Search - community

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Skeletons in Yeltsin's closet

The debate over who lost Russia is intensifying as the U.S. presidential election draws near. Although the United States' policies toward post-Soviet Russia have been bipartisan, politicians sense that Vice President Al Gore is especially vulnerable because of his cochairmanship of the Gore-Chernomyrdin...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Middle East peace talks scheduled

International aid donors to Palestine will convene next week in Tokyo to discuss ways to add momentum to the Middle East peace process after a pledge for peace was recently put forward by Israel and Palestine, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 1999

Behind the Echizen-Rutgers connection

HONOLULU -- It is commonly assumed that the first Japanese students to study in the United States arrived during Japan's dash toward modernization in the early years of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) but, in fact, a number of these young men arrived during the latter years of the long Tokugawa Period (1600-1867)....
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Don't dump that PC -- people need it

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Oct 6, 1999

Familiar features of a new Cabinet

The reshuffled Cabinet of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi will literally have to lead Japan into a new millennium fraught with uncertainties. Its immediate task is to solidify the nascent recovery of the long-foundering Japanese economy and put it on the path of sustained growth. To meet this demand, Mr....
JAPAN
Oct 6, 1999

Japan dangles new carrot in Pyongyang's face

Staff writer
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 1999

Grim lessons from East Timor

"Promising too much can be as cruel as caring too little" was the truly mind-boggling statemen of U.S. President Bill Clinton before the United Nations Sept. 21. Now he tells us. So much for the "Clinton Doctrine" of humanitarian intervention. Yet as international peacekeepers pour into a devastated...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Oct 6, 1999

The future is in the air

I have written and read e-mail during my commute, beamed my virtual meishi to new acquaintances, played cards in taxis, and once in a shameless display of computing on my feet I consulted a database of Tokyo restaurants, which I had downloaded from www.bento.com, and located a great Indonesian joint...
COMMENTARY
Oct 2, 1999

Blair touts 'the vision thing'

LONDON -- Watching British Prime Minister Tony Blair is like watching a religious phenomenon. He has stepped off his platform on the backs of members of the Labor Party and has ascended into the clouds, where he hopes to be borne along by the rushing winds of the future. As he lifts off, he kicks away...
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 2, 1999

Dancing in the footsteps of Ailey

Alvin Ailey was an American choreographer with a seismic impact on modern dance in this century. He revolutionized the way African-American rituals, experiences, music and literature were presented through dance and carved a niche for the voice of that community that continues through his company 10...
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Tokai nuclear accident goes critical; remains out of control

A nuclear accident at a uranium-processing plant 125 km northeast of Tokyo on Thursday reached criticality, injuring three and pushing radiation levels up to 20,000 times beyond normal in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture.
JAPAN
Sep 27, 1999

Storm-delayed MOX ship docks amid tight security

Staff writer
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 1999

Tenure in bronze for Todai's foreign professors

The number of outdoor statues of foreigners (five) on the campus of the University of Tokyo might seem unusually high for a Japanese institution.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 1999

'Advance Australia fair' takes on a whole new meaning

"There goes another shiftless Aboriginal," said the Pioneer bus driver to those of us taking the half-day tour of Alice Springs. "We give them cars, they drive them till they're out of petrol, then, bloody hell, they just leave the bloody things by the side of the road."
CULTURE / Books
Sep 21, 1999

Does the American Dream beat Hong Kong custard?

PAPER DAUGHTER: A Memoir, by M. Elaine Mar. HarperFlamingo, New York, 1999, 240 pp., $23. "From Hong Kong to Harvard" proclaims the publicity cover letter accompanying M. Elaine Mar's first book. As a memoir, it is but one drop in the growing flood of reminiscences engulfing publishing houses, and Mar's...
JAPAN
Sep 17, 1999

Obuchi, Chretien strengthen bilateral ties

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and his visiting Canadian counterpart Jean Chretien reaffirmed Friday that Japan and Canada will further strengthen their partnership for the 21st century not only in bilateral areas but on the global stage as well.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 1999

Protesters slam WTO trade as Keidanren sets council

Carrying placards and handing out leaflets, more than 20 protesters gathered Thursday outside the Foreign Ministry, demanding that the government oppose the next round of World Trade Organization negotiations slated to begin in November.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 1999

Kanazawa to get wired in experiment

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. will begin a one-year joint experiment on a community-based information network in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, from April 2000, the companies said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 15, 1999

Cautious optimism on the economy

Japan's economy in the second quarter of this year, April through June, expanded slightly at an annualized rate of 0.9 percent. This is a far cry from the 8.1 percent surge in the first quarter. But two consecutive quarters of positive growth make it reasonably clear that the protracted economic slump...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 1999

A true believer's perspective on the Pyongyang regime

The Korean Central News Agency is the official English-language press agency of North Korea. When tensions escalate between the two Koreas, it is to this agency that the world press corps turns for comment.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 1999

New ambassador looks to further U.S. ties

The government is closely watching Okinawa's efforts to select a new site for the U.S. Marine Corps heliport now at Futenma Air Station, with hope of seeing early progress in completing the process long-stalled by local opposition, Japan's new ambassador to the Unites States said.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 15, 1999

Young at heart, but never free of Johnny

On Aug. 30, former idol singer and tell-all autobiographer Hiromi Go staged an unannounced live show from the back of a tractor trailer parked near the Hachiko intersection in Shibuya. The five-minute performance, which featured four other dancers, stopped traffic and clogged up the area as pedestrians...
JAPAN
Sep 13, 1999

Japan Tobacco to send smokes to seniors on Aged Day

Staff writer
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 1999

Permanent bureaucracy in Washington

WASHINGTON -- There is nothing as permanent in Washington as a federal agency. Once created, government bureaucracies are almost impossible to kill, no matter how outdated. Consider the desperate attempt of the Selective Service System and its allies to reverse the House Appropriation Committee's decision...
JAPAN
Sep 9, 1999

Profiles of LDP presidential hopefuls

Taku Yamasaki> Former Liberal Democratic Party policy affairs chief Taku Yamasaki, 62, decided to run in the Sept. 21 LDP presidential election for the sake of presenting active policy debates to the public and gaining more support, especially among unaffiliated voters, for his party.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Sep 9, 1999

Sipping sake's diversity, one cup at a time

Accessibility is key when it comes to learning about sake. You can read about it until you're blue in the face, but if you can't access it and sample various types, there's not much point.
JAPAN
Sep 9, 1999

Exhibition displays horrors of Minamata disaster

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

U.N. readies for new challenges

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

Diplomat said to have made secret '95 visit to Taiwan

Staff writer
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 1999

California squares off on apology issue

SAN FRANCISCO -- "Apology diplomacy," a staple of politics in Asia, has made its way to the California State Assembly. Taking action on an issue that has divided Japanese Americans, the state assembly in the capital at Sacramento recently passed a resolution asking Japan to apologize for World War II...

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