is a wraith of a bird stalking the basement of the Canadian Embassy, and if you are interested in contemporary sculpture it is worth tracking down. "Passages" shows 20 works by four Canadian artists, ranging from whimsical wildlife to meditations on a cube.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2001

Nine Japanese missing off Oahu

Nine people, including four high school students, were reported missing Friday after a Japanese training ship sank following a collision with a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine in waters off Hawaii, the Japan Coast Guard said Saturday.
COMMUNITY
Feb 11, 2001

Shinto priestess finds freedom while minding duties of past

On summer weekends, Kugenuma Beach turns into a parody of the nearby metropolis' encroachment on the holidaymaker, with girls in bikinis and 20-cm platform sandals struggling across the sand while loudspeakers on towers belch J-pop at 50-meter intervals, making it difficult to find a moment for quiet...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2001

Nine Japanese missing off Oahu

Nine people, including four high school students, were reported missing Friday after a Japanese training ship sank following a collision with a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine in waters off Hawaii, the Japan Coast Guard said Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2001

Defense Agency staff, SDF to face stiffer penalties for spying

The Defense Agency plans to make penalties for personnel and Self-Defense Forces members who leak secret information harsher by raising the maximum prison term from one year to five years, agency sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 11, 2001

Yeltsin and Reagan revisited

This year there were two sad anniversaries in the first week of February: two former political superstars, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Russian President Boris Yeltsin celebrated their birthdays in the shadow of severe health problems. Confined to hospital, they were unable to appreciate the cheering...
COMMUNITY
Feb 11, 2001

The accidental ambassadors

Less than six months after bathing in the international attention that came with hosting the Olympic Games, Australians are celebrating their nation's 100th birthday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 10, 2001

The best politics money can buy

The deportation of fugitive French businessman Alfred Sirven from the Philippines throws a twist into the trial of Mr. Roland Dumas, the former French foreign minister and head of the Constitutional Court. Mr. Sirven is alleged to be the missing link in the scheme to use funds from Elf-Aquitaine, the...
CULTURE / Film
Feb 10, 2001

Suspense from fear of mundanity

Director M. Night Shyamalan couldn't make it to Tokyo since he and his wife have a newborn child to look after, but that didn't stop the enterprising PR people at Buena Vista from setting up a virtual press conference for "Unbreakable."
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2001

Reflections on a ticklish relationship

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- While I fully endorse the spirit and the letter of a recent article in The Japan Times by former British Ambassador Sir Hugh Cortazzi on civil servants and politicians, I am conscious that what follows may be dismissed as an instance of the well-known bureaucratic tendency to...
CULTURE / Film
Feb 10, 2001

One for the guy upstairs

If God was in the mood for a really good movie, chances are he'd flip through the listings and make tracks for "Unbreakable." Everything about it has a huge appeal to the Omniscient: the dynamics of Good and Evil, the fundamental questions of Existence, man's helplessness in the face of accidental fate....
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2001

Who's afraid of the WTO? Not China

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Among U.S. President Bill Clinton's wilder statements on China were those he came up with when recommending that Congress pass the Permanent Normal Trade Relations Bill. The bill, which Congress passed last September, was a necessary precondition for the United States' support of...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2001

Body parts found in a cave near Obara's coastal condo

Police investigating the July disappearance of Lucie Blackman found what appear to be parts of a woman's body Friday in a coastal cave in Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2001

Stiffer penalties sought on flagrant traffic crime

Nearly 80 percent of people who submitted opinions to the National Police Agency on its proposed draft of an amendment to the Road Traffic Law favor harsher punishments for flagrant violations such as drunken driving, the NPA said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2001

Fukuoka prosecutor gets demoted

The Justice Ministry on Friday effectively demoted Eiju Yamashita, 51, the deputy head of the Fukuoka District Public Prosecutor's Office, for his alleged involvement in leaking police information to a judge about an investigation of the judge's wife.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2001

Stiffer penalties sought on flagrant traffic crime

Nearly 80 percent of people who submitted opinions to the National Police Agency on its proposed draft of an amendment to the Road Traffic Law favor harsher punishments for flagrant violations such as drunken driving, the NPA said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2001

Fukuoka prosecutor gets demoted

The Justice Ministry on Friday effectively demoted Eiju Yamashita, 51, the deputy head of the Fukuoka District Public Prosecutor's Office, for his alleged involvement in leaking police information to a judge about an investigation of the judge's wife.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Feb 10, 2001

The beauty of the dark side

Black is usually associated with the "dark side" -- evil, frightening, and negative. But in the Way of Tea, a black chawan (tea bowl) is prized above all others.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2001

Public works bid-rigging said widespread

Takehiko Mori says he is confessing to his crime now that the three-year statute of limitations for the offense has expired.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 10, 2001

Happiness is a warm bar, with artwork

It appears that Tokyo curators have assumed a new duty as of late: that of thinking up catchy, metered titles for their exhibitions. First we had "Point of Purchase" at Parco, then "The Gift of Hope" at MoT, and now "The Place of Happiness" at the Watari-Um Museum of Contemporary Art in Aoyama.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2001

Pilots ignore 10% of onboard collision warning instructions

A government report shows that pilots ignore instructions from the computer-controlled Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System aboard commercial airliners about once every 10 times it is engaged.
COMMENTARY
Feb 9, 2001

Which 'global standard'?

At the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland last month, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara reportedly attracted more attention than Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2001

Public incentives urged to help Kansai economy

KYOTO -- Kansai region business leaders on Thursday called for increased local government involvement in business promotion, strengthened relations with Asia and better understanding of the security arrangement with the U.S. during their annual seminar here.
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2001

Sony to take new IC cash card overseas

Sony Corp. plans to offer a new electronic payment service based on an integrated circuit card, domestically and overseas, company officials said Thursday.

Longform

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How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan