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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2000

With affluence comes intellectual decay

Among the intellectuals it is not hard to detect the New Pessimism; among the citizenry, the Same Old Apathy. Today I wish to focus on the former.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 26, 2000

Looking up so tears won't fall

Tragedy crushes some people, twists and mangles them in ways from which they never recover. Others emerge stronger, as if all the pressure had fused to produce a diamond. Violin prodigy Diana Yukawa shows such sparkle.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2000

StarLink find sparks consumer fears, import chaos

The discovery of StarLink genetically modified corn in food for human consumption in Japan has caused concern among Japanese food and grain importers and aroused fears among consumers about food safety.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 25, 2000

Farewell to art world's jewel

Some five weeks from today, a few artists and friends will gather in the Sagacho Exhibit Space.
COMMENTARY
Nov 23, 2000

Japanese politics come up short again

Politics in Britain is characterized by a confrontation between the Conservative Party and the Labor Party. Each has its own policy platform, and voters choose between them, forcing changes in government. Likewise in the United States, the Republican and Democratic Parties alternate in power, running...
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 22, 2000

Dortmund wants Ono, Takahara

German League club Borussia Dortmund is hoping to sign Urawa Reds and Japan midfielder Shinji Ono, along with Jubilo Iwata and Japan Olympic team striker Naohiro Takahara, a Dortmund official said Tuesday in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 21, 2000

Beautiful poetry from the ashes of Hiroshima

BLACK FLOWER IN THE SKY: Poems of a Korean Bridegroom in Hiroshima, by Chong Ki-Sheok. Katydid Books, distributed by the University of Hawai'i, 2000, 79 pp., $20 (paper). As the war generation grows older, casting glances back on life, poetry of witness has become increasingly urgent. Perhaps time...
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2000

Prosperity helps town tolerate atomic plant

KASHIMA, Shimane Pref. -- For 50 years, she has lived on a dead-end street at the foot of a hill.
CULTURE / Books / POETRY MIGNETTE
Nov 19, 2000

Poetry readings in Okinawa

In Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture Oct. 15, Shuntaro Tanikawa read such scatological, contemporary poems as "Onara (Fart)" and "Unko (Crap)" from his collection "Hadaka" (the English edition, "Naked," is jointly published by Stone Bridge Press and Saru Press).
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2000

Education yesterday, today and tomorrow

My four children have attended Japanese schools from kindergarten up. Over the years there have been innumerable positive experiences connected with this. Yet one thing has always struck me as, at best, blatantly incongruous. Virtually every principal addressing pupils and parents at the commencement...
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2000

Osaka recalls booklet over offensive cartoon

OSAKA -- The Osaka Prefectural Government will discard new booklets aimed at raising students' awareness of human rights after a Korean organization and the prefectural board of education complained that a cartoon in it would reinforce Japanese prejudice against Koreans, informed sources said.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2000

Panel discusses granting voting rights to minorities

A House of Representatives panel on Wednesday began discussing two bills that would give permanent foreign residents in Japan the right to vote in local elections.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2000

1 billion yen in ODA wasted on failed Indonesia project

A roughly 1 billion yen technical assistance project in Indonesia launched in the late 1980s, in which dairy cows were bred using artificial insemination, faltered after six seed bulls sent from Japan died, it was learned Wednesday through a report by the Board of Audit.
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 16, 2000

FIFA boss wraps up Tokyo trip

FIFA president Sepp Blatter breezed through Tokyo Tuesday and Wednesday for a series of meetings aimed at resolving a number of issues concerning the 2002 World Cup and next year's Confederations Cup.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Nov 14, 2000

The last of the best from Cuba

Even after 10 years, I still find it difficult to predict what actually turns Japanese world-music fans on.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2000

Money-strapped NPOs must learn to use Internet: expert

KYOTO -- The proliferation of the Internet is spurring many groups to aggressively try to keep up with sweeping changes, and nonprofit organizations are no exception.
COMMENTARY
Nov 12, 2000

Don't be fooled by N. Korea

LONDON -- I watched with dismay the recent pictures of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hobnobbing with Kim Jong Il, the communist dictator of North Korea. I admire Albright and guess that she was unhappy at having to be seen in such company. She was only doing her job and no doubt justified...
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2000

Science and politics expected to clash at COP6

Scientists agree that the Earth's atmosphere is getting warmer. There is consensus too that this warming will be the paramount environmental threat in the next century, as predictions see oceans swallowing beaches, tropical diseases spreading north and more species facing extinction.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2000

Economic development key for Mideast: Jordan envoy

The new Jordanian ambassador to Japan, Samir Issa Naouri, emphasized Friday that economic development would be a more effective way to solve problems in the Middle East.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2000

White House change won't alter policies

Regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential race, Japan will continue talks with the new administration regarding Okinawa Prefecture's demand for a 15-year limit on the U.S. military's use of a planned new airfield there, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 10, 2000

Alomar keeping eye on the future

Picture this: It's the year 2010 and the Yomiuri Giants are gunning for their first title in 10 years. It's late in the season and they desperately need a win. With two out in the bottom of the ninth, an aging batsman strolls to the plate. You've seen him a million times before on both sides of the Pacific....
EDITORIALS
Nov 9, 2000

Death from overwork still threatens

If employers in the private and public sectors are not prepared to take adequate steps to reduce the threat to life from excessive workloads, Japanese judges seem increasingly ready to remind them of their responsibility. The nation's courts are ruling with greater frequency in favor of the families...
COMMUNITY
Nov 9, 2000

Dignity and happiness in the final stretch

Hokkaido, specifically the southern coastal area -- Hidaka, Niikappu, Shizunai, Urakawa -- comprises the breeding and training center of Japanese racing. Farms filled with stallions and broodmares, foals and youngsters dot the area.
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2000

Reform is key to winning IT race

The world is gripped with IT fever. Despite linguistic differences, IT, shorthand for information technology, is a buzzword even here. It is believed to hold the key to the future development of the Japanese economy. That is why Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is leading the drive for an IT revolution. ...

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb