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MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Feb 1, 2001

FIFA's football family is fatally dysfunctional

Sepp Blatter, the head of soccer's world governing body FIFA, invariably refers to the world's soccer community as "the football family." Unfortunately, it's a terribly dysfunctional family.
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2001

Gujarat digs out of the rubble

The death toll from the earthquake that hit the western Indian state of Gujarat last Friday continues to mount. Officially, 6,287 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the tremor that registered 7.9 on the Richter scale, and 15,481 were injured. About a half-million people have been left homeless....
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2001

Back to the future with George W. Bush

WASHINGTON -- When the new Bush Cabinet sat down for its first meeting after the inauguration, the only person missing was actor Michael J. Fox, because there's no doubt about it, this remake on the Potomac is definitely "Back to the Future: Part Four." And while nostalgia may be boffo in Hollywood,...
LIFE / Travel
Jan 25, 2001

Legally blind woman realizes dream in trek across India

Last week, a woman from Ireland embarked on an epic three-month, 1,000-km unsupported trek across India on elephant-back. Caroline Casey is caring for her elephant herself, and camping at every stage of her journey, accompanied only by an elephant feeder and Indian guides. What makes the already daunting...
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2001

Mori, Annan discuss UNSC

Visiting U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori agreed Tuesday to push forward reforms of the United Nations, although Annan stopped short of saying he supported Tokyo's proposal for a 24-seat Security Council and a permanent seat for Japan.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2001

BOJ eyes increase in liquidity

The Bank of Japan is compiling a list of measures to provide sufficient funds to banks in case of continued market volatility, BOJ Gov. Masaru Hayami said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2001

Give aid to China, but remain vigilant

The 21st Century Committee for Japan-China Friendship held its 14th meeting on China's Hainan Island Dec. 24-25, and I was among those present. Former Chinese Ambassador to Japan Yang Zhenya, the conference chairman, said he was pleased that the Chinese and Japanese governments were promoting regional...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 23, 2001

Gender, identity, plain old eros

MALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN MODERN JAPAN: Cultural Myths and Social Realities, by Mark J. McLelland. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, 268 pp., b/w plates 17, 15.99 British pounds (paper). Mark McLelland begins this pioneering study by quoting Alfred Kinsey to the effect that nature rarely deals with...
COMMUNITY
Jan 21, 2001

Taking cloisonne art to city walls

Twenty years ago, walking through Tokyo, Atsuko Kitamura suddenly became aware of a blank wall rearing up in front of her, high into the sky. "The building was so ugly. This is when I decided cityscapes needed cheering up, beautifying. The problem was, how? My usual medium, paint, wouldn't last long....
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2001

LDP prepares to inflate sagging stock market

The Liberal Democratic Party on Monday decided to set up an in-house panel to draw up measures to bolster Japan's faltering stock markets, party officials said.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 16, 2001

The buy-or-die albums of 2000

In 2000 America rocked with Limp Bizkit, Slipknot and At The Drive In, while Britain got all soppy and introverted with Richard Ashcroft, Coldplay and Belle & Sebastian. As for Japan, I have mixed feelings. It was great that Melt-Banana, Audio Active and 54 Nude Honeys (my favorite Japanese bands) all...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 16, 2001

Three identities and one life

LIVES OF YOUNG KOREANS IN JAPAN, by Yasunori Fukuoka, translated by Tom Gill. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2000, 330 pp. It is estimated that there were 2.5 million Koreans living in Japan at the end of World War II. Although many returned home after the war, there are still approximately 600,000...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2001

Tory grip on rural areas must be broken

With a British general election schedded for May 3 or earlier, the party machine is geared to turn out again those who gave us victory in 1997 -- traditional Labor voters and those who voted Labor for the first time -- to win that elusive second term. Yet this is not enough. We must also win the battle...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2001

India paying dearly for its bully image

NEW DELHI -- Although world attention is invariably riveted on India-Pakistan hostility, New Delhi's ties with its other neighbors have been uneasy in the best of times.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2001

Women tackle stalking menace head-on

Exercise combining aerobics and self-defense skills is the latest craze among young women in Tokyo, where the number of reported stalking cases is also on the rise.
EDITORIALS
Jan 8, 2001

Symbolism and the strait

In 1958, the Nationalist forces that ruled Taiwan conducted a 44-day artillery duel with the mainland, firing from the tiny islands of Matsu and Quemoy. At the time, the exchange prompted fears of a wider conflict. Slowly, however, the barrages became routine: China only fired on odd-numbered days to...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2001

APEC paving the way for cooperation

We believe history will judge the eighth APEC Economic Leaders Meeting held in Brunei Darussalam Nov. 15-16 an important milestone in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's mission to create a peaceful, prosperous and open Pacific community. The Brunei meeting saw three "firsts" for APEC.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 7, 2001

CL pitchers happy to see last of Gomez

Opposing Central League pitchers of the Chunichi Dragons should have an easier time during the 2001 season. Slugger Leo Gomez has left that team after four years of punishing hurlers on the other five CL clubs, especially the Yomiuri Giants, as one of the most feared cleanup hitters in Japanese baseball....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 7, 2001

Yoshitami Arai

As a precocious 15-year-old in 1946, Yoshitami Arai looked around at a Japan that was, he said, "totally destroyed." Then at school in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, he was already beginning to understand the need of the nation to produce businessmen who would rebuild the economy. From that time on, he...
COMMUNITY
Jan 7, 2001

Good manners make comfortable relations

In Japan, there has been much discussion of late of both morals and manners. Indeed, one national newspaper on Jan. 1, in a section devoted to scrutinizing how Japanese have changed in recent years, devoted a whole page to the question: Are good manners a thing of the past?
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2001

Yen hits 17-month low on fears that economy is losing steam

The yen has come under fresh downward pressure on world currency markets amid lingering worries about the flagging Japanese economy.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2001

Mori to embark on African trip

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori leaves Sunday for a nine-day trip to South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Greece with the aim of boosting diplomatic ties with sub-Saharan Africa. He will be the first Japanese prime minister to visit the region.
COMMENTARY
Jan 6, 2001

China and Taiwan fight over the WTO

WASHINGTON -- The changing of the political guard will soon be under way in Washington. Despite disquiet in many foreign capitals, few dramatic changes in U.S. foreign policy are likely.
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Jan 4, 2001

Information disclosure could give power to citizens if they get involved

Satoru Ienishi felt overwhelming anger as he watched a newscast at his Tokyo office on June 13, 1998.
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2001

July election to be verdict on Mori

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori appears to be pinning his survival on a shift from postwar economic materialism to a revival of traditional values, but his true prospects will depend more on his ability to avoid making blunders.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 4, 2001

Blips that stayed on the media radar

Media Persons of the Year: Yasuo Tanaka and Shintaro Ishihara

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