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ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 18, 1999

Refuge of the world's wildest rabbit

The wildlife of the Nansei Shoto is a fascinating mixture of species, and as is clear from recent research on the spiny rats that are unique to the central islands, there may be more species there than we realize.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Aug 18, 1999

Another farewell

It was a sad Monday last week when I saw the name Andre Lecomte in the obituary column. He was invited to come to Japan in the '60s to be the head pastry chef at the Okura Hotel. Before Andre, the taste of bread and pastry available for those with a Western preference was always somewhat askew. After...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 18, 1999

A big bang, and then there was life

Five days and 116 years ago, a small island in the Sunda Straight between Java and Sumatra exploded.
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 1999

The good fight against war crimes

On Aug. 12, the world observed the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, four international agreements that set limits on the conduct of participants in armed conflicts. At first glance, the conventions seem quixotic: How can we apply the rule of law to war itself, where the goal is to bend an...
CULTURE / Music
Aug 17, 1999

Latino culture bursts onto scene

Fans of Latin American culture, especially salsa dancing, will definitely not want to miss Isla de Salsa '99, which takes place in Fukuoka Aug. 22.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 17, 1999

Missile Girl Scoot freaks out for all to see

Junn's a freak and she's proud of it.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 17, 1999

Kankuro's multiple personae in order

The Kabukiza theater in Ginza is offering its summer program in three parts this month, starring Kankuro Nakamura and his brothers-in-law Fukusuke and Hashinosuke. Participating also in this program are Yasosuke Bando, Kasho Nakamura and Somegoro Ichikawa.
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 1999

Richard Nixon's long shadow

John F. Kennedy may have won the heart of mid-century America but no U.S. president of that period cast a longer shadow than his former rival, Richard Milhous Nixon. Facing impeachment and almost certain removal from office for his role in the Watergate scandal -- a string of transgressions bunched under...
COMMENTARY
Aug 15, 1999

U.S. Taiwan policy is courting disaster

Don't underestimate the size of the Taiwan problem. As with the two other divided Asian nations -- Korea and Vietnam -- past U.S. policies mean there is every chance of eventual escalation into full-scale hostilities.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Aug 15, 1999

Entrapments

It is essential to have a file of fillers to turn to in times of need, like when I suddenly decide to take a trip, this one to Honolulu to stay in a friend's apartment while she is away and need to have seven completed columns before departure (tomorrow). This is the last one. It starts with a repeat...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 15, 1999

Food with an attitude coming to a table near you

Irritated? Feel like having an argument? Argue with your food. And don't presume that just because you'll get the last bite, that you're going to win the argument every time. Linda Matthie-Jacobs, author of two cookbooks about "food with an attitude," has followed up her previous "Fire 'n' Ice" cookbook...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 1999

Angola: A catastrophe in the making

One of the consequences of the Balkan conflict has been the distraction of international attention from other equally serious conflicts worldwide. Such is the case of Angola, a country that for the last several years has been plagued by a ruthless civil war. While world nations and international aid...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 1999

End the 'one China' fiction

China is again rattling its sabers over Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui's recent statement that Taiwan will henceforth conduct its relations with China as "a special state-to-state relationship."
EDITORIALS
Aug 14, 1999

Wiretap with care

Toward the close of the Diet session this week, lawmakers affiliated with the ruling parties, riding on their coalition's majority, rushed through several controversial bills that could infringe on basic human rights in a free and democratic society. One of them is a package of three bills designed to...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 1999

Erratic leader dismays Russian far east

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin's sacking of his fourth prime minister in 17 months left Far Eastern residents shaking their heads and complaining that the aging president is unfit to rule the country.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 14, 1999

Celebrating female energies through the Great Goddess

Female divinity in its myriad South Asian forms is the subject of a major exhibition, "Devi: The Great Goddess," showing at the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery through Sept. 6. More than 120 objects from India, Nepal, China and Pakistan spanning over 2,000 years are on view.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 14, 1999

Forging ahead into the new millennium

Summer in Japan is notorious for being hot, humid and unpleasant. If you are a blacksmith, however, even the summer air is probably refreshing.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 14, 1999

More than a humble piece of clay

Japan is a ceramic paradise, plain and simple.
COMMENTARY
Aug 14, 1999

Junk science has U.S. justice on the ropes

WASHINGTON -- Most people expect a justice system to provide justice. In recent years, however, the U.S. tort system has run wild. Plaintiffs eschew responsibility for their own actions, trial lawyers search for deep corporate pockets and experts-for-hire promote fantastic negligence theories. The resulting...
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 1999

'Going in the wrong direction'

Only three weeks after drawing back from the brink of war, India and Pakistan have clashed again. This time, the setting is disputed marshland near the Arabian Sea. On Tuesday, India shot down one of Pakistan's marine reconnaissance planes, killing all 16 people aboard. Pakistan responded the next day...
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 1999

Russia's new Islamic nightmare

It is difficult to know exactly what is going on in Dagestan, an isolated Russian republic of 2 million, mostly poor, people. Journalists steer clear of the region since local warlords started kidnapping for ransom. All that is certain is that last weekend, a band of about 1,200 Islamic Wahabite fundamentalists...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

SDP proposes damage investigation for war redress

The Social Democratic Party on Friday announced a draft for legislation that would redress wartime victims claiming compensation from the government.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

Japan to host aid meeting for Mideast peace

Japan will host a two-day aid donors' meeting for Palestinian-controlled areas in Israel in October as part of international efforts to boost the Middle East peace process under a renewed pledge for peace by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

Police send NCB window-dressing case to prosecutors

Police turned over to prosecutors Friday the case against Nippon Credit Bank and three of its former executives for alleged violation of the Securities and Exchange Law through the falsification of earnings reports at the now-nationalized bank.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

Chemical releases fell slightly in '97, agency report says

The amount of chemicals released into the environment by companies participating in a pilot reporting program fell slightly in 1997 compared with the year before, according to the Environment Agency.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

No capitulation, no food: Komura to Pyongyang

The resumption of Japan's food aid to North Korea depends on whether Pyongyang takes constructive steps to clear away international concern over its nuclear and missile development programs, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura reiterated Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

Obuchi persuades Ozawa to stay in ruling camp

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi ended a crisis in his ruling coalition on Friday, striking an accord with Liberal Party leader Ichiro Ozawa to resolve a dispute over the proposed cutting of Lower House seats that had pushed their eight-month-old alliance to the brink of collapse.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

New school violence trend soars

Random acts of student violence in public schools inflicted on teachers, classmates and school property soared to 29,685 reported incidents in the 1998 school year, representing a 25.7 percent rise from the previous year, according to an Education Ministry summary released Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 1999

Northerly system delivers unusual weather

The Pacific high-pressure system that usually covers the Japanese archipelago during the summer season inclined to the north during the first half of August, heating up northern and eastern Japan and unleashing rain on the southern and western regions, according to the Meteorological Agency.
COMMENTARY
Aug 13, 1999

Ozawa's future appears bleak

Japan is engulfed in severe political turmoil as the Diet session closes today. Things have turned out as I have been predicting since last fall regarding the coalition strategies of Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka, the chief strategist in Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's administration.

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