Search - information

 
 
CULTURE / Art
Mar 4, 2000

Ota Memorial Museum of Art marks 20th anniversary

To mark its 20th anniversary, the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward is holding a series of special ukiyo-e exhibitions through April 26.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2000

Cultist designed bank program

An Aum Shinrikyo follower in her 30s was involved in the development of computer systems for Wakayama-based Kiyo Bank and several other financial institutions, it was learned Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2000

N. Korea diplomatic talks set for April

Japan and North Korea have agreed in principle to launch negotiations in early April on normalizing diplomatic relations, resuming talks that collapsed in 1992, Japanese government sources said Friday.
COMMUNITY
Mar 3, 2000

Heavy and light in minority fiction

The first Akutagawa Prizes of the year 2000 have been awarded to two works about minority life in Japan. "Kage no Sumika" by Gengetsu, a second-generation Korean-Japanese, deals with life in Osaka's Korean community, while "Natsu no Yakusoku" by Fujino Chiya sketches the daily life of a group of young...
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2000

PlayStation2 order site has info security breach

Customer information was accidentally made accessible to anyone entering the Japanese Web site of a Sony group company handling sale reservations of PlayStation2 game consoles, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said Thursday.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Dai-Tokyo, Chiyoda announce merger

Midsize nonlife insurers Dai-Tokyo Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and Chiyoda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. announced Wednesday they will merge in April 2001.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2000

Health Ministry panel asked to review hospital fee system

Health Minister Yuya Niwa asked an advisory panel Wednesday to look into changing a system in which hospital fees are reduced according to the length of a patient's stay, a practice causing doctors to discharge people too early, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Leap day efforts not enough: Aoki

A leap day computer glitch affected some systems and automatic teller machines Tuesday, but the government did not found any severe malfunctions, Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Mar 1, 2000

Take this job ...

I like my job. I even enjoy going to the office -- most days. That's why I'll probably continue the trudge to Tamachi, even though this job is one of the most suited to telecommuting.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 1, 2000

Always more

In recent columns I explored purchasing English-friendly computers in Japan. Here is a little more information submitted by a reader who thinks it will be useful for those needing extended language capabilities for their computers, but first he has something to say about agreements, both local and international,...
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Care-givers, doctors face turf war

Hirohiko Nakamura's message to doctors is clear: Back off.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2000

Japan to take part in global probe into Net child porn

The National Police Agency said Tuesday it will join U.S. and European police to investigate Internet-based child pornography, in a move aimed at countering international criticism of the availability of Web-based child pornography in Japan.
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2000

Road ahead clears for Tokyo stock market

After struggling to find its direction for weeks, the Tokyo stock market appears poised to test higher ground.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2000

Managing global development

The United Nations University is an important marketplace of ideas. The U.N. is the normative center of international public policy. On Jan. 19-21, UNU brought together some of the best international scholarship with specialists from within the U.N. to focus on problems in the new century and possible...
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 27, 2000

Israeli play showcases values

Israel's Acco Theatre Center will present the holocaust play "The Anthology: Values for the Next Millennium" in Tokyo and Kyoto.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Feb 27, 2000

Saint days

I wonder how many of you know what famous man was brought up in Henfynyw in Ceredigion, the kingdom of Ceredig. Any Welshman would tell you it was David, patron saint of Wales, who is closely associated with spreading the faith of the Celtic Christian Church. His sermons emphasized joy, faith and discipline....
CULTURE / Art
Feb 26, 2000

Fair and flea market pot-hunting

"How can I learn more about Japanese pottery?" is a question I'm often asked. The answer is simple: Get out and see as much as you can.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2000

Work-at-home plan may ease nursing-care responsibilities

As Japanese society grays at an unprecedented pace, the issue of securing a future workforce has become a major worry for companies. During the year beginning in April, when the public nursing care insurance system takes effect, some estimates say roughly 2.7 million people age 65 and over -- one in...
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2000

Particulate matter linked to urban lung tumors

Suspended particulate matter found in urban areas where air pollution is severe may be a factor that leads to lung tumors, according to the results of a recent study announced Friday. The study, conducted by researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Research Laboratory of Public Health, used lab rats to...
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2000

Green Cross chiefs receive prison terms for HIV scandal

OSAKA -- Three former presidents of the now-defunct Green Cross Corp. were sentenced Thursday to prison terms ranging from 16 months to two years for professional negligence resulting in death in connection with the firm's sales of HIV-tainted blood products. The Osaka District Court sentenced Renzo...
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2000

Berlin panel looks at Japan economy, management

This was the general consensus of panelists at a symposium held Feb. 17 at the Japanese-German Center Berlin. The symposium was called The Japanese Economy and the Renewal of Japanese Management, and it was sponsored by the center and the Keizai Koho Center (Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs)....
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2000

U.S.-style takeovers threaten safe village

German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim achieved the first successful hostile takeover of a publicly listed company in Japan when it went for SSP Co.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2000

When paranoia is in power, prepare to be surprised

WHY VIETNAM INVADED CAMBODIA: Political Culture and the Causes of War, by Stephen J. Morris. Stanford University Press, 1999, 315 pp., $49.50/30 British pounds (cloth), $18.95/11.95 British pounds (paper). In July 1973, the Khmer Rouge launched an offensive against Cambodia's capital city, Phnom Penh....
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2000

Some very serious pillow talk

CARTOGRAPHIES OF DESIRE: Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600-1950, by Gregory M. Pflugfelder. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999, 200 pp., unpriced. As the author of this detailed, closely reasoned and beautifully written study reminds us, "Rather than sexual practice, this book...
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2000

Development of human resources vital to ending Asian economic crisis

The last two or three years of the 1990s will probably be long remembered in the minds of those in East Asia and around the globe as the Asian Economic and Currency Crisis. Has this crisis actually ended?
CULTURE / Books
Feb 20, 2000

Through 'Different Gates' of expression

For nearly a decade, Tom Dow has coordinated and helped organize the Tokyo Writers Workshop in Takadanobaba every third Sunday 1-5 p.m. TWW was founded as the Tokyo English Literary Society by Thomas Ainaly in 1977 and the publication that contained many of the members' work became Printed Matter.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 18, 2000

The journey begins in Calexico

Concept albums are notoriously fiendish undertakings. Most often they are an embarrassment, the sort of thing that artists blush about and PR reps write off as youthful indulgence.

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