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CULTURE / Books
Mar 24, 1999

One bullheaded Buddhist

LOYALTY DEMANDS DISSENT: Autobiography of an Engaged Buddhist, by Sulak Sivaraksa. Parallax Press, 1998, 450 baht. Sulak Sivaraksa, upon reaching the age of 65, decided to look backward and ponder decades of constant activity in Thai society. The book opens with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, who states...
JAPAN
Mar 24, 1999

Japan to help Russia dismantle nuclear subs

Staff writer
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Mar 24, 1999

A downer day

A friend of mine, a medical doctor who has spent many years in this country, was here during Japan's recent press spectacular, the first official transplant operation. I asked what he thought of the frenzy surrounding this lifesaving achievement. I think his comments should have a far wider circulation...
COMMUNITY
Mar 24, 1999

Tantalizing tempura a crowd-pleaser

Tempura is probably the most internationally popular Japanese dish. It seems difficult to cook the dishat home, but actually, tempura is a very simple dish and tastes good with any kind of ingredients.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 24, 1999

Martin and the king of Siam

A RESOUNDING FAILURE: Martin and the French in Siam, 1672-1693, by Michael Smithies. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1998, 156 pp., 395 baht. Of the many mercantile adventures that marked European exploitations of Asia, one of the most entertaining is that of the French in Siam. This is a well-known...
JAPAN
Mar 24, 1999

Softbank, Microsoft plan online car-shopping venture

Softbank Corp., Microsoft Corp., and Yahoo Japan Corp. announced Wednesday that they will establish a joint venture in April, capitalized at $7 million, offering a car-shopping information service for Japanese customers.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Mar 24, 1999

Weaving a fall brocade of spindle trees

The spindle tree family (nishikigi-ka, Celastraceae) contains some very ornamental trees, shrubs and climbers, among which nishikigi, the genus Euonymus, is a large group encompassing some 176 species. They grow wild in the temperate to warm regions of the world and can be found in Australia, Europe...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 24, 1999

Frustration and anger produce great Korean fiction

A READY-MADE LIFE: Early Masters of Modern Korean Fiction, selected and translated by Kim Chong-un and Bruce Fulton. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998, 191 pp., $38 (cloth), $15.95 (paper). "What's driving me to drink isn't anger and isn't the dandies. It's this society -- our Korean society...
LIFE / Travel
Mar 24, 1999

Adventures in suspended reality

Porto Europa, just outside of Wakayama City, is without doubt a playful place to visit and offers a wide range of entertainment, action rides, cuisines and new technology games, but don't expect it to duplicate your last sojourn overseas.
EDITORIALS
Mar 23, 1999

Another global survival gambit

The tieup deal between Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA, which will be officially announced on Saturday, is about to change the face of the world auto industry. The French carmaker has decided to take a controlling stake of 35 percent in Nissan. The money Renault will pay for Nissan shares, estimated...
COMMENTARY
Mar 23, 1999

Strategies for a secure Japan

Diet has finally begun debating the enabling bills for the Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines, almost a year after the government sent them to the legislature last April. How the debate will develop in the weeks ahead has an important bearing on the security environment of Asia, including the...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 23, 1999

Fusion group raises the Five Star Flag

"You'll never be able to guess the next song!"
JAPAN
Mar 22, 1999

Italian theme, cheaper goods key to joint outlet mall

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 22, 1999

Dioxin high near Nose incinerator

OSAKA -- Tests on soil samples taken from areas around a controversial incinerator in the town of Nose, Osaka Prefecture, revealed that two sites had dioxin levels exceeding limits set by the Environment Agency, operators of the facility said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 22, 1999

Doctors far from malpractice accountability

Staff writer
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 21, 1999

Reach out and touch your four-footed friends

Do you ever get the feeling that your cat isn't listening to you? Have you ever tried to find a gift for the dog who has everything? Don't despair. The latest in pet communication is here: greeting cards for cats and dogs.
COMMENTARY
Mar 21, 1999

Consensus or confrontation?

LONDON -- The popular image in Japan is that Britain is a society governed by confrontation and that this has been the source of British failures. Japan, on the other hand, is a society where consensus prevails, and this has led to harmony and to economic success. The popular image is at best a caricature...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Mar 21, 1999

Obligations

What a downer! A reader has just looked at his calendar and realized that March 15 has passed -- and he forgot to file his Japanese tax return. While he should do it as soon as possible, he does not need to worry. Japan's bureaucracy tends to be compassionate in such matters, especially when the wrongdoer...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 20, 1999

Japanese custodians of French 'Liberty'

On the occasion of French President Jacques Chirac's visit to Japan in 1996, an exchange of national treasures was agreed upon for the 1998-1999 "Year of France in Japan." Following this agreement, Kudara Kannon, a 7th-century 2-meter wooden bodhisattva from Nara's Horyuji Temple, was sent to France...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 1999

Learning on the job can be a good idea

The value of education has become a cliche. But few people seem to realize that school-based education can often prove a liability. Consider the views of Ram Mohan, a young farmer from the Indian state of Rajasthan, who refused to go to school. "My father wanted me to go," he said, "but I didn't. My...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 20, 1999

The squirrel or the eagle?

Thirty-five years ago, during the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," China's Chairman Mao Zedong announced the coming of an uncompromising global struggle between the City and the Village. China, in Mao's eyes the best country in the world, symbolized the sturdy and righteous Village. Haughty and...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 1999

U.S. apologists for China disregard reality

"China apologists," mainly representing newspapers and academic haunts in Los Angeles, New York and Boston, claim that the rest of us are beating up on China merely because Beijing is into heavy-duty spying on the United States, stealing high-tech secrets and deploying enough missiles opposite Taiwan...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 20, 1999

Tokyo says 'Bravo!' to tango explosion

The hottest song now in Japan is undoubtedly "Dango 3 Kyodai," which humorously depicts the story of three dumpling brothers. Though originally composed for a children's TV program, the song appealed to adults as well, and 3 million CDs have been sold so far.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 1999

A welcome step forward

Once again, the United States has shown that engagement with North Korea works. After four rounds of talks in as many months, a deal has been struck in New York with the North Korean government on access to an underground site suspected of housing a secret nuclear-weapons project. Japan, South Korea...
JAPAN
Mar 19, 1999

Kobe airport foes submit petitions

KOBE -- A group of Kobe citizens opposed to the construction of Kobe airport presented two petitions to two government agencies in Tokyo, urging that the city's request to reclaim land for the project not be approved.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 1999

Another patient dies after IV mishap; cancer blamed

OSAKA -- A patient was mistakenly given another patient's intravenous drip at a hospital in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, in January and died two days later, it was disclosed Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 1999

Fund to assist sarin victims with free checkups

A fund initially set up mainly to compensate victims of nerve gas attacks attributed to Aum Shinrikyo will be utilized to cover medical checkups for monitoring victims' health conditions, a lawyer and representative of the fund operators told a news conference Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 1999

State buys more foreign computers

Some 22.4 percent of computers procured by the government in fiscal 1997 were foreign-made, marking a slight increase from 19.6 percent the previous year, a government report said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 1999

Fired Kobe teaching aides win compensation, not jobs

Staff writer
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Mar 19, 1999

Journey to the center of Cornelius

Some trips involve buses and airplanes, others need chemical assistance. Some trips, however, require only a stereo. Keigo Oyamada, a k a Cornelius, is an expert choreographer of the latter form of travel. His last record, "Fantasma," catapulted listeners through an orange-colored psychedelic wonderland...

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