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CULTURE / Books
Aug 18, 1999

Yes, there was a Nanjing Massacre

Did the 1937 Nanjing Massacre really happen? This might seem like an absurd question, but then the recently elected governor of Tokyo is on record as having denied that the looting, rape and assembly-line murder reported by eyewitnesses ever took place. The Dr. Feelgoods of Japanese history, Yoshinori...
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 1999

The good fight against war crimes

On Aug. 12, the world observed the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, four international agreements that set limits on the conduct of participants in armed conflicts. At first glance, the conventions seem quixotic: How can we apply the rule of law to war itself, where the goal is to bend an...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 1999

End the 'one China' fiction

China is again rattling its sabers over Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui's recent statement that Taiwan will henceforth conduct its relations with China as "a special state-to-state relationship."
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 12, 1999

Nihonshu's sweet spectrum

Perhaps the best way to buy sake is to have tasted enough to know exactly what you are looking for, and find that label. Advice and recommendations go a long way too. But we all need to foray into the unknown and try new things at times.
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 1999

Predictably capricious

True to form, Russian President Boris Yeltsin has astounded his country and the world. Demonstrating that nothing is more important to the mercurial Russian leader than the fate of his regime and his family -- it is hard to distinguish the two -- Mr. Yeltsin this week dismissed Prime Minister Sergei...
JAPAN
Aug 9, 1999

Flag, anthem now official

The Diet enacted controversial legislation Monday that legally recognizes the Hinomaru as Japan's national flag and "Kimigayo" as its anthem.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 1999

Through the unflinching eye of realism

Most painters, whatever style they eventually adopt, generally start their career by setting their own likeness down on canvas. It is a kind of baptism by fire attempted once and usually abandoned. This we know because there are far fewer portraits of artists in middle or old age than in their youth....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 4, 1999

How to keep the main clause interesting

Many years ago when she was studying for the TOEFL exam, my wife asked me to explain the difference between a main clause and a subordinate one. She somehow had it in her head that as a native speaker I would instinctively know what those words meant.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 1, 1999

Russia's Navy lists in port

There is only one place where modern submarines dock in Venetian canals, the replica of Aya Sofya is home to a naval theater company, and young people date in the ruins of old Scandinavian forts. Few small towns have such a special destiny, but Kronshtadt, situated on barren Kotlin Island, a mere 29...
JAPAN
Jul 30, 1999

Analysis: Credit Suisse case seen as a warning

Staff writer
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 1999

The pendulum swings again

As Japan pulls out of a deep economic slump, it is time to ask who created the mess. But as with the war guilt question, don't expect an easy answer. Japan does not like to pin blame when its elite is involved. The guilty remain in place; the chances of another disaster remain intact.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Norota urges new heliport site by yearend

Defense Agency chief Hosei Norota expressed hope Friday that the site to relocate U.S. Marine Corps helicopter operations at Futenma Air Station in Okinawa will be selected by the end of the year.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 1999

Low-key ivory sale served more than craftsmen

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Computerized speech interpretation takes new strides

KYOTO -- Connecting online to three institutions in the United States, Germany and South Korea, the Interpreting Telecommunications Research Laboratories (ITL) on Thursday conducted experiments on a speech translation system in four languages.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 1999

Flag, anthem march through Lower House

Breaking a long-standing political taboo, the Lower House, by a vote of 403-86, approved a bill Thursday to legally recognize the Hinomaru as the national flag and "Kimigayo" as the anthem.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 1999

Renegade monkey making Tokyo home

More than a month has passed since a monkey was spotted in the posh Nishi Azabu district of Tokyo's Minato Ward, and with residents leaving it scraps of food, the area has become the primate's second home.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 1999

Experts ponder state's next great spending project

Staff writer
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 20, 1999

Screening for image and reality

THE DOUBLE SCREEN: Medium and Representation in Chinese Painting, by Wu Hung. London: Reaktion Books, 1996, 296 pp., with 170 illustrations, 20 in color, 14.95 British pounds. Just what is a traditional Chinese painting? This is the question asked and answered in this magisterial work of imaginative...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 1999

Apparently, all roads lead to Vladivostok

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- No, Peter and Eileen Crichton were not to be mistaken for the U.S. couple making a millennial tour of five continents in a lemon yellow Mercedes-Benz "off-roadster." Nor did they have anything to do with the two Germans who had just crossed Russia in a 1963 Citroen 2 CV.
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 1999

Cross-strait relations at risk

"What is Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui up to?" That remains the burning question, following Lee's apparent abandonment of the long-standing "one-China" policy that used to be the one important common denominator underwriting cross-strait relations and Sino-U.S. and Sino-Japanese relations regarding Taiwan....
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 1999

An uneasy peace in Kashmir

India and Pakistan have reached a ceasefire in their two-month fight over the disputed territory of Kashmir. Well, not exactly a ceasefire. Instead, the two militaries have negotiated a "disengagement": Islamic guerrillas who crossed into Indian territory have reportedly agreed -- at Islamabad's urging...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jul 14, 1999

Substitutes

A woman tells us she is a vegetarian in the real sense -- no meat, fish or animal byproducts, even gelatin. In England she could buy dried mixes that could be reconstituted by adding water and then used to make sausages (Sosmix) and burgers (Veggie Burger Mix). She wonders if there are any similar products...
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 1999

Hard questions for Hong Kong

It has been a bitter two years for Hong Kong. On July 1, 1997, the British Crown Colony reverted to the mainland amid an outpouring of pride and Chinese nationalism. The celebrations were short-lived. The very next day, the Thai baht imploded, launching Asia on a downward economic spiral from which it...
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jul 9, 1999

'Showa 64' puts reverse spin on club scene

With his goatee and finely pointed ears, James Vyner has a puckish quality that makes it difficult to imagine him, bewigged, in Her Majesty's court. In an alternative life, yes, Vyner was a barrister.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 1999

Ishihara to ban Aum members from facilities

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara told the metropolitan assembly Wednesday that he will not allow members of Aum Shinrikyo to use Tokyo's public facilities.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jul 7, 1999

Technoborrrring

With rare exceptions, no one likes being called a Luddite. Steve Talbott, the thoughtful, somewhat skeptical philosopher who writes the Netfuture e-mail newsletter, for example, takes offense at being labeled "pessimistic." I thought it was a fair beef, but he devoted considerable space in his last missive...
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 1999

Stone the crows!

Tokyo, Scene 1: A man is waiting patiently for a bus in Roppongi, thinking about nothing, minding his own business. Suddenly, out of a clear blue sky, a bomber-shaped bird watching from atop an adjacent building delivers its payload. Splat! Dabbing at the white mess dripping down his jacket, the victim...
CULTURE / Music
Jul 2, 1999

Sleater-Kinney rocks solid, but dig that crazy backbeat

Is Janet Weiss the best rock drummer in the world? That question crossed my mind last January when I saw her and her ex-husband Sam Coomes, collectively known as Quasi, open for Elliott Smith. Though Coomes is the focus of the duo since he writes and sings almost all the songs, Weiss's contribution was...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 1999

France's right on the run

PARIS -- The French political scene is presently -- and probably for sometime to come -- dominated by the results of the European parliamentary election held June 13. Many commentators spoke of an earthquake. Here are the reasons why.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 1999

Diet begins deliberating flag and anthem bill

Diet debate on a government-proposed bill to recognize the Hinomaru as the national flag and "Kimigayo" as the national anthem began Tuesday with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi telling a Lower House plenary session that legal recognition would give the Japanese people the correct understanding of the national...

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell