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JAPAN
Mar 9, 1999

State willing to help plan Urasoe port, defense chief says

The central government is willing to help the Okinawa Prefectural Government map out the outlines of a multipurpose port in the prefecture's city of Urasoe, Defense Agency chief Hosei Norota said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 9, 1999

Multi-ethnic Mali lets voice be heard

"If you have listened to the music of some great West African voices like Youssou N'dour, Salif Keita or Mory Kante -- and liked them -- then you'll surely adopt Habib Koite and make him a part of your musical life forever."
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1999

FRC tells bank chiefs to resign if restructuring falls short

Top executives of the 15 major banks seeking public funds should step down if they fail to guide their respective institutions through sweeping restructuring programs, the head of the Financial Reconstruction Commission indicated Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1999

Kobe urged to woo foreign investment

Staff writer
CULTURE / Music
Mar 9, 1999

Musician serves up jazz du jour

If you are a jazz fan Web-surfing maniac, you might have discovered the Page d'admiratrice de Louis Sclavis (page of a Louis Sclavis admirer, www.netlaputa.ne.jp~/lili/) Web site. Fully dedicated to the French clarinetist, bass-clarinetist and soprano saxophonist, this site comes complete with photographs,...
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1999

Specialists missing from Juvenile bill debate, groups say

Groups opposed to a bill to revise the juvenile law said Tuesday that the bill failed to include the opinions of specialists in the juvenile court system and needs more discussion.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1999

Banks increase writeoffs to 9.3 trillion yen

The 15 banks applying for public money will together write off some 9.3 trillion yen in bad loans by the end of fiscal 1998, according to the heads of the banks.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 1999

Environment chief inspects Tokorozawa dioxin sites

Trading his tie and suit for a workman's uniform and rubber boots, Environment Agency chief Kenji Manabe on Monday visited dioxin hot spots in and around Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, as requested by the governor late last month.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 9, 1999

Building a nation in time and space

REINVENTING JAPAN: Time, Space, Nation, by Tessa Morris-Suzuki. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1998, 236 pp., $19.95. Every country exists in time and in space. This is a simple fact that is often taken for granted.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 9, 1999

A love affair with the elephant

THE ELEPHANT IN THAI LIFE AND LEGEND, main text by William Warren, main photography by Pin Amranand. Bangkok: Monsoon Editions, 249 pp., 1,495 baht. William Warren has written the texts of a number of illustrated books: "Legendary Thailand," "Thai Style," "The Chao Phraya River" and "Thai Garden Style."...
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

Top bank chiefs admit blame, vow reforms for funds

The 15 applicant banks for public funds said Monday they will write off 9.3 trillion yen in sour loans for fiscal 1998, ending this month, in an attempt to end the bad-loan problem.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

Groups seek to help victims of violence

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

Labor index hits record for surplus workers

The Labor Ministry on Monday announced that its labor index for Japanese corporations in February shows the highest perceived labor surplus since November 1984, the date when the ministry began compiling such statistics.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

LDP expels Kakizawa for entering governor race

The Liberal Democratic Party decided Monday to expel Koji Kakizawa, a Lower House member and former foreign minister, for entering the Tokyo gubernatorial election in defiance of party wishes.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

High school students boycott graduation over flag, anthem

URAWA, Saitama Pref. -- In the latest protest of Japan's de facto national anthem and flag, the majority of third-year students at a high school in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, skipped their graduation ceremony Monday for the second consecutive year.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 8, 1999

The view from the 20th floor

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS IN JAPAN, edited by Charles Pomeroy, Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1998, 367 pp., 3,700 yen (cloth). The image Japan projects abroad comes not only from the government or big business; it also arises from a certain private club occupying the 20th floor of a building overlooking the...
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

State moves to draft stronger consumer protection law

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

Vietnamese prime minister to visit Tokyo soon

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

Keidanren names choices for posts

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) on Monday announced 12 corporate executive candidates -- including top executives of two major banks -- for key positions dealing with current financial problems confronting the nation.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 1999

Arnie flap terminates Justice chief; Jinnouchi new minister

Justice Minister Shozaburo Nakamura tendered his resignation Monday morning to take responsibility for several controversies swirling around him that have stalled Diet deliberations.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 7, 1999

Nothing like goulash when you're feeling Hungary

This week I write you from Budapest, where I sit immersed in Hungarian goulash. There is more Hungarian goulash per square kilometer in Budapest than there are McDonald's hamburgers per square kilometer in the United States. You'll see restaurants full of tourists, all of them eating Hungarian goulash....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 7, 1999

The meaning of good breeding

DOUBTFUL PARTNERS, by John Haylock. London: Arcadian, 1998, 188 pp., 10.99 British Pounds. This is John Haylock's sixth novel. Like the others, it is a diverting essay on the English sense of class. His characters are members of the gentry in a world -- Asia -- where the pretensions of British birth...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 1999

Violence: The Americas' new pandemic

NEW YORK -- From Argentina in the south to Canada in the north, violence is becoming an increasingly serious problem in the Americas, affecting all nations in the hemisphere. What makes this phenomenon especially worrisome is that children and adolescents are among its main actors, and victims. Violence...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 7, 1999

Is patience a Russian virtue?

Amid the apocalyptic news about Russian pensioners being unable to afford any medicines beyond traditional folk remedies, Russian workers not paid salaries for months and Russian children in the on the verge of starvation, one piece of news is conspicuously missing: reports of mass protests. It is true...
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 1999

Old men and bad dreams

Two unrelated news stories that have been gathering momentum in the United States in the past few weeks have focused attention all over again on the touchy issue of old crimes and delayed punishments. The conflicts involved are not novel -- they surfaced as recently as last year, when Spain attempted...
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1999

J.League 1999 Preview: Big pack takes aim at Antlers

Special to The Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1999

Panel targets creation of 770,000 jobs

Alarmed by the nation's rising unemployment rate, the government on Friday set a goal of creating 770,000 jobs in four sectors during the next two years.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1999

Domestic PC shipments stayed steady in '98

The total shipment of personal computers on the domestic market in 1998 remained at the same level as the previous year, as the home computer market grew 28.4 percent but the corporate market shrank 10 percent, a private high-tech research firm said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1999

Airport, deficit likely top issues for Kobe voters

Staff writer
JAPAN
Mar 5, 1999

Kobe slammed for English teacher cutbacks

KOBE -- Due to a worsening financial situation, Kobe will reduce the number of native English-speaking teachers at public junior high and high schools by nearly two-thirds beginning in April.

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