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COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Dec 17, 2000

No place for tainted symbols

The Soviet Union is dead; long live the Soviet Union. This seems to be the current mood in the corridors of power in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has persuaded the Parliament to restore the Soviet anthem as Russia's national hymn and the czarist red banner, which was used in Soviet times...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 15, 2000

Hopes of peace rise with dawn of the 21st century

On the last day of the 20th century, the world seemed to resonate with the mournful aftermath of tragedies perpetrated across the globe during the previous 100 years. It appeared necessary to pin one's hopes on the dawn of the new century in order to dissipate the tones of violence and death still lingering...
COMMUNITY
Dec 14, 2000

Pyrotechnic artists reach for the sky in international contest

"Sky Concert: The World Fireworks Grand Prix," an international fireworks competition which took place last month in Yokohama, was a rare opportunity to view cutting-edge displays from some of the world's best pyrotechnic artists.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 13, 2000

Deck the halls with boughs of games

Video games used to be the No. 1 gift request of preteen boys alone, but not anymore. With the release of sophisticated hardware such as Sony's PlayStation 2 console, the audience for games has expanded to include older gamers, both male and female.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2000

Flood of goods from China an eye-opener for Indians

NEW DELHI -- China's invasion of India in 1962 was perhaps less of a humiliation for India than Beijing's latest attempt at capturing its market.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2000

Journalists debate role of English in Asia

English, as the dominant language in cyberspace, is becoming an indispensable communication tool for Asian people. And the increased use of English among nonnative speakers should make it more colorful as a world language.
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2000

Fight the spread of small arms

The United Nations General Assembly has decided to hold the U.N. Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Aspects in New York in July 2001. The trade involves a broad range of hand-carried arms from automatic rifles to portable missiles.
COMMENTARY
Nov 27, 2000

Japan reconsiders the free trade agreement

Next January, Japan and Singapore will kick off a round of government-to-government negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement. The plans in the works reportedly call for signing the pact by the end of 2001 so that it will take effect in 2002.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2000

Western peacekeepers' flight from Africa

The prospect of disasters in Africa concentrates the world's mind wonderfully on the problems and failures of international peacekeeping. We should focus also on the parallel danger of creeping apartheid. Sensitivity to body bags has made Western powers increasingly averse to the perils of peacekeeping....
CULTURE / Books
Nov 21, 2000

Beautiful poetry from the ashes of Hiroshima

BLACK FLOWER IN THE SKY: Poems of a Korean Bridegroom in Hiroshima, by Chong Ki-Sheok. Katydid Books, distributed by the University of Hawai'i, 2000, 79 pp., $20 (paper). As the war generation grows older, casting glances back on life, poetry of witness has become increasingly urgent. Perhaps time...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2000

WTO falling victim to its own success

The World Trade Organization is headquartered, like its predecessor, the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trades, in the placid Swiss city of Geneva. These days, however, the WTO is more often associated with Seattle, Washington, and the images that come to mind when the organization is mentioned aren't...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2000

Awards lift expectations of Kim Dae Jung

SEOUL -- South Korean President Kim Dae Jung is more popular abroad than he is within his own country. This is the impression I have gathered after discussing South Korean politics with many people both in South Korea and beyond the shores of the peninsula.
EDITORIALS
Nov 18, 2000

APEC grapples with relevance

The recent summit meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is proof of the value of low expectations. Growing concern about the group's relevance and doubts about its will to act lowered the bar for defining this year's meeting as a success. The final communique's call for a new round of...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2000

Rich and poor have stake in cleaner planet

Supermarket shelves offer a choice of two light bulbs: the standard incandescent type and the compact fluorescent type. In Bangladesh, the price difference is 20 taka compared to 450 taka. The fluorescent type will last at least 10 times as long and consume one-fifth of the energy. Overall, savings from...
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Nov 14, 2000

The last of the best from Cuba

Even after 10 years, I still find it difficult to predict what actually turns Japanese world-music fans on.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2000

Jiang's troubling ambitions

CAMBRIDGE, England -- So the U.S. presidential-election campaign is over and we will soon know who is the next "leader of the free world." This time no one has alleged that any Chinese organization or individual has tried to affect the outcome. But why shouldn't they? Analysts say that Texas Gov. George...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2000

A chance to reshape U.S.-Japan ties

Foreign policy is never a cutting-edge issue in U.S. presidential elections, and this year's campaign is no exception. Even when the candidates have ventured into the territory, the focus has been on China, North Korea or the role of U.S. forces in Europe or Africa or even Haiti. When Japan makes the...
EDITORIALS
Nov 4, 2000

Babes in Gizmoland

It's almost that time of year again. The cold is closing in, the lights are coming on earlier, the leaves are turning and everywhere there are intimations of jingling. Even as early as November you can hear it: the jingle of bells, the jingle of cash registers, and the real or metaphoric jingle of coins...
MORE SPORTS
Nov 2, 2000

Troussier, Japan return in triumph

"Here we are, with the trophy. We've made it as we promised," Japan manager Philippe Troussier calmly but proudly said after returning to Tokyo from Beirut on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2000

Sexism remains a rampant social disease

I am fortunate to be able to count among my relatives a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Felix Frankfurter. Felix, appointed to the court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was a cousin on my mother's side of the family and, needless to say, far removed from me in age.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Global effort to fight hormone disrupters

To successfully curb the threat of endocrine disrupting chemicals, an independent and global effort is needed and is expected to be initiated early next year, according to award-winning scientist Theo Colborn.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 28, 2000

Cirque du Soleil set to dazzle Japan

There is usually a charismatic man behind any successful entertainment company, and the Canadian circus group Cirque du Soleil has Guy Laliberte to thank for its success.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 20, 2000

On living in the best of all possible worlds

In "Modern Man in Search of a Soul" (1933) Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) remarks: "The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him . . . To perform this difficult office it is sometimes necessary for...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Oct 13, 2000

Tomorrow today

Predicting the future is always a risky business, but the uncertainties seem to be magnified when it comes to information technologies. Blame it on "tipping points," unstable equilibriums, systems analysis, whatever, but planning ahead has never been a more hazardous exercise.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2000

Will Arab fury translate into action?

BEIRUT -- In his workshop in suburban Beirut, Reef Hammoudi has been painting Israeli and American flags at the rate of 50 a day, so high is the demand from people demonstrating in support of the new Palestinian "intifada." He does them on nonabsorbant cloth just an hour or so before they are due for...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 9, 2000

Confronting a legacy of shame

WHAT DID THE INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE AMERICANS MEAN?, edited by Alice Yang Murray. Boston, Mass.: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000, 163 pp., $13.50 (paper). This book is part of a series called "Historians At Work." Aimed at the undergraduate student, the series is designed to introduce students to a historical...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2000

Bush's energy plan is a lot of hot air

Another day, another energy plan. On Sept. 29, Texas Gov. George W. Bush rolled out his third (by my count) action plan for reducing high energy prices. It's basically plan No. 2 modified with a handful of bad ideas borrowed from Vice President Al Gore: additional tax credits for renewable energy and...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2000

Why the Arabs are rallying to Baghdad

DUBAI -- International civilian flights into Baghdad are turning into a stampede as one Arab country after another announces, or carries out, its intention of joining France and Russia in breaking the 10-year aerial blockade. This may not breach the essence of U.N. sanctions -- the restrictions on trade...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2000

The right WTO strategy for the wrong reasons

U.S. President Bill Clinton's victory in getting Congress in line on the WTO question was capped by a triumphant New York Times Op-Ed piece by him about why China should be in the World Trade Organization. There are many good reasons why, but Clinton's argument that this will "save" China and make it...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear