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MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Feb 24, 2000

JFA flash: Don't follow us, we're lost too

Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing! Yes, today we're playing ping-pong with Frenchmen.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2000

Development of human resources vital to ending Asian economic crisis

The last two or three years of the 1990s will probably be long remembered in the minds of those in East Asia and around the globe as the Asian Economic and Currency Crisis. Has this crisis actually ended?
COMMUNITY
Feb 20, 2000

Off to Iraq with leads for pencils

Having spent time with student nurse Erika Ito, I would very much like to meet her mother. Firstly I would shake her hand and say: "Congratulations, job well done! You have one terrific daughter." Then I'd patent the secret of her success, and make us all as fortunate.
COMMENTARY
Feb 20, 2000

Infrastructure key to growth

As the Asian economies rebound from their 1997-1998 lows, we hear much less about the alleged collapse of something called "Asian values" and its crony capitalism. Which is good, since there never was such a thing as "Asian values" in the first place.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 19, 2000

China probes U.S.' other Asian alliances

China's deepening alignment with Russia, and the sales of advanced weapons that accompany it, risk fueling China's ambition of strategic dominance in East Asia. After the "recovery" of Taiwan, or so the scenario goes, China will concentrate on making the South China Sea a Chinese lake. In its path, however,...
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 16, 2000

One-on-one with new Red Sox hurler Samson

SEOUL -- Lee Sang Hoon, "Samson" to his Japanese fans, is one of the most talented pitchers to ever come out of South Korea, but also one of the most misunderstood.
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 13, 2000

Confrontation not the answer on environmental problems

During the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle last year, they trashed a Starbucks and other brand-name stores.
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2000

NTT shirks its responsibilities

The Japanese and U.S. governments are at odds over access charges for NTT networks. The Japanese side is balking at a U.S. demand for a deep and prompt price cut, on the grounds that it will have a crippling effect on NTT operations. As things stand, it is unclear whether an agreement can be reached...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2000

Kono, Ivanov signal further efforts toward a peace treaty

In the first foreign-ministerial meeting since former Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned on New Year's Eve, Japan and Russia confirmed Friday that they will continue to cooperate on a foreign policy course to advance peace treaty negotiations, a Foreign Ministry official said.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2000

Patriot 'Mariko' asks populace to develop global mind-set

Staff writer True patriotism does not equal narrow-minded nationalism, said Mariko Terasaki Miller, the first female honorary consul general of Japan, as she called on the Japanese to develop a sense of internationalism and pacifism at the core of their identity. "To develop an international or cosmopolitan...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 8, 2000

The cat in the hat goes to war like that

DR. SEUSS GOES TO WAR: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel, by Richard Minear, introduction by Art Spiegelman. The New Press, 1999, 272 pp. To most Americans who grew up with Dr. Seuss' oddly, endearingly drawn critters and facile rhymes ("And then he ran out. / And, then, fast...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2000

Myanmar citizens see dual taxation as incentive to overstay

Staff writer The Feb. 18 revision of the Immigration Control Law has prompted many undocumented foreigners to return home, but some Myanmar citizens are unable even to go through deportation procedures because they find it hard to pay overdue taxes to their government. The Myanmar citizens said they...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2000

The Nanjing number game

So the book titled "The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II," by -year-old Chinese-American writer Iris Chang has the Japanese critics stirred up. Everyone from the former Japanese ambassador in Washington and Japan's powerful conservative commentators down to the rightwing academics...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2000

Exhibition teaches U.S. kids there are no samurai in Ginza

Staff writer Attention American kids! There are no samurai striding down the streets of Tokyo anymore. And, you know, the "Pokemon" character you're so crazy about actually originated in Japan. Despite the long-standing partnership with Japan and the permeation of Japanese products into daily life in...
COMMENTARY
Feb 2, 2000

Is the U.S. on the right track?

As we enter the Year of the Dragon, U.S. bilateral relations with key states in Northeast Asia generally appear on track. Ties with America's two key allies, Japan and Korea, remain steady, as the Trilateral Cooperation and Oversight Group process has helped to keep all three in sync when dealing with...
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2000

Half of Myanmar's yen loans remain outstanding

Nearly half of the approximately 270 billion yen in Japan's outstanding official yen loans to Myanmar have gone sour.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2000

Loan may take chill off Tokyo-Tehran ties

Staff writer In a move apparently reflecting the rapidly warming atmosphere surrounding bilateral relations, Iran has asked Japan to provide some 5 billion yen in fresh official yen loans for a project to reduce air pollution, government sources said Wednesday. The sources said the oil-rich Persian...
COMMENTARY
Jan 31, 2000

Let the great debate begin

The Diet is finally launching debate on constitutional issues, breaking a long-standing political taboo. As the ordinary Diet session opened Jan. 20, both houses created panels to conduct the first parliamentary debate on the pros and cons of constitutional amendments. All political parties will take...
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2000

Myanmar government losing all financial footing

Staff writer Nearly half of the approximately 270 billion yen in Japan's outstanding official yen loans to Myanmar have gone sour.As of March 31 last year, the final day of fiscal 1998, Japan's outstanding yen loans to developing countries totaled 9.8 trillion yen, of which 272.5 billion yen was being...
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2000

Why Taro can't speak English

It's exam season in Japan, and once again the problem of English language education is being churned over. This time the debate threatens to turn serious, for three reasons.
COMMUNITY
Jan 30, 2000

Preaching the gospel of women's television

Those who watch the program "New Yorkers," broadcast weekly on NHK's satellite channel, will be familiar with the name Nancy Lee. But how many realize that this snappy, bright, Jewish-American from New Jersey is as much at home in Japanese as English?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2000

Can hard industry spike the Net bubble?

Time Warner's one-two megamerger punch, first with America Online then with British music giant EMI Group, followed last week by shares of Yahoo Japan Corp. exceeding 100 million yen, sent many investors and observers searching for a psychological safety blanket.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2000

World Cup goal is to show off improved ties, new envoy says

Staff writer The 2002 World Cup soccer finals will be a test for Japan and South Korea, joint hosts of the tournament, to demonstrate their enhanced partnership in recent years, according to Japan's new ambassador to South Korea. Terusuke Terada, 61, former ambassador to the Korean Peninsula Energy...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2000

Residency awarded to lucky dozen

Twelve foreigners who have overstayed their visas will be allowed to stay in Japan after applying for residents' status in September, Justice Minister Hideo Usui said Friday. The 12 are part of a group of 21 who publicly approached immigration authorities in September. It is the first time the government...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2000

Miyazawa says government spending spree must continue

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Friday called for swift passage of the 84.99 trillion yen fiscal 2000 state budget in an attempt to achieve a full economic recovery. In a fiscal policy speech before the House of Representatives plenary session, Miyazawa said the worst is over for the economy thanks...
COMMUNITY
Jan 27, 2000

Overcoming blind discrimination

In the past 10 years, 71-year-old Atsuko Yasumoto has fulfilled many lifelong dreams. She has swum with dolphins in Hawaii, climbed mountaintops in Japan, traveled to the United States, and won first prize in a ballroom dance contest in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2000

A challenge for the next century

The coming months will probably see one policy proposal after another, both official and private, for Japan in the 21st century, in the wake of a challenging report last week from a private advisory council to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. A review of Japan's options titled "Japan's Goals for the 21st...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 25, 2000

Women pay for Asia's successes

WOMEN IN THE NEW ASIA, by Yayori Matsui. London: Zed Books, 1999, 194 pp., $19.95 (paper). THE SEX SECTOR: The Economic and Social Bases of Prostitution in Southeast Asia, edited by Linda Lean Lim. Geneva: International Labor Office, 1998, 232 pp., SFR35. Yayori Matsui, author of "Women in the New...
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2000

'20s Industry Club faces wrecking ball

The 80-year-old Industry Club of Japan building in Tokyo's Marunouchi district, which has served as a hub for Japan's business circles, will next month undergo reconstruction.
COMMENTARY
Jan 24, 2000

Homage to a mass murderer

I was shocked to see a photograph in The Japan Times last month of former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka laying a wreath at the statue of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang. They looked rather sheepish. They should, in fact, have looked...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’