Search - about-us

 
 
JAPAN
May 5, 2000

Number of children on wane for 19th year

The number of Japanese children under 15 fell from a year earlier for the 19th straight year, renewing the postwar low for the 13th year in a row, the Management and Coordination Agency announced one day before today's Children's Day holiday.
COMMENTARY
May 5, 2000

Boost Chinese human rights through trade

Business profits vs. human rights. So do critics of trade between America and China frame the debate. But freer trade is likely to advance human rights as well as boost business profits.
BUSINESS
May 5, 2000

Sowa Bank fabricated capital base

Tokyo Sowa Bank, a regional bank declared insolvent last June, fictitiously replenished its capital base in 1997 and 1998 to inflate its capital-adequacy ratio, industry sources said Thursday.
COMMUNITY
May 5, 2000

Two Murakamis mull quake in Japanese life

A look at recent best-seller lists reveals several familiar faces. "Eien no Ko," a two-volume novel about the long-term effects of child abuse, is back with the broadcasting of a TV dramatization (Monday nights on NTV). There's another mystery by Nishimura Kyotaro and a book for improving one's English,...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
May 5, 2000

Classification, distinction and ecumenism

There is a tendency in Japan to adhere to strict classifications and distinctions. This is especially true in regards to music. Hogaku is one kind of music, Western classical is another. Pop and world music belong to yet other genres. Each genre is considered entirely separate, and performers, audiences...
BUSINESS
May 5, 2000

Fashion chain Uniqlo aims at global casualization

With the resounding success of its Uniqlo casual fashion chain in Japan, Yamaguchi-based Fast Retailing Co. now has its eye on overseas markets with hopes of becoming the world's No. 1.
JAPAN
May 5, 2000

Chronology of bus hijacking

The following is a chronology of the 15-hour bus hijacking in Kyushu that ended Thursday morning after one woman was killed and at least four others were injured.
JAPAN
May 5, 2000

Japan's black reality grist for novel detective

Over a decade ago, Peter Tasker decided to challenge the cowboys and Indians.
CULTURE / Art
May 5, 2000

Swimming 'Sea Monkeys' and rolling digital mice

Sometimes you just get lucky. That, better than anything else, works for me as the reason why the unfocused, gadget-dependent and low-tech exhibition "New Media New Face/New York" manages, against the odds, to end up being a fairly good show.
CULTURE / Music
May 5, 2000

Santana keeps the flame -- with a little help from friends

Eric Clapton's appearance halfway through Carlos Santana's April 28 concert at the Budokan, the last date on his recent Japan tour, was unexpected but, in hindsight, not surprising.
CULTURE / Music
May 5, 2000

Healing with grassroots harmony

Japanese-Jamaican-Korean fusion? Korean-flavored Japanese rock with a bit of Memphis blues thrown in? It's hard to put a label on the multiethnic multigenre sounds of the Pak Poe Band.
JAPAN
May 4, 2000

Bureaucracy had large role in political power play

Kyodo News On the night of April 2, when then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a stroke and fell into a coma, Teijiro Furukawa was one of the few people immediately informed, and he promptly busied himself arranging for a smooth transfer of power.
JAPAN
May 4, 2000

Should Constitution lead or follow?

Wednesday marked the first time Constitution Day -- commemorating the day the document was put into effect in 1947 -- coincided with lawmakers locking horns over whether to change the sacred charter.
JAPAN
May 4, 2000

Japan targets more whale species

The Japanese government plans to expand the number of whale species it can catch, ostensibly for scientific research, to include the sperm whale and Bryde's whale, sources close to the situation said Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital
May 4, 2000

Internet radio islands floating in the stream

In a study released earlier this year, Arbitron/Edison Media Research dubbed people who listen to radio over the Internet "streamies." Bored with local programming, streamies tune in to radio stations streaming over the World Wide Web.
JAPAN
May 4, 2000

Location of leader's summit hinges on the whim of nature

OSAKA — It's billed as the Kyushu-Okinawa Summit, but if Mother Nature turns capricious, then this year's Group of Eight gathering may be forced to a different venue.
LIFE / ALTERNATIVE LUXURIES
May 4, 2000

Threads of culture weave picture of a wider world

One of the great paradoxes of world travel (especially that which is slow and makes intimate contact with the peoples of other lands) is that the traveler returns with a greater appreciation of what is valuable and troubled in her own native land. Talking with fabric artist and mother Keiko Haraguchi,...
BUSINESS
May 4, 2000

Cameras clash over digital divide

The Japanese camera market is splitting into opposite directions, with high-tech digital models catching consumers' fancy while old-fashioned range finders are staging a strong comeback.
JAPAN
May 4, 2000

Convict transfer agreement likely to be ratified in 2001

The Justice Ministry will seek Diet approval for the ratification of an international convention on prisoner transfers during an ordinary session to open early next year, it was learned Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 4, 2000

Retailers forced to change their ways

Browsing through the array of goods -- from kitchenware to clothing -- at a new outlet in the Shinjuku branch of the Isetan department store in Tokyo, the price tags may surprise you: 900 yen for a nylon tote bag, 1,900 yen for a T-shirt, 550 yen for a ceramic mug.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
May 4, 2000

How to hang on to luscious locks

Rakugami, kuzume: When you're happy, your hair grows; / when sad, your fingernails -- Japanese proverb
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2000

Will Clinton crumble again?

If Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's overseas foreign-policy tour this week has a theme, it is "coverup" and "damage control." Mori, known as a colorless political fixer, has been tasked with assuring foreign leaders that the July G8 summit will go forward successfully no matter what happens on the Japanese...

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