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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2001

Sadly, conflicts make sense

Conflict is sometimes said to be the normal condition of human society; peace is the exception that requires explanation. Many of today's conflicts are peculiarly resistant to efforts at resolution because a set of contradictory logics tilts the balance toward their perpetuation. For example, while most...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2001

Taliban fanaticism is not typical of Islam

LONDON -- The problem is that the world is actually a very provincial place. Most people in the non-Muslim parts of the world have never been in any Muslim country, so if Muslims anywhere in the world do something really stupid, they will readily believe that those actions are typical of Islam -- and...
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2001

Rise in shares stems fears of rout

Tokyo share prices rebounded strongly toward the close of trading Thursday, shrugging off worries about a global stock market rout.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2001

New envoy seeks rethink of Venezuela

The new Venezuelan ambassador to Tokyo on Tuesday called for Japan to show greater interest in his country, and in South America in general, in order to achieve closer economic and political ties.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2001

Empty classrooms renovated for public use

With the birthrate declining, Tokyo municipalities have found that a growing number of school buildings are not being used. More wards are responding by renovating these vacant classrooms for wider use, ranging from offices to child-care centers.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2001

What women can do for the environment

The growing worldwide demand for resources is threatening the world's environmental health to an unprecedented extent. Unless new policies are set in place, this situation could have devastating implications for human develop- ment. Significant among the possible options are massive campaigns, both at...
EDITORIALS
Mar 10, 2001

An untimely defense move

The government and the ruling parties are making preliminary moves toward enacting legislation designed to meet future military crises directly involving Japan. The assumption is that in the event of an armed attack from abroad, the Self-Defense Forces will be mobilized to defend the country with the...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 10, 2001

A real woman is hard to find

The problem with "women's movies" is this: Too often, they make you think that the world out there belongs to men. Otherwise, how could they keep painting the same old pictures of women struggling to gain self-respect, raise children, find true love, bond witheach other, etc.? In the real world, women...
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2001

CTBT signatories plan talks to accelerate ratification steps

Some 160 signatory nations to a 1996 treaty banning nuclear tests will hold ministerial-level talks at the end of September in New York to accelerate efforts toward ratification.
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2001

Wary in Washington

South Korean President Kim Dae Jung is in Washington this week to coordinate his views with those of U.S. President George W. Bush. There is concern in Seoul that the new administration is not as firmly behind Mr. Kim as was President Bill Clinton. Initial reports from their meetings suggest the fears...
COMMENTARY
Mar 9, 2001

The LDP just doesn't get it

Japanese politics is in a state of dysfunction. Symbolic of the problem is the fact that even though Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's Cabinet survived an opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion, there are moves in the governing Liberal Democratic Party to unseat him.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2001

Troubled Mycal may ax two stores

OSAKA -- The ailing Mycal Corp. supermarket chain may close the Ofuna Saty store in Yokohama and Shinsaibashi Vivre store in Osaka as part of its three-year restructuring plan, sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2001

L.A. market touted as gold mine for struggling midsize firms

Mired in a decade-long economic slump, Japan may not seem to be the most eager country to engage in massive direct investment abroad. But Lee Harrington, president and CEO of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., doesn't see it that way.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 8, 2001

'Samurai' blazing a trail in XFL

Being a pioneer has its rewards, but as many a sports trailblazer has learned over the years, going where no one else has gone before is not all glory. In fact, it can be downright tough.
COMMENTARY
Mar 7, 2001

Agribusiness at a crossroads

LONDON -- Every industrialized country in the world has this idealized image: the farmer, full of robust common sense, tending his pig or his flock on his small land-holding, sturdily helped by his hardworking wife and children. He is close to the earth and nature. It is true that, in Japan or America's...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2001

Proceed cautiously in Irkutsk

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is scheduled to visit Irkutsk, Russia, on March 25 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. What will happen if Mori steps down before then?
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2001

Mr. Bush focuses on the home front

The speech U.S. President George W. Bush delivered to a joint session of Congress last Tuesday was disappointing because it said little about the basic strategy the new U.S. administration intends to follow in the area of foreign policy and security. The speech focused on domestic and economic policies,...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 5, 2001

Paleolithic technology and the boom in cultural evolution

About 300,000 years ago something happened that was unlike anything in the previous few billion years, something that would have ever-expanding repercussions.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2001

Osaka to emphasize dangers of lighting up

OSAKA -- Forget the bid for the 2008 Olympic Games or the opening of Universal Studios Japan. For those Osaka residents who have long suffered in the presence of cigarette smokers, a recent announcement by the city came as some of the best news in years.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 4, 2001

Into the dark maw of Kabukicho

There are a few Tokyo districts sufficiently unique and well-known to stand independent in their respective identities, glamorous Ginza, chic Shibuya and rockin' Roppongi being among the most obvious examples.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2001

South Korea's media and transparency

SEOUL -- As so often, one opinion stands against another: South Korea's opposition party has leveled an accusation against the government that by launching a tax investigation of the media it is in effect waging a war against the press. The government retorts that the tax investigation is a routine matter,...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Mar 3, 2001

New frontiers for hogaku

Music in Japan tends to be highly categorized. Ongaku is the Japanese generic term for music, but most Japanese understand it to refer to Western music (the word yogaku is more specific). Hogaku (Japanese music) indicates both Japanese music in general or, more specifically, the music of the Edo Period....
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2001

Union wants to pressure Myanmar

The secretary general of a major global trade union body wants the international community to review its relations with Myanmar to pressure the military leadership to stop using its people as forced laborers.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2001

Fear, obsession hold back Japan-China ties

In recent years, Japan-China relations have been marked by almost incessant friction over issues ranging from historical questions to more mundane problems.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2001

Earth Summit has to keep up with times

Globalization and scientific advances are reshaping the debate over environment and development policy and will merit attention at next year's Rio Plus 10 Earth Summit, according to a senior World Bank official.
COMMENTARY
Feb 27, 2001

A crash and a culture clash

The collision off Oahu Island between the Japanese fisheries training ship Ehime Maru and the U.S. nuclear-powered submarine USS Greeneville has drawn an unprecedentedly sensitive reaction from Japanese people. There are a number of reasons for this sensitivity on the part of the Japanese, and it is...

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