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EDITORIALS
Apr 7, 2000

Two steps forward, one step back

On the face of it, Russia's refusal to let Ms. Mary Robinson, the United Nations' chief human-rights official, visit sites where atrocities are alleged to have occurred during the Chechen war is a setback for her cause. But appearances are deceiving. Moscow's readiness to pretend such things did not...
COMMENTARY
Apr 6, 2000

Still searching for balance

Every spring, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan sends a delegation to Washington, D.C. to meet with senior U.S. administration officials and key members of Congress to discuss issues of concern to the U.S. business community in Japan. Participating in the ACCJ visit last month for the seventh...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Apr 5, 2000

Endangered species

Cassandra will always be with us. I don't mean whiners pining for a simpler time, halcyon days, community, blah blah blah. No, I mean voices warning of future dangers visible to anyone with the foresight, intelligence and time to follow a thought to its logical conclusion.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2000

Rationales for new whaling weak

Whaling nations are again girding for the battle to resume industrial whaling ahead of the meeting this spring of the two bodies that could lift the international moratorium on industrial whaling -- the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and the International Whaling Commission....
ENVIRONMENT
Apr 4, 2000

Group struggles to replant beeches

SHIROISHI, Miyagi Pref. -- Mountains are special for Shizue Hata, the 54-year-old owner of a small Chinese dumpling shop in this quiet city of 40,000.
COMMUNITY
Apr 4, 2000

Mongolian educator building Japan-style school back home

YAMAGATA -- When Galbadrakh Janchiv returns to his home country later this month, his souvenir from this snowy prefecture will be a lesson for future generations.
EDITORIALS
Apr 1, 2000

Tokyo's new tax raises big questions

The tax debate sparked by Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has reached a milestone now that the metropolitan assembly has almost unanimously approved his plan to impose a new asset-based tax on large banks operating in the capital. The bank tax, which is good for five years and replaces the current business...
EDITORIALS
Mar 31, 2000

Familiar faces in a new Cabinet

In France, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin resorted to a compromise strategy in a Cabinet reshuffle announced earlier this week. Rattled by a series of missteps, Mr. Jospin needs to rebuild public confidence. To do so, he appointed two prominent rivals from his Socialist Party to key positions. It is a...
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 30, 2000

The fun of slipsliding away

You persevered. You sweated, ignominiously landed on your backside and ignored the relentless pounding of fall after fall so that you could master the art of snow boarding. But now that you feel as cool on the slopes as you thought you looked when you first zipped up your baggy shell pants, you are helplessly...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Mar 29, 2000

Get Shorty

For many of us living in Japan, the Academy Awards ceremony serves as a reminder of where we are in the bigger scheme of things: behind the curve. We often haven't seen many of the nominated or winning films, some won't be here for another year, and others might not come at all. This is a distribution...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 29, 2000

Very little help

A foreign woman married to a Japanese is concerned about her son who refuses to go to school, a problem that is shared by a lot of other families today. Many kids are revolting against Japan's education system. It could be an indication that they are getting smarter, but unfortunately it doesn't make...
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2000

Development reaches the east

Today, it's free and takes only five minutes. But getting to the other side of JR Shinagawa Station was once no easy matter.
COMMENTARY
Mar 26, 2000

All eyes on nuclear energy

It is axiomatic that any group in Japan -- doctors, dentists or candlestick makers -- will want to turn itself into a tightly bound community, closed off from the outside world. It will be concerned almost entirely with its own survival and prosperity.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2000

13-story project spells doom for Fuji view

There is, it seems, an unwritten law on Fujimizaka slope that every conversation must start with the following question: "Can you see it?"
CULTURE / Music
Mar 24, 2000

Teacher takes a radical route to nurturing the shamisen

Some Westerners might be surprised to learn to what extent Japanese people have little or no interest in traditional Japanese music. Many young people simply prefer to listen to contemporary pop music, but it is also not uncommon to come across those who are not even sure what traditional Japanese music...
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2000

Keidanren urges Asia to back yen

Japan must enlist the support of Asian governments and private sectors to promote the yen as an international currency, the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) said in a recommendation Wednesday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 22, 2000

NTT then and now

Last week's column dealt with NHK's fees and why we should pay them. Similarly, there are complaints from readers about paying the initial 72,000 yen plus 2,184 yen consumption tax and 800 yen contract charge to NTT for the standard telephone installation fee. None of this amount is refundable although...
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2000

Myanmar's SPDC signals economic, not political, reforms

Myanmar's military regime is stubborn as a mule. It continues to ignore loud calls from much of the international community to democratize and protect human rights.
EDITORIALS
Mar 20, 2000

Mr. Chen's historic victory

In a historic election Saturday, Taiwanese voters gave Mr. Chen Shui-bian of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party a convincing victory. In electing Mr. Chen, the Taiwanese people defied threats from Beijing and brought an end to 50 years of Nationalist rule in Taiwan. His win in Taiwan's second...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 20, 2000

Valuable guide through the legal thicket in Japan

JAPANESE LAW (second edition), by Hiroshi Oda. Oxford University Press, 1999, 16,900 yen. First and foremost, this is a book about the commercial law of Japan. Initially published in 1992, the second edition endeavors to reflect the many changes that have occurred in Japanese law in the years since...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 19, 2000

Royal Concertgebouw does its own thing, which is anything

The orchestras of America are headed by the "Big Five," after which come all the others. They are so well known that just the names of the cities get a nod of affirmation: Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 19, 2000

Tsutomu Yoshioka

Tsutomu Yoshioka's life has come full circle. In the early 1940s, he was a teenage student at Jiyugakuen, the Freedom School founded in 1921 by Yoshikazu and Motoko Hani. Now he is director of Myonichikan, Jiyugakuen's original buildings, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The American architect said at...
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 18, 2000

GMO foe sees standards as WTO lever

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- If the international community can set up strict safety standards on genetically modified foods, it would give countries a tool to stop the import of such foods to protect their people, said Jean Halloran, a representative of Consumers International.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2000

A new era of democracy in Taiwan

TAIPEI -- On Saturday, the Republic of China will hold its second direct election for the presidency and the vice presidency. Throughout Chinese history, the concept of popular sovereignty has never been so strong as it is now. Therefore, this election will surely demonstrate to the international community...
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2000

Central Asian states to meet in Sapporo

Ministerial-level officials from five former Soviet republics in Central Asia will meet in Sapporo, probably early next month, for what Japan hopes will be the last round of negotiations on a treaty creating a nuclear weapons-free zone in the region.
EDITORIALS
Mar 15, 2000

Chile's new beginning

In one of his first moves upon taking office last weekend, Chile's new president, Mr. Ricardo Lagos, reopened the presidential palace to the Chilean people. It is a symbolic gesture by the country's first socialist president since former Gen. Augusto Pinochet launched a coup against Salvador Allende...

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