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JAPAN
Jun 15, 2000

Friend of foundation head quizzed over radioactive mail

A man close to the chief of an Education Ministry foundation is being questioned in connection with the mailing of radioactive material to 10 government offices last week, police sources said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Jun 15, 2000

Mori's slip ill-chosen but well-intended

Debate continues over Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's statement last month that Japan is "a country of gods with the Emperor at its center."
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...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2000

Aum law fingered in Amnesty International report

Amnesty International referred to Japan's recently enacted legislation targeting Aum Shinrikyo and a law authorizing wiretapping by police as human-rights concerns, in its annual report released Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 15, 2000

Giants fans give silent treatment

The Yomiuri Giants tried to bring a North American feel to the Tokyo Dome on Wednesday evening, asking their fans to leave the drums, trumpets and megaphones at home as they took on the Yokohama BayStars.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2000

Party chiefs launch campaigns

Official campaigning kicked off Tuesday for the June 25 general election, which will determine the fate of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and his three-party coalition government.
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2000

Officials doubt adequacy of Canadian response to WTO auto tariff ruling

About four years after losing a legal battle at the World Trade Organization over liquor, Japan last month evened the score with Canada by winning a different legal battle there -- over autos.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2000

Korean residents wary of reunifying homeland

OSAKA — Local Korean residents welcomed Tuesday's historic summit between the leaders of North and South Korea but cautioned that numerous hurdles remained to reunification.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2000

Radioactive mail alleges smuggling by ministry body

A message included in envelopes containing small amounts of a radioactive substance mailed earlier last week to government offices alleged that an Education Ministry foundation is smuggling uranium to North Korea, police sources said Tuesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 14, 2000

Giants ask fans to turn down volume

Anyone familiar with Japanese baseball and the nonstop cheering that goes on in the outfield bleachers for nine innings may find Wednesday's matchup between the Yomiuri Giants and Yokohama BayStars a rather quiet affair.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2000

Nissan scholarships 'investing in the future'

In a ceremony earlier this week to mark the third anniversary of a Nissan Motor Co. scholarship program, Chief Operating Officer Carlos Ghosn described the program as an investment in the future.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 14, 2000

How Japan's JET program got off the ground

IMPORTING DIVERSITY: Inside Japan's JET Program, by David L. McConnell. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000, 328 pp. (paper). Stung by international criticism that Japan was too insular, the government decided in August of 1987 to initiate "one of the largest educational programs in the...
LIFE / Travel
Jun 14, 2000

On the open road to Tucson

Favorite travel fantasies come in many forms -- not everyone dreams of a deserted white-sand beach on Maui.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 14, 2000

Gateways to synergy

Every time I visit a particular convenience store, I wince at the repeated announcement of its Web site: "Eichi chi chi pi koron surashu surashu daburyu daburyu daburyu dotto . . . " It is supposed to be such a cutting-edge play, but it only reminds me of how clumsy the analog world can be, and of how...
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2000

Vision said key to campaign

It's all about the vision thing, or the lack of it, thinks Keio University economics professor Heizo Takenaka about the campaign for the Lower House election.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 14, 2000

Asian economic ills were homegrown

ASIAN ECLIPSE: Exploring the Dark Side of Business in Asia, by Michael Backman. Singapore: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 1999, 379 pp., $29.95 (cloth). An insightful adage states that a best friend dispenses "tough love," meaning that if one is turning into an alcoholic, the friend will withhold strong...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 14, 2000

Japan's path from imitator to world-beating innovator

CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY IN MODERN JAPAN, edited by Ian Inkster and Fumihiko Satofuka. London/New York: Tauris, 2000, 169 pp., unpriced. The relationship between culture and technology is complex and multilayered. Technological innovations that had profound effects on culture are easy to find: Think of...
COMMENTARY
Jun 14, 2000

The chancy politics of weather

In less than two weeks, on Sunday, June 25, Japanese voters will cast their ballots in what will be Japan's last general election of the 20th century. This may well turn out to be the most important Japanese general election since July 18, 1993, which resulted in the inauguration, on Aug. 9 of that year,...
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2000

Ballots from abroad begin arriving

The government began accepting ballots Tuesday for the June 25 Lower House election from Japanese living abroad or aboard ships — the first time overseas voting has been permitted for a national election.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 14, 2000

Winding down

In Sunday's column, I told readers why I will be leaving Japan while, appropriately, explaining what is required for foreigners to get married in Japan, which is what we did. I also said I would explain what would replace this column. Actually, I can't do that. It is up to you. I know there are a lot...
LIFE / Travel
Jun 14, 2000

Bombardiers and polar bears

TORONTO -- The Bombardier died about 10 km out of Arviat, and that was a stroke of luck. It's nearly 800 km from Churchill to Rankin Inlet as the snowmobile travels and there are only two settlements along the way. We broke down close to one of them.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2000

Ripples from Assad's death will extend far

So the Lion of Damascus is, at last, no more. For some people, he has been an unconscionable time dying. I remember when, back in 1983, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his loyalist guerrillas were fighting a desperate rearguard action against the Syrian Army in the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli....
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 14, 2000

Growing in the shadows and shady corners

Your condominium may have a north- or east-facing balcony, or the building next door may block out the sun for the best part of the day. Even if you are lucky enough to have your own garden, there will always be some corner that is shady. Finding plants that will thrive in these areas can be tricky,...
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2000

Speed controllers sought for trucks

An panel advised the Transport Ministry on Monday to require automakers and trucking firms to put speed governors on large trucks to reduce fatal traffic accidents on expressways, the ministry said.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2000

Mori receives radioactive mail

Envelopes containing small amounts of a radioactive substance were mailed last week to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's Official Residence, as well as to the Science and Technology Agency and seven other government offices, police sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2000

16% of pollees will back LDP in proportional vote

Sixteen percent of people surveyed say they will vote for the Liberal Democratic Party in the proportional representation section of the June 25 House of Representatives election, according to a Kyodo News poll released Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2000

DPJ offers bitter medicine as poll strategy

Yukio Hatoyama, head of the Democratic Party of Japan In campaigning for the Lower House election, the Democratic Party of Japan will push policies that may seem to voters like "bitter medicine," such as lowering the minimum taxable income level, to show the party is thinking seriously about the nation's...
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2000

Two injured in law office mail bomb explosion

A parcel delivered to a Tokyo law office Monday afternoon exploded just as a female employee opened it, police said.

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