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JAPAN
Jan 10, 2001

Women tackle stalking menace head-on

Exercise combining aerobics and self-defense skills is the latest craze among young women in Tokyo, where the number of reported stalking cases is also on the rise.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 8, 2001

Zero emissions: route to sustainability for a clean revolution in the 21st century

The age of zero emissions is dawning, and Japan could one day lead a global clean revolution. The next decade should tell whether this nation will lead, or will consign itself to industrial mediocrity by adhering to the status quo.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2001

Diplomat stripped of post in embezzlement scandal

The Foreign Ministry on Saturday stripped a senior official of his post as director of a ministry division due to allegations that he has embezzled several hundred million yen in public funds since 1993, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2001

Ex-mob boss, cop critic sue police, claim freedom of speech violations

OTSU, Shiga Pref. -- In what may be the first case of its kind in Japan, a retired yakuza boss and a vocal police critic are suing Shiga Prefectural Police for what they consider a violation of their constitutional rights.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2001

Quake-recovered Kobe to turn out for tourists

KOBE -- In 10 days, this port city will commemorate the sixth anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which claimed more than 6,400 lives in the region. The whole city will offer silent prayers for the victims, including the 4,571 who died in the city.
SUMO
Jan 7, 2001

Takanohana, Kaio favored in New Year sumo tourney

The 21st century for sumo gets under way at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan today.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 7, 2001

Yoshitami Arai

As a precocious 15-year-old in 1946, Yoshitami Arai looked around at a Japan that was, he said, "totally destroyed." Then at school in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, he was already beginning to understand the need of the nation to produce businessmen who would rebuild the economy. From that time on, he...
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2001

'Anime' invade Akihabara's electronics monopoly

The Akihabara district of Tokyo appears to be changing in response to the increasing number of discount computer shops, previously a district mainstay, that have opened in other areas. Considering Electric Town's old reputation as a testing ground for new products, some say the future lies in "otaku."...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jan 6, 2001

Japanese music gets support from New Year's tradition

New Year's in Japan is a period when Japanese suddenly seem to "rediscover" their traditional music. Radio and television stations, which, except for NHK, practically ignore traditional music for most of the year, get into the seasonal spirit and air programs of the classical performing and theatrical...
BUSINESS
Jan 5, 2001

Aozora Bank unveils new logo

Aozora Bank, the reincarnation of the failed Nippon Credit Bank, kicked off operations Thursday by unveiling its new corporate logo in a high-profile ceremony.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2001

The high human cost of anticapitalism

There has been a rising swell of voices to denounce the forces of capitalism and globalization. It has gone beyond the normal complaints of professors, journalists and politicians who criticize capitalism and markets and, if not the wealth they create, the way it is distributed. Demonstrations at the...
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Jan 4, 2001

Information disclosure could give power to citizens if they get involved

Satoru Ienishi felt overwhelming anger as he watched a newscast at his Tokyo office on June 13, 1998.
COMMUNITY
Jan 4, 2001

Pamper your mind and body with sensuous Shiseido magic

The festive season is over for another year, and now it's time to face the aftereffects of too much turkey, plum pudding and alcohol. While the only true way to whip a flabby body into shape is regular exercise, a little buffing and pampering will help boost your spirits and get your New Year's self-improvement...
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2001

Britain feared a revival of militarism after Mishima's suicide

LONDON -- The dramatic suicide by Japanese writer and nationalist Yukio Mishima after his failed attempt to foment a coup in 1970 triggered British concern about a revival of militarism in Japan, according to 30-year-old declassified British documents released on New Year's Day.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2001

Tickets here for Asia

By the time the lunch gong sounded in the great hall of the Heng Yang monastery, I had already placed generous votive offerings at a shrine in the Temple of the Goddess of Mercy, watched a flour-doll and knot maker at work, witnessed minor grievances being aired at the Ancient Courthouse and met a talking...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jan 3, 2001

Walking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

Approaching Machu Picchu on foot along Peru's 32-km Inca Trail might sound the stuff of legend. Or, better still, the stuff of Tin Tin. In all honesty, however, it can be more trial than trail.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 3, 2001

Asian continent in league of its own

First of three parts As the third millennium dawned, the light of the rising sun swept westward across the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. It brought a gray half-light that crept slowly across the dark ice-locked wastes of northeast Asia. Farther south, the sun's fiery-orange disc rose majestically...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 1, 2001

Odd echoes of the Meiji Restoration

JAPAN'S EMERGENCE AS A MODERN STATE: Political and Economic Problems of the Meiji Period, by E. Herbert Norman, 60th Anniversary Edition, edited by Lawrence T. Woods. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, Sept. 2000, 336 pp., $75 (cloth), $25.95 (paper). It's hard to fault E. Herbert Norman's analysis of Japan....
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

Japan needs open, clear agenda in an age of life science

The 21st century will be called the century of life science. In fact, an enormous amount of money has already been reinvested for research in this field on a global scale. A representative example is the human genome project, which is closing in on the complete deciphering of human DNA. In addition,...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2001

Yang offers up portrait of 'real' family life

Family dramas are a movie staple, but few have the texture of real family life, in which individual destinies unfold and interact in ways too messy and complex for the usual movie ad copy. What we usually get instead is either melodrama or caricature -- i.e., something that can be easily packaged and...
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2000

Cities set to merge divided over new leader

It looked like a match made in heaven when, on Aug. 10, the two beaming mayors of Hoya and Tanashi shook hands on a deal to merge the two western Tokyo cities.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Education panel hits individuality, stresses Japanese-language focus

An Education Ministry advisory panel is calling for increased Japanese-language study and reading opportunities for children, saying a good command of the language provides a solid platform for education and cultural literacy.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Dec 27, 2000

Reay for the end of the year?

www.nenga.co.jp One of the biggest New Year's traditions is entering your friends in a lottery by sending them special nengajo greeting cards printed by the post office. This year it moves to the Internet. Sort of. You're not gonna make any of your friends a millionaire, and the prizes come from the...
COMMUNITY
Dec 27, 2000

Hard for many to fight the big chill

Winter is a painful season for Satoko Kojima (not her real name), a Tokyo office worker who says she cannot tolerate cold temperatures.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2000

Common interest warms KMT-CCP ties

TAIPEI -- The reopening of the so-called three links -- trade, transportation and communication -- between Taiwan and China may still be some way off, but in the meantime it appears Taiwan's opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) has sidestepped the ban and forged its own direct link with China.

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