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EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2000

Aum by any other name...

Desperate people -- and groups -- can be expected to take desperate steps. The carefully orchestrated public relations campaign in which the Aum Shinrikyo cult is now engaged, including changing the cult name to Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, for a "fresh start," seems like little more...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2000

Japan's 'railway diplomacy' rolls forward

...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2000

Missile defense opens a Pandora's silo

Ever since 1983, when U.S. President Ronald Reagan broached the project, the idea of a missile defense program that would protect the United States from nuclear attack has burned bright in the breasts of many Americans. The image of a nation protected from threat and insulated from nuclear blackmail...
CULTURE / Music
Jan 23, 2000

Ensembles produce refined nuances in lasting, expressive performances

Ensemble. Now there's a word we bandy about all the time in music. A French word, it means "together." In music, it has two shades of meaning. On the one hand, we often speak of good ensemble, or poor, when we refer to the precision of playing together. A musical group is itself called an ensemble: musicians...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2000

Enhancing global security

The business of the world has changed almost beyond recognition over the course of the last 100 years. At the turn of the last century, Japan was the first country outside Europe to break into the ranks of the great powers. Yet even until World War II, international affairs were largely Eurocentric in...
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 23, 2000

Process of progress; idea to performance

There's a new wind blowing through the performing arts this month, with two companies showing the fruits of "works in progress" instead of finished productions, although any difference in quality seems to be marginal.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 23, 2000

Mary Cogan

Amongst many distinctions of different kinds, Tokyo has one that merits affectionate attention. Tokyo hosts the only Saint Patrick's Day Parade in Asia.
COMMUNITY
Jan 23, 2000

U.S. lawyer set to solve your immigration woes

Being a quietly spoken, modest-sounding soul, immigration lawyer Mark Ivener, of the California-based law practice Ivener & Holt, may not like the following revelation. But the fact is he gives a good part of his professional time for free by giving immigration lectures and seminars.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Jan 23, 2000

Buried in time

A woman writes of her problem. It is likely to remain one. She has a collection of what she calls bark pictures, produced in Japan after World War II. She describes them as landscapes composed of mountains made of tree bark, trees made of moss, and painted water and skies. She doubts if they were considered...
CULTURE / Art
Jan 23, 2000

Eye to eye with 20th-century face

When photography was born and proclaimed the "mirror of nature," the death of portrait painting was announced.
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2000

A mother's place is in the Diet

Babies are always news, but an even more special baby than usual is expected in Japan in April. Its mother is a news-maker herself: Diet member and former Olympic speed skater and cyclist Ms. Seiko Hashimoto. Dubbed a "superwoman" of Japanese athletics, Ms. Hashimoto competed in seven consecutive Olympics...
CULTURE / Art
Jan 22, 2000

Traditional dyers fit to be tied

These days, kasuri, indigo kimono with splashes of sober white patterns, can only be seen in TV samurai dramas, yet until the beginning of the 20th century they were the most popular and common of daily clothing.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 22, 2000

Partying the century right on out the door

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CULTURE / Stage
Jan 22, 2000

New Year dragon roars on two kabuki stages

To start off the year of the dragon, two major kabuki programs are being presented in Tokyo, at the Kabukiza and the Shinbashi Enbujo.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2000

Vision, not structure, is key to recovery

This is a time of unprecedented opportunity for Japan. It may seem strange to speak of opportunity when the country's political and economic experts are struggling with the challenges of structural change. However, I believe the current pessimism in the country is the result of two misconceptions.
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2000

Close the bases, start again

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's Cabinet deserves praise for changing Japan's policy stance regarding the Japan-U.S. security system. First, the Cabinet recently proposed a 15-year time limit on U.S. use of the facility that would take over operations of the U.S. Futenma Marine Air Station in Okinawa, which...
CULTURE / Art
Jan 22, 2000

Veteran of Hagi continues rediscovery

Most of the great potters who rediscovered and revived old potting styles in the early to mid years of the 20th century have passed on into the great kiln in the sky. Yet there is one legend who is still potting: Hagi ceramist Kyusetsu Miwa XI.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 22, 2000

Ginza's Satani Gallery closes doors with clearance sale of collection

It was immediately evident that something was very different.
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 2000

Tough times require radical measures

This year's spring wage-bargaining season has barely started and a sense of confrontation is already in the air. The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) has called for a 2 percent increase in the "regular pay hike" plus at least a 1 percent increase in basic pay. The Japan Federation of Employers'...
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2000

How to build a career on no satisfaction

Whining, I was once told a long time ago, will get you nowhere, but in our current "culture of complaint" everybody thinks they have the right to air their grievances. That doesn't mean everybody has to listen to them, but in such an environment some people have elevated whining to an art form.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2000

Obuchi asks envoys to solicit Asian opinions on G8 meetings

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi instructed Japan's ambassadors to 24 Asia-Pacific nations Friday to gather opinions from the leaders of their assigned countries regarding the Group of Eight summit to be hosted by Japan in July, a Foreign Ministry official said.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2000

Sofia envoy urges more business ties

Bulgarian Ambassador Petar Andonov, who has been in Tokyo since August 1998, said Friday that he wants to see Japanese Internet-based technology companies cooperating with Bulgarian firms. This is "very important" for the future development of the two countries' economic relations and will make optimal...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2000

French back weaker yen

French Finance Minister Christian Sautter on Friday said he still shares Japan's concern over the yen's appreciation.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2000

Workers bullied out amid restructuring

Staff writer For a 32-year-old company employee in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward, the past two years have been a nightmare. And still, he does not know how to end it. Ever since he rejected his employer's request two years ago to voluntarily quit, he has been constantly harassed by bosses and colleagues. "The...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2000

Expected deadlock in Diet may bring dissolution

As talks with opposition parties began to break down Friday, the LDP-Liberal Party-New Komeito coalition went ahead and submitted a controversial seat-reduction bill to the Diet. Meanwhile, the Liberal Party and New Komeito jointly submitted another controversial bill -- one that would give permanent...
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2000

Boom looming in investment trust funds

An investment trust fund boom appears in the offing.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2000

Fashion segueing into sound

A special guest at a Ryuichi Sakamoto concert summons a host of international possibilities -- David Sylvian or Bowie, perhaps? Instead, the audience at Sakamoto's recent Christmas concert got designer Yohji Yamamoto clutching an acoustic guitar. Yamamoto's foray into music (he has recorded with rootsy...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2000

Stocks, cell phones raise industrial index

The nation's overall service industry activity increased 0.6 percent in November from the previous month due to increased mobile phone sales and active stock trading, marking the first rise in three months, according to a preliminary report issued Friday by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry....
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2000

Agency unveils law to cut waste, push recycling

Draft legislation aimed at reducing waste, encouraging recycling and realizing a more sustainable society was unveiled Friday by the Environment Agency. The draft calls for a comprehensive law that details the responsibilities of government, industry and citizens -- including producers of goods and waste...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2000

NCB chiefs plead not guilty to '97 window-dressing

Three former executives of the now-defunct Nippon Credit Bank pleaded not guilty Friday to falsifying the bank's fiscal 1997 earnings report to conceal bad loans. The defendants are the bank's former chairman, Hiroshi Kubota, 68; a former president, Shigeoki Togo, 56; and a former vice president, Tadao...

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