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JAPAN
Jul 9, 2000

Alternative school targets dropouts

KYOTO -- Parents whose sons or daughters stop attending school often research methods to encourage their children to return by reading books and attending lectures by experts.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2000

Opposition gives flawed economic message

According to some Western pundits, the recent Lower House election was going to be a big yawn, with little debate over real issues. In fact, from the start there was a very real debate between the coalition, which argued that the economy still needed pump priming, and the opposition, which claimed that...
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2000

Battlewagon Yamato steams again as replica

KAWABE, Wakayama Pref. -- As the biggest battleship the world had ever seen, the Yamato is still remembered by many Japanese even half a century after it was sunk off Cape Bo-no-Misaki in Kagoshima Prefecture.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 9, 2000

The bright dwelling-place of dreams

French philosopher Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962) wrote, "The house is one of the greatest powers of integration for the thoughts, memories and dreams of mankind. Through dreams, the various dwelling-places in our lives copenetrate and retain the treasures of former days."
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2000

The decade that was, and always will be

SAINT-REMY-DE-PROVENCE, France — The full-page ad gracing the back of last week's Village Voice hit me like a heavy pointy object. "HOT SUMMER TOURS," the headline blared. As a U.S. citizen residing in the city of New York, I enjoy the golden opportunity to see '70s band Steely Dan perform at the romantically...
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2000

Snow's tainted-milk fiasco likened to deadly Tokai nuclear negligence

OSAKA -- Local residents here are angry over revelations that Snow Brand Milk Products Co.'s bacteria-tainted milk was released due to slipshod quality control procedures, and with their faith in the firm shattered, they are comparing the mass food-poisonings to last year's deadly nuclear accident.
SOCCER / J. League
Jul 9, 2000

Antlers edge Jubilo

KASHIMA, Ibaraki Pref. -- Kashima top guns Tomoyuki Hirase and Atsushi Yanagisawa each struck once, helping the Antlers edge Jubilo Iwata 2-1 and extend their winning streak to three in the J. League Division One second stage Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2000

Politicians to submit bill to cut criminal responsibility age

A group of ruling party lawmakers is planning to submit a bill that would revise the Juvenile Law and reduce the age of juveniles who can be treated as criminally liable to the age of 14 from the current 16, it was learned Saturday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 9, 2000

'Alien 5' now playing in your local neighborhood

A band of junior high-school students showed up at my door the other morning. "Can we interview you?" they asked.
COMMUNITY
Jul 9, 2000

Funding films by finding housing for foreigners

Walking with Akio Sakurai to his real estate office in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, he told the story of an Indian couple -- the husband working for a major European bank -- for whom he had found an apartment. The day before they were due to sign the contract, the landlord rang and withdrew the offer. A Japanese...
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2000

Nuclear safety report apologizes for Tokai

Commission vows to win back trust The Nuclear Safety Commission on Friday expressed regret over its inability to prevent last September's fatal nuclear accident in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2000

Kono talks on North Korea, the G8 summit and Russia

The government "will not simply stay idle" in its relations with North Korea, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Thursday, noting that Tokyo is ready to reopen stalled normalization talks with Pyongyang following its recent moves to open up to the outside world.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2000

Construction chief says Wakachiku never favored despite alleged bribes

The number and value of government construction projects won by Wakachiku Construction Co. were roughly equivalent to the same figures for other authorized bidders both before and after Eiichi Nakao became construction minister in 1996, the current construction minister said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2000

Tokyo to push new WTO talks

Japan will push initiatives in the international community to realize the early launch of a round of trade liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization, Minister of International Trade and Industry Takeo Hiranuma said.
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2000

State should nurture industries: Sakaiya

The government should swiftly come up with measures to nurture fledgling industries in order to accelerate Japan's economic growth, Economic Planning Agency chief Taichi Sakaiya said.
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.
EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2000

Chechen war, Round 3

A series of suicide bombings marks the resumption of Russia's war in Chechnya. Although President Vladimir Putin declared victory in the conflict earlier this year, the battle has merely shifted fronts. Russia is now engaged in a dogged guerrilla war that bears the hallmarks of the Afghan insurgency...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jul 8, 2000

Through the fires of experience to beauty

One afternoon a few months ago I had the pleasure of taking a visiting dignitary around Tokyo to view pottery. While we were riding around in his limousine and talking about Japanese pottery he said many times how sublime he thought it was.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2000

Taiwan wary of Chen's willingness to talk

TAIPEI -- The honeymoon is over for Taiwan's new president, Chen Shui-bian. Just over a month after taking office, the man hailed as the champion of the island's independence movement has been branded a heretic by critics within his own party. Analysts in Taipei believe his willingness to pander to pressure...
CULTURE / Art
Jul 8, 2000

Quest for Huangshan of the heart

To the south of the Yangtse River in China's Anhui Province, near the medieval city of Wuhu, rise the Huangshan mountains: a series of jagged peaks and crags, not very high, as mountains go, but intensely dramatic. The clouds and mist that swirl around their pine-crested heights, the mysterious grottoes...
EDITORIALS
Jul 7, 2000

A new breed of workers

The traditional images of the Japanese "salaryman" and "office lady" are under threat from an unanticipated source: the young men and women expected to step into those roles. What some see as a crisis in Japan's employment picture others recognize as a potentially lasting social change. The Labor Ministry...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

Cabinet proves widely unpopular

The disapproval rate for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is at 62 percent, a record high for a newly launched Cabinet, with support at 27 percent, a Kyodo News poll showed Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

Red Army Faction fugitive details deportation from Lebanon

Masao Adachi, one of four Japanese Red Army Faction fugitives who were deported to Japan from Lebanon and arrested upon their arrival in March, has given Kyodo News a detailed description of how they were handed over.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

Snow Brand may close plant; chief to resign over poisoning

Snow Brand Milk Products Co. said Thursday it will consider closing its Osaka plant following the recent outbreak of food poisoning caused by milk products shipped from the plant.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

1932 essays recall patriotism of nisei

When 31-year-old Californian Joyce Hirohata was having difficulty writing her high school valedictory speech, her father handed her a book published by her grandfather, Paul Tsunegoro Hirohata.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

Survey finds 12% of women are shopping addicts

About 12 percent of women in their 20s are shopping addicts and impulse-buy unnecessary things, according to a poll.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji