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LIFE / Travel
Jul 19, 2000

New Thai museum puts opium in perspective

BANGKOK -- How can drugs be explained in a way that informs but does not preach? Is it possible for educators to get beyond the knee-jerk response that stigmatizes drugs and drug consumers and presents the bare facts? What are the facts?
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2000

Is the lost continent of Mu in Okinawa ?

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- In the waters off remote Yonaguni Island, from which Taiwan can be seen on a clear day, lies one of Japan's most puzzling mysteries.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2000

Okinawa dialects are taking on new sounds

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- For goodbyes, Okinawans no longer say "anayagabu sabira" -- Ryukyuan for "I pray for your happiness." They sing it.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 18, 2000

Personal relationships are everything

STAKEHOLDING: The Japanese Bottom Line, by Robert J. Ballon and Keikichi Honda. Tokyo: The Japan Times, 2000, 240 pp., 38 tables, 6 figures. 3,000 yen (cloth). One year, an acquaintance recalls, her family started getting an unusually large number of "oseibo" (yearend presents) and "ochuugen" (midyear...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 16, 2000

Carp's Lopez back where he belongs

One of the happiest foreign players in Japan pro baseball these days is Hiroshima Carp first baseman Luis Lopez. The 1996 and 1997 Central League RBI leader is obviously back where he belongs; hitting .300 and driving in those runs like he did three-four years ago for the Red Helmets.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2000

Latin beats to turn up the summer heat

FUKUOKA -- In case you haven't noticed, a boom in Latin culture is currently sweeping the globe. The most visible reverberations were seen at this year's Grammy Awards where Latins Carlos Santana, Ricky Martin and Mark Anthony walked away with major awards. But it doesn't stop there.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2000

Kono, Ivanov confirm goal of inking peace treaty this year

MIYAZAKI — Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov, reconfirmed the two countries' commitment Wednesday to resolve their long-standing territorial row and strive to sign a peace treaty by year's end, a Foreign Ministry official said.
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2000

ACCJ, EBC join deregulation chorus

Top officials of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and the European Business Community issued a joint statement Wednesday calling on Japan to step up efforts to deregulate its economy.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2000

G8 ministers ponder conflict prevention, development aid

MIYAZAKI — The Group of Eight foreign ministers kicked off a two-day conference here on Wednesday to seek ways to deal with regional conflicts and tackle other challenges in the international political arena.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 13, 2000

It's Karl Marx vs. Jackie Chan, and the old, fat guy wins

CITY ON FIRE: Hong Kong Cinema, by Lisa Odham Stokes and Michael Hoover. London: Verso, Sept. 1999, 372 pp., $22 (paper). It began as a buzzing, multicultural confusion. The year is 1909. Hong Kong's cinema is born with a silent effort titled "Stealing the Roasted Duck." It is the handiwork of Liang...
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...

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo