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JAPAN
Feb 28, 2000

Additional slots at Haneda sought for Skymark, Air Do

An advisory panel to the Transport Ministry compiled a report Monday recommending that additional slots for three daily flights each be allocated to Skymark Airlines and Hokkaido International Airlines (Air Do) at Haneda airport in July. The airport in Tokyo's Ota Ward will be able to handle 57 additional...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2000

High savings symptomatic of Asian crisis

SYDNEY -- A high rate of saving among Asians was once credited for its important contribution to the remarkable performance of their "miracle" economies. It has become clear that neither aggressive investment spending nor high saving rates can guarantee sustainable growth. Now, high savings should be...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2000

Artistic exchange leaves a rich legacy

"Yokohama does not improve on further acquaintance," wrote Isabella Bird in 1878. "It has a dead-alive look. . . . I long to get away into real Japan." She quickly left and went in search of authenticity, complete with its dangers and delights. Bird was a purist to the point of eccentricity, but most...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 27, 2000

Muazaz Kasrawi and Maria Edileuza Reis

Two ladies from countries across the world from each other have come together as cochairwomen for this year's Cherry Blossom Charity Ball. The ball with its featured raffle is a major fundraising event organized each year by the International Ladies Benevolent Society. Money raised is donated directly...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 26, 2000

Robot art and artful robots

"Robot-ism 1950-2000," an event examining the influence of the robot on art and technology in Japan, will be held in Tokyo through March 2.
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2000

The two faces of local power

A storm of controversy is raging over Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's Feb. 7 proposal to impose a tax on major banks operating in the metropolis. Despite strong objections raised by central government officials and bankers, Ishihara said he was determined to implement the proposal, which he said was carefully...
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2000

Kono hints Dalai Lama will get visa

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono hinted Friday that Japan would issue a visa to the Dalai Lama, saying the spiritual leader's visa application would be screened "according to the due procedures of law." His comments were taken to indicate that Tokyo would not allow any political considerations regarding...
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2000

Dutch war display given no place to go

Staff writer OSAKA -- One month after an Osaka International Peace Center symposium denying the Nanjing Massacre took place, another controversy over Japan's wartime past is brewing after the center and a Tokyo nursing home rejected an exhibition on the occupation of the Dutch East Indies. The Osaka...
COMMUNITY
Feb 25, 2000

Origami workshops unfold hidden joys of learning

So often in our examination-dominated education systems, the excitement of learning degenerates into rote learning. Not so in Barbara Pearl's hands-on approach to learning math, where children discover how to estimate the distance of a jumping frog, measure the angles of a paper sailboat and explore...
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2000

DPJ's Kumagai sees yen in the Net

In what appears to be the first such attempt in Japan, Hiroshi Kumagai, deputy secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, has begun soliciting political donations through the Internet. Kumagai, a veteran Lower House member, said the move is an attempt to secure more funds from individual donors...
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2000

U.S.-style takeovers threaten safe village

German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim achieved the first successful hostile takeover of a publicly listed company in Japan when it went for SSP Co.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2000

Group led by Softbank named buyer of NCB

The Financial Reconstruction Commission on Thursday effectively named a consortium led by Softbank Corp., an Internet-oriented Tokyo-based holding firm, as the buyer of the nationalized Nippon Credit Bank. The government aims to finalize a basic agreement with the consortium -- which also includes leasing...
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2000

Poor economic news weighing down yen

The yen may remain under selling pressure for some time, given the recent spate of unnerving economic and corporate news developments.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2000

New century proposals seen as more than unlikely dreams

Staff writer Recent ambitious proposals by the Commission on Japan's Goals in the 21st Century may be eye-catching but are unlikely to be achieved, according to skeptics. Those people, however, are wrong, according to commission head Hayao Kawai, who also serves as director general of the Education...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2000

Ishihara's bank tax plan leads charge for local autonomy

Labeling a controversial tax proposal submitted Wednesday to the metropolitan assembly "a challenge from Tokyo," Gov. Shintaro Ishihara opened the legislature's regular session with a call for local autonomy. He also blamed the nation's top-down political and administrative systems for what he called...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2000

Pipe firms fined over cartel; execs get suspended terms

Three firms and 10 of their former employees were found guilty Wednesday by the Tokyo High Court for maintaining a cartel in ductile pipes in violation of the Antimonopoly Law. Affected by the ruling were Osaka-based Kubota Corp. and Kurimoto Ltd., as well as Nippon Chutetsukan Co. of Tokyo. The companies...
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2000

WHO wants battle against disease on agenda of G8 summit

The World Health Organization has asked Japan to prioritize the battle against infectious and parasitic diseases by placing the topic high on the agenda for the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa this summer, government sources said Monday.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 20, 2000

Great compositions ennoble performers, audience alike

Virtually all of Japan's symphony orchestras perform Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth and last symphony at the end of the year, as the general populace makes its annual affirmation of the noble qualities declaimed in the lyrics of the choral finale, Friedlich von Schiller's "An die Freude (Ode to Joy)."...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 19, 2000

Retracing Takemitsu's 'Steps'

In 1967 a performance occurred in New York City which changed hogaku forever. Under the direction of Seiji Ozawa, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra commemorated its 125th anniversary by commissioning pieces from composers around the world.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2000

A tradition that's all pinned down

To decorate one's hair with morning glories, complete with a tiny snail on one leaf, may not be everyone's idea of chic. However, if they are fashioned by Tsuyoshi Ishida out of sheer silk, it is another matter.
COMMENTARY
Feb 18, 2000

Aftermath of Diet debacle

The Diet returned to normal last week, after the opposition forces ended their boycott of the ordinary session over the tripartite ruling bloc's handling of a controversial bill for reducing the number of Diet seats.
JAPAN / Media
Feb 17, 2000

Tarnished shields reflect on justice

Because the public has been conditioned not to believe anything it doesn't see on TV or read in the paper, a problem is not considered a problem until the media says it is. This realization brings up the question: What was it before?
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2000

DDI cuts cash flow to bankrupt Iridium

DDI Corp. President Yusai Okuyama said Thursday that the company would not make an additional investment in Iridium LLC, the financially troubled U.S. satellite telecommunications company. Okuyama also told a regular news conference that Nippon Iridium Corp., which provides satellite phone services...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Feb 16, 2000

Real convenience

The big Net play in Japan these days is convenience stores. Name your neighborhood favorite and you can rest assured it has just rolled out some new e-commerce business scheme.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2000

Fourth Iranian family granted permission to stay

Justice Minister Hideo Usui on Monday granted special residence permission to four members of an Iranian family who have overstayed their visas, the third time such permission has been granted to foreigners. The minister had granted similar permission by issuing long-term visas to a family of three...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 13, 2000

Installation artist explores the void of all

Visualize three individuals -- one man and two women -- sitting on three chairs in an otherwise empty room. This space is painted white and measures 8 meters long by 4 meters wide by 3 meters high.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 13, 2000

At the cultural crossroads of art

Paris in the '20s, a journey on the Orient Express: "Art Deco and the Orient," now at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, conjures up the Jazz Age, when everything from ocean liners to coffee cups was touched by the glamour of Art Deco.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 12, 2000

Simple beauty from unknown craftsmen

Dotted throughout Japan are the potting centers of the common people, makers of wholesome, durable and utilitarian pots. In contrast with tea ceremony utensils and porcelain which were reserved for nobility, the wealthy or export, these folk kilns made zakki or ordinary crockery that met the needs of...
COMMENTARY
Feb 11, 2000

Diet imbroglio over at last

The Diet returned to normal Feb. 9, two weeks after the opposition forces started boycotting all proceedings to protest against the ruling bloc's handling of a controversial bill to reduce Diet seats. The turmoil started when the three-party governing coalition passed the bill for cutting Lower House...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2000

BOJ's ultraeasy-credit policy a double-edged sword

As the Bank of Japan carries its zero-interest rate policy into the second year, there is no sign that the policy the BOJ itself calls abnormal will end anytime soon.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear