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LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Oct 13, 1999

Not just for kids anymore

I was never much of a video-game player, although I did have a brief infatuation with Missile Command. (It ended when a pal proceeded to stomp me every time we went head to head.) I must be one of the few: Video games are reckoned to be a $20 billion-a-year industry and revenues now outpace movie-ticket...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1999

GAISF meeting opens; Osaka told to be prudent

OSAKA -- The Monaco-based General Association of International Sports Federations opened its general assembly meeting Wednesday in Osaka with IOC officials cautioning the city, which is bidding for the 2008 Olympics, to be prudent when passing out gifts.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Oct 10, 1999

Loyalty

A gentleman writes with great affection about his hairbrush. It is, he says, a very nice, heavy hairbrush with a teak back and it is in need of new boar bristles, not surprising since he has used it for 20 years. He hopes to find a shop that can do this kind of work, but where?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 10, 1999

It's a wonder more letter writers don't go postal

Everyone in Japan is worried about unemployment but islands like mine are suffering from overemployment.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Toward a leaner, meaner defense budget

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Republicans and Democrats alike claim to support fiscal responsibility, but you wouldn't know it from the defense budget. The House-Senate Conference Committee has approved $8 billion in budget authority for next year -- $8.3 billion more than requested by the Clinton administration,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Skeletons in Yeltsin's closet

The debate over who lost Russia is intensifying as the U.S. presidential election draws near. Although the United States' policies toward post-Soviet Russia have been bipartisan, politicians sense that Vice President Al Gore is especially vulnerable because of his cochairmanship of the Gore-Chernomyrdin...
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Oct 9, 1999

Whisked away by an age-old tradition

IKOMA, Nara Pref. -- "It is totally handmade and finely crafted work, but no matter how well it is made, chasen (a bamboo tea whisk) is a commodity with a limited life span," says Keizo Kubo, 59, who has been manufacturing the tea-ceremony utensil for 36 years.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

China's canny strategy in East Timor

China supported the U.N. Security Council resolution clearing the way for the deployment of an International Force for East Timor and also offered to send a civilian police contingent to be part of the U.N. peacemaking operation. Given China's advocacy of the principle of noninterference in internal...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Chongqing leads the next China boom

Japan is poised to lead foreign investment in the next important phase of China's development, centered on Chongqing, an inland city whose name most outsiders have never heard.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Oct 9, 1999

Different stokes for Iowan folks

I never thought my interest in Japanese pottery would lead me to Iowa.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

The Asahara Trial: Lines dwindle as trial shifts to VX

For the first time since the trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara began at the Tokyo District Court about 3 1/2 years ago, there was no need Friday to draw straws for seats at the guru's hearing.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 8, 1999

Waking dream in 'City of Virgins'

NEW YORK -- How do you transport a quintessential Japanese play to the United States and still make it feel genuine?
CULTURE / Music
Oct 8, 1999

Have no fear, the real Soul Train has arrived

So what's up! It's been a little while since I had a chance to talk to my Tokyo soulmates. But have no fear, I am still here.
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 1999

From a cakewalk to a campaign

It might be a race after all. The signs from the hustings are that the 2000 U.S. presidential nominations, once thought to have been sewn up by Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush (as Democrat and Republican, respectively), might not be guaranteed. Mr. Gore's position looks more precarious...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 1999

U.S. alliances under strain

The U.N.-authorized humanitarian intervention in East Timor might provide the model for ad hoc coalitions among democracies in East Asia -- based on the U.S. alliance structure, supported by Washington, but not requiring U.S. combat forces. Australia is leading the International Force for East Timor....
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Yamaha enters Vietnam motorcycle market

Yamaha Motor Co. has started commercial production of motorcycles designed for young people in Vietnam through a joint venture with the Vietnamese government, the company announced Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Asahi, Tokai move up merger

Asahi Bank and Tokai Bank announced Thursday they will integrate their operations under a holding company next October -- moving up their original schedule by more than a year.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Agency reports Tokai damage but revelations continue

The Science and Technology Agency informed the International Atomic Energy Agency early Thursday that the exterior of the roof of the uranium-processing plant where Japan's worst nuclear accident occurred last week is not damaged, agency officials said.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 1999

Behind the Echizen-Rutgers connection

HONOLULU -- It is commonly assumed that the first Japanese students to study in the United States arrived during Japan's dash toward modernization in the early years of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) but, in fact, a number of these young men arrived during the latter years of the long Tokugawa Period (1600-1867)....
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Cresvale offered huge rebate to Yakult exec

Senior officials at Cresvale International Ltd., which is at the center of a massive fraud investigation, offered rebates amounting to 500 million yen to a former vice president of drink maker Yakult Honsha Co. for the purchase of privately placed bonds it sold, it was learned Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Transport warns airlines over discount coupons

The Transport Ministry issued a written warning to Japan's three major airlines Thursday claiming that their distribution of discount coupons to unspecified people has generated public distrust of air-fare system.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Oct 7, 1999

Need a new millennium look? Try going over-the-top glam

The world of fashion is one of the best places to search for signs of millennial spirit. If you look at what designers are creating for 2000, you'll find an overall atmosphere where everything is over the top, pushed to the outer edges and carried to astonishing extremes, from which there are several...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 7, 1999

Punk of a nation in mosh pit of controversy and 'silliness'

In the middle of August, Polydor Records announced it would not release a recently finished album by veteran rock singer Kiyoshiro Imawano because it contained a punk version of "Kimigayo," Japan's newly certified national anthem. Imawano called the decision "silly," an opinion that took on extra layers...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Cabinet Interview: Trust in nuclear energy Nakasone's goal

Staff writer
COMMUNITY
Oct 7, 1999

'Festival of Mind' gathers healers

As we head toward the new millennium, healing is increasingly not only about the physical body, but exploring the mental, emotional and spiritual realms and their influences. This weekend, Oct. 9-10, bodyworkers, psychotherapists and spiritual healers will gather at the Tokyo Festival of Mind, Body and...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Jordan's king to visit in early December

Jordanian King Abdullah will make his first official visit to Japan in early December to discuss bilateral relations and the resumed peace process in the Middle East with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and other Japanese leaders, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Don't dump that PC -- people need it

Staff writer
LIFE / ALTERNATIVE LUXURIES
Oct 7, 1999

Taking time to simply stop and think

We are sitting up late sipping plum wine from small glasses at Atsuko Watanabe's dinner table next to the woodstove in an old farmhouse deep in the mountains of Shikoku. Her husband, Gufudo, is washing the dishes (the Watanabes' own handmade pottery) from tonight's seven-course Indian vegetarian meal....
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

IBM to handle Mazda info systems

Mazda Motor Corp. has reached a basic agreement with IBM Japan Ltd. on a 50 billion yen contract to outsource its information system operations to the computer giant, the automaker announced Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 6, 1999

Familiar features of a new Cabinet

The reshuffled Cabinet of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi will literally have to lead Japan into a new millennium fraught with uncertainties. Its immediate task is to solidify the nascent recovery of the long-foundering Japanese economy and put it on the path of sustained growth. To meet this demand, Mr....

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