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EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2000

Tread carefully with Pyongyang

The United States and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations. Technically, they are still at war. That has not stopped them from negotiating important issues, but the lack of an official relationship has complicated already difficult talks. Now, however, the two countries are moving toward reconciliation....
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Oct 14, 2000

Bringing simple beauty from the inside out

Hot fun in the summertime has slowly segued into the cool cultural events of autumn, which is popularly known as "bunka no kisetsu (the cultural season)." Autumn not only brings delightful weather but also a slew of exhibitions and festivals to keep anyone's schedule topped off. Rest your weary overworked...
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Oct 13, 2000

Wire's sonic zeitgeist knows no boundaries

Certain music magazines do more than just chronicle the ins and outs of bands and fans. In their pages they capture the mood of a particular era. Thus Rolling Stone was more than just a San Francisco rock magazine, and so London's The Wire is more than just a magazine about modern music.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2000

New law means marching orders for bad tenants

Motokazu Miyama's big fear is one probably shared by hundreds of thousands of other property-owners in Japan: What if unwelcome tenants refuse to leave after the apartment lease expires?
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2000

Patient safety must come first

If the situation that is developing in many Japanese hospitals is not yet a national emergency, it soon will be. The frequency with which medication errors and other medical accidents are occurring has many people legitimately concerned about undergoing a hospital stay. Those fears can only be heightened...
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2000

HIV activist's mom files for by-election

Etsuko Kawada, mother of an HIV-infected crusader for justice, and three others filed candidacies Tuesday for an Oct. 22 by-election in Tokyo's No. 21 single-seat constituency to fill a House of Representatives seat left vacant by a disgraced lawmaker.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2000

ASEAN+3 gives Asia hope for the future

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- A new acronym emerged recently in the world of international relations: APT. For those unaware of its meaning, we translate: "ASEAN Plus Three," i.e., the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China and South Korea.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 8, 2000

Predators feast on Penguins in Tokyo

YONO, Saitama Pref. -- The smallest man on the ice had perhaps the biggest impact in the game Saturday afternoon as Cliff Ronning and his Nashville Predators skated to a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Saitama Super Arena.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 7, 2000

Catching up on Japanese baseball

With the Sydney Olympics now history, let's take a look at what happened in Japanese pro baseball while most of the sports world focused its attention on Australia and the Summer Games.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 7, 2000

Ten of the best from Australia

Australian Nicola Townsend's Nanpeidai apartment looks different from my last visit. The furniture is the same, but there is a subtle change in the atmosphere and light. Then I realize that it's the paintings. After a sell-out show of works from her native soil earlier this year, the independent curator...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Oct 7, 2000

Tales of romance and bloodshed come alive in Shinnai song

Some of the performing arts of Japan are so spectacular that they grab your attention and immediately make you feel a part of the music. Taiko drumming is one; rhythm speaks directly to our bodies, and the beating of a stick on a drum has a physical appeal to all, regardless of language or culture.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2000

University organization aims to build regional ties

An organization of universities in Asia and the Pacific is promoting "life-long friendships" among young scholars to contribute to peace and prosperity in the region, one of the group's top administrators said.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 6, 2000

Strange thing happened while crossing the bridge

Strange things, collaborations. Much admired by the devout acolytes of grant-dispensing foundations in the interests of "crossing cultures" and "mutual understanding," these unfortunate buzz phrases have thrown together more than a few unwieldy alliances in the fields of dance and theater.
COMMENTARY
Oct 5, 2000

No rush to grant foreigners voting rights

A major domestic political debate is brewing over whether non-Japanese permanent residents should be granted the right to vote in local elections of prefectural governors, prefectural legislators, and chiefs and council members of lower local administrative entities. Those foreigners will still be ineligible...
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2000

Ex-JICA chief volunteers for the trenches

Upon retiring after a 38-year career with the Foreign Ministry followed by six years as head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Kimio Fujita was naturally expected to accept an honorary post, such as on a government panel.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 5, 2000

Passionate affairs with flamenco

MADRID, Spain -- At a recent flamenco show in downtown Madrid, guitars strumming to furious crescendos and sudden stops, a spectator might have found himself thinking, "Hey, there's a long-haired guy clapping at the back of the stage who looks Japanese. Wait a second, he is Japanese!"
COMMENTARY
Oct 5, 2000

Today's Luddites go global

LONDON -- The Seattle protesters who fought the World Trade Organization and those in Prague who demonstrated recently against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are a mixed crew: anarchists, anticapitalist thugs and groups anxious to help the poorer people of the world. None of them...
MORE SPORTS
Oct 5, 2000

Seles, Serena pass first tests at Toyota Princess Cup tennis

Monica Seles and Serena Williams, the first and second seeds, respectively, who both had byes in the first round, cruised through their first tests at the Toyota Princess Cup on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals.
OLYMPICS
Oct 4, 2000

Highs and lows of Sydney 2000

Citius, Altius, Fortius -- faster, higher, stronger.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Firms continue to be optimistic: 'tankan'

The outlook of the nation's corporations -- particularly large manufacturers -- continued to improve over the past three months, according to the latest quarterly "tankan" business sentiment survey, released Tuesday by the Bank of Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 4, 2000

We must interrupt our bowling for a thrilling Olympic moment

Equality of the sexes I generally accept as a fundamental truth -- as certain as sunrise in the east, the rhythm of the tides and bubbles in the o-furo.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

JR East to sell digital music in stations

East Japan Railway Co. said Tuesday that it will set up multimedia terminals in stations in February to jointly distribute music in digital format in collaboration with Japan Telecom Co. and the J-Phone group.
COMMENTARY
Oct 4, 2000

Putin's key mission to India

NEW DELHI -- On the heels of a marked pro-U.S. shift in its foreign policy, India is now welcoming the president of its old friend, Russia. The focus of President Vladimir Putin's four-day visit is on reviving Russia's sagging ties with India.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2000

Museum buffs image of newspapers

YOKOHAMA -- A museum visit is not likely to raise the pulse rates of children these days, and a museum dedicated to newspapers seems certain to draw only yawns.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 3, 2000

Diners, look before you eat

AT THE JAPANESE TABLE, by Richard Hosking. Images of Asia. Oxford University Press, 2000, 70 pp., 22 color plates, 19 b/w, unpriced. THE ESSENCE OF JAPANESE CUISINE: An Essay on Food and Culture, by Michael Ashkenazi and Jeanne Jacob. Richmond/Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, 252 pp., 11 b/w photos, 45 British...

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan