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CULTURE / Books
Oct 31, 2000

Just the facts, ma'am

FACTS AND FIGURES OF JAPAN, 2000 edition. Tokyo: Foreign Press Center, 116 pp., 1,300 yen. SOCIAL SECURITY IN JAPAN, by Go Miyatake. Tokyo: Foreign Press Center, 80 pp., 1,800 yen (paper). CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE RELIGION, by Nobutaka Inoue. Tokyo: Foreign Press Center, 73 pp., 1,000 yen (paper). For people...
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2000

Methods to cut emissions said already available

OSAKA -- With a United Nations conference on global warming just around the corner, a citizen's group is calling for existing energy-saving technologies to be more widely used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Pyongyang talks strategy: take it slow

Japan will try to narrow differences and seek points on which both sides can agree in bilateral normalization talks with North Korea next week, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 27, 2000

Car-safety promises unfulfilled

Japan's crowded highways, limited parking spaces and high gasoline prices would seem likely to discourage all but the most determined drivers. Yet a glance at any busy urban road makes it clear that Japan is still a nation that considers endurance, if not patience, a leading virtue. It is good to know...
COMMENTARY
Oct 24, 2000

Executives must obey the law

In a recent major shareholder suit, the Osaka District Court ordered 11 former Daiwa Bank executives to pay a total of $775 million (about 83 billion yen) in compensation for the $1.1-billion loss the bank suffered from illegal bond trading by a former employee of its New York branch. The ruling has...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Khatami to get red carpet; Mori to walk diplomatic tightrope

Reformist Iranian President Mohammad Khatami will receive a red-carpet welcome when he arrives in Tokyo at the end of this month on what Japanese officials describe as a historic visit that will usher in a new era for bilateral ties after years of near-estrangement.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Kawaguchi justifies CO 2 effort

Environment Agency chief Yoriko Kawaguchi has praised Japan's global warming measures and hinted at the need for more action by the United States going into international climate change negotiations next month in the Netherlands.
COMMUNITY
Oct 19, 2000

Glittering prizes on the Ginza

There's a new tenant on Ginza's shopping street, a new jewel.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 17, 2000

Japanese will fight for rights

THE RITUAL OF RIGHTS IN JAPAN: Law, Society, and Health Policy, by Eric A. Feldman. Cambridge University Press, 2000, 219 pp., 14.95 British pounds (paper). Debunking myths is a noble endeavor, especially for scientists who are in the business of separating fact from fiction. The belief that Eric Feldman...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2000

Where do the Japanese stand today?

A malaise is abroad in Japan and that malaise is apathy and hopelessness. Ever since the Meiji era -- 1868-1912 -- when the modern state of Japan was established and developed, the one thing that the Japanese people imbued their national effort, their prodigious diligence, with was a sense of hope: that...
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2000

Voting rights legislation hit by Chongryun brass

A senior official of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun) on Friday said he opposes a legislative plan to grant limited voting rights to permanent foreign residents, describing the rights as foreigners' interference in Japanese domestic affairs.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2000

Society must hear crime victims: author

OSAKA -- While Japanese society has finally started recognizing the rights of crime victims, people must now begin listening to their messages, according to Eri Atarashi, the author of a recent book on support for crime victims.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2000

Accounting practices blamed for slump in Japanese films

The chief executive of a Tokyo financial management company launched in late September hopes her new business saves Japanese films from a long slump.
COMMENTARY
Oct 13, 2000

Communists to 'tolerate' SDF

The national convention of the Japan Communist Party is expected to approve a proposal in November to revise its charter in order to tolerate the mobilization of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces in a military emergency. The policy turnaround to match the party's basic stance to reality was long overdue....
COMMUNITY
Oct 12, 2000

Nagano microbrewer takes eco-friendly path

Remember that book, "100 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth?" Here is the 101st: Head out to Kurohime in Nagano Prefecture. At the foot of Mount Kurohime you'll find Shinano Brewery. Walk into the woody Chestnuts Pub, order one of their English-style beers and you'll be partaking in a unique...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Oct 12, 2000

Bunny thrives in Predators' den

Yujiro Nakajimaya, captain of the Kokudo Bunnies and a member of Japan's national team, is not your average Japanese professional hockey player. In four teenage years spent at Notre Dame College, a high school in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, the Hokkaido native gained more than just a fluent command of English....
COMMENTARY
Oct 9, 2000

The crystal balls grow opaque

All kinds of "self-confident" experts make predictions in the mass media about the economy and politics. In Japan, such experts are rarely held accountable if they err in their predictions. In the late 1980s, when the bubble economy peaked, Japanese experts expressed the following opinions that later...
COMMUNITY
Oct 8, 2000

Occupational therapy via 'Women and Socks'

It is a rare thing to find any actress of middle years who has never been out of work for more than six months. Especially one willing to explore both biculturally and bilingually her country's history and the sensitive subject of postwar relations.
COMMENTARY
Oct 8, 2000

The Japanese people really are different

This year there were two Olympics. One was for the world generally. The other was for Japan, with audiences glued to events where hysterical announcers could declare a Japanese victory.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2000

Better links to Pyongyang seen if Tokyo and Seoul get closer

One of the winners of this year's Japan Foundation Award said he hopes promoting closer ties between South Korea and Japan will also lead to stronger links between Tokyo and Pyongyang.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2000

Taiwan shift away from reactors may deal blow to Japanese firms

Taiwan's Economics Ministry has taken a step toward loosening the island's reliance on nuclear power in a move that could be a major blow to Japanese firms in the atomic power industry.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2000

Food aid to North Korea gains approval

A key Liberal Democratic Party panel approved a plan Wednesday to send 500,000 tons of rice as food aid to North Korea, effectively paving the way for an aid program the government hopes will add impetus to normalization talks.
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2000

Banks must get better, not just bigger

The official debut last week of the Mizuho financial group is a fresh reminder of the large-scale bank mergers and tie-ups now in the works in Japan. The group brings together Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan under the umbrella of Mizuho Holdings Inc. Two years from now,...
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Lage urges closer ties with Cuba

Visiting Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage on Tuesday called for strengthening bilateral relations with Japan on various fronts, ranging from tourism, sports and culture to business.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2000

Mori plans more letters pitching UNSC seat bid

In yet another effort to promote Japan's quest for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will write most of the U.N. member nations as early as next week to reiterate calls for UNSC reforms, government sources said.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami