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JAPAN
Jul 24, 2000

Global partnership urged in summit communique

NAGO, Okinawa Pref. — The leaders of the Group of Eight major nations adopted a communique Sunday calling for a "new partnership" with other countries — especially developing ones, international organizations and the public in order to cope with the increasingly complex challenges of globalization....
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2000

G8 nations vs. the rest of the planet

On July 17, the United Nations University hosted a symposium on "The Kyushu-Okinawa Summit: The Challenges and Opportunities for the Developing World in the 21st Century." The conference was jointly organized by the Tokyo-based Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development, the Toronto-based...
CULTURE / Music
Jul 23, 2000

Bernstein lives on in sounds of summer

In the nether regions near the waterfront wherein lie most of the nation's major cosmopolitan areas, Japan's tropical sun and heavy humidity militate against the kind of lighthearted family outdoor concerts which find so much favor in Europe and America. Nevertheless, summer is here again, and here again...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jul 19, 2000

Big train a-comin'

Pick your measure. No matter what standard you choose, the information revolution is less than 3 percent complete. That's right: Whether you count users, devices, speed, content or number of applications, the revolution is just revving up. That has two implications: 1) virtual lifetime employment for...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2000

Beat swords into plowshares

Given the tragic history of Okinawa, when the eight wise men of the world meet there it would be particularly appropriate if they turned their minds, in this International Year of the Culture of Peace, to the subject of ridding the world of war and genocide.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2000

G8 must act to save forests

There are few losses more profound than a forest laid waste and vanished.
EDITORIALS
Jul 11, 2000

A terrifying epidemic

This will be a depressing week for the 11,000 participants at the 13th annual International AIDS Conference that is being held in Durban, South Africa. They will be told of a grim future, and see and hear for themselves horrific examples of the toll the epidemic is already taking. Their hopes may rise...
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2000

HIPC debt deal unlikely at summit

Jubilee 2000 seeks action before 2001 but doubts Japan's sincerity Staff writer After two years of vain efforts to get the Group of Seven countries to cancel all debt owed by Third World countries, the organizers of Jubilee 2000 plan one last push at the upcoming Okinawa summit.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jul 5, 2000

The tyranny of the square

When talking to Ted Nelson, strap in tight. It's quite a ride. Trained as a philosopher and film director, he is equal parts visionary and crank. Many consider him to be one of the fathers of the World Wide Web. He coined the word "hypertext" in 1965, but he has become a scathing critic of the Web and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2000

Thai villagers protest dam's legacy of destruction

BANGKOK -- The Moon River is the lifeline of Isan, bringing sustenance to the poorest, most populous part of Thailand. The World Bank identified the Moon, the greatest of the Mekong River's tributaries, as a suitable location for a giant dam, and proceeded to fund a hydropower project that is destroying...
LIFE / Travel
Jun 11, 2000

A journey to golf's front line

PYONGYANG -- I don't know who was more surprised, the caddie, the minder or myself. It was a pretty average tee shot, but a ricochet of applause had startled the birds from the trees. We were not alone after all. Waiting for us over the hill were dozens of Young Pioneers, beaming, red-scarved children,...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
May 17, 2000

Pride and prejudices

Time to update the mental computers. Recent news bytes oblige us to abandon some long-held ideas about the Internet. Reality 2000 looks like this.
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2000

After the tour, the real work begins

During his nine-day whirlwind trip of seven major nations that ended last weekend, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori laid the groundwork for a G8 summit scheduled for July in Okinawa, a meeting that he will chair as head of the host government. His main purpose, of course, was to get acquainted with leaders...
EDITORIALS
May 5, 2000

The sound and the fury

There are passions aplenty in the mounting protests against the world economic order. It is ironic that in a time of unprecedented prosperity, insecurity and uncertainty are climbing. Actually, among protesters, there is little uncertainty. They are quite convinced that the global economic order is broken...
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2000

Global economy faces a structural crisis

The Nasdaq has fallen 34 percent since March, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is following suit. The decline might be only a technical correction, but the world economy may be hit because the inflow of capital into the United States may decline and restrict that country's ability to import goods...
LIFE / Travel
May 1, 2000

Spotting spots at cheetah breeding center

PELINDABA, South Africa -- Grrrr . . . grrrr . . . grrr . . . I couldn't help feeling a little nervous while hoping that the deep dog-growl sound emanating from the magnificent cheetah under my sweaty palm was actually a purr. Luckily for me, it was.
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 23, 2000

FIFA 'insults' Japan over use of language

Staff writer
CULTURE / Music
Apr 9, 2000

Conductors introduce some new stars

It is fair to assume that anyone reading this column is a music lover of some degree. Take a moment to reflect, though, that there was a time in your life when you had never heard a note of music. What was it that inveigled your innocent ear? When was it? Where were you? Who introduced you?
EDITORIALS
Apr 8, 2000

The game of the name

There are hints in the spring air of a diplomatic thaw: The Clinton administration is poised, they say, to let Libya out of the doghouse. Sanctions may be lifted, and Americans may once again vacation in Tripoli. Modest celebrations are in order, but there is one caveat. Washington should not let the...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Apr 2, 2000

Time traveling

There have been many observations about nostalgia. Nostalgia's not what it used to be, There's no "stalgia" like nostalgia -- but nostalgia is where I am today. I have just returned from three weeks in California, and it is a nostalgia mix, what I have left behind, what I have gained, from living so...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 28, 2000

Tried and true not always the way to go

As mentioned last time in this column, a new restaurant/venue, Tribute to the Love Generation, will open in Odaiba on Tokyo Bay next month. It is not, as you may expect, a hangout for "Dead-heads," or ex-flower power hippies hiding out in Tokyo, but in fact will host mainly "world music" concerts. With...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2000

Inflation scare won't loosen purse strings

Most of Japan's modern economic history consists of a long series of achievements pronounced impossible by the outside world. Japan was building the foundations of world-beating steel and electronics industries while Occupation officials urged that scarce resources be devoted to "suitable" exports such...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2000

An Australian ethnic model for Japan?

Sophisticated and exquisite, the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia was my home for the month of February. I have been coming to this city since 1976, and I now see it as a clear symbol of the profound transformation that has overtaken a country that was once a backwater of various repugnant...
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2000

Japan needs juggling act to secure future in Asia

With China expected to assume a greater presence as a regional power both economically and militarily early next century, Japan appears groping for a way to get along with its giant neighbor without disrupting its decades-old security partnership with the United States.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 25, 2000

End of rugby road for Suntory warrior Ennis

For the past 20 years, Glenn Ennis has loved throwing his weight around the rugby pitch.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2000

It's simple: Economic freedom is the key to prosperity

In a world of plenty, want abounds. To blame are big corporations, international trade and open markets, according to demonstrators who have been attacking the World Trade Organization.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2000

Japan ill-served by its whitewash of wartime crimes

At the dawn of the new millennium, many nations continue to grapple with the historic and moral implications of World War II. In Berlin, the German government broke ground for a new Holocaust Memorial, and in Stockholm 40 heads of state joined with historians, educators and Jewish survivors of the Nazi...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 27, 2000

Wineries to complement your travel plans

In the dead of winter, what's a wine lover to do? I'm almost tempted to say "Bring back the hot, spicy wine," the body-warming concoction quaffed at stalls in town center squares all over Europe toward year's end. It's a splendid custom, but actually what I had in mind is winery visits in California....
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2000

Vision, not structure, is key to recovery

This is a time of unprecedented opportunity for Japan. It may seem strange to speak of opportunity when the country's political and economic experts are struggling with the challenges of structural change. However, I believe the current pessimism in the country is the result of two misconceptions.

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