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JAPAN
Mar 26, 1999

Festival trains spotlight on Belgian style

Works of fine art, musical and theatrical performances, soccer and beer will feature in a yearlong campaign to introduce Belgian culture to Japan as a "microcosm of European culture."
JAPAN
Mar 26, 1999

New war hall said to sidestep nation's guilt

An exhibition hall in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward dedicated to victims of the wars fought by Japan in the 1930s and 1940s will not challenge visitors to think too deeply about how Japan waged those wars and its responsibility for them.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Mar 25, 1999

Shibuya's best-kept secret -- but you didn't read it here

Publicity can be both good and bad. It can help a restaurant or pub stay open and economically healthy. It can also, however, be the bane of an establishment as well. Too much attention has its downfalls.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 24, 1999

One bullheaded Buddhist

LOYALTY DEMANDS DISSENT: Autobiography of an Engaged Buddhist, by Sulak Sivaraksa. Parallax Press, 1998, 450 baht. Sulak Sivaraksa, upon reaching the age of 65, decided to look backward and ponder decades of constant activity in Thai society. The book opens with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, who states...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Mar 24, 1999

A downer day

A friend of mine, a medical doctor who has spent many years in this country, was here during Japan's recent press spectacular, the first official transplant operation. I asked what he thought of the frenzy surrounding this lifesaving achievement. I think his comments should have a far wider circulation...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 1999

Chinese cronyism hinders reform efforts

The People's Republic of China will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding Oct. 1, and major national events are scheduled to take place at that time. President Jiang Zemin has been promoting the slogan of "stability first" -- a reflection of his desire to complete the ceremonies successfully...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 24, 1999

Martin and the king of Siam

A RESOUNDING FAILURE: Martin and the French in Siam, 1672-1693, by Michael Smithies. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1998, 156 pp., 395 baht. Of the many mercantile adventures that marked European exploitations of Asia, one of the most entertaining is that of the French in Siam. This is a well-known...
JAPAN
Mar 15, 1999

Doctors recommended halting transplants

OSAKA -- The nation's first organ transplants from a legally established brain-dead donor about two weeks ago were conducted strictly on the wishes of the donor and the donor's family, doctors who treated the donor said Monday.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 8, 1999

The view from the 20th floor

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS IN JAPAN, edited by Charles Pomeroy, Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1998, 367 pp., 3,700 yen (cloth). The image Japan projects abroad comes not only from the government or big business; it also arises from a certain private club occupying the 20th floor of a building overlooking the...
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 1999

Japan passes a medical milestone

The nation breathed an almost audible collective sigh of relief this week, thankful that a successful precedent has now been set for organ transplants. Apart from the media hullabaloo and a short-lived controversy over the diagnosis a couple of days before the verdict of legal brain-death was pronounced,...
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 1999

Pick priorities, Mr. Clinton

Last week, U.S. President Bill Clinton set out his foreign-policy framework and goals for the last two years of his term. In a speech to California business and political leaders, he urged Americans to "embrace the inexorable logic of globalization." For Mr. Clinton, that translates into a policy of...
JAPAN
Mar 3, 1999

Greek ambassador backs UNSC bid

It is interesting to see that Japanese citizens and not just politicians and government officials are discussing the nation's roles in the world as the 21st century approaches, the Greek ambassador said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 1999

A world bereft of leaders?

LONDON -- Hardly a day goes by without someone deploring the lack of political and economic leadership in our world. Commentators bemoan that with the departure of politicians like former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl the world is bereft of political leadership....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 28, 1999

Fairy tales come to life amid the magic of Prague

I woke up this morning and opened the curtains expecting to see the usual view from my house of the Seto Inland Sea. Imagine how surprised I was to find instead, Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. It was like a fairy tale: Prague Castle up on the hill overlooking pastel-colored baroque buildings...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Feb 25, 1999

Warm sake toast of the town for winter

Before winter begins to grudgingly give ground to warmer weather, be sure to get your share of warm sake.
COMMUNITY / CROSSING CULTURES
Feb 25, 1999

Parents and kids reflect upon road somewhat less traveled

Now that our four children can no longer be counted among the very young, we have the time and energy for reflection.
EDITORIALS
Feb 19, 1999

The Japan-U.S. performance gap

The U.S. economy has extended its sparkling performance into a ninth year, albeit attended by sentiments of rising caution on Wall Street. The contrast with Japan's decline in the 1990s is so strong that events in the United States look as though they are happening on another planet. In a global era,...
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 1999

Post-impeachment Clinton

Officially, the impeachment ordeal of U.S. President Bill Clinton is over. Last Friday, the Senate -- in two bipartisan votes -- rejected both charges against the president. By a vote of 55 to 45, they threw out the first article of impeachment that alleged Mr. Clinton committed perjury when testifying...
JAPAN
Feb 5, 1999

New 'Japanese way' needed, Kansai seminar says

KYOTO — A new "Japanese way" that places emphasis on greater flexibility in decision making and less bureaucratic control are necessary if Japan's corporations are to remain competitive in the next century.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 1999

Kobe facility gives quake orphans place to reach out

A black rainbow drawn by a 10-year-old boy who lost his father and sister in the Great Hanshin Earthquake four years ago has become a symbol of the psychological damage suffered by child survivors of the temblor.
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 1999

An Olympic-size mess

What a difference a year makes. One year ago, Nagano City was pulling out the stops to welcome athletes from all over the world for a mammoth festival on ice and snow. Such was the universal appeal of the Olympic Games that even warring nations laid down their arms for the duration of the competition...
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 1999

Another massacre in Kosovo

Yugoslavia's contempt for international opinion has been made perfectly clear over the last week. Last week, Serbian police, backed by the heavy weapons of the Yugoslav Army, allegedly massacred 45 civilians in the Kosovo village of Racak. When news of the attack leaked out, Yugoslav authorities were...
JAPAN
Jan 18, 1999

U.S. committed to Okinawa force reduction: admiral

The United States is committed to reducing its forces in Okinawa as much as possible, Adm. Joseph W. Prueher, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said in an interview Monday with The Japan Times.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 1998

Political scene in '98 churned by opposition realignment

The nation experienced a series of events that considerably changed the political scene in 1998, including the resignation of a prime minister.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 1998

U.S. also faulted for concealing Japanese war atrocities

Tokyo and Washington continue to keep under wraps what happened in the Japanese army's research laboratories in Manchuria during the war, an American historian studying Japan's biological warfare said, noting that in this sense, the atrocities linger on more than half a century later.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 1998

Lower costs fuel boom in exotic, quirky overseas weddings

Regional correspondent
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1998

Jiang to visit Japan on Nov. 25

Chinese President Jiang Zemin will visit Japan from Nov. 25 to the end of the month, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tuesday.Jiang's visit was originally scheduled for early September but was postponed in August due to massive flood damage in central and northeastern China. A Cabinet decision...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1998

E-money system could mean hassle-free concert tickets

To spare concertgoers the nuisance of buying tickets by phone and picking them up at the box office, major promoters have teamed up with an information technology firm to begin limited sales of tickets by use of electric money, officials said Monday.Late last month, the All-Japan Concert Tour Promoters'...
JAPAN
Oct 16, 1998

Hyogo quake-housing tenants starve to victory

Staff writerKOBE -- A four-day hunger strike against Hyogo Prefecture's public housing policy helped survivors of the 1995 Kobe earthquake still living in temporary housing score a major victory recently when prefectural officials agreed to the protesters' major demands."Finally, officials realized...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1998

The Asahara Trial: Accused killer vents spleen

A senior Aum Shinrikyo figure expressed his disgust at prosecutors during his guru's murder trial Thursday, claiming he was repeatedly forced to change his testimony during investigations to fit the state's portrayal of events leading up to the sarin attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.Satoru Hashimoto,...

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Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.