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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2000

'Tea and sympathy' mark U.S.-Japan ties

There are new frictions looming just over the horizon in U.S.-Japan relations, based mainly on the perceived growth of nationalist sentiment.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2000

The real reason the U.S. stays in Japan

The greatest naval armada the world had ever seen assembled on April 1, 1945, before the Ryukyu island chain. Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa by Allied forces, was about to begin. The fleet assembled for the task consisted of more than 40 aircraft carriers, 18 battleships, 200 destroyers and...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2000

Koreans want governor to push for their rights

Staff writer OSAKA -- A new Osaka governor will be elected today by some 7 million eligible voters in the prefecture, which has a population of 8.83 million. While voter turnout figures show nearly half did not cast ballots in the last three gubernatorial elections, some are unable to vote in local...
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2000

Analysis: Obstinacy may backfire on both sides

The ruling coalition on Wednesday dug its heels in even deeper as a political battle for public sentiment with the opposition camp took another turn.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2000

Panel recommends making new constitution by 2008

A new Constitution should be introduced in 2008, the head of the Upper House's constitutional research panel reiterated Tuesday. Masakuni Murakami, a senior member of the Liberal Democratic Party, told the Upper House plenary session that he aims to wrap up discussions by the panel by 2005 have the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2000

Voting on Taiwan's future

Taiwan's presidential campaign is moving toward the final stretch. It is being fought among three top contenders: Vice President Lien Chan of the Nationalist Party, Chen Shui-pien of the Democratic Progressive Party and James Soong, an independent. The second free, direct presidential election on March...
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2000

Social parity, commerce rules needed for leap to cyberspace

As the world entered the 21st century, a number of newspapers and economic journals ran feature articles with grand forecasts for the new age.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2000

Analysis: Aum's survival in doubt as watch begins

Staff writer Monday's decision by the Public Security Examination Commission to invoke a law to monitor Aum Shinrikyo will inevitably deal a major blow to the cult -- possibly even leading to its breakup. According to the law, enacted in December, Aum must submit a list of its current members as well...
COMMENTARY
Jan 28, 2000

Debate kicks off on the Constitution

As the ordinary Diet session opened Jan. 20, the tripartite ruling bloc and the opposition forces squared off over a proposal to cut the number of Lower House seats. With a dissolution of the Lower House for a snap election looming, sharp rivalry is brewing between the coalition, made up of the Liberal...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2000

Top court hits, but backs mom's firing

The Supreme Court rejected a claim Friday by a woman who sought nullification of her dismissal from a company for refusing to accept a transfer due to the child-care needs of her 3-year-old. The decision upheld lower court rulings. Justice Toshihiro Kanatani said that although the disadvantage to the...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2000

World Cup goal is to show off improved ties, new envoy says

Staff writer The 2002 World Cup soccer finals will be a test for Japan and South Korea, joint hosts of the tournament, to demonstrate their enhanced partnership in recent years, according to Japan's new ambassador to South Korea. Terusuke Terada, 61, former ambassador to the Korean Peninsula Energy...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2000

In defense of U Thant

VICTORIA, Australia -- Much criticism has been written about U Thant, the third secretary general of the United Nations, who died from cancer 25 years ago on Nov. 25, 1974. While some of it may be just, much of it is not.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 26, 2000

Korean owners play hardball, expel players from professional league for organizing union

After a group of Korean professional baseball players from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) formally announced they had formed a player union last Friday, the KBO and team presidents held an emergency meeting the following morning in Seoul and expelled all union members from the league.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2000

Minister claims flexibility on unpopular dam project

Construction Minister Masaaki Nakayama reiterated his readiness Tuesday to be flexible in reviewing a contentious dam planned for the Yoshino River in Tokushima Prefecture following the overwhelming rejection of the project by voters in a Sunday plebiscite in the city of Tokushima. "We have been walking...
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2000

Think before giving nonbankers licenses, JBA chief urges

The relationship banks will have with nonfinanciers trying to enter the industry should be clarified before authorities decide to grant them banking licenses, Katsuyuki Sugita, chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association, said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2000

Aum by any other name...

Desperate people -- and groups -- can be expected to take desperate steps. The carefully orchestrated public relations campaign in which the Aum Shinrikyo cult is now engaged, including changing the cult name to Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, for a "fresh start," seems like little more...
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2000

A mother's place is in the Diet

Babies are always news, but an even more special baby than usual is expected in Japan in April. Its mother is a news-maker herself: Diet member and former Olympic speed skater and cyclist Ms. Seiko Hashimoto. Dubbed a "superwoman" of Japanese athletics, Ms. Hashimoto competed in seven consecutive Olympics...
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2000

Close the bases, start again

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's Cabinet deserves praise for changing Japan's policy stance regarding the Japan-U.S. security system. First, the Cabinet recently proposed a 15-year time limit on U.S. use of the facility that would take over operations of the U.S. Futenma Marine Air Station in Okinawa, which...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2000

Workers bullied out amid restructuring

Staff writer For a 32-year-old company employee in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward, the past two years have been a nightmare. And still, he does not know how to end it. Ever since he rejected his employer's request two years ago to voluntarily quit, he has been constantly harassed by bosses and colleagues. "The...
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2000

Cult makes case against new surveillance law

During a hearing before the Public Security Examination Commission, lawyers for Aum Shinrikyo said the cult does not fit the criteria for application of the so-called anti-Aum law, and argued that the new law violates the Constitution, which ensures freedom of religion. The hearing, held at the Justice...
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2000

90% in plebiscite say no, but dam project stands

The government will proceed with plans to build a dam across the Yoshino River in Shikoku even though a local plebiscite Sunday found over 90 percent of those who voted oppose the project, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said Monday. In Tokushima, Gov. Toshio Endo also said the prefecture will continue...
CULTURE / Music
Jan 11, 2000

Ani DiFranco's hard road leads her to a higher plane

Last year, the prolific Ani DiFranco released three albums. Any record company marketing executive would tell you that's more than the market could take. But then, DiFranco doesn't have to answer to any record company. She owns her own.
COMMENTARY
Jan 9, 2000

Doomsayers have it wrong

LONDON -- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, is a deeply spiritual and thoughtful man. Again and again he brings us back to the really central question of our times -- central in all societies and all religions, and becoming more so in a globalized age. What now binds us together?...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2000

Pessimism, ambivalence about future sum up state of the nation

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2000

Another Century: Slump, aging Japan skew debate on foreigners

Staff writer One sector of Japan's immigrant community comes into view every Friday at around noon, when people wearing white caps walk into a single story prefabricated building in the city of Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture. This is Isesaki Jame-e Mosque -- a sanctuary since 1995 for about 500 Muslims living...
COMMENTARY
Jan 1, 2000

Japan looks for a purpose

The 1990s is said to have been a "lost decade" for Japan. That may be true. In May 1991, Japan's economy plunged into a slump that would be called the "Heisei Recession." In October 1993, the economy "bottomed out," but ever since then it has remained in the doldrums. The protracted slump has had extensive...
JAPAN
Dec 31, 1999

2000 'pivotal' in ties with Pyongyang

Staff writer For better or worse, future historians may characterize 2000 as a pivotal point in Japan's foreign policy toward its hermetic neighbor, North Korea. This is mainly because one of Japan's long-standing diplomatic issues -- normalization talks with Pyongyang -- is likely to enter a critical...
JAPAN
Dec 31, 1999

Obuchi tasked to dissolve Lower House

Even if Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi manages to see New Year's Day pass without serious Y2K problems, a big decision lies ahead of him — when to dissolve the Lower House and call a general election.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 1999

Happy in the Gucci nation

What kind of country will Japan be in the 21st century? The millennial forecast is in and it looks like this: Japan's cultural elite is quickly converging around the notion that Japan should be the first boutique state of the 21st century -- distinctive, well designed and expensive.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 1999

Asylum said in short supply here

Staff writer The number of people granted asylum by Japan in 1999 edged into double digits for the second straight year, but lawyers say some seeking to stay are being deported in an inhumane manner. This year, 11 people have been granted refugee status, down from 16 last year. On Nov. 22, an Iranian...

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