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JAPAN
Nov 3, 2001

Tanaka faces fresh hailstorm

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka attracted another barrage of criticism from across the political spectrum Friday after she pushed back a meeting with a foreign dignitary by 40 minutes the night before.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2001

Another Japanese added to missing list in U.S.

A Japanese believed to have been locally employed with Fiduciary Trust International, housed in the World Trade Center, is listed as missing, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Aug 12, 2001

Best-sipped secret in Austria

In an era when wine has become a global industry, wine aficionados must search for handmade quality. Artisan wines are most exciting to find when they are insider tips -- unfamiliar to international consumers and thus still in the realm of good value. Dedicated fans scrutinize wine magazines, newsletters,...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 8, 2001

The Japanese Constitution gets a provocative look

FIVE DECADES OF CONSTITUTIONALISM IN JAPANESE SOCIETY, edited by Yoshio Higuchi. University of Tokyo Press, 2001, 368 pp., 8,000 yen. A major stumbling block for Japan on its road to becoming a more influential member of the global community has been a profound absence of voice. Japanese politicians,...
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

IMF chief urges expanded disclosure of bad loans

International Monetary Fund chief Horst Koehler encouraged the Financial Services Agency on Wednesday to step up disclosure of its assessments of banks' problem loans.
EDITORIALS
May 29, 2001

Dead end in the Middle East

The violence between Israelis and Palestinians continues to escalate. Every day there are new reports of atrocities; the cycle of attack and retaliation is intensifying, the time between them shortening. The only reason for hope in this grim situation is the -- belated -- recognition by the government...
JAPAN
May 17, 2001

IOC: Osaka can continue bid

From wire and staff reports The IOC late Wednesday decided in Lausanne, Switzerland, to let Osaka and Istanbul, Turkey, stay in the race for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2001

Cultural 'cleansing' exposes outrageous methods of Taliban

NEW DELHI -- History is replete with cultural savagery.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 5, 2001

Nanjing Massacre evidence twisted at historian's whim

A publisher asks me to make excerpts from Judge Radhabinod Pal's "dissentient judgment" and write an introduction to the selection. The Indian jurist Pal was one of 11 judges who sat on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the Tokyo Trial). He found Japan not guilty, the only one to...
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2001

Breaking stones and hearts

Of all the treasures in Afghanistan, the most famous by far are the two colossal Buddhas of Bamiyan Province. Carved out of a rocky cliff-face in the fourth or fifth centuries A.D., the statues have gazed out benevolently over the old Silk Road route below for centuries. According to scholars, the Bamiyan...
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2001

IOC inspectors arrive in Osaka

OSAKA -- Members of the International Olympic Committee's bid-city evaluation committee arrived in Osaka on Sunday evening to begin a four-day inspection tour of sports and other facilities.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2001

IOC inspectors arrive in Osaka

OSAKA -- Members of the International Olympic Committee's bid-city evaluation committee arrived in Osaka on Sunday evening to begin a four-day inspection tour of sports and other facilities.
EDITORIALS
Feb 19, 2001

Name them and shame them

Money laundering was once considered a problem of "rogue" bankers. No longer. It is becoming increasingly clear that no one is immune to the siren song of easy profits. Earlier this month, major U.S. banks were slammed for their willingness to look the other way when dealing with ill-gotten funds. Public...
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2001

Osaka leaders' talk fest serves up more than usual platitudes

KYOTO -- When the Kansai region's leaders gather here every year for a two-day seminar to discuss the regional economy, corporate heads, economists and local government officials pontificate on issues ranging from information technology to employment.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 25, 2001

Legally blind woman realizes dream in trek across India

Last week, a woman from Ireland embarked on an epic three-month, 1,000-km unsupported trek across India on elephant-back. Caroline Casey is caring for her elephant herself, and camping at every stage of her journey, accompanied only by an elephant feeder and Indian guides. What makes the already daunting...
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2001

A last chance for Africa?

Two years ago, the world talked of an "African Renaissance." After decades of failure and progressive impoverishment, Africans again had reason to welcome the future. Democracy was ascendant, market-oriented reforms were in place and political and economic stability held out hopes for growth and prosperity...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

New opportunities for Japan-U.S. ties

The administration of U.S. President-elect George W. Bush will include many pro-Japanese officials. This reflects U.S. political history. Many officials of President Bill Clinton's administration had served under President Jimmy Carter, who came to power 12 years earlier. For example, former Secretary...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2000

Falling victim to U.S.-Chinese diplomacy

A 46-year-old man named Zhang Hongbao from Harbin, China is facing an uncertain fate in a cramped U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services detention cell in the U.S. territory of Guam. On one hand he is just another illegal immigrant, joining thousands of other Chinese who have attempted to settle...
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

Auto pact talks end in stalemate

Compiled from Kyodo, staff reports
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Nov 2, 2000

Kim's diplomatic slam dunk

Good news from North Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright presented North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il with a basketball autographed by Michael Jordan; the dictator treated the diplomat to a spectacular theatrical performance. Rejoice: Peace in East Asia is at hand.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2000

What price NATO's new philosophy?

CAMBRIDGE, England -- While you were on the beaches of Hawaii or Hainan or wherever else you spent the summer, the secretary general of NATO, or U.S.-led NATO as Beijing calls it, spelled out the new philosophy of that organization, as it was expressed in the Kosovo war. Referring to Kosovo in a speech...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2000

Letters shed new light on Nosaka's espionage acts

New facts have emerged regarding the clandestine activities of Sanzo Nosaka, a controversial Japanese Communist Party leader who was expelled by his party in 1992 and died seven years ago aged 101.
EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2000

Pakistan's year of living dangerously

It has been one year since Gen. Pervez Musharraf seized power in Pakistan. The coup was welcomed by many Pakistanis who had grown weary of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his increasingly corrupt rule. The rest of the world was more wary, although many countries were willing to tolerate the new government...
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2000

Abductees' kin slam Pyongyang aid

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2000

Mr. Fujimori's latest surprise

Peru's president, Mr. Alberto Fujimori, dropped a political bombshell last weekend when he announced that he would call new elections as soon as possible after his security chief, Mr. Vladimiro Montesinos, was shown bribing opposition politicians. The move is welcome: Mr. Fujimori's re-election to a...
COMMENTARY
Sep 18, 2000

U.S. role in Korea nearly over

WASHINGTON -- The real presidential race has finally begun, as Vice President Al Gore and Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush battle over the state of the military. But their focus on questions of morale and readiness ignores the more fundamental issue of security commitments, which require...
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2000

Evolving Okubo strikes a balance

Okubo's image varies widely. To some people, it's a nasty urban jungle filled with sleaze. To others, it's a foreign world of fascination.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami