Search - about-us

 
 
COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 1999

Japan's other big Year 2000 problem

For over 40 years now, the ritual has been the same. Each new Japanese administration resolves firmly that it will solve Japan's festering territorial dispute with Moscow, once and for all. Delegations and prime ministers visit Moscow. And each time the results are zero.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1999

Asahara attorney claims arrest unlawful

Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara's chief defense attorney pleaded innocent Wednesday to charges of obstructing the seizure of rental income used by a "jusen" housing-loan borrower as collateral, and criticized police for his "unlawful" arrest.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1999

Myanmar couple seeks new heart for baby

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1999

Contraceptive pill slated for approval in June

The government is expected to approve the contraceptive pill for women in June, government officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1999

Jusco to consolidate group firms

Major supermarket chain operator Jusco Co. announced Wednesday that it will absorb two subsidiaries in August to consolidate operations of the Jusco group.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1999

Colombian president to visit in May

Colombian President Andres Pastrana will from May 10 to 13 make his first visit to Japan since his swearing-in in August, the new Colombian ambassador said Wednesday.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Mar 3, 1999

Belize offers cay to a good vacation

Belize City (population 60,000) sucks. Crack addicts, muggers, deranged loafers, unprovoked verbal abuse of the anti-whitey variety. A spoonful of water from its rancid canals, if strategically distributed, would wipe out the People's Republic of China. Belize City's got the lot.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 1999

Sony lifts veil on next-generation PlayStation

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. gave a preview Tuesday of the new graphics and massive calculating power of its next-generation video game machine, announcing plans to release a successor to its No. 1 PlayStation this winter.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 1999

A world bereft of leaders?

LONDON -- Hardly a day goes by without someone deploring the lack of political and economic leadership in our world. Commentators bemoan that with the departure of politicians like former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl the world is bereft of political leadership....
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Mar 2, 1999

Twin with a twisted heart

The indomitable, incorrigible and completely insane Aphex Twin -- who has just released his latest single "Windowlicker" with its controversial video -- can never be branded boring.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 2, 1999

Faith isn't enough for China's Catholics

CHINA'S CATHOLICS: Tragedy and Hope in an Emerging Civil Society, by Richard Madsen. Berkeley, CA.: University of California Press, 1998, 191 pp., $27.50 (cloth). The Catholic Church has had a long and powerful influence on China. Missionaries first traveled to the Middle Kingdom in the seventh century...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 2, 1999

Alexei Sultanov

Not long ago a famous American classical pianist gave an interview to a Japanese newspaper in which he complained, "I can't tell if a Japanese audience is enjoying the performance or if they're bored."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 2, 1999

Where Japan draws the line

EROS IN HELL: Sex, Blood and Madness in Japanese Cinema. Texts by Jack Hunter, Rosemary Hawley Jarman, Johannes Schonherr, Romain Slocombe. London: Creation Books, 1998, 228 pp., b/w photos, profusely illustrated, 14.95 British pounds. In 1966, Jack Hunter says, when the notorious publication "Death...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 2, 1999

BOOK BITES

THE FUTURE OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC, by Geoffrey Hawthorn. London: Phoenix, 1998, 57 pp., 2 British pounds. This little volume is one of a series of 24 short books whose authors attempt to forecast the future across a range of social, economic and political subject areas.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 1999

High court rejects Kadokawa smuggling appeal

Haruki Kadokawa's four-year prison term for cocaine smuggling and embezzlement stands, the Tokyo High Court ruled Monday, rejecting an appeal from the 56-year-old former president of Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 1999

Recruit sells building to U.S. firms

Recruit Co., a major information service company, has sold its office building in front of JR Kawasaki Station to two U.S real estate firms as part of efforts to reduce its huge debts, informed sources said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 1999

Shiny happy people

The elusive butterfly of happiness has been fluttering before humanity for a long time. America's Thomas Jefferson declared the pursuit of it an inalienable human right over 220 years ago. But a good 1,800 years or so before that, another great farmer-philosopher had seen the urge to chase happiness...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 1999

Avoiding a N. Korean crisis

Will 1999 bring the second North Korean nuclear crisis in five years, perhaps leading to a military confrontation similar to the recent U.S. attack on Iraq, or can such a confrontation be avoided? Although heightened tensions may be inevitable in the coming months, the ability of policymakers in Washington,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 28, 1999

Fairy tales come to life amid the magic of Prague

I woke up this morning and opened the curtains expecting to see the usual view from my house of the Seto Inland Sea. Imagine how surprised I was to find instead, Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. It was like a fairy tale: Prague Castle up on the hill overlooking pastel-colored baroque buildings...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Feb 28, 1999

Their way

Recently I visited a friend who lives in an upscale apartment building, a part of one of Tokyo's massive redevelopment projects. When I saw there was a taxi parked in one of the spaces assigned to her floor, I asked if a neighbor were now commuting by taxi instead of company car. My assumption was incorrect....
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 1999

A year of triumph for Mr. Kim

It has been a tumultuous first year for South Korean President Kim Dae Jung. On every front -- political, economic and diplomatic -- he has faced enormous challenges. His moral authority, his willingness to make hard choices and his vision have stood him in good stead. By virtually every measure, South...
JAPAN
Feb 26, 1999

Consultative Group pledges $470 million to Cambodia

The Consultative Group of aid donors to Cambodia concluded a two-day meeting Friday in Tokyo, promising a $470 million one-year aid package to Phnom Pen.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 1999

NTT to slash capital spending in '99

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. plans to invest 1.52 trillion yen on plants and equipment in fiscal 1999, down 230 billion yen from the current business year, the carrier announced Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 1999

Education panel urges lessons in medical ethics

Medical students should be taught more about the dignity of human life and death, an advisory council to the Education Ministry proposed Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 1999

Ex-English school founder acquitted of embezzling

The Tokyo High Court acquitted the former chairman of an English-language school Thursday on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 1999

'Staff pay' entries give away tax dodger

Tokyo prosecutors arrested senior executives of a Tokyo real estate agency Thursday after raiding its offices over allegations that the firm failed to pay 500 million yen in taxes during a three-year period, sources close to the investigation said.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 1999

Ministry targets U.S. elderly to fix tourism slump

The Transport Ministry will launch a campaign next week to encourage U.S. senior citizens to visit Japan in a bid to stimulate the slumping tourism industry, ministry officials said on Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 1999

Sakura bad-loan writeoffs to reach 990 billion yen

Sakura Bank on Thursday said it will write off about 990 billion yen in bad loans during the business year ending March 31, some 80 billion yen more than it originally expected.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 1999

Pfizer posts 48% net profit gain

Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc. posted 149.3 billion yen in sales for the business year that ended November 30, 1998, up 15 percent from the previous year, Leslie Patterson, president of the firm, announced on Thursday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Feb 25, 1999

Warm sake toast of the town for winter

Before winter begins to grudgingly give ground to warmer weather, be sure to get your share of warm sake.

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