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COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2000

Sabah -- unfinished business between Malaysia and the Philippines

SINGAPORE -- The kidnap-for-ransom hostage crisis triggered by the Abu Sayyaf rebels in a remote corner of the South China Sea has attracted worldwide attention. But of even greater significance, it has further strained ties between the Philippines and Malaysia, as each country blames the other for allowing...
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2000

FRC welcomes bank's early repayment

The head of the government's Financial Reconstruction Commission said Tuesday that the government would allow Mitsubishi Trust & Banking Corp. to repay ahead of schedule the public funds it received to replenish its depleted capital base.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 20, 2000

Taiwan is worthy of a place in the U.N.

The United Nations' Millennium Summit in New York, attended by about 150 heads of state and governments earlier this month, pledged to make globalization a positive force for all the people of the world. It published a list of central values for 21st-century international relations. It also admitted...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 20, 2000

Waiting and hoping in vain for the end of a Giant headache

When in love, one learns to put up with your partner's flaws, no matter how distasteful.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 19, 2000

Kwangju: a turning point for South Korea

THE KWANGJU UPRISING: Eyewitness Accounts of Korea's Tiananmen, edited by Henry Scott-Stokes and Lee Jai Eui. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2000, 268 pp. $18.95 (paper). "Covering the Kwangju uprising -- and writing of it in the aftermath," a Korean observer writes, "I was stuck for words. A reporter is supposed...
COMMENTARY
Sep 18, 2000

Toward peace with Pyongyang

While North and South Korea are moving dramatically toward rapprochement as a result of the inter-Korean summit in June, Japanese and North Korean officials are set to meet again next month to discuss ways to normalize relations. Establishing diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, along with settling the territorial...
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2000

Quick economic steps said crucial

The need for Japan and other Asian countries to make quick decisions on economic policies is growing in step with the pace of economic globalization, according to Thomas Donohue, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
EDITORIALS
Sep 16, 2000

An equal value for every vote

In every democratic state, equality of voting rights is taken for granted, in principle, if not always in practice. There is no question that every vote should have the same value, or at least a nearly equal value, regardless of who casts it or where it is cast. In Japan's case, however, there are wide...
OLYMPICS
Sep 16, 2000

Olympic rings and the color of money

Just about everybody in the world knows it is happening, but exactly what is it?
CULTURE / Art
Sep 16, 2000

Pointing a laser at a detached future

Marcel Duchamp, the supreme artist's artist, was often asked about his role in the making of art. The line of inquiry was inspired largely by the enigmatic Frenchman's series of "ready-mades," store-bought objects such as shovels or coat racks he exhibited under his name.
COMMENTARY
Sep 16, 2000

Public TV in the digital era

LONDON -- The British Broadcasting Corporation was a pioneer of public-service broadcasting when it was established in the 1920s. It built up a strong reputation in its early years under its first director, General Lord Reith, although it also earned the nick-name of "Auntie" because it was regarded...
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2000

Coalition to change Juvenile Law

The ruling coalition on Thursday reached a final agreement on a draft of a bill that will revise the Juvenile Law to reduce the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2000

High dioxin levels found in Tokyo soil

Dioxin concentrations up to 16 times above national safety guidelines were detected in soil in Tokyo's Ota Ward, making it the nation's second-worst dioxin contamination in a public place, Tokyo metropolitan government officials revealed Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 14, 2000

Fisheries crashing from pollution in Ariake

The cuisine of the Ariake Sea in northern Kyushu, featured recently in quarterly cultural magazine Fukuoka Style, is a strange one. It's dominated by grotesque, unusual-tasting fish and shellfish simmered heavily in sugar and soy or wrapped in dense layers of seaweed.
OLYMPICS
Sep 13, 2000

Matsuzaka, Nakamura give Japan a shot at gold in baseball

Baseball is one of only three team competitions Japan will be contesting in Sydney (along with men's soccer and softball), and Japan has a good chance of taking a medal home just as it did in Barcelona (bronze) and Atlanta (silver). The question is, what color will it be this time?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 10, 2000

Multiculturalism and meritocracy are key

We live in a world of at least 2,000 nationalities, 200 states and 20 nation-states (where the populations are more or less homogeneous). The doctrine of self-determination was one of the most powerful ideologies of the 20th century. The drive to self-determination by disaffected communities created...
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2000

Police inspect Snow Brand factory

OSAKA -- Osaka police on Friday inspected Snow Brand Milk Products Co.'s Taiki factory in Hokkaido that is suspected of being the source of a widespread outbreak of food poisoning in June and July in the Osaka area.
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2000

MSDF officer arrested, admits spying for Russia

The Metropolitan Police Department and Kanagawa Prefectural Police arrested Lt. Cmdr. Shigehiro Hagisaki, a researcher at the Defense Agency's National Institute for Defense Studies, on suspicion of violating the Self-Defense Forces Law, which prohibits SDF members from divulging classified security...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2000

The two Koreas and the great powers

The multifaceted character of the Korean problem and the uneven progress made by its protagonists were once again on display last week.
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2000

Economic, corporate earnings support yen

The yen is supported by favorable economic and corporate earnings prospects.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2000

Yaohan chief extracts success from failure

OSAKA -- It is considered difficult and extremely unusual in Japan for those who have failed once in businesses to have a chance to succeed again.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Sep 7, 2000

Dream Team foes face mission impossible

I left Team USA's practice on Tuesday with one lingering thought: poor Angola. At the time, I didn't even know exactly where Angola was (it turns out it's just north of Namibia along the Rio Cunene, if that helps any). But here's what I already knew about the country: It has a basketball team that's...
LIFE / ALTERNATIVE LUXURIES
Sep 7, 2000

Seeding philosophy in the rice paddies

The zapping racket of cicadas rising and falling, undulating in and out of sync wakes me up soon after sunrise. Although it's not yet 7 a.m., the thick, steamy heat pours in through the open window in waves, and seems fused into one substance with the yazz and clatter of the insects.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2000

China blocks disarmament

NEW DELHI — U.S. President Bill Clinton's weekend announcement to delay a decision on deployment of the U.S. national missile defense system will do little to end the gridlock at the United Nations' main disarmament body, the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. The CD has been without work for four...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 6, 2000

Love's more than just the money, honey

Back in the halcyon days of my young adulthood, when I used to sigh feverishly into my fiancee's walnut eyes, you can rest assured I spied romance, hope and her contact lenses, but never -- never! -- a pair of yen stickers.

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