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COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2001

Fates of Estrada, Philippines hang on trial

MANILA -- President Joseph "Erap" Estrada is in the battle of his political life as his lawyers fight corruption charges in an impeachment trial.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2001

Record 89 million visit shrines over New Year

A record 88.75 million people visited major Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples across Japan on the first three days of the 21st century to pray for good fortune, the National Police Agency said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2001

Changing diet brings rising food concerns

The traditional Japanese diet of rice, grilled fish and vegetables has long been heralded as among the healthiest a culture has produced -- just witness Japan's long life spans.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2001

9,066 killed in traffic accidents in 2000

The number of traffic fatalities in 2000 totaled 9,066, up 60 over 1999 for the first increase since more than 10,000 deaths were recorded in 1996, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 4, 2001

HAL, are you out there?

2001 is not just another year. For over three decades, those four digits symbolized the future, and triggered hopes, dreams and fears about what lay over the horizon. Brilliant though it was, Sir Arthur C. Clarke's imagination and Stanley Kubrick's rendering of life in the 21st century have also missed...
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2001

Teacher upbeat on proposals of education reform panel

When Ryoichi Kawakami, a 34-year veteran schoolteacher in Saitama Prefecture, was appointed to the National Commission on Educational Reform in March, he was skeptical about whether his input could help solve the problem of "classroom collapse."
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2001

For freedom to work, we need fairness

Globalization is breaking down frontiers around the world. For the first time in centuries, freedom is a reality for most people in most countries. But freedom -- both political and economic -- can only serve all citizens when exercised responsibly and fairly. Disappearing borders for business, in an...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 4, 2001

Blips that stayed on the media radar

Media Persons of the Year: Yasuo Tanaka and Shintaro Ishihara
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

Toward mutually assured peace

As we enter the 21st century, recent trends in technological development make the problems of nuclear weapons a pressing issue requiring greater attention and a more serious response.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

The true meaning of civilization

History shows that on the eve of the collapse of the Roman Empire, its denizens reveled as if they were crazy. Just before Paris fell to German forces during World War II, dressed-up people danced all night at nightclubs in the city. And when the Cuban government of President Fulgencio Batista fell,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

Open network at core of Japan's IT strategy

How should Japan promote its information technology revolution?
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2000

Elderly choke on yearend delicacy

Four elderly people have had traditional "mochi" rice cakes stick in their throats since Tuesday, causing the choking deaths of two of them, the Tokyo Fire Department said Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2000

Osaka homeless shelter opens

OSAKA -- The Osaka Municipal Government opened a controversial new homeless center Friday morning in Nagai Park.
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2000

Haggling, fast turnover key to new fashion market

Young women browse through vogue clothes, leather jackets, accessories, wigs and colorful lingerie displayed at about 50 booths in Tondemun Sijan, a new fashion market in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
EDITORIALS
Dec 24, 2000

The lessons of Chernobyl

On April 26, 1986, the world had its first full-scale nuclear disaster. On that day, the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear-power plant in Ukraine exploded, sending a huge cloud of radioactive dust across Europe. Earlier this month, Ukraine's government shut down the last working reactor at the Chernobyl...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2000

How fast is China's economy growing?

CAMBRIDGE, England -- It is that time of year again when statisticians in Beijing have to decide how fast the Chinese economy grew in the last year. Or rather, not so much how much it grew but how much they are going to claim it grew. More so than anywhere else the figures for growth in gross domestic...
COMMUNITY
Dec 24, 2000

The miraculous manifestation of a man of the cloth at Xmas

T'was 10 days before Christmas, and all through the house . . . complete and utter panic! Who to interview for Christmas Eve? Jim Carey (promoting his seasonal movie "The Grinch") has come and gone -- along with most of the foreign community (for the holiday break). As for the Japanese, they are all...
LIFE / Travel
Dec 24, 2000

Do they know it's Christmas in Xian?

In the cradle of Chinese civilization, Christmas -- in all its commercial fury -- has taken Xi'an city by storm. Today, in this one-time imperial seat now famed for its terra-cotta warriors, storefronts blink Christmas red and green, Santa Claus poses for photos in supermarkets, employees don festive...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

Shigenobu-linked premises searched

Police said Wednesday they have searched 10 locations, including the home of a 34-year-old assemblywoman in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward, in connection with forged passports allegedly used by Fusako Shigenobu, the founder of the Japanese Red Army.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 20, 2000

Government, industry reassess potential harm of video games

SEATTLE -- Can games desensitize children and teach them how to kill? Video and computer game violence is such a hot topic in the United States that the U.S. Senate has held two sets of hearings on the matter, and several senior senators each year host a conference in which they discuss problems with...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2000

The stage is set for genuine change

This is the final article of a 10-part series on contemporary Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2000

Yanaka's 'forest of stone sculptures'

Just a minute's walk from JR Nippori Station spreads a vast cemetery in Tokyo's Taito Ward that covers much of the eastern half of the area known as Yanaka and a strip of the neighboring Ueno Sakuragi area.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Dec 17, 2000

No place for tainted symbols

The Soviet Union is dead; long live the Soviet Union. This seems to be the current mood in the corridors of power in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has persuaded the Parliament to restore the Soviet anthem as Russia's national hymn and the czarist red banner, which was used in Soviet times...
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

Venezuela sends thanks for flood aid

Venezuelan Ambassador Carlos Bivero has sent a statement to The Japan Times, expressing his country's "deep appreciation and gratitude" for Japanese assistance for Venezuelans hit hard by the torrential rains and flooding of a year ago.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 15, 2000

Hopes of peace rise with dawn of the 21st century

On the last day of the 20th century, the world seemed to resonate with the mournful aftermath of tragedies perpetrated across the globe during the previous 100 years. It appeared necessary to pin one's hopes on the dawn of the new century in order to dissipate the tones of violence and death still lingering...
CULTURE / Books
Dec 13, 2000

Okinawa's Ota makes a case for redress

ESSAYS ON OKINAWA PROBLEMS, by Masahide Ota. Gushikawa City, Okinawa: Yui Shuppan Co., 2000, 302 pp., 1,600 yen (paper). Okinawa's history is essentially that of a poor ethnic group at Japan's southern extremity. The island has been continually exploited and abused for the interest and convenience of...
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2000

Citizen exchanges said key to Japanese-Korean ties

Japan and South Korea should increase citizen exchanges, especially of young people, to build a new partnership and jointly play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, panelists at a symposium on Japan-South Korea relations agreed Monday.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 10, 2000

Filling in the contours of a changing world

Sometimes people are disappointed with the quality of exhibitions visiting Japan, but there are no reservations about the superb drawings now at the Tobu Museum of Art.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past