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JAPAN
Jan 27, 2001

CPI tumbled 0.7% in 2000

Consumer prices in Japan dropped by a record 0.7 percent in 2000 for the second successive yearly decline, the government said Friday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 18, 2001

Olympic hero Spitz still making waves at 50

LONDON -- Mark Spitz is widely regarded as the greatest Olympian of all time. The American swimmer captured seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games -- still the most ever by an athlete at one Olympics -- and broke world-record times in all seven events. Throw in the two golds, a silver and a bronze...
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2001

Two Japanese films receive invites to Berlin festival

Two Japanese films have been invited to compete in the 51st Berlin International Film Festival for the first time since 1982, according to officials of the distributing agency Toho Co.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 15, 2001

Shimode takes Kano Cup crown

Veteran heavyweight judoka Yoshinori Shimode defeated world bronze medalist Alexander Mikhaylin of Russia on Sunday on his way to his first title at the Kano Cup international men's judo competition.
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2001

Wholesale prices increase for first time in three years

Domestic wholesale prices rose 0.1 percent in 2000 for the first hike in three years, mainly due to higher crude oil prices, the Bank of Japan said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jan 11, 2001

Daiei announces new store strategy

Troubled supermarket chain Daiei Inc. on Wednesday announced a fiscal 2001 business plan that includes realigning its corporate management system and renovating all 243 of its general merchandise and discount stores by the end of fiscal 2003.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Jan 9, 2001

Hitting the high notes of jazz

At the age of 5 or 6, Cassandra Wilson recalls hearing the music of Miles Davis for the first time. "Sketches of Spain" was part of her father's record collection, himself a jazz musician and was one of the records he would often play in their home in Jackson, Mississippi.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 5, 2001

A film genius in his own mind

Harmony Korine -- screenwriter of "Kids," director of "Gummo" -- fancies himself the enfant terrible of contemporary cinema. Well, he is . . . terrible. Certain critics have been calling him "the new Godard," and I'd agreewith that too. But when was the last time Godard made anything that played better...
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Jan 4, 2001

Information disclosure could give power to citizens if they get involved

Satoru Ienishi felt overwhelming anger as he watched a newscast at his Tokyo office on June 13, 1998.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2000

Japan to spend less on environment

Japan's global commitment to environment protection will drop 0.9 percent from this year in fiscal 2001, which begins April 1, to a combined 639.9 billion yen, the Environment Agency said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Dentsu announces first-half profit

Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency, on Thursday announced consolidated net profit of 14.15 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2000.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 19, 2000

K-beat knocking on Japan doors

Within moments of taking the stage of the Pasha Club in the downtown Tokyo district of Nishi-Azabu, Drunken Tiger, a hip-hop duo from South Korea, had the trendy club-goers dancing frantically to its beat-heavy sound.
EDITORIALS
Dec 17, 2000

Words in their best order

Whereas this editorial leader is at least in part calculated to obfuscate momentous contemporary issues, the better to emerge astonishingly prescient after the fact, it will deliberately adopt a stance of maximum evenhandedness, indeed obliquity, and trust an indefatigable readership to plumb, if not...
CULTURE / Books
Dec 13, 2000

Television as a pillar of the state

BROADCASTING POLITICS IN JAPAN: NHK and Television News, by Ellis Krauss. Cornell University Press, 2000, 278 pp., $35 (cloth). Many of us know NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) for its film documentaries, its cultural programs -- stunning or plodding, depending on your perspective -- or its Sunday morning singalongs....
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2000

Lower House ranks' assets slip

House of Representatives lawmakers declared an average of 73.22 million yen in personal assets as of June, down from 87.05 million yen in their last asset reports in March 1997, according to calculations by Kyodo News.
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2000

Jobless rate unchanged at 4.7%

Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.7 percent in October, unchanged from September, although the number of jobholders increased for the first time in 33 months from a year earlier, the Management and Coordination Agency said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2000

Court rejects former sex slave's plea

The Tokyo Court upheld a lower court ruling on Thursday and rejected a South Korean woman's demand for an apology and 12 million yen in damages from the Japanese government for the suffering she endured as a wartime "comfort woman."
COMMUNITY
Nov 30, 2000

1,000 yen shops offer customers discount-shopping thrills

In response to the continuing economic slump, 100 yen shops have popped up everywhere in the last few years, but their popularity may soon be overshadowed by the emergence of 1,000 yen shops.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Nov 25, 2000

Jury is back on Mashiko exhibition

Mashiko is a name that many of you are familiar with, I'm sure. It is the name of a town in Tochigi Prefecture, as well as an internationally recognized pottery style made famous by the late Shoji Hamada. Today hundreds of potters reside there, and many come from around the world to study or pay their...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 20, 2000

No, really: morning sickness benefits mothers, babies alike

Most women would find it hard to believe that morning sickness -- vomiting and nausea during pregnancy -- is a good thing, but the evidence is growing that it helps protect the mother and her baby.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Nov 9, 2000

Tummy-warming marc and brandy

Today is the 11th anniversary of the big "Berlin Wall Bash," so let's clink and drink to that momentous event with, if you will, a white wine. I propose something German -- a riesling from Nierstein, a bone-dry Wurzberg Muller-Thurgau, or a sekt from Adolf Schmitt near Trier (excellent also with sushi)....
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2000

Falling through the cracks

Twenty-five million people around the world have been forced to leave their homes as a result of conflict or natural disasters. Yet as a result of a legal quirk, these individuals -- unlike the 13 million others whose flight takes them across international boundaries -- have no special status and enjoy...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.