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JAPAN
Jan 15, 2001

Hijacking suspect arrested

OSAKA -- A 20-year-old cook was arrested Saturday night after hijacking a Kyoto city bus carrying only a driver and another passenger, police said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2001

Making gardens accessible proving a slippery path

Legend has it that when the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden in Bunkyo Ward was built in the early Edo Period, it boasted gigantic rocks and majestic, ancient trees reminiscent of the steep mountains and dark valleys of China.
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2001

New Cabinet does little to boost Mori

Japan is enveloped in gloom at the dawn of the 21st century, as is much of the rest of the world. The administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori continues to suffer from dismally low public-approval ratings, despite the major Cabinet reshuffle he carried out last month. The reorganization of the central...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2001

China tightens grip on the Net

CAMBRIDGE, England -- The Chinese government has been issuing more regulations to control the use of the Internet. As with the earlier ones, there are no surprises. They simply tidy up what was already accepted practice and add nothing new. It is still the slow bureaucratic machine catching up with reality....
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2001

Don't fret about economy: IMF chief

International Monetary Fund chief Horst Koehler told Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Friday that there is no need to worry about the outlook for the Japanese economy, although Japan will experience pain as its labor market goes through a transitional period.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 13, 2001

Muscovites get all fired up

"Real Chechnya" -- this is how Muscovites sum up their experiences during the recent holiday season. Fortunately, except for routine scuffles ignited by the excessive consumption of alcohol, there was no fighting in the Russian capital.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2001

In Thailand, good losers teach a key lesson

SISAKET, Thailand -- "If the counting is fair, losers must accept the results," said Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, trying to calm down an anxious nation as rioting spread to over a dozen provinces in the wake of national elections Jan. 6. Having just lost the premiership as his party was trounced...
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2001

Ministry graft probe nears conclusion

A Foreign Ministry investigation into the alleged misappropriation of public funds by a senior Foreign Ministry official will be concluded by Jan. 26, before the expected start of the ordinary Diet session Jan. 31, Senior Vice Foreign Minister Seishiro Eto said Thursday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 11, 2001

Ichiro already a hit with fans in Seattle

It's great to see Major League Baseball teams and fans embrace their new Japanese signings. When I was in Seattle last summer, reliever Kazuhiro Sasaki's mug seemed to be everywhere, from the cover of the club's fan magazine to T-shirts being hawked on the streets to huge banners adorning the outside...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 11, 2001

Taking stock of the new ryori

Before intrepidly setting out to eat our way through this brave new century, let us pause briefly to consider the state of contemporary Japanese dining. Needless to say, the situation is very different from 100 years ago, when most people were fed by itinerant hawkers, yatai stalls or simple food outlets...
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2001

Behind the quest for more babies

The continuing precipitous decline in Japan's birthrate -- in 1999 it was at the all-time low of 1.34 births per woman during her lifetime -- has long troubled planners in both the government and the private sector. Now Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has put himself at the center of the issue by calling...
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2001

Women tackle stalking menace head-on

Exercise combining aerobics and self-defense skills is the latest craze among young women in Tokyo, where the number of reported stalking cases is also on the rise.
COMMENTARY
Jan 10, 2001

Tests loom for U.S.-China ties

How will the election of George W. Bush affect U.S.-China relations? The conventional wisdom was that a Gore administration would have been more favorable to China -- a questionable assumption based in part on the belief that Al Gore would be more inclined to continue President Bill Clinton's policies...
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2001

Evidence of exam leak destroyed

Investigators suspect an executive of Ohu University in Fukushima Prefecture instructed school officials to destroy papers related to a leaked exam immediately after the incident came to light, police sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2001

Dental exam data found on graduate's hard disk

Data related to national dentistry examinations believed to have been compiled by professors at Ohu University in Fukushima Prefecture was found stored on the hard disk of a university graduate's computer, investigative sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2001

Microsoft shows off the Xbox

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Attendees at the 2001 Consumer Electronics Show on Saturday were given the first public viewing of Xbox, the new 128-bit video game console being developed by computer software giant Microsoft.
COMMENTARY
Jan 8, 2001

A simple test for leaders

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. last month announced a decision to abolish its long-standing system by which individual product divisions handled the integrated development, production and marketing operations for their products. The system, praised as the secret of the consumer electronics giant's...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 8, 2001

Zero emissions: route to sustainability for a clean revolution in the 21st century

The age of zero emissions is dawning, and Japan could one day lead a global clean revolution. The next decade should tell whether this nation will lead, or will consign itself to industrial mediocrity by adhering to the status quo.
EDITORIALS
Jan 7, 2001

Road safety requires enforcement

Rational observers of the chaotic traffic conditions on Japan's crowded highways and busy urban areas long ago concluded that improvements were overdue. So the surprise yearend announcement by the National Police Agency that it is proposing stricter penalties for drunken driving, hit-and-run accidents,...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 7, 2001

CL pitchers happy to see last of Gomez

Opposing Central League pitchers of the Chunichi Dragons should have an easier time during the 2001 season. Slugger Leo Gomez has left that team after four years of punishing hurlers on the other five CL clubs, especially the Yomiuri Giants, as one of the most feared cleanup hitters in Japanese baseball....
COMMUNITY
Jan 7, 2001

Good manners make comfortable relations

In Japan, there has been much discussion of late of both morals and manners. Indeed, one national newspaper on Jan. 1, in a section devoted to scrutinizing how Japanese have changed in recent years, devoted a whole page to the question: Are good manners a thing of the past?
EDITORIALS
Jan 6, 2001

Good luck, Mr. Bush, you'll need it

At the start of a new century, the world situation remains in flux. The much-heralded "new world order" has yet to arrive. The United States, of course, holds the key. Developments in the next few years -- not only in the field of economics, but also in politics and security -- will depend largely on...
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2001

Foreign Ministry starts year with misappropriation probe

The Foreign Ministry has set up an in-house team to investigate an alleged pocketing of public funds by a senior ministry official and will disclose the findings "as soon as possible," Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 5, 2001

Familiar faces in Washington

President-elect George W. Bush has completed his Cabinet nominations. He has assembled a diverse group that has ample experience in Washington and in dealing with the bureaucracy. They are competent, capable and conservative. Taken as a whole, however, the group raises questions about Mr. Bush's claim...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 5, 2001

A film genius in his own mind

Harmony Korine -- screenwriter of "Kids," director of "Gummo" -- fancies himself the enfant terrible of contemporary cinema. Well, he is . . . terrible. Certain critics have been calling him "the new Godard," and I'd agreewith that too. But when was the last time Godard made anything that played better...
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2001

Public wants coalition dropped a peg

Forty percent of the Japanese electorate hopes the House of Councilors election scheduled for July will end in a tie between the ruling and opposition parties, and 87 percent would like to directly elect the prime minister, according to a Kyodo News poll released Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2001

July election to be verdict on Mori

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori appears to be pinning his survival on a shift from postwar economic materialism to a revival of traditional values, but his true prospects will depend more on his ability to avoid making blunders.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 4, 2001

2001: A Sports Odyssey

Welcome to the first Sports Scope of the 21st century. By now you've probably read a zillion stories about the sporting year in review. Have no worries; this column looks toward the future. Here are 13 fearless predictions for the Year of the Snake. Wager at your own risk!
COMMENTARY
Jan 4, 2001

Britain frets its economic ills

LONDON -- There was nothing unusual about this Christmas. Well, snow fell, which hasn't happened for years and it was hard traveling; but Britain's transport woes -- not enough trains or buses, too many cars -- began months ago. Passengers at one airport did riot after waiting four days for a plane,...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji