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LIFE / Travel
Jun 25, 2000

A humbling experience in the Himalayas

"We have to focus. This is going to suck. We're going to hate it. It's going to be 12 hours of misery worse than we ever imagined."
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2000

Copper wires in snack bars force recall

Threads of copper found in some CalorieMate snack bars prompted Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. on Friday to begin recalling around 14 million packets made at its factory in Tokushima Prefecture.
COMMUNITY
Jun 23, 2000

Hearts will blossom on a classic ground

One beautiful day in mid-autumn, while watching my silent garden-scape, I remembered a voice I had heard from the flowers in the summer sun. "We flowers want your heart to blossom," they had said in one voice.
COMMENTARY
Jun 23, 2000

Victory predicted for LDP

The major Japanese newspapers that conducted polls on the June 25 Lower House election this week made these stunning forecasts:
EDITORIALS
Jun 22, 2000

Suddenly, no more rogues

The rogue states are gone. Is the world today a safer place than it was a week ago? Not exactly. The United States has simply decreed that it is removing the phrase from its diplomatic vocabulary. But the declaration shows that the U.S. has decided to break with its stereotypes, and to see hope where...
EDITORIALS
Jun 21, 2000

A starting point for tax reform

A tax issue that would directly affect people's pocketbooks is pitting the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition group, against other parties, especially the Liberal Democratic Party, in the current campaigning for the June 25 Lower House election. The DPJ is calling for a lowering of the...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 21, 2000

The dying truth

In our marriage, my Japanese wife and I have met and resolved oodles of cultural issues, but one fairly thorny matter remains . . . how to face that ultimate marital crisis: death.
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2000

Age is not all that matters

With the volume favored by candidates' loudspeaker cars, it can be difficult to tell what issues they are addressing in the campaign leading up to Sunday's election for the House of Representatives. Both the ruling and opposition parties are engaging in the usual name-calling and sloganeering and not...
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2000

TSE set for rally after bottoming out twice

The Tokyo stock market appears poised to stage a rebound after confirming a double bottom.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2000

Rules to target malpractice

The Health Ministry plans to draw up three rules for medical institutions to follow in an effort to curb the rising number of medical malpractice cases, ministry sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2000

Security stakes growing in South Asia

ISLAMABAD -- Despite a push by the international community, there's little prospect that India and Pakistan will sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2000

Japan needs system to handle emergencies, crisis expert says

Any government to be formed after the June 25 Lower House election should take steps to increase Japan's preparedness for natural disasters and other emergencies that could endanger national security or the lives of the citizens, said Kazuhisa Ogawa, an expert in crisis management.
COMMUNITY
Jun 18, 2000

So, uh, what century did you say this is?

Whisper it softly but these are bad times we live in, literally.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2000

Fuse burning on the Mideast powder keg

LONDON -- Ignore all the empty chatter about the future of a "Middle East peace process" that died months ago, and waste no time in futile speculation about the character of Syria's new president, mild-mannered ophthalmologist Dr. Bashar Assad. The regime that was run for the past 30 years by Bashar's...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 18, 2000

The end for Kim Jong Il?

My trip to North Korea 11 years ago was one of the most depressing times in my whole life. I have never seen a sadder country. It was not simply an issue of appalling poverty: In 1989, the shelves of stores in Moscow were also barren, and Beijing still sported a maze of miniature slums -- the notorious...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Milan bombing suspect files libel suit in Japan

A 52-year-old man wanted by Italian authorities for his alleged involvement in the deadly 1969 bombing of a Milan bank filed a defamation suit Friday with the Tokyo District Court against two newspapers and two magazine publishers.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Ogi's New Conservatives aim to lay Japan's 'moral ground'

The recently launched New Conservative Party, the smallest force in the tripartite ruling coalition, hopes to maintain its current strength in the June 25 election in order to lay the "moral ground" for the country in the next century.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2000

Reconciliation on the horizon

The joint declaration signed between North Korea leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung during the latter's just-concluded visit to Pyongyang is a truly historic document. It will, and should, require a complete reassessment of what is and is not possible regarding North-South reconciliation...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jun 17, 2000

A tribute to Japanese world music

In two previous columns (Feb. 5 and May 20) I wrote about recently established live-music houses, WAON in Nippori and Manabiya in Yokohama, where one can hear hogaku. The familiar settings of these spaces allow for an intimate connection with the music, which ranges from relatively unknown young musicians...
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

Kubota-linked 'sokaiya' held

OSAKA — Osaka Prefectural Police on Thursday arrested two "sokaiya" corporate racketeers on suspicion of accepting 85 million yen in bribes from major machinery maker Kubota Corp. in the form of billboard rental fees, police sources said.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

20 tons of radioactive monazite apparently sold to Toba hotelier

Most of the 20-odd tons of the radioactive substance monazite that disappeared after being purchased by the former head of a trading firm was probably sold to a man in Toba, Mie Prefecture, investigative sources said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Jun 16, 2000

Voter turnout key to election

Official campaigning is under way for the June 25 general election. This will be the first Japanese general election to be held in three years and eight months, following the last poll in October 1996. The new Lower House, whose term will run to 2004, will be the center of national politics as Japan...
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2000

No more empty economic promises

The forthcoming Lower House election will test the economic policies of political parties more severely than did previous general elections. The reason is obvious: While industrial restructuring and economic recovery are making only slow progress, the national debt burden has reached a staggering 650...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 15, 2000

What does the 'i' stand for anyway?

I know we've covered this territory before, but under the heading, "They just don't get it," comes the following:
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2000

Thai villagers protest dam's legacy of destruction

BANGKOK -- The Moon River is the lifeline of Isan, bringing sustenance to the poorest, most populous part of Thailand. The World Bank identified the Moon, the greatest of the Mekong River's tributaries, as a suitable location for a giant dam, and proceeded to fund a hydropower project that is destroying...
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2000

Officials doubt adequacy of Canadian response to WTO auto tariff ruling

About four years after losing a legal battle at the World Trade Organization over liquor, Japan last month evened the score with Canada by winning a different legal battle there -- over autos.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jun 14, 2000

Winding down

In Sunday's column, I told readers why I will be leaving Japan while, appropriately, explaining what is required for foreigners to get married in Japan, which is what we did. I also said I would explain what would replace this column. Actually, I can't do that. It is up to you. I know there are a lot...
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2000

A positive precedent for pets

Pet shops are proliferating, reflecting the demand for companionship among lonely urban dwellers. Yet animal-protection agencies note a growing tendency for people with busy lives to physically abuse their pets in frustration over the routine care and feeding they require, or even to abandon them when...

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