Search - about-us

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 1999

A diplomatic 'paper tiger'?

In recent years, we have seen active debate on Japan's sanctions-based diplomacy. Discussions focused on the justifications for and effects of sanctions, as well as changes in the balance of power resulting from the lifting of such measures. The lifting of sanctions against North Korea Dec. 14 renewed...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 1999

European rule comes to an end in Asia

CANBERRA -- Macau presents the last outpost of European colonial empire remaining anywhere in the Asia-Pacific region. Apart from Hawaii, now a state of the United States, and leaving aside Australia and New Zealand, no other territory in the Asia-Pacific region will be held or ruled by a European state...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 1999

Citizens tout proof that U.S. base is trespassing

Citizens demanding the return of a U.S. base in central Tokyo cited a written agreement Monday that they claim proves the heliport section of the compound is trespassing on Japanese soil. The Executive Committee for the Removal of the Azabu Heliport released a statement on an agreement regarding the...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 1999

Yakult exec in tax dodge hid 140 million yen

The former vice president of lactic drink maker Yakult Honsha Co., arrested on suspicion of tax evasion, had some 140 million yen hidden in a bank account in Singapore as of the end of September, sources revealed. Last spring, Naoki Kumagai, 69, was ordered by tax authorities to pay about 100 million...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 1999

Pachinko manager stabbed in heist

Investigators are looking for two men who allegedly broke into a pachinko parlor office in Tokyo's Taito Ward on Monday morning and stabbed the manager before making off with about 20 million yen in cash, police said. According to police, the pair broke into the office, located in a building near JR...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 1999

Calls for overhaul of judge system mount

First of three parts Staff writer Discontent with the judicial system among lawyers, politicians and businesspeople has prompted a Cabinet advisory panel to launch discussions aimed at giving the system its first overhaul of the postwar era. Hiroshi Saito of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 1999

Prison eyed for Nichiei worker

Prosecutors on Monday demanded an 18-month prison term for a former employee of nonbank moneylender Nichiei Co. for suggesting that a customer sell body parts to repay a loan. Earlier in the hearing, at the Tokyo District Court, Eisuke Arai, 25, pleaded guilty to the charges and tearfully apologized...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 1999

In the aftermath of the WTO debacle

WASHINGTON -- In the aftermath of the failed WTO meeting in Seattle last month, the big question is, "What now?"
EDITORIALS
Dec 18, 1999

The need for policing the police

It is a sad commentary on the times when the nation's police forces, which must rely on the public's trust to be effective, find themselves under a cloud of suspicion over repeated incidents of questionable, even criminal, behavior by their members. Yet that is the situation confronting Japan's law-enforcement...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Dec 18, 1999

A banquet of deities and genres

In January 1993, a group of like-minded young and mid-career performers of traditional Japanese music and dance got together and created Tokiza. Their aim was to create new group venues and markets for their music and dance, while maintaining their individually high standards of excellence.
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Dec 18, 1999

Thickly lacquered with tradition

As foreign merchants once linked products and countries (china from China, for example), the term "japanning" first appeared in a 1688 text by John Stalker and George Parker that described the superiority of Japanese lacquerware. However, the technique of applying lacquer on various objects as a protective...
COMMUNITY
Dec 18, 1999

An era passes on with the foreigner who saved kabuki

Faubion Bowers, the theater expert credited with saving kabuki after World War II, died in New York of heart failure Nov. 16, aged 82.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 18, 1999

Seattle art world meets on Gallery Walk

SEATTLE -- Eric Painter is a potter. Actually, he was a biologist before he quit his research job with National Marine Fisheries and bought a pottery school and gallery in downtown Seattle's historic Pioneer Square.
COMMENTARY
Dec 17, 1999

Why put up with U.S. bases?

Why is Japanese officialdom so willing to tolerate troublesome U.S. military bases? In Okinawa, Tokyo constantly risks harmful local antagonism in its efforts to satisfy U.S. base demands there.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 1999

Justice Ministry confirms two death-row executions

Two death-row inmates, including one who was seeking a retrial, were executed Friday morning, the Justice Ministry said The ministry, as usual in such cases, did not release the names in its brief press release, but judiciary sources identified the two as Teruo Ono, 62, and Kazuo Sagawa, 48. The two...
JAPAN
Dec 17, 1999

Art group attempts to heal those ravaged by war

Staff writer In these days of "Pokemon" mania, who wouldn't want a personal note from Pikachu? Hector Sierra, 34, a fine arts doctoral student from Colombia, might not seem like the most likely recipient. But the filmmaker and NGO coordinator was as tickled as any kid. Arriving days before Sierra was...
JAPAN
Dec 17, 1999

Ministry to hike allowance to care for seniors, kids

The Labor Ministry plans to raise government allowances for workers who take time off work to care for infants and ailing family members, officials said. The allowances for both child- and nursing-care leave will be raised from the current 25 percent of a worker's wage to 40 percent, the officials said....
JAPAN
Dec 17, 1999

Donors pledge total of $522 million to East Timor

Aid donors for East Timor concluded a two-day fundraising gathering Friday in Tokyo, pledging a total of $522 million in a three-year package to help advance the territory's transition to independence. The meeting, the first of its kind since East Timor rejected Indonesian rule in a September referendum,...
JAPAN
Dec 17, 1999

Prosecutors seek death penalty for cultist in lawyer's slaying

Prosecutors demanded the death penalty Friday for Aum Shinrikyo figure Kiyohide Hayakawa over his alleged role in the November 1989 slaying of a Yokohama lawyer, the attorney's wife and their baby son. Hayakawa, 50, once one of Aum founder Shoko Asahara's closest aides, has also been charged with other...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 1999

Flaming Lips dampen the fire with absurdity

Though it's sad that major labels no longer have the patience to actively develop deserving artists, they at least know who's good and seem willing to allow musicians with something interesting to say to say it. How else do you explain the career of the Flaming Lips?
JAPAN
Dec 17, 1999

Obuchi hints budget before snap elections

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Friday hinted he does not intend to dissolve the Lower House and call general elections until the budget for the next fiscal year passes the Diet in late March. His comment came amid lingering speculation about the timing for the elections, including early January, when...
JAPAN
Dec 16, 1999

Push vowed to pass seat-cut bill next session

The government will do its utmost to pass the controversial bill for reducing Lower House seats during the upcoming ordinary Diet session, Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said Thursday.Aoki's remarks followed the renewal of an agreement reached Wednesday night between the Liberal Democratic Party...
JAPAN
Dec 16, 1999

DDI, KDD and IDO merge against NTT

DDI Corp., KDD Corp. and IDO Corp. have agreed to form a three-way merger in October in an effort to create a comprehensive telecom carrier that can compete with the dominant NTT group, top officials of the three carriers announced Thursday. The merger will combine the corporate resources of the three...
JAPAN
Dec 16, 1999

Education panel OKs performance-based pay

The education committee of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Thursday approved a plan that will lead to the city's public school teachers being paid according to performance, rather than experience. The scheme, to go into effect with the start of the school year in April, aims to boost teaching quality...
JAPAN
Dec 15, 1999

Regional Special: Chubu

Regional Special: Chubu>Sekigahara to mark 400th anniversary of epic battle> Staff writer SEKIGAHARA, Gifu Pref. -- For most of the world, next year is a celebration of the new millennium. For Japan, it is also the 400th anniversary of the Battle of Sekigahara -- perhaps the most famous internal battle...
JAPAN
Dec 15, 1999

Japan to send yen loans for Swaziland road

Staff writer Japan for the first time will provide official yen loans to Swaziland, a landlocked country surrounded by Mozambique to the north and South Africa to the south, government sources said Wednesday. The loans will finance a road project that will eventually link the southern African country...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Dec 15, 1999

Follow the money

Japan's back. After nearly a decade of economic stagnation, this country is getting its act together.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 1999

Fields takes helm of Mazda

Mazda Motor Corp. announced Wednesday that President James E. Miller has been replaced by his 38-year-old deputy, Mark Fields. Fields, who became vice president only two weeks ago, has stepped up to the top post as the youngest to do so in the firm's history. Miller, 58, resigned from the presidency...
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 1999

'Get out or die'

Russia has always talked tough. Last week, the world got a double dose of invective, however. First, residents of the Chechen capital of Grozny were told to "get out or die" before the Russian military launched an assault. A few days later, Russian President Boris Yeltsin expressed his displeasure with...
JAPAN
Dec 14, 1999

Singapore Airlines banks on new services, alliance

Staff writer Singapore Airlines hopes to increase its share of the passenger market for travel between Japan and Singapore by upgrading in-flight services and forming an alliance of multiple carriers, says T.K. Tan, general manager of the company's Japan office. "Our strategy is to emphasize our products...

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