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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 1999

High price of blood politics

You see it in Kosovo and you see it in Taiwan -- indeed it is everywhere. International disputes are shaped by disputes about blood. Sometimes, as in Kosovo, the argument is that Serbs and Albanians cannot live together because they are deeply divided by blood and resulting ethnicity. Sometimes, as in...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 18, 1999

Yes, there was a Nanjing Massacre

Did the 1937 Nanjing Massacre really happen? This might seem like an absurd question, but then the recently elected governor of Tokyo is on record as having denied that the looting, rape and assembly-line murder reported by eyewitnesses ever took place. The Dr. Feelgoods of Japanese history, Yoshinori...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 18, 1999

You're only as old as you tell

Here is a scenario that happens in the first hour of every single new English conversation class in Japan _ a sort of annual rite of spring.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 18, 1999

Re-enactors make history come alive

I was buying a jar of jam at the sutler's tent when the cannon went off, close enough and loud enough to make my teeth rattle and my eyes widen into an excellent impersonation of fear. The salesman, a stout, bearded fellow in the woolen blues of a Union soldier, barely blinked. As he handed me my credit...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 18, 1999

Refuge of the world's wildest rabbit

The wildlife of the Nansei Shoto is a fascinating mixture of species, and as is clear from recent research on the spiny rats that are unique to the central islands, there may be more species there than we realize.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Aug 18, 1999

Another farewell

It was a sad Monday last week when I saw the name Andre Lecomte in the obituary column. He was invited to come to Japan in the '60s to be the head pastry chef at the Okura Hotel. Before Andre, the taste of bread and pastry available for those with a Western preference was always somewhat askew. After...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 18, 1999

A big bang, and then there was life

Five days and 116 years ago, a small island in the Sunda Straight between Java and Sumatra exploded.
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 1999

The good fight against war crimes

On Aug. 12, the world observed the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, four international agreements that set limits on the conduct of participants in armed conflicts. At first glance, the conventions seem quixotic: How can we apply the rule of law to war itself, where the goal is to bend an...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 17, 1999

Missile Girl Scoot freaks out for all to see

Junn's a freak and she's proud of it.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 17, 1999

Kankuro's multiple personae in order

The Kabukiza theater in Ginza is offering its summer program in three parts this month, starring Kankuro Nakamura and his brothers-in-law Fukusuke and Hashinosuke. Participating also in this program are Yasosuke Bando, Kasho Nakamura and Somegoro Ichikawa.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Aug 15, 1999

Entrapments

It is essential to have a file of fillers to turn to in times of need, like when I suddenly decide to take a trip, this one to Honolulu to stay in a friend's apartment while she is away and need to have seven completed columns before departure (tomorrow). This is the last one. It starts with a repeat...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 15, 1999

Food with an attitude coming to a table near you

Irritated? Feel like having an argument? Argue with your food. And don't presume that just because you'll get the last bite, that you're going to win the argument every time. Linda Matthie-Jacobs, author of two cookbooks about "food with an attitude," has followed up her previous "Fire 'n' Ice" cookbook...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 1999

Angola: A catastrophe in the making

One of the consequences of the Balkan conflict has been the distraction of international attention from other equally serious conflicts worldwide. Such is the case of Angola, a country that for the last several years has been plagued by a ruthless civil war. While world nations and international aid...
EDITORIALS
Aug 14, 1999

Wiretap with care

Toward the close of the Diet session this week, lawmakers affiliated with the ruling parties, riding on their coalition's majority, rushed through several controversial bills that could infringe on basic human rights in a free and democratic society. One of them is a package of three bills designed to...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 1999

Erratic leader dismays Russian far east

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin's sacking of his fourth prime minister in 17 months left Far Eastern residents shaking their heads and complaining that the aging president is unfit to rule the country.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 14, 1999

Forging ahead into the new millennium

Summer in Japan is notorious for being hot, humid and unpleasant. If you are a blacksmith, however, even the summer air is probably refreshing.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 14, 1999

More than a humble piece of clay

Japan is a ceramic paradise, plain and simple.
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 1999

Russia's new Islamic nightmare

It is difficult to know exactly what is going on in Dagestan, an isolated Russian republic of 2 million, mostly poor, people. Journalists steer clear of the region since local warlords started kidnapping for ransom. All that is certain is that last weekend, a band of about 1,200 Islamic Wahabite fundamentalists...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

SDP proposes damage investigation for war redress

The Social Democratic Party on Friday announced a draft for legislation that would redress wartime victims claiming compensation from the government.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

No capitulation, no food: Komura to Pyongyang

The resumption of Japan's food aid to North Korea depends on whether Pyongyang takes constructive steps to clear away international concern over its nuclear and missile development programs, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura reiterated Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

New school violence trend soars

Random acts of student violence in public schools inflicted on teachers, classmates and school property soared to 29,685 reported incidents in the 1998 school year, representing a 25.7 percent rise from the previous year, according to an Education Ministry summary released Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

Northerly system delivers unusual weather

The Pacific high-pressure system that usually covers the Japanese archipelago during the summer season inclined to the north during the first half of August, heating up northern and eastern Japan and unleashing rain on the southern and western regions, according to the Meteorological Agency.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

Ministry vows effort to aid duped emigrants

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura on Friday pledged his effort to provide part of the ministry's fiscal 2000 budget for aged Japanese who emigrated to the Dominican Republic four decades ago.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

Obuchi announces LDP re-election bid

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Friday declared his bid for re-election as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, while two other contenders -- Koichi Kato and Taku Yamasaki -- also announced their candidacies.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

Hinomaru makes 'auspicious' debut in press clubs

A pristine Hinomaru flag adorned a corner of the Foreign Ministry press briefing room Friday, the day a law officially recognizing it as the national flag took effect.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

93% oppose Kobe airport in straw poll

KOBE -- A local citizens' group announced Thursday evening that more than 90 percent of nearly 278,000 people polled in and around Kobe oppose construction of an airport in the city.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 13, 1999

Fuji Rock Underworld more than a Blur

Big bag of cheese 'n' mushroom sandwiches: yummy. Bottle of tequila: check. Crate of Yebisu beer: yup. Jump in the Devilmobile and find the city seems to never end, but after three hours on petrol and beer our ears are popping as we spiral up the backside of a mountain near Naeba in Niigata Prefecture...
JAPAN
Aug 12, 1999

Lawmaker urges halt in cash flow to North Korea

Staff writer
JAPAN
Aug 12, 1999

Emigrants gypped on 'paradise' sue

Staff writer
JAPAN
Aug 12, 1999

Merger to create Kinki Osaka Bank

OSAKA -- A new bank to be created through a merger between Bank of Kinki and Bank of Osaka, both affiliates of Daiwa Bank, will be headed by Yasuhiro Takatani, currently president of Bank of Kinki, the two announced Thursday.

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