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COMMUNITY
Jun 5, 1999

Brushing up on hairs and whiskers the write way

"The first thing that I learned from my father was how to choose the right type of hairs," says Yoshio Tanabe, the fude (Japanese writing brush) maker who owns Tanabe Bunkaido. Selecting the hairs is the first and most important step taken in the brush-making process, he says.
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 1999

Ten years after Tiananmen

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the tragic climax of the 1989 demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. It has been a long decade. The world is much changed, as is China. Deng Xiaoping, "the Little Helmsman," the man who set China on the path to economic transformation, is dead. His legacy survives...
COMMENTARY
Jun 4, 1999

Obuchi set for one more term

Following the Diet's enactment last week of a legislative package covering the updated guidelines for Japan-U.S. defense cooperation, the Lower House on Tuesday passed bills that will allow wiretapping in investigations into organized crime. The administration of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi has thus...
JAPAN
Jun 4, 1999

UNEP kicks off third global photo contest

The head of the U.N. Environment Program announced Friday in Tokyo the launch of the world's largest photography contest in anticipation of World Environment Day.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 1999

Police shut down gangs after Tokyo-area shootings

Police ordered Japan's largest underworld organization, Yamaguchi-gumi, and Tokyo's Kokusui-kai syndicate to suspend the use of five of their offices in the wake of a series of shootings reported this week in Tokyo and neighboring areas, they said.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 1999

Foreign women who leave husbands have few options

Second of two parts
JAPAN
Jun 4, 1999

Half of ESC reform proposals to be used, state says

About half of the 234 measures that the Economic Strategy Council, an advisory panel to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, has proposed are likely to be carried out, according to a report released by the government Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 1999

First Japanese-English dictionary on display

OSAKA — A rare first-edition copy of the first Japanese-English dictionary published in Japan has been on public display at the Mint Museum in Osaka since April.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 1999

19-year-old 'bosozoku' found slain

A man believed to be a "bosozoku" hot-rodder gang leader died Friday of wounds inflicted in an apparent attack by rivals.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 1999

Both sides to blame for Sino-U.S. troubles

HONG KONG -- As the United States debates the security implications of the Cox report on Chinese spying in the U.S., and as China continues to deny the spying and to denounce the NATO attack on the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, it is easy to lose sight of a basic reality: There is a remarkable symmetry...
CULTURE / Music
Jun 4, 1999

Musician spreads jazz gospel

"Jazz is my religion," said Joe Lee Wilson in a ceremony last week at the Tokyo campus of the International School of the Sacred Heart, after completing a six-week music workshop with 600 students.
EDITORIALS
Jun 3, 1999

A new world for Japanese business

The latest earnings reports from Japanese corporations listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange provide a running commentary on their predicament. Reflecting a drawn-out recession, both sales and profits plunged in the year to March 1999 (fiscal 1998). On average, sales in all industries except financial services...
JAPAN
Jun 3, 1999

Immigrants: Foreign laborers attempt to organize

First of two parts
COMMUNITY
Jun 3, 1999

Getting to the point of good health

Consider these facts:
EDITORIALS
Jun 2, 1999

Cautious optimism on Pyongyang

U.S. presidential envoy William J. Perry returned from his visit to North Korea last week with the assessment that the North Koreans will "maintain and respect" their 1994 agreement not to develop nuclear weapons. The top government and military officials he met in Pyongyang reportedly pledged to continue...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 1999

France's Corsican question

PARIS -- "France," according to one of its best-known poets and political thinkers, Paul Valery, "is the most heterogeneous country that ever existed." The present tragedy in Kosovo makes this sound hyperbolic, yet there is an element of truth in it. The French who live on the shores of the Mediterranean,...
JAPAN
Jun 2, 1999

'Kimigayo' fliers not official state line: Nonaka

A leaflet explaining the lyrics of "Kimigayo," the de facto national anthem, that was distributed to Japanese embassies in more than 110 countries is not intended to be an official government interpretation, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 1999

Cost, doubts mean rousing reception unlikely for pill

and MAYUMI NEGISHI Staff writers
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 2, 1999

Found and lost

In looking through my file for information I needed for today's column, I was diverted by notes from readers that amused me, or might someday be useful. Here are a few of them:
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 2, 1999

Island life a short cut to evolution

Japan is not just an island; it is an archipelago.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jun 2, 1999

Among the ruins of the Mayan Paris

You wouldn't have wanted to watch a ball game at the close of the season in the ancient Mayan city of Copan.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 2, 1999

Learning through landscapes

ARBORFIELD CROSS, England -- When Susan Humphries was appointed head of the Coombes Infant School in Arborfield Cross, Surrey, an hour's drive from London, it was doubtless a satisfying moment in career terms. A school of her own at last. What she did not realize, and is likely to dismiss modestly today,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 2, 1999

Wham bam, no thanks ma'am

Now it can be told. When I first came to Japan, I didn't believe in yakuza .
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Prange exhibit recalls Occupation's censorship

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Death sentence sought for cultist

Prosecutors asked for the death penalty Monday for a former senior member of Aum Shinrikyo accused of releasing sarin in the deadly March 1995 Tokyo subway gas attack that killed 12 and injured thousands, and illegally manufacturing firearms.
JAPAN
May 31, 1999

Rise in female smokers raises concern

KOBE -- Experts at an international symposium marking World No-Tobacco Day on Monday expressed concern over an increasing rate of young female smokers.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 1999

A de facto treaty revision

The Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, signed in 1951, is understood to be an arrangement whereby the United States, in exchange for the use of military bases in Japan, is committed to the rescue of this nation in the event of external aggression. Japan, with its "war-renouncing" Constitution, follows a policy...
EDITORIALS
May 29, 1999

Wiretapping is a two-edged tool

The threat to public safety posed by rising rates of organized crime requires new tools and techniques in the hands of the police. On that there is scant disagreement, except possibly among lawbreakers and potential lawbreakers themselves. It is not so clear, however, that the answer to growing public...
COMMENTARY
May 28, 1999

A step in the right direction

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi agreed with U.S. and South Korean officials in Tokyo Monday on the need to continue trilateral cooperation in their policies toward North Korea. It is highly significant that Obuchi's agreement with U.S. policy coordinator William Perry and South Korean Unification Minister...
JAPAN
May 28, 1999

Kosovars take refuge in Japan

Staff writer

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