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BUSINESS
May 17, 2000

Budding recovery prompts fiscal focus shift

The economy is moving upward slowly, fueling debate about the need to put the nation's financial house in order. The question is how soon efforts should be stepped up to put both the central and local governments on a sounder fiscal footing.
JAPAN
May 16, 2000

Medics add doubts to Aoki takeover

Remarks made by the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's doctors since his death Sunday are increasing suspicions among opposition parties concerning Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki's claim, reiterated Monday, that Obuchi asked him to step in as acting prime minister.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2000

China: an emerging partner or threat?

Is China a rising colossus that intends to bully its neighbors and dominate Asia? Should Washington adopt a more hardline policy toward China on trade, human rights and national security issues? Or is China a country that has already moved far along the road to a market economy and a more open society...
JAPAN
May 15, 2000

A leader with an uncommon touch

Few leaders have made the prime minister as accessible as Keizo Obuchi did during his 20 months in office.
COMMENTARY / World
May 14, 2000

Winds of change on Korean Peninsula

Following the June 12-14 North-South Korea summit in Pyongyang, there will be one sure way to tell if the proceedings have been even moderately successful.
EDITORIALS
May 13, 2000

A first step in electoral reform

With the passage of a bill amending the flawed Public Offices Election Law, the next Lower House election -- which most likely will be held late in June -- promises to be a fairer one. The current system, which was used for the first time in the 1996 Lower House election, is a combination of single-member...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 13, 2000

Celebrating the cream of Japanese pottery

Believe it or not, a new museum has opened in Japan. In the midst of hearing about this or that institution shutting its doors for good it's refreshing to hear of one opening its doors for the first time, especially one entirely devoted to pottery.
JAPAN
May 12, 2000

Mori, Tang discuss Taiwan issue and wartime aggression by Japan

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori asked China to peacefully settle its disputes with Taiwan and renew dialogue with the government of the island during a meeting Thursday in Tokyo with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 11, 2000

French with a difference

We have no shortage of bargain-basement French-accented bistros scattered around the metropolis. But for my money, Tete-a-tete is the cream of the current crop. I could reel off about a dozen cogent reasons why I rate this little place so highly. But there's only one that you really need to know -- it...
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2000

Dubai: the Mideast's global village

DUBAI -- Last month, Gen. Sheikh Muhammad bin Maktum, minister of defense of the United Arab Emirates, announced at a press conference that the Internet revolution and the "new economy" were coming to the government of Dubai. It was an incongruous spectacle, so traditional a figure, in distinctive black...
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2000

The IRA cuts the knot

The Irish Republican Army has broken the logjam in the Northern Irish peace process. Last weekend, the group offered to put its vast stockpiles of weapons "completely and verifiably beyond use." That gesture will allow the suspended power-sharing agreement in the province to go forward. The implicit...
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2000

Crime knows no boundaries

Crime was very much on people's minds during this year's Golden Week holiday period. While the calendar made it possible for record numbers of Japanese to travel abroad, those who stayed behind for whatever reason were transfixed by news of two appalling crimes one day apart, each allegedly committed...
BUSINESS
May 8, 2000

E-commerce tax under construction

PARIS -- Talk about the information technology revolution is everywhere. Electronic commerce is taking off, financial institutions are trading online, and schools are holding class on the Internet.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2000

European sports play by their own rules

It is said that the military is always prepared to fight the last war and never the next. In the economic domain the same is true of politicians, who are generally at least a generation or two out of date. In Britain in 1913, there were 1.3 million miners, meaning that almost one in 10 men were working...
CULTURE / Art
May 7, 2000

Of statues and men -- the fourth plinth problem

LONDON -- Trafalgar Square is all things to all people. For out-of-towners and tourists, it is where you have your photograph taken with the National Gallery and the church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields as a backdrop, or of you feeding the pigeons or climbing Sir Edwin Landseer's lions. Four of them...
JAPAN
May 7, 2000

U.S. bases' PCB waste to be sent to Pacific isle

PCB-contaminated waste from U.S. military bases in Japan will be moved from Japan to Wake Island in the central Pacific by May 18 until a final decision on how to dispose of the waste is made, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said in a statement Saturday.
BUSINESS
May 5, 2000

Sowa Bank fabricated capital base

Tokyo Sowa Bank, a regional bank declared insolvent last June, fictitiously replenished its capital base in 1997 and 1998 to inflate its capital-adequacy ratio, industry sources said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2000

U.S. foreign policy overlooks democratic progress in Asia

ROBERT A. MANNING Special to The Japan Times KUALA LUMPUR A series of fascinating recent displays of democracy entrenching itself in East Asia imply an important critique of, and profound lessons for, U.S. foreign policy, making that question a central one. Yet with the notable exception of Taiwan's...
JAPAN
May 4, 2000

Should Constitution lead or follow?

Wednesday marked the first time Constitution Day -- commemorating the day the document was put into effect in 1947 -- coincided with lawmakers locking horns over whether to change the sacred charter.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2000

Global economy faces a structural crisis

The Nasdaq has fallen 34 percent since March, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is following suit. The decline might be only a technical correction, but the world economy may be hit because the inflow of capital into the United States may decline and restrict that country's ability to import goods...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 4, 2000

Enough to drive a person to distraction

Is he staying or is he going? This is the question being asked ad nauseam about Japan's national soccer coach Philippe Troussier.
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2000

Regaining the spirit of prewar Japan

The budget committees of both Houses of the Diet met April 24 and 25 to hear Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's views on various matters facing his new Cabinet. Throughout both days, he answered questions from the opposition parties. As a result, he seems to have cleared his first hurdle as the head of government....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 2, 2000

Everything about Tanizaki

TANIZAKI IN WESTERN LANGUAGES: A Bibliography of Translations and Studies, by Adriana Boscaro, with a list of films based on Tanizaki's works compiled by Maria Roberta Novielli. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 2000, 82 pp., $19.95. This fine bibliography is one...
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2000

The prime minister's empty chair

Four weeks after former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi was hospitalized with a stroke on April 2, the administration headed by new Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, former secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, appears to be functioning in a business-as-usual manner. In the past month, however, government...
SOCCER / J. League
May 1, 2000

Troussier's future with Japan in doubt

Japan manager Philippe Troussier, with less than two months left on his contract, is on the verge of being dismissed and is likely to be replaced by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger or anyone else the Japan Football Association can think of before its next board meeting on May 25.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2000

'Education for all' is an attainable goal

Ten years ago, in March 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, held in Jomtien, Thailand, with 155 governments and 150 organizations attending, set a goal of getting all children into primary school and reducing adult illiteracy by half by 2000. Where do we stand on this goal at the dawn of...

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