author

 
 

Meta

Lucille Craft
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 22, 2004
The Great White Yonder: Japan's 'Siberia'
Once upon a time, there was a chilly little town by the sea. It had ice and snow to spare, but not a single winter resort facility. Its fading downtown managed to be both antiquated and charmless. Fishing, once the lifeblood of the town, had seen its best days, and for every new inhabitant, more than...
LIFE / Travel
Sep 17, 2002
Scientists lobby, governments demur, on Kurils international peace park
Ever since transboundary biosphere reserves were first launched, scientists in East Asia have dreamed of setting up border-straddling nature sanctuaries in both the Korean demilitarized zone and in the Kuril Islands, which encompass the long-contested Northern Territories occupied by Russia but claimed...
LIFE / Travel
Sep 17, 2002
Breaking down the barriers
SEOUL -- A merican presidents, soccer stars, paying tourists and the occasional squad of Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders airlifted in to boost U.S. troop morale regularly bus through select checkpoints in the Korean demilitarized zone, but otherwise this 246-km-long, 4 km-wide strip of land is one desolate...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2000
Japan's nonprofits carve out a space of their own
When the Nature Conservancy's Lori Forman addressed the College Women's Association of Japan at a luncheon earlier this year, the topic was supposed to be nongovernmental organizations in Japan. But instead of providing a nuanced description of Japan's not-for-profit movement, Forman seemed more interested...
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 19, 2000
Really roughing it in the wilderness of Sakhalin
Few people would associate "tourist paradise" with "Sakhalin." The lobster claw-shaped island lying just 40 km from Hokkaido is best known for the rush to exploit resources on its northeastern shelf, a repository of crude oil and natural gas.
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 7, 2000
Craning for a look at a natural monument
TSURUI VILLAGE, Hokkaido -- The meandering local bus takes over an hour to reach this quiet hamlet of dairy farms in southeastern Hokkaido. For out-of-town passengers, the approach to Tsurui comes as something of a shock. Those black-and-white creatures stepping delicately across the pasture most definitely...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2000
A voice of reason campaigns for the return of Japan's Northern Territories
For Japan's ultraright, Feb. 7 is the holiest day of the year. The thuggish men in their loudspeaker-laden, slogan-painted vans will be out in force on "Northern Territories Day," once again testing the nation's aural-pain threshold.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 17, 1999
Become a friend of the Kurilsky Reserve
"It isn't in Japan, so why should I care?" is the reaction of some Japanese to the issue of conservation in the Northern Territories. Yet there are plenty of good reasons why it is in Japan's interest to take a leadership role in protecting wildlife on the islands:
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 17, 1999
Disputed territory is a paradise in peril
Any Japanese schoolchild can wax eloquent about the Hoppo Ryodo or "Northern Territories," the tiny islands Japan has demanded back from Russia since World War II. And with Japan keen to resolve its border dispute with Russia and wrap up a peace treaty by the end of next year, the issue looks likely...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?