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JAPAN
Apr 5, 1999

Narita landowners rattle March 2000 runway target

Landowners battling plans for a second runway at New Tokyo International Airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, apparently forced Vice Transport Minister Masahiko Kurono on Monday to suggest scrapping the March 2001 construction deadline if the current impasse cannot be broken.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 1999

Ishihara leading the pack week before Tokyo poll

With one week to go before the Tokyo gubernatorial election, a poll by Kyodo News had former Transport Minister Shintaro Ishihara in front by a head.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 1999

Kosovar refugee aid mission ready

The Foreign Ministry decided Monday to dispatch a fact-finding mission to Macedonia and Albania this week to gather information necessary for the designation of further aid for Kosovar refugees.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 1999

EPA indicators forecast contraction, 5.2% jobless rate

The Economic Planning Agency said Monday its key economic forecasting gauge for February stayed below the boom-or-bust line of 50 percent for the third straight month.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 1999

Sony invests in Internet brokerage

Sony Corp. on Monday established a preparatory company jointly with Oki Matsumoto, a limited partner at Goldman Sachs & Co. of the United States, to enter the Internet securities business, Sony officials said.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 1999

Obuchi praises Okinawa baseball champions

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi congratulated Okinawa Shogaku, a high school in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, on Monday for winning the high school baseball tournament and bringing Okinawa Prefecture its first national baseball title.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 1999

'Tankan' shows pessimism easing

Pessimism over the nation's economic woes has eased among corporations, albeit only slightly, during the past three months, according to the Bank of Japan's latest "tankan" business sentiment survey released Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 1999

Hopes for Pyongyang pinned on Murayama mission

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka expressed hope Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will meet with former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama for talks during his visit to Pyongyang.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 1999

NPA adopts strict policy on waste-related crime

Amid an increase in industrial waste-related crimes, the National Police Agency Monday set a policy of strictly prosecuting the illegal disposal of industrial waste and other acts that damage the environment.
EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 1999

Lunchtime in Lotus-land

Is nothing sacred? Even though we live in a place famous for its workaholic habits and stressful schedules, there has always been the comforting thought that in other, warmer countries people do things differently. In these Lotus-lands of the imagination, or so we believed, workers hardly merit the name:...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Apr 4, 1999

Many paths to follow

There are lots of ways to have fun, some centering on the Yamanote, Tokyo's more-or-less circular commuter line. Few remember that not so long ago it was known as the Yamate Line and there was great consternation when the name was changed. From the beginning, people tended to speak of inside and outside...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 1999

The United States is drowning in hubris

Superpowers, like individuals in love, never have to say they are sorry. At least, that seems to be the lesson of U.S. President Bill Clinton's promiscuous use of force overseas.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 4, 1999

A hare-raising interview with the Easter bunny

Happy Easter. This morning, I bring you this exclusive interview excerpted from my unpublished book, "The Unauthorized Biography of Peter Cottontail."
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Apr 3, 1999

Block-printed paper beauty

Chiyogami is colorful handmade paper printed with Japanese traditional patterns or designs, and is usually used by girls for making kimono-clad dolls, small boxes, or bookmarks.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 1999

Rethinking joint strategy on North Korea

North Korea continues to confound the world. The country's economy is on the rocks; it is estimated to have shrunk by more than 50 percent between 1992 and 1996. The government is unable to feed its own people; hundreds of thousands are thought to have died as a result of malnutrition-related diseases...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 3, 1999

Home sweet home discovered between public and private

Returning to Tokyo after living and working in Europe for some years, artist Tadashi Kawamata was struck by a unique characteristic of the megalopolitan Tokyo: It appears to be an unusually orderly and clean city, despite its population. Brightly lit vending machines line the streets at almost regular...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 1999

The autonomy imperative

In these post-Cold War days, the governments of the United States and its allies still routinely expose their citizens to the risks of death and destruction in the name of national security. The people of northern Italy complained for years about low-flying U.S. military aircraft, but Rome simply ignored...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Apr 3, 1999

Shamisen ballads bridge the musical and spiritual

Kioi Hall's large hall will be used for a concert of classical Japanese music April 6, for the first time since its opening in 1995.
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 1999

In praise of Irish 'fudge'

This year, British and Irish people alike are feeling a good deal more somber than they did on Good Friday last year. Then, Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland found common ground for a peace agreement designed to end 30 years of sectarian violence that had claimed more than 3,200 lives. Today,...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 3, 1999

New faces fail to make an impression

It is more than a little strange to be greeted at the entranceway to an art exhibition by a sign which warns that the work on the walls inside might be better appreciated if visitors lowered their expectations. But the text posted outside the NTT Intercommunication Center's current "New Media New Face...
EDITORIALS
Apr 2, 1999

Stumbling over Myanmar

Relations between Europe and Asia continue to be the weakest link in the three-legged global economy. Efforts to remedy that defect have been made. One of the most important is the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) process that began in 1997. Those meetings have made some progress, but a deeper dialogue between...
JAPAN
Apr 2, 1999

Justsystem lowers profit projection

Justsystem Corp., a major software firm based in Tokushima Prefecture, lowered its earnings projection Friday for fiscal 1998, citing declining share in the pre-installed software market and falling unit prices amid the economic slump.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 1999

GDP goal within reach, Miyazawa says

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa voiced confidence Friday that Japan will be able to clear its target of 0.5 percent growth in gross domestic product in fiscal 1999.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 1999

Local Elections '99: Ishihara vows leadership, straight talk

Staff writer
JAPAN
Apr 2, 1999

Suu Kyi backers gather to mourn Aris

More than 50 people gathered at a hall Friday in Tokyo's Toshima Ward to mourn the death of Michael Aris, who was married to Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 1999

Japan Inc. to pull back on capital investment

Japanese corporations intend to spend 7.7 percent less on plant and equipment investment in fiscal 1999 than compared with the year ended Wednesday, according to the results of a survey released Friday by the Industrial Bank of Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 1999

Bureaucrats vow satellite blueprints by summer

Senior government officials vowed Friday to draw the blueprint for planned intelligence satellites by this summer, including the selection of contractors, government officials said.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Apr 2, 1999

Sonic adventures in mixed media

Samm Bennett's ideal record store would be organized alphabetically, each floor dedicated to a segment of the alphabet rather than a particular musical genre. This would be perhaps the only way of finding all of his work in the same place.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 1999

First bullfight delights recruits, irks activists

Staff writer
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 2, 1999

Spellbound by Decoufle's grand illusion

Wit, magic and illusion took over the stage at Kanagawa Kenmin Hall on March 26-28 when Philippe Decoufle and his Compagnie D.C.A. closed the Contemporary Arts Series with "SHAZAM!" The opening filmed sequence of performers vanishing and reappearing through a series of frames, laid the tone of the piece:...

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