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JAPAN
Feb 17, 2000

Japanese team set to sell Mexico unprecedented investment pact

Staff writer After five months of preliminary talks, Japan and Mexico will launch full-scale negotiations in mid-March on a pact aimed at protecting and facilitating Japanese investment in the Latin American country. The Japanese negotiating team will visit Mexico for the first round of full-scale negotiations...
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2000

Helping kids follow their noses

If you ask children what they want to be when they grow up, they will typically answer with a profession they have seen, either in daily life or on television: veterinarian, pilot, ice skater, or actress. How many times, however, have you heard a child say, "I want to be a perfumer"?
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2000

Hatoyama accused of pocketing 50 million yen

The leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, Yukio Hatoyama, denied allegations Thursday that he received around 50 million yen in shady donations and from fundraising party tickets about a decade ago. Speaking at a hastily arranged press conference, Hatoyama criticized the controversial magazine article...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2000

Overhaul Japan's space program to save it

A Japanese rocket carrying an astronomical observation satellite, designed to check X-rays in outer space, failed to reach its scheduled orbit after liftoff from Kagoshima Space Center last Thursday. Coming on the heels of the crash last November of a rocket that carried a multipurpose satellite, the...
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2000

Japan sets the pace again

LONDON -- The report commissioned by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, "The Frontier Within," makes fascinating reading for Western eyes. Parts of it may be specific to the Japanese internal situation, but the key insights are highly relevant to every modern democracy, old and new, and especially to Britain....
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2000

Teenagers arrested in killing

Two teenage boys were arrested late Wednesday night for allegedly robbing and murdering a man whose battered body was found in a park in Tokyo's Koto Ward last week, police officials said Thursday. The suspects told investigators last Thursday that they had also mugged other people in the park to gain...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2000

MITI fines Kyocera over misuse of subsidy

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry on Thursday ordered Kyocera Corp. to pay about 12.7 million yen to the state for misappropriating a subsidy for a project to develop a solar-powered car. On top of the fine, the Kyoto-based major electric appliance maker will be ineligible for subsidies...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2000

Aum gas attack driver gets life term

A former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for driving a getaway car for one of the cultists convicted of releasing sarin in the March 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attack. Kiyotaka Tonozaki, 36, was also found guilty by the Tokyo District Court of harboring another Aum fugitive. Judge...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2000

Quest on for firm English footing

First of two partsStaff writer Do all Japanese need to speak English? And will they? Yes, says an advisory panel to the prime minister that recently outlined Japan's goals for the 21st century. In the past, Japan has taken steps to improve English education by reportedly making textbooks more communication-oriented...
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2000

Mr. Wahid takes charge

In a surprising reversal, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid suspended Gen. Wiranto, the former head of the armed forces, who was serving as coordinating minister for politics and security affairs. Despite fears that the decision might incite the military to turn against his government, heads of...
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 16, 2000

One-on-one with new Red Sox hurler Samson

SEOUL -- Lee Sang Hoon, "Samson" to his Japanese fans, is one of the most talented pitchers to ever come out of South Korea, but also one of the most misunderstood.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2000

Challenging the 'Washington consensus'

We live in an era of unparalleled affluence. More people enjoy better lives than at any time in human history. High priests of economic orthodoxy credit the diffusion of market capitalism for this bounty. Poverty persists, but the conventional wisdom is that time and the right policies will spread the...
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2000

A bridge across the digital divide

The information revolution means nothing to the 3 billion people who have never made a phone call or live on less than 200 yen a day. But as they struggle to survive, the rest of the world moves ahead. The digital divide widens. Fortunately, the decision by Softbank Corp. and a unit of the World Bank...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2000

Dioxin in soil contaminating fish, report says

High levels of dioxin have been detected in river fish, apparently after they consumed food contaminated by microorganisms from soil carrying the deadly chemical, an Ehime University research team said Wednesday. According to a five-year study by the group, led by Tadaaki Wakimoto, a professor of environmental...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2000

Saudis asked to 'consider' Arabian Oil's railway offer

Trade Minister Takashi Fukaya, in an informal meeting Wednesday, asked Ali Ibrahim al-Nuaimi, the Saudi Arabian petroleum minister, to consider the latest proposal put forward by Tokyo-based Arabian Oil Co. in an effort to have its oil drilling rights renewed. Describing his Tokyo lunch meeting with...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 16, 2000

Requiem for Asia's resplendent tiger

TIGERS IN THE SNOW, by Peter Matthiessen, with introduction and photographs by Dr. Maurice Hornocker. North Point Press, 154 pp., $25. The tiger is one of nature's most provocative metaphors for power, independence, grace and spirit, but a world consumed with symbols is hardly noticing as the animal...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 16, 2000

Don't give up hope for China's democrats

CHINA'S TRANSITION, by Andrew Nathan. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, 313 pp., $19.50, 13.50 British pounds (paper). China is like Chernobyl, Andrew Nathan writes. The more you learn about it, the worse it gets.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2000

Jobs shows importance of Japan at Apple expo

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- In all the hype of Apple's new product announcements Wednesday at MacWorld Expo Tokyo 2000, one thing went unnoticed: It was the first time Apple has introduced a new computer outside its home market. That the first occurred here underscores the increasing importance of the Japanese...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2000

Kono restates North Korea stance

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono reiterated Tuesday that the issue of alleged abductions of Japanese by North Korea must be resolved if Tokyo and Pyongyang aim to improve relations, a Foreign Ministry official said. Kono addressed Japan's long-standing concern over the abduction issue in his talks Tuesday...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2000

Bill planned for barrier-free transportation

The government was poised Tuesday to submit a bill to the Diet designed to encourage transport firms and local governments to create transport systems that are easier for disabled people to use. The Transport, Construction and Home Affairs ministries as well as the National Police Agency will draw up...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 16, 2000

The essence of Japanese film

FROM BOOK TO SCREEN: Modern Japanese Literature in Film. By Keiko I. McDonald. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2000, 326 pp., with b/w photos. $62.95 (cloth); $25.95 (paper) Keiko McDonald's 1994 "Japanese Classical Theater in Films" (Associated University Presses) has become an indispensable text. Anyone...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 16, 2000

When intercultural humor is no joke

Upon asking a group of Japanese young people, "What's the best way to impress a date?" I once received the following answers:
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2000

Battle over Constitution begins

Breaking a postwar taboo, politicians started a full-scale parliamentary discussion Wednesday on whether to rewrite parts of the nation's hitherto untouchable Constitution. In the first session of an Upper House Constitution study panel, parties remained sharply divided over the premise of the panel...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Feb 16, 2000

Computers, continued

Continuing with computer questions, a gentleman asks where he can find an iMac with an English language operating system (OS). The manufacturer explains that English OS Macs are not sold here because of various U.S. and Japanese regulations. Still, they want to help their hopeful customers so there is...
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 16, 2000

Rambling after migrating bramblings

The many seed-bearing plants of the temperate region, the grasses and the herbs, the trees and the shrubs, produce an enormous volume of seed each year. Typically of the natural world, a vast amount of effort is rewarded by very few successes. In the game of chance that is life, relatively few seeds...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2000

Bank-tax bill handed to metropolitan assembly

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara on Wednesday formally presented the metropolitan assembly's steering committee with a bill that would impose a temporary tax on all funds held by banks operating in the metropolis. Despite warnings by central government ministers that the tax could have a negative impact...
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2000

Tax hikes would hurt growth

Japan's economic recovery is gradually gathering impetus, provoking considerable debate on how to control the spiraling budget deficit and put the nation's financial house in order.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Feb 16, 2000

Real convenience

The big Net play in Japan these days is convenience stores. Name your neighborhood favorite and you can rest assured it has just rolled out some new e-commerce business scheme.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 16, 2000

Will Indonesia survive Suharto?

INDONESIA BEYOND SUHARTO, edited by Donald Emmerson. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1999, 395 pp., $26.95 (paper). Can Indonesia succeed in returning the troops to the barracks? Can it afford not to? Recent rumors of an impending coup against President Abdurrahman Wahid, moves by the president against some...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2000

Osaka hopes to imitate Ishihara's tax proposal

Osaka may follow Tokyo's move to raise funds by taxing banks more. Liberal Democratic Party members of the Osaka Prefectural Assembly will call for Osaka Gov. Fusae Ota to introduce a tax system to be imposed on large banks in the prefecture following a similar move in Tokyo, it was learned Wednesday. The...

Longform

Dul Saroth (left) and Soeum Samrach, deminers with the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, practice using the Advanced Landmine Imaging System in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province in August.
The Japanese tech that could one day make Southeast Asia landmine-free