search

 
 
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Nov 3, 1999

Kauai -- the director's cut

Remember that incredible rain-forest waterfall in "Jurassic Park?" Don't search for it in the movie's fictional location off Costa Rica. It's on Kauai Island, the self-styled "garden isle," State of Hawaii.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 3, 1999

How to read a bird's lifestyle in its feet

A reflexologist will tell you that feet reveal a great deal about a person's physical state, and that cures can be administered via the feet.
LIFE / Travel
Nov 3, 1999

Autumn leaves and legends of Kyushu's farthest mountains

GOKANOSHO, Kumamoto Pref. -- The tiny community of Gokanosho (made up of five hamlets, hence its name) is virtually in the center of Kyushu. Draw an imaginary semicircle arching inland from the Kumamoto-Hitoyoshi expressway, and Gokanosho will be in the middle.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 1999

26-year-old aims to be online ad king

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Nov 2, 1999

An unconvincing debut

The extraordinary Diet session that convened last Friday is the first parliamentary sitting since the tripartite coalition administration of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi was launched about a month ago. The public's main concern is with what Mr. Obuchi is trying to accomplish under the expanded coalition...
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Japan to lift ban on flights to Pyongyang

The government announced on Tuesday that it will resume charter flights to North Korea, easing sanctions it imposed in September 1998 after a North Korean missile flew over Japan.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Second bill would facilitate redress claims

The Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition submitted a bill to the Diet on Tuesday designed to facilitate redress for victims of Aum Shinrikyo's alleged crimes.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Unlock voluntary mental patients, council says

Mental patients who are voluntarily hospitalized for treatment should in principle not be locked up, according to a report submitted Tuesday to a subcommittee of an advisory council to Health and Welfare Minister Yuya Niwa.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

NTT pair held over suspected data leak to leftists

Two NTT employees were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of helping members of a leftist extremist group illegally obtain information on members of a rival faction, police officials said.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Hino Motors down 15.4 billion yen at half

Hino Motors, Ltd. reported Tuesday an unconsolidated pretax loss of 15.4 billion yen for the first half of fiscal 1999 and a sales decline of 219.1 billion yen, down 1.8 percent from the same period last year.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Hotel exec arrested for hiding money

OSAKA -- The former president of a company that used to manage International Dojima Hotel was arrested Tuesday on suspicion that he withdrew more than 1 million yen from his bank account -- which was already under control of government-appointed administrators -- and hid the money.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Schroeder has faith economy will recover

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Tuesday he has become confident of Japan's economic recovery through talks with Japanese government and business leaders during his three-day visit here.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 2, 1999

And a drum shall lead them

THE ROUSING DRUM: Ritual Practice in a Japanese Community, by Scott Schnell. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, pp.364 with b/w photos xxvi and maps. $59.00 (cloth); $33.95 (paper). Interpretations of that folk festival, the "matsuri," vary. Kunio Yanagida, the founder of folklore studies in Japan,...
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Lebanese envoy seeks 'bridge' with Japan

After 19 years of strife and internal struggles that destroyed the entire nation's infrastructure, Lebanon's reconstruction work is under way but the country is still in need of assistance from abroad, including Japan, the new Lebanese ambassador to Japan said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 1999

This poetic chameleon wore khaki

SHREDDING THE TAPESTRY OF MEANING: The Poetry and Poetics of Kitasono Katsue (1902-1978), by John Solt. Harvard University Asia Center, 1999, 395 pp., $49.50. On Jan. 4, 1942, less than a month after Japan's assault on Pearl Harbor, Katsue Kitazono -- the spelling that John Solt gives the name in "Shredding...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Nov 2, 1999

Mosh mosh! Where have the punk girls disappeared to?

Hiroko is a smart TV tarento and it's her birthday so I've got a big treat in store for her: I've rustled up a pair of guest passes for a sold-out Guitar Wolf gig.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

High-tech first-aid kit gives elderly help in rural areas

OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. has developed a next-generation first-aid kit for people who live in remote locations where there are no medical facilities.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Hatoyama calls Obuchi government a 'moral hazard'

Calling the new coalition government of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi a "moral hazard" formed solely to reinforce political power, DPJ head Yukio Hatoyama on Tuesday demanded the early dissolution of the Lower House.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Diet gets fast-track bill to curb Aum

The government submitted a bill to the Diet on Tuesday that will clamp down on Aum Shinrikyo by allowing the Public Security Investigation Agency to regularly supervise and restrict the activities of the cult's followers.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Nishimura called on to resign seat

A group of female lawmakers of the Social Democratic Party submitted a written request Tuesday to the office of Liberal Party member Shingo Nishimura, demanding he immediately resign over recent remarks that led to his resignation from his post as Defense Agency parliamentary vice minister.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

HP gears up for aggressive Japan campaign

Consumers and business partners in Japan will become increasingly important in the next century for Hewlett Packard Co. to expand its share in the information technology market, Carly Fiorina, new president and chief executive officer of the firm, told reporters Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

LDP panel set to debate Yasukuni Shrine issues

The Liberal Democratic Party said Tuesday it will set up an informal panel within the party to discuss issues concerning Yasukuni Shrine, LDP Secretary General Yoshiro Mori said.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Post offices fail to put part-timers on insurance system

About 300 post offices in Japan have failed to register part-time employees for the social insurance system, leading to a premium shortfall of about 500 million yen, the Board of Audit said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY
Nov 2, 1999

Crime victims face official insensitivity, Tokyo forum told

People victimized by crime in Japan are often traumatized by insensitive police questioning and medical examinations, panelists said during Tokyo's first official symposium for crime victims.
EDITORIALS
Nov 1, 1999

Kid gloves and iron fists

October was a good month for Chinese President Jiang Zemin. First, he presided over the 50th-anniversary celebrations of the Chinese People's Republic. Those festivities helped him shore up his claim to stand alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping as the third great leader of the country. He was spared...
JAPAN
Nov 1, 1999

Panel spotlights police, doctor insensitivity to victims

Japan's crime victims and survivors are often traumatized by insensitive police questioning and medical examinations, panelists said Monday during Tokyo's first official symposium for crime victims.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 1999

Domestic vehicle sales fell 7.3% in October

Domestic sales of cars, trucks and buses in October fell to 298,888 units, down 7.3 percent from the same month last year and the 31st consecutive year-on-year decline, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association reported on Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 1999

Nichiei execs to be questioned on collection methods

The Financial Supervisory Agency and the Kinki Regional Finance Bureau will question senior officials of Nichiei, the leading nonbank lender of commercial loans, later this week in connection with allegations that the firm has excessively harsh loan-recollection methods, sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 1999

Traders, computer firms join on Internet trade net

Nine general trading houses and computer companies have started to jointly develop an open computer network system to exchange trade documents over the Internet, the firms said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 1999

Taxi perks aim to win back fares

Staff writer

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals