search

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 7, 1999

Osaka puts on job fair to help the unemployed

OSAKA -- In a bid to help job-seekers in the Kansai region, where the unemployment rate exceeds the national average, Osaka Prefecture Wednesday kicked off Job Information Fair '99, featuring 200 computers listing 15,000 jobs.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 1999

Numbers shape U.S. political landscape

WASHINGTON -- For the past two decades, Americans have been living in the shadow of the "twin towers of debt" that overhung the federal government and threatened the economic well-being of future generations: the national debt and the international balance of payments. Both grew geometrically during...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 1999

Japan an eavesdropping paradise

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 7, 1999

Obuchi asks New Komeito to join the ruling coalition

Seeking to solidify the base of his ruling coalition, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Wednesday officially proposed to New Komeito leader Takenori Kanzaki that the No. 2 opposition party join the alliance.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jul 7, 1999

Technoborrrring

With rare exceptions, no one likes being called a Luddite. Steve Talbott, the thoughtful, somewhat skeptical philosopher who writes the Netfuture e-mail newsletter, for example, takes offense at being labeled "pessimistic." I thought it was a fair beef, but he devoted considerable space in his last missive...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 1999

JR research team to take on tunnels

OSAKA -- West Japan Railway Co. has set up an internal research team to review the process of inspecting and repairing tunnels after the discovery of over 2,000 faulty points in Sanyo Shinkansen Line tunnels, it was learned Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 6, 1999

New life for Mideast peace

Emerging from arduous interparty negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak has presented his nation -- and a waiting world -- with a rainbow coalition whose sweeping diversity may just be what it takes to revive the dormant Middle East peace process.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Australia, Japan stick to pushing free trade

Japan and Australia on Tuesday reaffirmed their intention to cooperate in pursuing free trade during the next round of international trade liberalization negotiations at the World Trade Organization.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Setouchi Special: Bridge-linked isles hope for tourist blitz

Staff writer
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

NTT Communications to buy stake in JSAT

In a bid to strengthen its foothold in international telecommunications, NTT Communications Corp. will make a capital investment in Japan Satellite Systems Inc., top officials of the two firms announced Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Ailing prefecture wants city to share teacher pay

OSAKA -- Faced with critical financial difficulties, Osaka Prefecture will request the central government to have the city of Osaka share the burden for salaries of public elementary and junior high school teachers, it was learned Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Setouchi Special: Sand, fruit and fun beckon in Ehime

IMABARI, Ehime Pref. -- Residents in Ehime Prefecture have long referred to their area as the "Orchard of Japan."
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Setouchi Special: Museum a journey into Hirayama's art

SETODA, Hiroshima Pref. -- A museum dedicated to one of Japan's most prominent artists, Ikuo Hirayama, traces the artistic growth of the famous native and his travels throughout the world.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

DPJ submits bill to ban corporate donations

The Democratic Party of Japan on Tuesday submitted to the Diet a bill to revise the Political Funds Control Law, which calls for banning politicians from receiving political donations from companies and other organizations beginning in January 2000.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Crisis manual details local obligations to U.S. troops

The government finished drafting a manual Tuesday that will tell local governments and private businesses how they should support U.S. forces in times of emergency in areas near Japan.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Local LDP chapters accept New Komeito

The Liberal Democratic Party leadership on Tuesday gained approval from its prefectural chapters to ally with New Komeito, taking another step toward the realization of a tripartite coalition.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Panel urges sweeping investor protection law

A financial service law should be designed to cover all relevant sectors to better protect investors and improve efficiency in financial services, an advisory panel to the finance minister said Tuesday in an interim report.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Flag-anthem hearings held in Sapporo, Naha

The House of Representatives Cabinet Committee conducted hearings Tuesday in Sapporo and Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, on the government-proposed bill to recognize the Hinomaru as the national flag and "Kimigayo" as the anthem.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Honda says next hybrid car will be world's most efficient

Honda Motor Co. unveiled a hybrid engine system and lightweight aluminum body structure Tuesday for a new car to be released this fall that the automaker claims will achieve the world's lowest fuel consumption among mass-produced gasoline-powered vehicles.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Pakistan's version of Kashmir conflict

The conflict over the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir is only a small incident of the overall problem in Kashmir, Pakistani ambassador Touqir Hussain said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 1999

Resist steel industry's call for protection

The U.S. steel industry brought America to the brink of protectionism with its vigorous campaign for tough new restrictions on steel imports. But the U.S. Senate, showing an unusual combination of economic sense and political courage, refused to jump off the policy cliff.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Time up for Malaysian ambassador

Malaysian Ambassador Tan Sri H.M. Khatib is leaving for home at the end of July with a sense of reassurance that his country is important to Japan.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 6, 1999

From combat to sport and art

ARMED MARTIAL ARTS OF JAPAN: Swordsmanship and Archery, by G. Cameron Hurst III. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998, 244 pp., with b/w photos. Though people today are more inclined to study the martial arts of Japan than such culturally expected forms as tea ceremony and flower arrangement, books...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 1999

Chinese nuclear threat is real

After years of delay, China signed the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty in 1996, stirring speculation about its motives. Some pundits said China yielded to international pressure for nuclear nonproliferation in the post-Cold War world. Oth ers said China took into account Japanese moves for partial suspension...
CULTURE / Film
Jul 6, 1999

Going for more than two dimensions

While most films out there these days prostrate themselves before the altar of entertainment, there are still a few that dare to set different goals. "Under the Skin," the debut feature by U.K. director Carine Adler, is one such work, a cathartic rhapsody of sex and grief that is based in messy reality,...
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

June sales show minivehicles still hot

Unit sales of minivehicles in June marked their ninth consecutive month of year-on-year increase with 165,466 units, up 29.2 percent compared with the same month last year, an industry association said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Constitutional review panel approved by Lower House

The first Diet debate on the Constitution since it was written in 1946 could come in January.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

2,049 faulty points found in shinkansen tunnel

West Japan Railway Co. has found a total of 2,049 defective points in the tunnels of the Sanyo Shinkansen Line, it was learned Tuesday.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 6, 1999

Glimpses of Indonesia after Suharto

THE POLITICS OF POST-SUHARTO INDONESIA, edited by Adam Schwarz and Jonathan Paris. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1999, 120 pp.. $17.95 MILITARY DOCTRINES AND DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION: A Comparative Perspective on Indonesia's Dual Function and Latin American National Security Doctrines, by Jun...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 6, 1999

How to get your teenage kicks in the 'teahouses' of Tokyo

I'm not one to hang around kiddies' playgrounds (honestly!), but when I strolled into Shimokitazawa's Shelter last week I was instantly teleported into a school disco, and it kinda felt good. But keep that to yourself, OK.

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