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JAPAN
Nov 17, 1999

H-II failure a big step back for space program

The first launch of the H-IIA rocket, originally scheduled for early next year, will be delayed at least until May or June because of Monday's failure of the No. 8 H-II rocket launch, officials of the National Space Development Agency of Japan said Wednesday.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 17, 1999

Window on the fragile world of the Ainu

LAND OF ELMS: The History, Culture and Present-Day Situation of the Ainu People, by Toshimitsu Miyajima, translated by Robert Witmer. Ontario, Canada: United Church Publishing House, 1998; 184 pp., 2,000 yen (paper). Some books are published before the happy ending even happens, which can give readers...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Nov 17, 1999

Getting things done

From time to time I have been asked to remind people that although Japan is a very safe country, there are times when it is not. The yearend has always been a time when people should be especially careful. In old Japan, all debts had to be paid by the end of the year, but even a cursory perusal of today's...
LIFE / Travel
Nov 17, 1999

Voices of stone in the Oita mountains

Deep in a quiet valley northeast of Kyushu's Mount Aso lies the town of Innai, its central river filled with an absurdly picturesque number of stone bridges. I first read about the town and its equally fascinating surroundings a few years ago, but only recently made the long drive there, a stunning descent...
JAPAN
Nov 16, 1999

Regional Special: Sanin

'Inaka' taps city disenchanted to repopulate>Staff writer
COMMUNITY
Nov 13, 1999

Goodwill ambassador delivers hope

Akasaka Prince Hotel's Crystal Palace Room was filled with billowing arcs and floating columns of peach, rose and violet balloons Nov. 9 to help celebrate the opening of the stage play "Friendship (Yujo)" and the release of "The Paradise of Angels (Tenshi no Paradaisu)," a five-volume set of children's...
JAPAN
Nov 12, 1999

Kono vows $28 million for Timor refugees

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono has told United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan that Tokyo will extend $28 million in humanitarian assistance for refugees in East Timor in response to U.N. appeals for aid, according to Foreign Ministry officials.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 1999

Festivities mark Emperor's 10th anniversary

Politicians, business leaders and musicians gathered with the public to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Emperor's reign in both civic- and government-sponsored festivities Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 1999

No agreement reached in glass talks

Tokyo and Washington failed Thursday to come to an agreement on renewing a 1995 bilateral arrangement over foreign access to Japan's flat-glass market, officials said.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 1999

Tokyo to host secret emissions talks

Staff writer
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 11, 1999

Japanese white lightning from a still in Tonga

I admit it. I had to travel all the way to the Kindom of Tonga to learn about shochu. In my six years in Japan, I had simply not heard of it. Sounds ridiculous, but it's true. No, the Tongans don't make it, never mind drink it. They hadn't heard of it till recently either. In fact, most of them still...
JAPAN
Nov 11, 1999

Economists give stimulus plan mixed reception

Staff writer
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Nov 11, 1999

A toast to you, the brewers, and all the hard work you do

There are at present about 1,700 sakagura, or sake breweries, in Japan. This number is dropping somewhat quickly, with several kura going under each year. But for those 1,700-odd kura brewing again this year, just about now is when the brewing season begins.
COMMUNITY
Nov 10, 1999

Walking the way of the gods

As long as there has been Japan there has been Shinto: the "way of the gods." Shintoism is not organized around any central religious text or authority. It is perhaps best described as an amalgam of thousands of local deities (kami) and beliefs observed within a base framework of rituals and customs....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 10, 1999

Homage to an image maker

HAYAO MIYAZAKI: Master of Japanese Animation, by Helen McCarthy. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 1999, 240 pp., 8 pages in color and 60 b/w images. $18.95. The biggest domestic movie hit of all in Japan was the 1997 "Princess Mononoke," an animated film created by Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli....
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Nov 10, 1999

Soaring voice of modern Africa unifies the world music scene

Youssou N'Dour, one of Africa's (and the world's) greatest singers, makes a welcome return to Japan this month. The last time he was in Japan was for the 1994 WOMAD festival in Yokohama. World music was still on a roll back then, with some African artists such as Papa Wemba becoming genuinely "big in...
JAPAN
Nov 9, 1999

In and around Kanto

Dining show to boost refugee cause>Refugees International Japan is staging its 10th annual Art of Dining Exhibition at the Westin Tokyo hotel in Yebisu Garden Place on Monday to raise funds for needy refugees all over the world.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 1999

Chile minister urges more investment

Visiting Chilean Foreign Minister Juan Gabriel Valdes on Tuesday urged Japan to expand the scope of its investment in his homeland to help Santiago enhance the nation's economic strength, a Japanese official said.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 1999

Bilateral glass talks open in Tokyo

Japan and the United States will begin a two-day meeting today in Tokyo over foreign access to the nation's flat-glass market -- one of the pending areas of trade disputes between the two countries, officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 8, 1999

MSDF conducts dry run of evacuation plan

The Maritime Self-Defense Force conducted its first drill using helicopters and ships to practice evacuating Japanese living abroad in case of emergencies near Japan.
JAPAN
Nov 8, 1999

LDP gives partners nod to submit foreign suffrage bill

New Komeito and the Liberal Party will jointly submit to the current Diet session a bill to grant foreign permanent residents of Japan the right to vote in local polls, New Komeito Secretary General Tetsuzo Fuyushiba said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 1999

Minicar sales continue rise; imports drop

Monthly sales of new minicars rose 2.4 percent to 139,621 vehicles in October, marking the 13th consecutive year-on-year increase, the Japan Mini Vehicles Association reported Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 1999

Pros offer multilingual counseling for stressed foreigners

Staff writer
JAPAN
Nov 5, 1999

FBI chief urges joint crime efforts

Louis Freeh, Director of the FBI, said Friday that law enforcement organizations in Japan and the U.S. need to cooperate more to combat the growing threat of cross-border organized crime.
JAPAN
Nov 4, 1999

Kepco cancels hearing on MOX fuel

Staff writer
JAPAN
Nov 3, 1999

Asian, American journalists to discuss security

Asian and American journalists will discuss various issues and aspects under the theme of "Peace and Security in Asia in the 21st Century," in a symposium to be held next Wednesday in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 1999

The CTBT is not dead yet

"All bets are off! You'll see a lot of testing . . . . You'll have Russia testing, you'll have China testing, you'll have India testing, you'll have Pakistan testing . . . and we will be in a much, much more dangerous world."
LIFE / Travel
Nov 3, 1999

Autumn leaves and legends of Kyushu's farthest mountains

GOKANOSHO, Kumamoto Pref. -- The tiny community of Gokanosho (made up of five hamlets, hence its name) is virtually in the center of Kyushu. Draw an imaginary semicircle arching inland from the Kumamoto-Hitoyoshi expressway, and Gokanosho will be in the middle.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Hatoyama calls Obuchi government a 'moral hazard'

Calling the new coalition government of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi a "moral hazard" formed solely to reinforce political power, DPJ head Yukio Hatoyama on Tuesday demanded the early dissolution of the Lower House.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 31, 1999

Jed and Ted's spine-tingling fishing adventure

In Japan, the heat of the summer is the time for telling ghost stories. In the United States, we wait for Halloween. One of the most famous ghost stories is "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," a story by Washington Irving that tells the tale of the headless horseman who rides his horse through the night....

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