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JAPAN
Jun 18, 2000

Pyongyang is 'willing' to improve Japan ties

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il indicated at this week's first-ever inter-Korean summit that he is willing to work toward normalizing ties with Japan, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official quoted South Korean President Kim Dae Jung as saying Saturday.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2000

Australian Rules militia invades Japan

Speak to an Englishman and football can only mean soccer. An American immediately dreams of the pigskin and the glory of the Super Bowl. For a Kiwi, of course, it's the scream of the Haka and the mighty All Blacks of Rugby Union fame. But to an Australian sports fan, the word can mean only one thing...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2000

Fuse burning on the Mideast powder keg

LONDON -- Ignore all the empty chatter about the future of a "Middle East peace process" that died months ago, and waste no time in futile speculation about the character of Syria's new president, mild-mannered ophthalmologist Dr. Bashar Assad. The regime that was run for the past 30 years by Bashar's...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 18, 2000

The end for Kim Jong Il?

My trip to North Korea 11 years ago was one of the most depressing times in my whole life. I have never seen a sadder country. It was not simply an issue of appalling poverty: In 1989, the shelves of stores in Moscow were also barren, and Beijing still sported a maze of miniature slums -- the notorious...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 18, 2000

Toshio Sugihara

Recently the College Women's Association of Japan held an anniversary celebration. "Music and Tea" was an afternoon program commemorating 25 years of the activities of Volunteers for Blind Students, a group that is part of CWAJ's education program. "In April, The Japan Vocational Development Center for...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 18, 2000

Never too long

I have perhaps the world's longest list of You have been here too long if. . . It is often easy to see oneself in such lists, recognizing a trait you have absorbed since living here. It has become an automatic reflex, unnoticed until you return home and realize that no one else does it. My moment of...
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2000

Racial storms in the South Pacific

A second coup attempt in the South Pacific has many wondering what has fouled the tropical air. The answer is simple: corruption and inefficiency. In both Fiji and the Solomon Islands, ethnic groups have used the cause of indigenous rights to shield practices that often verge on the criminal. Inept governments...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Empress Dowager dies at 97; family at her side

The Empress Dowager, the widow of Emperor Showa, died Friday afternoon, two days after she began experiencing breathing difficulties, the Imperial Household Agency said. She was 97.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2000

401(k)-type plans to appear online

man. Yamaguchi played a key role last September in the introduction of a new type of pension -- similar to the 401(k) plans used in the United States -- at Pasona Inc., the major temporary-staff agency in Tokyo where he works.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Domestic violence law sought

Japan needs to enact a law to recognize domestic violence as a crime and keep abusive husbands away from victimized women, according to the head of HELP Asian Women's Shelter, a private organization that provides emergency refuge for abused women.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

30 million yen extortion forces drug recall

OSAKA — Santen Pharmaceutical Co., the nation's leading maker of eyedrops, has begun recalling its products after an extortionist threatened to contaminate its eyedrops with an undisclosed substance unless it pays some 30 million yen in cash.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 17, 2000

Putting things into perspective

Imagine a social mixer for celestial beings. A casual affair, a brunch maybe, with olives and wine and the tones of a harp wafting through the ether. Our God is there, looking good, and by way of introduction he reaches into his wallet and takes out some photographs to pass around for the other cosmic...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2000

Reconciliation on the horizon

The joint declaration signed between North Korea leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung during the latter's just-concluded visit to Pyongyang is a truly historic document. It will, and should, require a complete reassessment of what is and is not possible regarding North-South reconciliation...
CULTURE / Art
Jun 17, 2000

Sculptures that capture the mysterious rhythms of nature

The press release for the sculptor Susumu Shingu's "Wind Caravan" project opens charmingly with a quote from Christina Rossetti: "Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I, but when the trees bow down their heads, the wind is blowing by."
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jun 17, 2000

A tribute to Japanese world music

In two previous columns (Feb. 5 and May 20) I wrote about recently established live-music houses, WAON in Nippori and Manabiya in Yokohama, where one can hear hogaku. The familiar settings of these spaces allow for an intimate connection with the music, which ranges from relatively unknown young musicians...
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

Students schooled in politics, not apathy

Hiroshi Harada, a 23-year-old associate of the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, better known as Matsushita Seikei Juku, gets up before 6 a.m. every day, does exercises to an NHK radio program and cleans up around the institute's main gate with other associates.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

Microsoft, Hitachi tie on systems solutions

Major Japanese electronics maker Hitachi Ltd. and U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. said Thursday they have agreed to cooperate in the systems solutions business.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

Surveillance is unnecessary as cult poses no danger, Aum leader claims

Aum Shinrikyo chief Tatsuko Muraoka testified during the first hearing of a lawsuit filed against the Public Security Examination Commission that ongoing surveillance of the cult under the anti-Aum law is unnecessary as it no longer poses a threat to society.
EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2000

Progress in Pyongyang

It has been a historic week on the Korean Peninsula. The summit between the leaders of North and South Korea, Mr. Kim Jong Il and Mr. Kim Dae Jung, has surpassed all expectations. It is tempting to say that the two men are writing the final chapter of the Cold War, but the temptation should be resisted....
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

Comsn cuts jobs due to profit decline

Major home-care service provider Comsn Co. announced Thursday that it plans to cut about 1,000 jobs, or about one-quarter of its workforce, due to weaker-than-expected earnings from services covered by the newly launched public nursing-care insurance.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

NTT to offer untimed Net access

Two local Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. group firms said Thursday that they will launch July 17 a full-scale flat-rate Internet connection service for integrated service digital network subscribers.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 16, 2000

Dedication the name of the game for aerobics 'queen'

OK, maybe I'm not in the best shape of my life, but does she really have to rub it in?
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

20 tons of radioactive monazite apparently sold to Toba hotelier

Most of the 20-odd tons of the radioactive substance monazite that disappeared after being purchased by the former head of a trading firm was probably sold to a man in Toba, Mie Prefecture, investigative sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

Communists set to sacrifice policies in quest for change

The Japanese Communist Party will ask the people to help it revamp a political setup that has been completely warped by the Liberal Democratic Party's rule, according to JCP leader Tetsuzo Fuwa.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

BTM will survive competition of new era, future chief says

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, currently the biggest bank in Japan, will strive to survive intensifying competition in the banking industry by utilizing its mostly upscale retail customer base and solid international networks, the future president of the bank said.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2000

Pakistan gains clear edge over India in race for nuclear prowess

NEW DELHI -- It seems sad rather than tragic that warring India and Pakistan have not learned lessons that history taught us after such pain and suffering. In the summer of 1998, India exploded nuclear bombs. Pakistan did the same within days to begin what is clearly a disturbing sign in the subcontinent:...
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 16, 2000

A ghost brings actress back into the spotlight

"I was deeply impressed by the beauty of the words," says actress Keiko Matsuzaka, 47, breathless with enthusiasm as she talks about the play she's producing: "Tenshu Monogatari."
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2000

No more empty economic promises

The forthcoming Lower House election will test the economic policies of political parties more severely than did previous general elections. The reason is obvious: While industrial restructuring and economic recovery are making only slow progress, the national debt burden has reached a staggering 650...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2000

Stable coalition key for economy, Kanzaki says

New Komeito will campaign for the Lower House election by promising a stable coalition government that will surely bring about a full-fledged economic recovery in Japan, said party leader Takenori Kanzaki.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes