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JAPAN
Dec 10, 2000

Magazine to run picture of Mori, alleged rightist

In the latest potential headache for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, a weekly magazine plans to publish photographs of Mori with a man allegedly linked to a crime syndicate in an edition that will hit newsstands this week.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 10, 2000

Filling in the contours of a changing world

Sometimes people are disappointed with the quality of exhibitions visiting Japan, but there are no reservations about the superb drawings now at the Tobu Museum of Art.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 10, 2000

A feast of orchestral sound to take the chill off winter

Concertgoers could hardly escape noticing that the past month or so has been the season for hearing big symphony and opera orchestras from abroad. The Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Phil- harmonic, for example, were both here for weeks at the same time, and they weren't the only ones.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 10, 2000

Japan's new goodwill ambassador to the UNEP

Tokiko Kato Tokiko Kato is every bit as energetic and candid in person as she appears on stage. Best known as a singer and musician, Kato is also a poet and painter, and serves on the board of the World Wide Fund for Nature Japan. Though her schedule is hectic, it is by choice, and she has energy to...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 10, 2000

Old Mother Hubbard had a better deal than this

I keep trying to convince my friend Reiko to burrow. "You'd have much more living space," I told her. Other than the underground shopping areas and a few pipelines, you'd have as much space as you wanted. "But this size apartment is normal in Japan," she said.
COMMENTARY
Dec 10, 2000

Conservation and clean energy

LONDON -- The global-warming conference in the Netherlands last month ended without agreement. Some scientists are still debating how real global warming is and how serious its effects are likely to be. Others are still inclined to argue that climates evolve naturally with warm and cold periods alternating....
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2000

U.S. presidential elections should go global

LOS ANGELES -- Americans watching events play out in Florida since Nov. 7 may feel a surreal sense of powerlessness; their president is being chosen by a handful of Palm Beach residents, it seems. In short, Americans have now gotten a taste of the way the rest of the world feels with each presidential...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 10, 2000

Japanese players strike: believe it when you see it

A number of articles appeared in the press this past week, leading us to think there may be a players strike on the horizon in Japan pro baseball. To my thinking, however, a work stoppage by the players here is about as unlikely as a no-hitter being pitched on opening day or Yomiuri selling the Giants....
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2000

Osaka's Olympic slogan in English won't be winning any gold medals

OSAKA -- The English-language slogan that the city of Osaka will use to promote its 2008 Olympic bid is silly, meaningless and unnatural.
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2000

Blood in the music

What's in a tune? When it comes to national anthems, a very great deal, it seems. In the first place, people like one they can actually sing, and in the second place, they like one that stirs and rouses the emotions, making them feel briefly part of something larger than themselves.
COMMUNITY
Dec 10, 2000

Iron chef champ's book hailed best in the world

One of Katsuyo Kobayashi's strengths is that she is 100 percent reliable. With 140 books published to date, even the most inept cook can take home her latest compilation of recipes and come up trumps every time. Not only are they easy to make, good to eat and affordable, but joy of joys, some are now...
COMMENTARY
Dec 10, 2000

American democracy teeters on the brink

NEW YORK -- There's plenty of room for reasonable disagreement in this post-election netherworld. The Bushies are right that we need a president-elect and we needed one weeks ago; despite lackadaisical opinion polls and surprising public apathy, the legal maneuvering over recounts can't go on forever....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 10, 2000

Anchita Ghosh

When she was a little girl living in Tokyo, Anchita Ghosh liked to stay behind after school and help her teacher clean up the classroom. When she was at home, she liked to help her mother cook. Her mother practiced professional Indian massage, and Anchita liked to pick up the towels, put away the oils...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2000

The Japanese language goes international

This is the ninth of a 10-part series on contemporary Japan.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 10, 2000

Unplugged (but stuffed up)

Elliott Smith Which came first, "MTV Unplugged," or the tendency for singer-songwriters to do solo acoustic tours? Ostensibly, these artists (usually guys) say they want to explore pure songs without the production distractions that may have made the songs popular in the first place (personally, I can't...
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 10, 2000

The stuff that memories are made of

The performance company Dumb Type, based in Kyoto, has always been a bit of a political animal, an in-your-face shape-shifter through dance, the visual and plastic arts, text, conceptualized performance, mime, puppetry and film. And because it has been an enthusiastic investigator of gender politics,...
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2000

Renoir among 17 works of art stolen

A total of 17 famous paintings worth hundreds of million yen were stolen from the Ikebukuro branch of Tobu Department Store Co. and a Tokyo home over a short period in mid-August, it was learned Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 9, 2000

Mr. Fox gets down to business

Mexico's new president, Mr. Vicente Fox, has wasted no time in getting down to business. During the campaign, he promised sweeping change. The Mexican people believed him, voting him into office in a historic election. In his inaugural address last week, Mr. Fox stuck to his theme of renewal. But the...
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2000

12-year air pollution suit officially ends

OSAKA -- A 12-year air pollution suit was finally resolved Friday as residents of Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, and the central government and an expressway operator formally settled the case at the Osaka High Court after the state pledged to take specific steps to reduce harmful vehicle emissions.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2000

Yohei Kono or Ryutaro Hashimoto likely to succeed PM Yoshiro Mori

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto will emerge as the favorites to succeed Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori when the likelihood of his resignation increases come spring or summer, according to a veteran political analyst.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Dec 9, 2000

Better education system hinges on revision of law: Machimura

The 53-year-old Fundamental Law of Education needs to be revised if Japan is to lay the foundations of a better education system in the 21st century, according to newly appointed Education Minister Nobutaka Machimura.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2000

Nonbinding tribunal can only sentence the nation to shame

Since three Korean women came out in 1991 and demanded government compensation for being forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers, many former "comfort women" have died in despair, receiving no compensation, never seeing their rapists brought to justice and having suffered the further humiliation...
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2000

Coalition group urges ODA paring

A study group set up by the ruling coalition agreed Friday on the need to reduce the amount of Japan's official development assistance to developing countries in the fiscal 2001 budget, members of the group said.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2000

'Nabe' sales rise laid to weather, single lifestyles

Sales of sets for making traditional "nabe" stews have been rising fast with the sudden onset of cold weather, with some stores reporting close to a 50 percent increase in sales.
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2000

Paper makers' merger gets FTC conditional nod

The Fair Trade Commission gave a conditional green light Friday to the proposed integration of Nippon Paper Industries Co. and Daishowa Paper Mfg. Co. The move would create the nation's top paper maker.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji