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LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jul 12, 2000

I-mode uber Alles

A small cheer could be heard recently when it was announced that NTT DoCoMo would add English-language content to the menus of its i-mode cell phones. It went official July 3, and, well, the selection wasn't that big of a surprise. In fact, some of it had already been available in previous months (and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2000

Money talks loudly in American politics

After Utah Republicans booted Rep. Merrill Cook in their June primary, Republican Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, declared: "The bad news is a Republican incumbent lost." It's certainly bad news for the American people, who will be stuck paying...
COMMUNITY
Jul 9, 2000

Funding films by finding housing for foreigners

Walking with Akio Sakurai to his real estate office in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, he told the story of an Indian couple -- the husband working for a major European bank -- for whom he had found an apartment. The day before they were due to sign the contract, the landlord rang and withdrew the offer. A Japanese...
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2000

Tokyo to push new WTO talks

Japan will push initiatives in the international community to realize the early launch of a round of trade liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization, Minister of International Trade and Industry Takeo Hiranuma said.
COMMENTARY
Jul 7, 2000

Election results are disappointing

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori launched his new Cabinet Tuesday on the strength of an absolute majority won by the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the Conservative Party in the June 25 Lower House election.
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2000

Japan to resume yen loans to Colombia

After nearly five years of suspension, Japan will resume official yen loans to Colombia to help the Latin American country rebuild its shattered economy, government sources said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2000

A step toward financial stability

The Financial Agency, which was launched Saturday in a major move to integrate the operating and planning roles of financial policymaking bodies, started actual operations on Monday. The new financial-watchdog body combines the Financial Supervisory Agency and the Finance Ministry's Financial Planning...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2000

Winds of change blowing through Asia

CHANG MAI, Thailand -- The recent historic handshake between South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang captivated the world. As emotions over the summit subside, what can be said about Korean developments when viewed from a broader Asian perspective?
EDITORIALS
Jul 1, 2000

The Elian saga is over

Elian Gonzalez is home. After a seven-month legal battle, the shipwrecked 6-year-old boy has returned to Cuba with his father. His tale held the world captive -- and made plain the degree to which U.S. politics is held captive by a vocal minority of Cuban Americans in Miami. Now that the boy has been...
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2000

12 nations ink bilateral deals at Sapporo U.N. talks

In a bid to facilitate foreign direct investment, 12 developing nations signed 22 bilateral investment pacts during a fortnight of negotiations that wrapped up Friday in Sapporo under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2000

What's in a name? Freedom, for one thing

Puritans have long been viewed as people who couldn't stand the thought of anyone anywhere having a good time. The original Puritans really weren't that way, but today the world seems to be full of such killjoys.
COMMUNITY
Jun 29, 2000

Making home a school away from school

A typical day at school for 12-year-old Sophie Kimura could be a social studies lesson which involves finding out what life is like in Illinois where her "e-pal" Dawn lives.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Jun 28, 2000

Star cafe keeps the customers beaming

Catwoman is back. This time, though, she isn't wearing a black spandex body suit. No mask, no whip and no sexy purr in her voice. In fact, at 67, she's not quite as lithe as she used to be.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 27, 2000

For domestic help, it's the same old world order

HOME AND HEGEMONY: Domestic Service and Identity Politics in South and Southeast Asia, edited by Kathleen M. Adams and Sara Dickey. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2000, 307 pp., $49.50 (cloth). Dirty? Maybe. Degrading and dangerous? Certainly not what you'd expect to be part of a servant's...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 26, 2000

Is there free speech in Japan? Greenpeace activists arrested

"For the sake of good environmental policy, it is necessary to have freedom of expression which forms public opinion." These are the words of Sweden's environment minister, part of a press release issued in March 1999, following the arrest of several Greenpeace activists who were in Tokyo protesting...
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2000

Russia's war against the oligarchs

There may be a new boss in the Kremlin, but the Byzantine politics that rage behind its walls continue. Recent moves against two of Russia's most prominent businessmen -- the "oligarchs" -- have kindled speculation about who is making policy and to what end. Is President Vladimir Putin cleaning up the...
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2000

LDP snubs own to back ally's man

Kensaku Morita, who before the dissolution of the Lower House was a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, is running as an independent in the Tokyo No. 4 constituency in Sunday's election because of what he calls an "unreasonable" decision by the LDP to back a candidate from one of the party's coalition...
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Japanese women: the new faces of small business

Most people would assume that to start a business you need plenty of time and money, or at least experience working in a relevant field. But an increasing number of Japanese women are proving this assumption wrong by setting up their own companies based on little more than a good idea and the will to...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 20, 2000

Shallow pits and rabbit hutches

JAPANESE HOMES AND LIFESTYLES: An Illustrated Journey through History, by Kazuya Inaba and Shigenobu Nakayama. Translated by John Bester. Kodansha International, 2000, 144 pp., $32. Do you curse costly rents, cramped quarters and cluttered cupboards? Do you think tatami are terrific, futons fabulous...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 19, 2000

Sure, Japanese rice is expensive -- you're paying for all the chemicals

Don't expect the government to look out for your best interests when it comes to chemicals.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 17, 2000

Putting things into perspective

Imagine a social mixer for celestial beings. A casual affair, a brunch maybe, with olives and wine and the tones of a harp wafting through the ether. Our God is there, looking good, and by way of introduction he reaches into his wallet and takes out some photographs to pass around for the other cosmic...
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

Koreans in Japan jubilant over North-South thaw

Korean residents of Japan on Thursday shared in the excitement of the landmark reconciliation pact signed by North and South Korea late Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2000

Plan will shear Malaysia's Islamic Party of its spirit and charisma

KUALA TRENGGANU, Malaysia -- The Malaysian government's move to separate religion from politics has touched a raw nerve in the leading opposition party in Malaysia. It has incensed the theocratic Islamic Party (PAS), whose cardinal principle is Islam, to the last man.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2000

Pakistan gains clear edge over India in race for nuclear prowess

NEW DELHI -- It seems sad rather than tragic that warring India and Pakistan have not learned lessons that history taught us after such pain and suffering. In the summer of 1998, India exploded nuclear bombs. Pakistan did the same within days to begin what is clearly a disturbing sign in the subcontinent:...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2000

Killer's sentence increased to life

OSAKA — The Osaka High Court on Wednesday sentenced a 28-year-old man to life imprisonment for the May 1997 abduction and murder of a teenage girl from Nara Prefecture, dismissing an 18-year prison term handed down by a lower court.
LIFE / Digital
Jun 14, 2000

Japanese gaming site unveiled

A Japanese gaming community Web site was unveiled Monday in conjunction with the launch of the Japanese subsidiary of AsiaContent.com, a pan-Asian consumer Internet company.
COMMUNITY
Jun 11, 2000

Cybird flies big plans for mobile Net future

Kazutomo Robert Hori It came as a very pleasant surprise when an old friend rang from Osaka to tell me that her son's business had taken off like a rocket. The last time I saw Robert was at his wedding seven years ago -- a spectacular if crazy event held on top of a mountain in Hiroshima Prefecture....
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2000

Pakistan urges Japan to lift nuclear sanctions

Shafi Niaz, a senior member of the Pakistani National Security Council, urged Japan on Friday to lift sanctions against his country, saying it is abiding by a unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests, a Japanese official said.

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