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JAPAN
Oct 11, 2000

Tokyo officials, residents face off at waste site

A 6-year-old dispute over a planned waste-disposal site in the town of Hinode, western Tokyo, came to a head Tuesday when metropolitan government officials attempted to seize the 461-sq.-meter plot owned by citizens opposed to the project.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2000

Obituary: Jinzaburo Takagi

Jinzaburo Takagi, known for his antinuclear activities and stinging criticism of big science, died Sunday of rectal cancer at a hospital in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, his family said. He was 62.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2000

Antinuke activist dies

Jinzaburo Takagi, known for his antinuclear activities and stinging criticism of big science and died Sunday of rectal cancer at a hospital in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, his family said. He was 62.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 9, 2000

Japan shattered stereotypes in the '60s

ANGURA: Posters of the Japanese Avant-Garde, by David G. Goodman, with a foreword by Ellen Lupton. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999, 92 pp., 90 color plates, 17 b/w, $19.95. The 1960s was a time of extraordinary creativity in the arts in Tokyo. As Alexandra Munroe has said, it was "undoubtedly...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 9, 2000

Limp prose from an angel of mercy

TOTTO-CHAN'S CHILDREN: A Goodwill Journey to the Children of the World, by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi; translated by Dorothy Britton. Kodansha International, 2000, 222 pp., with photographs, 2,500 yen (cloth). Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is a familiar figure on Japanese television quiz shows. She's the one decked out...
COMMENTARY
Oct 9, 2000

The crystal balls grow opaque

All kinds of "self-confident" experts make predictions in the mass media about the economy and politics. In Japan, such experts are rarely held accountable if they err in their predictions. In the late 1980s, when the bubble economy peaked, Japanese experts expressed the following opinions that later...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2000

ASEAN+3 gives Asia hope for the future

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- A new acronym emerged recently in the world of international relations: APT. For those unaware of its meaning, we translate: "ASEAN Plus Three," i.e., the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China and South Korea.
COMMENTARY
Oct 9, 2000

A chicken in every pot, TVs in every home

WASHINGTON -- With a tough election looming in the United States, congressional Republicans have opened the Treasury to every interest group with a letterhead. Budget analysts Stephen Moore and Stephen Slivinski figure this Congress may end up as the biggest social spender since the 1970s.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2000

Lawyers defend axing charges against Asahara

Prosecutors on Thursday defended their decision to drop four drug-related charges against Shoko Asahara, saying the move is necessary to speed the Aum Shinrikyo founder's trial.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2000

NPA targets credit card fraud

The National Police Agency said Thursday it will develop a data-sharing system aimed at curbing the surge in crimes involving counterfeit credit cards, which caused losses exceeding 9 billion yen last year.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2000

Festival to celebrate composer Ikuma Dan

"Dan Year 2000," a nine-month festival featuring the works of Japanese composer Ikuma Dan, will begin Oct. 15.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2000

Singapore media monopolies break into rival's turf

SINGAPORE -- Competition in Singapore's expanding media industry is growing more intense as the two rival main players prepare to slug it out, having pumped in millions of dollars to upgrade existing projects and invest in new ones.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 5, 2000

The vertical 'floating world' of Hiroshige

"The World of Tate-e Tokaido," a special fall exhibition of the great ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Hiroshige's works, will be held at Ginza Tokai Gallery Art Hiroshige Oct. 11-Nov. 5 and Nov. 8-Dec. 3. Divided into two parts, Hiroshige's masterpieces from his last years: all 55 works of "Goju-santsugi Meisho-zue,"...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 5, 2000

Celebrate the elderly when they stop saving

On Sept. 15, the country "celebrated" Respect for the Aged Day, when we honor our elders, who pass their wisdom and experience down to us so that our lives and those of our children will be happier and more fulfilling. Of course, nothing is farther from the truth. We in the industrialized world seem...
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2000

Support rate for Mori up marginally to 33.4%

The public approval rate for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's administration is up 1 percent to 33.4 percent but remains far below his disapproval rate of 58.2 percent, according to a Kyodo News poll released Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 5, 2000

Today's Luddites go global

LONDON -- The Seattle protesters who fought the World Trade Organization and those in Prague who demonstrated recently against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are a mixed crew: anarchists, anticapitalist thugs and groups anxious to help the poorer people of the world. None of them...
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Daiei chief involved in questionable deal

The president of Daiei Inc. purchased shares in a group company last year but subsequently sold them after talking to his legal adviser, who said there may be an appearance of insider trading, officials of the major supermarket chain operator said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Experiments on humans outpacing ethics, WMA chief warns

The incoming head of an international physicians' association says excessive experiments involving human subjects should be curbed amid the growing range of experiments in this age of advanced medical science.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Magazine seeks Mori's printsto verify story

A magazine on Tuesday asked the Tokyo District Court to obtain Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's fingerprints in order to verify its article that says he was caught by police in a brothel 42 years ago.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

'Indefinite' sentences lengthen

Prisoners in Japan serving "indefinite" sentences are locked up longer these days before they get paroled compared with 20 years ago, according to information the government released to the Diet on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Foreign Ministry opens NGO center

The Foreign Ministry launches a new "NGO Center" today that is designed to improve communication and cooperation with nongovernmental organizations.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2000

A real German lesson for the two Koreas

SEOUL -- In one of numerous books dealing with unification matters, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung refers to his meetings with leading German politicians in the early part of the 1990s. According to Kim's account, the German politicians told him, "You are fortunate because you can analyze all the...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 3, 2000

Diners, look before you eat

AT THE JAPANESE TABLE, by Richard Hosking. Images of Asia. Oxford University Press, 2000, 70 pp., 22 color plates, 19 b/w, unpriced. THE ESSENCE OF JAPANESE CUISINE: An Essay on Food and Culture, by Michael Ashkenazi and Jeanne Jacob. Richmond/Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, 252 pp., 11 b/w photos, 45 British...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2000

Collective houses pushed for seniors living alone

KOBE -- With the Japanese population aging rapidly and lifestyle changes sweeping the country, more and more elderly people are finding themselves without family support.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2000

Lawyers lift 45-year ban on advertising services

A 45-year ban on lawyers advertising their services and running promotional campaigns in Japan will be lifted today.
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2000

Singapore FTA should cover finance, commerce and people

Japan and Singapore should conclude a comprehensive bilateral free-trade agreement that covers cooperation in electronic commerce and financial services and the smooth flow of people, according to a report released Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2000

MSDF officer indicted for passing defense info

Prosecutors on Friday indicted a senior officer in the Maritime Self-Defense Force on charges of passing defense secrets to a Russian military attache in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2000

Nakagawa vows to learn from Tokai

The government will continue efforts to prevent atomic disasters by learning from last year's fatal nuclear accident in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa said Friday.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake