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EDITORIALS
May 26, 1999

The IMF is called to account

The International Monetary Fund has already received a lot of flak from private experts for giving the wrong advice to troubled Asian economies. Another analysis to that effect, therefore, is nothing new. What is new -- and significant -- is that the Japanese government, in an official report, has now...
JAPAN
May 26, 1999

Foley defends Yokota base in meeting with Ishihara

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Foley stressed the importance of the U.S. Yokota Air Base in a meeting with Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara Wednesday, saying the base is "an essential part of U.S. forces' operations in Japan" and "a major hub of our transportation and supply services in East Asia."
JAPAN
May 24, 1999

April trade surplus shrinks 12.6% but rises against U.S.

The nation's trade surplus in April fell 12.6 percent from the year before to 1.07 trillion yen, as the fall in exports exceeded that of imports, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
JAPAN
May 20, 1999

Big shots endorse plan to rejuvenate manufacturing

To help Japan's ailing manufacturing firms in their restructuring efforts, an advisory panel of government and business leaders endorsed a set of proposals Thursday that include tax cuts to dispose of excess facilities and extended benefits for the unemployed.
JAPAN
May 20, 1999

Author blamed for Nanjing book cancellation

Kashiwashobo Publishing Co., which canceled publication of a Japanese version of the U.S. best-seller "The Rape of Nanking," said Thursday the translation deal collapsed because author Iris Chang rejected "corrections" the company wanted to make to the book.
JAPAN
May 19, 1999

Peru requests loans totaling $300 million

Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori asked Japan on Wednesday to provide $300 million in untied loans via the Export-Import Bank of Japan to help his nation's ailing financial institutions combat the region's financial crisis.
EDITORIALS
May 18, 1999

Keep trade reform alive

An open international trade system is the backbone of the global economy. Vigorous trade has been the instrument of international prosperity in the past half-century. The secret of the trading order's success has been its continual expansion in terms of members (the number of nations) and reach (such...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 16, 1999

So long ago

A woman writes of a quest, not hers but a friend's. This friend is looking for a man she knew many years ago. He was born in Hokkaido in 1913. He was a Christian and was active with the Young Men's Christian Association. He traveled widely in foreign countries in connection with that work.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 16, 1999

Hate is a many-booted creature that bites

The word in Japanese politics these days is reform. Japan is faced with an aging population, a weakened yen and a less-than-thriving economy.
CULTURE / Stage
May 15, 1999

Theatre Olympics: Let the performances begin!

High on a mountain top covered with tea bushes in Shizuoka Prefecture, Kim Itoh is dancing his solo piece "Nerve Maze Garden 2" in one of the most aesthetically pleasing venues in Japan. Designed by architect Arata Isozaki as part of the Shizuoka Performing Arts Park, Daendo Hall is a small oval theater...
ENVIRONMENT
May 15, 1999

Desert dome fosters research into arid climes, desertification

TOTTORI -- A huge glass dome structure near Japan's largest sand dune houses a research institution to combat desertification -- a serious threat to the global environment. Tottori University's Arid Land Research Center is also developing ways to promote sustainable agriculture in arid areas.
JAPAN
May 14, 1999

South Korean divers arrested over visa violations

NAGOYA -- Immigration authorities arrested 11 South Korean women Friday for allegedly violating the Immigration Control and Refugee-Recognition Law by overstaying their visas and working as divers for abalone and other fish in Kii-Nagashima, Mie Prefecture.
JAPAN
May 14, 1999

Honda posts record sales, profits for fiscal '98

Thanks to growing sales in the North American market, Honda Motor Co. set new record highs both in consolidated sales and profits in fiscal 1998, despite dwindling sales at home, Honda officials said Friday.
CULTURE / Music
May 14, 1999

Australian pop-rock trio Even battles 'tyranny of distance'

Few Australian bands have managed to gain large audiences and commercial success outside their homeland in the 1990s. Critics down under claim it's the "tyranny of distance," that Australia is simply too far away from the rest of the record-buying world, which keeps many Aussie acts from making it overseas....
EDITORIALS
May 13, 1999

President Kim takes up the challenge

Among Asia's crisis-hit economies struggling for recovery and reform, South Korea may well claim it leads on both counts. Interest rates, the currency and equity prices have markedly improved from the depths of a year and half ago. A return of market confidence is also in evidence as foreign capital...
JAPAN
May 13, 1999

Adecco counting on pickup in temp labor trend

Leading employment agency Adecco SA is pinning high hopes on the fast growth of Japan's hitherto undercultivated temporary workforce, Adecco Chief Executive Officer John P. Bowmer said Thursday.
JAPAN
May 13, 1999

Bill could enlarge temp workforce, magnify woes

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 13, 1999

U.S. to urge elimination of farm tariffs at WTO

In the new round of global trade negotiations starting in 2000 under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, the United States will call for total elimination of agricultural tariffs and subsidies on farm products and exports, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said Thursday.
JAPAN
May 13, 1999

Diet members pick June for Pyongyang mission

A suprapartisan Diet group headed by former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama will visit North Korea in the second week of June to seek a breakthrough in stalled normalization talks between the two nations, sources close to the group said Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
May 13, 1999

A miniature blending of landscapes

In Tokyo, there are quite a number of historic gardens that were built by the daimyo during the long Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867). The designers of many of these gardens were greatly influenced by the Chinese style of landscaping, and by the eagerness of the owners to have famous scenic sights from...
JAPAN
May 13, 1999

U.N. police call 'koban' model key for strife-hit communities

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 12, 1999

PC shipments up 10% in '98

Domestic shipments of personal computers hit a record-high 7.54 million units in fiscal 1998, up 10 percent from the previous year, an industry association said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 10, 1999

Quad talks begin today in Tokyo

Trade ministers from the United States, the European Union, Canada and Japan will begin two days of talks in Tokyo today centered on preparations for the next global trade liberalization negotiations to be held under the auspices of the World Trade Organization.
JAPAN
May 10, 1999

Landowners delay second Narita runway

The Transport Ministry officially dropped plans Monday to build a second runway at Narita airport by March 2001 after failing to break an impasse with landowners opposed to the expansion.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 8, 1999

Kawai exhibit shows grace under fire

The term mingei (folk art) was coined by Soetsu Yanagi in 1926 to refer to common crafts that had been brushed aside and overlooked by the industrial revolution.
CULTURE / Art
May 8, 1999

The tip top of a beautiful craft

At the corner of a room in their house in Iriya, Tokyo, Isamu Sase and his wife Hatsue work day and night making glass pens. They have had a surge of orders from shops all over Tokyo such as Tokyu Hands, Matsuya department store and Itoya in Ginza, which will keep them busy straight until June.
COMMUNITY
May 5, 1999

Immune system research pays off, paves way to AIDS cure

In 1987, American molecular biologists Jack Strominger and Don Wiley shocked the scientific world with a supreme example of the adage "A picture is worth a thousand words."
JAPAN
May 3, 1999

Reforms mean more than a new name, banking leader says

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 3, 1999

Prize-winning immunologists paved way for AIDS cure

Staff writer
COMMENTARY
May 1, 1999

Obuchi confounds the skeptics

The Lower House on Tuesday approved a legislative package for implementing the updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines and sent it immediately to the Upper House. The action came after agreement among the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party (the LDP's junior coalition partner)...

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