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JAPAN
Jan 17, 2001

Pub chain taps retiree workforce

After his tavern went bust, Tadakazu Kachi had nowhere to turn until he had a chance conversation with the elderly owner of a drinking establishment that was thriving.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2001

Okinawa governor demands end to crimes by U.S. forces

Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine urged the central government Tuesday to step up measures to put a stop to crimes involving U.S. servicemen in Okinawa Prefecture, following the arrest of a U.S. Marine last week on suspicion of molesting a teenage girl.
LIFE / Digital
Jan 17, 2001

The Library of Congress streams

www.loc.gov This short URL brings you to a rather unremarkable home page, that of the U.S. Library of Congress. Click behind the facade and you're on an elegant bridge to America's past. There's no map, but don't worry. You want to get lost among the millions of pieces on display -- manuscripts, streaming...
LIFE / Digital
Jan 17, 2001

Old game + old system = high-tech breakthrough

SEATTLE -- Digital Eclipse, a relatively unknown video game design company in the United States, has achieved the incredible: It has taken a nearly 20-year-old video game, adapted it for a 12-year-old video game system and in process created a technological breakthrough.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jan 17, 2001

Sound the alarm

Ahh, vindication is sweet. Especially when you don't have to toot your own horn. So take a bow, Mark Thompson: You got it in one last week when you identified security issues as anxiety numero uno for Internauti this year.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2001

Izumiya to close nine supermarkets running at a loss

OSAKA -- Izumiya Co., a midsize supermarket operator based here, will close down nine of its 20 loss-making stores and eliminate 400 jobs by introducing an early retirement program by the end of February 2003, the company said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2001

Mild earthquake shakes Kozushima

An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 3.5 jolted Kozushima and other islands in the Izu Island chain south of Tokyo at 2:32 p.m. Tuesday, the Meteorological Agency said.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 17, 2001

Prospective grooms: get your head X-rayed

I know several people who claim they should have had their head X-rayed before ever stumbling into an international marriage. It's a statement I can never make.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 17, 2001

Asian environmental extremes

As if the greatest mountain range on earth were not monument enough to the scale of Asia, other ranges, such as the Tien Shan and the Altai, join ranks with the Himalayas to make Central Asia the roof of the world.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jan 17, 2001

Botswana's delta a force of nature

The Okavango delta (or "the Delta" as it's known by those in the know) is not a swamp, at least not in the conventionally unpleasant sense of the word.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2001

A living, dancing tradition

Stories may be universal, but story-telling, as a performance art, just doesn't travel well. Kabuki is universally known among the educated in the West, at least by name, while rakugo remains obscure to all but scholars and a handful of devotees. This is an unfortunate, but seemingly intractable position....
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2001

Europe's top luxury brands unfazed by recession

Despite the prolonged economic doldrums in Japan, top-brand handbags, jewelry and others items imported from Europe are selling quite well as manufacturers step up their offensive.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2001

Quake-proofing old homes a costly quest

OSAKA -- When the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck in January 1995, it sent shivers down the spines of many living in old wooden homes nationwide because most of the 6,432 people killed in the temblor were found in similar structures, which had collapsed. Public interest in whether such houses and buildings...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2001

Astronauts tour to report on mission

The crew of the U.S. space shuttle Discovery said Monday that aspects of everyday life will become increasingly important as astronauts' missions get longer.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2001

Two Japanese films receive invites to Berlin festival

Two Japanese films have been invited to compete in the 51st Berlin International Film Festival for the first time since 1982, according to officials of the distributing agency Toho Co.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2001

LDP prepares to inflate sagging stock market

The Liberal Democratic Party on Monday decided to set up an in-house panel to draw up measures to bolster Japan's faltering stock markets, party officials said.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2001

Governor cues tidal flat plan review

Chiba Gov. Takeshi Numata said Monday he is open to reconsidering the size of a reclamation project that would bury some of the last remaining tidal flats in Tokyo Bay. However, he added that he thinks the prefecture has already cut the plan as much as it can.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2001

Current account surplus shot up 22.1% in November

Japan's current account surplus shot up 22.1 percent in November from a year earlier to 972.2 billion yen in a sharp turnaround from a 28.6 percent decline in October, the Finance Ministry said Monday. The upturn is largely due to an expansion in the surplus in goods and services trade stemming from...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2001

Monkey exterminations on the rise

The number of municipalities exterminating monkeys reached about 500 in fiscal 1999, after the government revised a law to let prefectures eradicate harmful animals, a survey released Sunday shows.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 16, 2001

The buy-or-die albums of 2000

In 2000 America rocked with Limp Bizkit, Slipknot and At The Drive In, while Britain got all soppy and introverted with Richard Ashcroft, Coldplay and Belle & Sebastian. As for Japan, I have mixed feelings. It was great that Melt-Banana, Audio Active and 54 Nude Honeys (my favorite Japanese bands) all...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 16, 2001

New looks at an enduring alliance

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON U.S.-JAPAN RELATIONS, edited by Gerald Curtis. Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange, 2000, 302 pp., paper. JAPAN-U.S. ALLIANCE: New Challenges for the 21st Century, edited by Nishihara Masashi. Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange, 2000, 191 pp., paper. It's...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 16, 2001

Three identities and one life

LIVES OF YOUNG KOREANS IN JAPAN, by Yasunori Fukuoka, translated by Tom Gill. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2000, 330 pp. It is estimated that there were 2.5 million Koreans living in Japan at the end of World War II. Although many returned home after the war, there are still approximately 600,000...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2001

Key LDP figure resigns post over KSD scandal

Masakuni Murakami, a senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party, resigned Monday as chairman of the LDP members' general assembly in the Upper House to take the blame for a money scandal involving industrial insurance provider KSD and a former aide.

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’