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CULTURE / Books
Sep 30, 2000

Thomas Wolfe: 20th-century America's warped looking glass

"No one has ever written any books about America -- I mean the real America," he wrote to a friend in 1931.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2000

UNSC must change before Japan, Germany join

OSAKA -- The U.N. Security Council is not adequately dealing with global problems, according to former German President Richard von Weizsaecker, and the entry of Japan and Germany into the body as permanent members should only take place after major U.N. reforms.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2000

Japan's nonprofits carve out a space of their own

When the Nature Conservancy's Lori Forman addressed the College Women's Association of Japan at a luncheon earlier this year, the topic was supposed to be nongovernmental organizations in Japan. But instead of providing a nuanced description of Japan's not-for-profit movement, Forman seemed more interested...
OLYMPICS
Sep 27, 2000

Russian duo take synchro title

SYDNEY -- Japanese water-babes Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda swam for the gold in the synchronized swimming duet final Tuesday, but were beaten by a Russian team whose routine drew on Japanese culture for inspiration.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Sep 26, 2000

Voices of power and purity lilting out of Africa

I seem to see certain of my favorite African musicians whenever I take a trip away from Japan. I have now seen Senegal's Cheikh Lo in several European cities and in Co^te d'Ivoire, and am about to see him again at a festival in South Africa.
COMMUNITY
Sep 24, 2000

Creative outsider paints orderly inside of chaos

Yuji Oki lives in a big house and paints increasingly large paintings -- by Japanese standards at least.
COMMUNITY
Sep 24, 2000

Harry Potter in the Middle Kingdom

BEIJING -- He's your average, 11-year-old Muggle. An only child, prone to mischief whenever possible, he prefers computer games to books. Or at least he did, until he became a guinea pig for 300 million other children.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 24, 2000

The powerful influence of Japan

Western artists of the mid-19th century were both entranced and distracted by their turbulent times. Many sought fresh ways to see the world around them, "savoir voir" as distinct from "savoir faire."
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2000

Otsuka goes to beat of a different drum

Playing word association with the names of the stations along the Yamanote Line is, for the most part, quite a simple task. Akihabara -- electrical goods; Ueno -- bullet train and animals; Shibuya -- teenage fashion.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2000

Pupils to be required to volunteer: panel

An education advisory panel to the prime minister on Friday submitted an interim report calling for drastic changes in the current education system that would nurture volunteer spirit among students by requiring them to do community service.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2000

Whaling issue not black and white

Incensed over Japan's expanded whaling program, Washington has threatened Tokyo with trade sanctions in what the media have largely portrayed as a black and white issue.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2000

40% of Japanese indifferent to whaling issue, survey finds

While only one in 10 Japanese say they support whaling against a slightly higher number who oppose it, nearly 40 percent appear uncommitted, according to a survey released by environmentalist groups this week.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Sep 20, 2000

Harry Potter, Castles and Voodoo

www.cesnur.org/recens/potter_00.htm One of the best Harry Potter sites comes from an organization that fights censorship of modern-day culture. There's chapter-by-chapter notes for "The Goblet of Fire," the latest in the series. But most of the site is dedicated to news articles (culled from all over...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Sep 20, 2000

The flawed forests of Cuc Phuong

As many Americans have no doubt already forgotten, and as some will never forget, Vietnam was visited not just by their flag's red, white and blue but also by Agents Orange, White and Blue; toxic herbicides named after the color of their containers. A total of 72 million poisonous liters were dumped...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 20, 2000

Waiting and hoping in vain for the end of a Giant headache

When in love, one learns to put up with your partner's flaws, no matter how distasteful.
COMMENTARY
Sep 18, 2000

Toward peace with Pyongyang

While North and South Korea are moving dramatically toward rapprochement as a result of the inter-Korean summit in June, Japanese and North Korean officials are set to meet again next month to discuss ways to normalize relations. Establishing diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, along with settling the territorial...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 17, 2000

2000 Noma Concours for book illustrations

The Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations is accepting works from nationals of UNESCO-member states in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, the Arab world, Latin America and the Caribbean for the 2000 contest. Organized by the Asia-Pacific Culture Center for UNESCO (ACCU) in Tokyo, the biennial contest...
CULTURE / Books / POETRY MIGNETTE
Sep 17, 2000

Tokyo poets get a night out to Howl

Howl, the bar in Aoyama, was founded just after Allen Ginsberg's death in 1997.
COMMENTARY
Sep 15, 2000

Looking for Mori's successor

A couple of weeks ago, Koichi Kato, former secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, appeared at a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo. Kato is receiving growing public attention as a potential contender for the post of prime minister to replace unpopular Yoshiro...
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 14, 2000

Fisheries crashing from pollution in Ariake

The cuisine of the Ariake Sea in northern Kyushu, featured recently in quarterly cultural magazine Fukuoka Style, is a strange one. It's dominated by grotesque, unusual-tasting fish and shellfish simmered heavily in sugar and soy or wrapped in dense layers of seaweed.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Sep 12, 2000

Intercultural influences

East-West fusions are nothing new. Nearly 100 years ago, some Western classical music was influenced by Indian classical or Javanese gamelan music. In the 1950s, violinist Yehudi Menuhin performed with Indian sarod player Ali Akbar Khan and sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. By the 1960s, John Coltrane was...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 10, 2000

Long trip from Kiev to Tokyo justified by 'Pathetique' results

Kiev National Opera and Ballet Theater Orchestra July 25, Vladimir Kozhukhar conducting in Takemitsu Memorial Hall -- Ballad (Pormbescu), Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra in D Minor, Op. 99 (Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich, 1906-75), featuring Atsuko Tenma; Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathetique"...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Sep 9, 2000

Putin's obscure mind games

I know very little about judo. Actually, I know nothing about it at all. Yet I like the image of two people wearing cool outfits accentuated by stylish belts, circling the mat with stony faces, waiting for the right moment to jump at each other like two splendid bobcats. It is undoubtedly the sport of...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Sep 9, 2000

Putting no price on the beautiful

If all the pottery that I live with and use suddenly disappeared from my home, I would find myself quite blue. Those pieces, in their silent voices, spark my imagination and encourage me to live each day with grace and style; they are good friends. Someday I know I will have to part with them; that is...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Sep 6, 2000

The horror, the horror

We're back. Did you miss us? That question isn't the product of an (especially) insecure soul. I mean it.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2000

One hostess's whirlwind tour: nothing she'd care to repeat

Brigid came to Japan from Australia on a holiday visa expecting to spend three months talking to sleazy men in hostess clubs -- but in a safe and supportive work environment where the remuneration made it all worthwhile.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 5, 2000

Asia takes capitalism on its own terms

ASIAN VALUES, WESTERN DREAMS: Understanding the New Asia, by Greg Sheridan. Allen & Unwin, 1999, 326 pp., 14.99 British pounds (paper). A lot of people thought -- hoped, really -- that the Asian economic crisis would end all that nonsense about "Asian values." The region's stumbles were supposed to...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2000

Sydneysiders counting down

SYDNEY -- Scrubbed and polished, the Olympics city is looking good. Sydneysiders are all-welcoming as the world jets in for Olympic Games 2000. So why are we so worried?

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