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JAPAN
Mar 20, 2000

Police begin questioning 3 Red Army members

The Metropolitan Police Department on Sunday began questioning three of the four Japanese Red Army members sent back to Japan from Lebanon over the weekend, police sources said.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2000

Beijing resorts to rattling its saber again

In Washington, politicians and pundits alike are debating how to understand and react to the white paper released on Feb. 21 by Beijing. And even in China, there seems to be some discussion on how to interpret the verbal missile lobbed at the United States, Taiwan and Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2000

Time to chase 'two hares'

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, citing a popular proverb, says his administration will not "run after two hares": It will first achieve economic recovery and then tackle fiscal reform. The official scenario is that the economy will pick up soon. The question is what will happen next. Without fiscal props,...
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2000

Biotech gap underlines need to foster Japanese innovation

In the early 1980s, a research report in the United States said that Japan was the most formidable competitor of the U.S. in the field of biotechnology.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2000

Earthquake with 4.2 magnitude hits Niigata Prefecture

A strong quake hit Niigata Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast Sunday afternoon, the Meteorological Agency said.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2000

Elderly seen heading 30% of all households

Households headed by people aged at least 65 are projected to account for more than 30 percent of households in Japan's 47 prefectures by 2020, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research has said.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 20, 2000

Built on a foundation of fear

THE SHOGUN'S PAINTED CULTURE: Fear and Creativity in the Japanese States -- 1760-1829, by Timon Screech. London: Reaktion Books, 2000, 312 pp., with 33 color plates and 111 b/w photos, 19.95 British pounds. The argument of this prodigiously detailed study is that Japan as we now know it did not exist...
LIFE / Travel
Mar 20, 2000

Seated safaris let the wildlife come to you

Trekking through the bush on an African safari can make for a fair amount of physical rigor and a lot of excitement. You'll see plenty of wildlife -- mostly their tail ends, as they run away from you.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2000

A role for Japan in South Asian peace

South Asia has witnessed an upsurge of violence since the military takeover in Pakistan and the hijacking of an Indian airliner last year. There may or may not be any causal link between the two incidents, but the peace process in the region has been the biggest casualty of both.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2000

Aum apologizes for sarin on eve of 5th anniversary

The Aum Shinrikyo cult issued a statement Sunday apologizing for the 1995 Tokyo subway gassing and promising to continue compensation payments.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 20, 2000

Antarctica without the suffering

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand -- Writing of his experience while exploring Antarctica as a member of the ill-fated Scott expedition, Apsley Cherry-Garrard recalled, "Such extremity of suffering cannot be measured. Madness or death may bring relief. But this I know: We on this journey were already beginning...
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2000

Class size cut too costly, panel says

The government should not reduce the legal ceiling on class sizes at elementary and junior high schools from 40 students to the proposed 30 to 35 because it would be too costly, according to a draft report compiled by an Education Ministry advisory panel.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 20, 2000

Valuable guide through the legal thicket in Japan

JAPANESE LAW (second edition), by Hiroshi Oda. Oxford University Press, 1999, 16,900 yen. First and foremost, this is a book about the commercial law of Japan. Initially published in 1992, the second edition endeavors to reflect the many changes that have occurred in Japanese law in the years since...
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2000

Competition spurs flurry of mergers

The world's second largest telecommunications market is undergoing a rapid and radical transformation as deregulation, the Internet and mobile phones alter the way that Japanese people work and communicate.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 20, 2000

Troubling truths about India's bomb

INDIA'S NUCLEAR BOMB: The Impact on Global Proliferation, by George Perkovich. University of California Press, 1999, 597 pp., $39.95 (cloth). In many ways, the remarkable thing about India's nuclear bomb test on May 11, 1998 is not that it occurred, but that it didn't happen sooner. Ever since India...
SUMO
Mar 20, 2000

Takatoriki runs Osaka mark to 8-0 while Takanohana falls to 2nd loss

Yokozuna Takanohana sleepwalked into his second loss of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday, but his Futagoyama stablemate Takatoriki boosted his record to a perfect 8-0 with another quick-fire win.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2000

Telephone club firebombing sparks fear intergang warfare is flaring up

KOBE -- The fatal firebombing of one of Kobe's largest telephone dating clubs has led to fears of a renewed intergang war among rival affiliates of the Kobe-based Yamaguchi-gumi.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2000

A bitter fight about better chocolate

There was a storm in a chocolate box last week in Europe, home of the very best of the rich, sweet, inessential but life-enhancing stuff.
SUMO
Mar 19, 2000

Takatoriki retains sole lead in Spring tourney

OSAKA -- Yokozuna trio Takanohana, Musashimaru and Akebono cranked up the power Saturday, but the top makuuchi division's three ozeki wrestlers all flopped to embarrassing defeats on the seventh day of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2000

'Suits' fire laws from hip at assembly upstart

KADOMA, Osaka Pref. -- A liberator of a closed local legislature or a troublemaker? That is the question being asked of Hisayoshi Toda, a newcomer to the Kadoma Municipal Assembly.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2000

Japan against outright ban on dioxin

Japan will oppose including a total ban on dioxins and dibenzofuran in a proposed international treaty aimed at minimizing the release of persistent organic pollutants into the global environment, Japanese government sources said Saturday.
COMMUNITY
Mar 19, 2000

Illegal worker in catch-22 for love of daughter

"Ram Sharma" and I talked long about the wisdom of doing this piece. He wanted to share his isolation and humiliation with another human being and possibly get some help in extricating himself from his situation. Regarding an interview, he said I should decide. No, I replied; he was the one at risk....
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 19, 2000

Two in a row for FC Tokyo

J. League Division One debutant FC Tokyo kept the momentum from its season's opening victory and beat Avispa Fukuoka 2-0 at Tokyo's National Stadium on Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Mar 19, 2000

No end to economic problems

Is there no end to Japan's economic policy merry-go-round? In 1996, the rationalist economists persuaded the politicians to raise taxes and cut public spending in a bid to reduce the large public debt. When the economy slumped as a result, the government moved quickly to cut taxes, increase public spending...
COMMUNITY
Mar 19, 2000

Unique team wiring the disabled for work

OSAKA -- A rare collaboration of the central and local governments and a nonprofit organization is promoting computer education here for the disabled.
COMMUNITY
Mar 19, 2000

Cat's out of the bag?

For the last six months the media has been buzzing over the rumored publication of an unauthorized biography of Hello Kitty by Kitty Kelly. The rumors were confirmed yesterday when Simon & Schuster announced it would release "Cute at Any Cost: The Hello Kitty Story" in early July to take advantage...

Longform

The students at Mitaka Municipal No. 7 Junior High School have access to various cooling devices for when they play sports.
Japan's extreme heat is causing a rethink of school sports