Search - about-us

 
 
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2000

Palm pilots into Japanese market

The head of a new Japanese subsidiary of California-based Palm Inc. sees Japan as a potentially lucrative market for its hand-held computers.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 22, 2000

Dejima getting back into shape

First-time visitors to Dejima, Nagasaki's historic artificial island, are usually puzzled on arrival. Looking around for water, they find only a kitsch scale model of the island and several oldish buildings. Although Dejima's front sea wall looks authentic enough, landfills have gradually enclosed the...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 22, 2000

NTT then and now

Last week's column dealt with NHK's fees and why we should pay them. Similarly, there are complaints from readers about paying the initial 72,000 yen plus 2,184 yen consumption tax and 800 yen contract charge to NTT for the standard telephone installation fee. None of this amount is refundable although...
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2000

Leprosy victims demand compensation for injustices

For the past 60 years, 76-year-old Koji Suzuki's life has been contained within a sanitarium for sufferers of leprosy in Kusatsu, Gunma Prefecture.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Mar 22, 2000

Won't be fooled again

When asked about the dot-com economy, Tim Dyson was succinct and acid -- almost contemptuous. "There's only one metric," he said. "Stock price."
EDITORIALS
Mar 21, 2000

Fighting for the global commons

Protecting the environment is always a popular issue -- until hard choices have to be made. There has been a series of international conferences on the issue, but they have yielded little real progress. In Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and in Kyoto in 1997, attempts to set international standards for environmental...
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2000

Myanmar's SPDC signals economic, not political, reforms

Myanmar's military regime is stubborn as a mule. It continues to ignore loud calls from much of the international community to democratize and protect human rights.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2000

Long road back from mind control

Akira Sawaki was just another high school student when he joined Aum Shinrikyo in the winter of 1991, believing the world was full of corruption and wanting to be the one to change it.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2000

'What ifs' haunt families of Aum's sarin victims

Even five years after the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on Tokyo's subways, many questions remain.
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2000

Power industry to get a jolt of competition

Competition emerging from ongoing market reforms ranging from the financial "Big Bang" to telecommunications deregulation is taking many of Japan's industrial dinosaurs to the verge of extinction.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2000

Snazz sizzles at the heart of underground

This is my first time in Ogikubo, a hole just left of the heart of Tokyo, and hopefully my last. There is nothing here but grayness and cold. I see no beer, hear no talk of beer and, worst of all, taste no beer!
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2000

Staff office softened colonel's punishment

The Ground Self-Defense Force Ground Staff Office helped reduce the punishment for a colonel arrested last Monday for allowing his civilian friends to fire a gun during a 1994 drill, sources at the Defense Agency said Monday.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 21, 2000

Mercy, sorrow and sacrifice in spring Kabukiza program

The Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo has been celebrating the advent of spring this month with attractive afternoon and evening programs, featuring Danjuro Ichikawa, Koshiro Matsumoto and Kikugoro Onoe in title roles, and leading senior actors such as Uzaemon Ichimura, Tomijuro Nakamura and onnagata veteran...
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2000

Obuchi pays respects to gas attack victims

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi visited a central Tokyo subway station Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of Aum Shinrikyo's nerve gas attack on the capital's subway system that killed 12 people in one of Japan's worst incidents of terrorism.
EDITORIALS
Mar 20, 2000

Mr. Chen's historic victory

In a historic election Saturday, Taiwanese voters gave Mr. Chen Shui-bian of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party a convincing victory. In electing Mr. Chen, the Taiwanese people defied threats from Beijing and brought an end to 50 years of Nationalist rule in Taiwan. His win in Taiwan's second...
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2000

Japan Telecom on road to survival

With e-commerce blooming and cut-throat competition intensifying in the telephone business, Japan Telecom Co. is shifting its focus from voice to data transmission and enlisting the help of foreign partners, says Haruo Murakami, president of the firm.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2000

Time to chase 'two hares'

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, citing a popular proverb, says his administration will not "run after two hares": It will first achieve economic recovery and then tackle fiscal reform. The official scenario is that the economy will pick up soon. The question is what will happen next. Without fiscal props,...
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2000

Earthquake with 4.2 magnitude hits Niigata Prefecture

A strong quake hit Niigata Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast Sunday afternoon, the Meteorological Agency said.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 20, 2000

Seated safaris let the wildlife come to you

Trekking through the bush on an African safari can make for a fair amount of physical rigor and a lot of excitement. You'll see plenty of wildlife -- mostly their tail ends, as they run away from you.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2000

Class size cut too costly, panel says

The government should not reduce the legal ceiling on class sizes at elementary and junior high schools from 40 students to the proposed 30 to 35 because it would be too costly, according to a draft report compiled by an Education Ministry advisory panel.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 20, 2000

Valuable guide through the legal thicket in Japan

JAPANESE LAW (second edition), by Hiroshi Oda. Oxford University Press, 1999, 16,900 yen. First and foremost, this is a book about the commercial law of Japan. Initially published in 1992, the second edition endeavors to reflect the many changes that have occurred in Japanese law in the years since...
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2000

Telephone club firebombing sparks fear intergang warfare is flaring up

KOBE -- The fatal firebombing of one of Kobe's largest telephone dating clubs has led to fears of a renewed intergang war among rival affiliates of the Kobe-based Yamaguchi-gumi.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2000

'Suits' fire laws from hip at assembly upstart

KADOMA, Osaka Pref. -- A liberator of a closed local legislature or a troublemaker? That is the question being asked of Hisayoshi Toda, a newcomer to the Kadoma Municipal Assembly.
COMMUNITY
Mar 19, 2000

Illegal worker in catch-22 for love of daughter

"Ram Sharma" and I talked long about the wisdom of doing this piece. He wanted to share his isolation and humiliation with another human being and possibly get some help in extricating himself from his situation. Regarding an interview, he said I should decide. No, I replied; he was the one at risk....
COMMENTARY
Mar 19, 2000

No end to economic problems

Is there no end to Japan's economic policy merry-go-round? In 1996, the rationalist economists persuaded the politicians to raise taxes and cut public spending in a bid to reduce the large public debt. When the economy slumped as a result, the government moved quickly to cut taxes, increase public spending...
COMMUNITY
Mar 19, 2000

Cat's out of the bag?

For the last six months the media has been buzzing over the rumored publication of an unauthorized biography of Hello Kitty by Kitty Kelly. The rumors were confirmed yesterday when Simon & Schuster announced it would release "Cute at Any Cost: The Hello Kitty Story" in early July to take advantage of...
COMMUNITY
Mar 19, 2000

Well Hello, Kitty! You look swell, Kitty!

Occupation: internationally known idol Age: 25 Born: Nov. 1, 1974, in the suburbs of London Family: Anthony and Margaret (grandparents); George and Mary White (parents); Mimmy (twin sister) Hobbies: Collects teddy bears. Love life: Has been going out with her childhood friend Daniel Star since last...
COMMENTARY
Mar 19, 2000

Traveling for business or for pleasure?

MYANMAR -- As the nurse expounded on the risks of dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis and malaria, I realized it was going to be an unusual trip. No five-star hotel this time.

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