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JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Internet site helps blind to connect

Being blind doesn't slow Osamu Miyazono down much -- the Internet was still untested water for most Japanese when he started logging on five years ago. Now he gets some 50 e-mails a day.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Oct 24, 2000

Okinawan sounds old and new resonate through the mainland

For a reason that has so far confounded me, October and November usually herald a spate of Okinawan concerts and releases on the mainland, leading to unfortunate clashes of dates. This year is no exception: The Ryukyu Festival in Tokyo (previewed in this column) in early October unfortunately fell on...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 23, 2000

Clock tolls for environmental action

Mika Suzuki may not be a professional designer, but her keen eye and concern about the environment recently won her the top prize in a Tokyo eco-design contest.
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2000

Libraries without limits

We human beings, especially those of us who are getting on in years, are always complaining that "anything goes these days." It's a habit that defines the species. Elderly Neanderthals probably tottered about fretting that the cave was going to the dogs and it was time for tighter standards and firmer...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2000

Letters shed new light on Nosaka's espionage acts

New facts have emerged regarding the clandestine activities of Sanzo Nosaka, a controversial Japanese Communist Party leader who was expelled by his party in 1992 and died seven years ago aged 101.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 22, 2000

Hawks draw first blood in Japan Series

The much-hyped "O-N" Japan Series got off to a rousing start at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night, as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the seventh inning to defeat the Yomiuri Giants 5-3 in Game 1 on home runs by Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Kenji Jojima and Melvin Nieves.
COMMUNITY
Oct 22, 2000

Country gold in them thar Kyushu hills

MOUNT ASO, Kyushu -- When he had just turned 20, "Good Time" Charlie Nagatani made a decision that must have seemed even more foolish than it was whimsical.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 22, 2000

David Powell

He says that although he is not Welsh, he has always been pleased to have a Welsh name. Last year David Powell strengthened a Welsh sentiment when he became executive vice president, Japan, of the Welsh Development Agency. He has very special appreciation of Wales, a small country of "charm and delight."...
CULTURE / Music
Oct 22, 2000

The unfamiliar from the familiar, and vice versa

Two ensembles appearing in Japan recently served as intriguing examples of a judicious mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Woman says boss ordered her to kill

A restaurant employee charged in a murder-for-insurance case has told police that she laced food and liquor served to a man whose body was later found floating in a river with the poisonous herb aconite, according to sources.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 21, 2000

Songs and sausages in Balkan backwoods

KOPRIVSHTITSA, Bulgaria -- Bulgaria may be one of the worst places to visit in Europe if you're looking for an advanced level of economic development, but it is a great place to go if you want a music festival where you can take off your shirt.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Shirakawa urges firsthand science classes

Nobel laureate Hideki Shirakawa suggested Friday that elementary school children in Japan more firsthand experience in their science education.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2000

Web schoolmate-finder flourishes

If you are Japanese and want to "meet" your old schoolmates, try accessing www.yubitoma.co.jp on the Internet, a virtual alumni association Web site with more than 1.3 million members.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 20, 2000

On living in the best of all possible worlds

In "Modern Man in Search of a Soul" (1933) Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) remarks: "The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him . . . To perform this difficult office it is sometimes necessary for...
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2000

Still no respite from turmoil

The world is reeling from severe turmoil. The Middle East situation remains volatile after an emergency summit in Egypt ended with a shaky pact to halt violence between Israelis and Palestinians, skyrocketing crude-oil prices are threatening a new oil crisis and the U.S. economy is showing signs of trouble...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2000

Blackman suspect remains tight-lipped

Police have yet to make any significant progress in the Lucie Blackman case, despite the arrest last week of a company executive suspected of having had some connection with the missing Briton.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Oct 19, 2000

Restoring health with flowers

To continue with our rather jolly theme of happiness-inducing strategies, today we take a look at the Bach Flower Remedies.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 19, 2000

Talking head Tanaka wows 'em in Nagano

Yasuo Tanaka, candidate for the governorship of Nagano Prefecture, was supposed to meet voters at 2:30 p.m. at a shopping arcade in downtown Nagano, but it was a long arcade. A campaign worker wearing a bright orange windbreaker was handing out literature in front of Ito Yokado. "I think it's been changed,"...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 19, 2000

Glittering prizes on the Ginza

There's a new tenant on Ginza's shopping street, a new jewel.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 2000

A prize for all South Koreans

This century's last Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to South Korean President Kim Dae Jung. The honor caps a checkered career that includes adduction from Japan by intelligence agents, years of imprisonment under the threat of execution and, most recently, a historic summit meeting in June with North...
COMMUNITY
Oct 19, 2000

Kyushu reaches out to Asia through education

FUKUOKA -- For years it's been said that Kyushu's economic nerve center, Fukuoka, is one of Japan's most promising areas when it comes to forging new business and cultural links overseas. The city's proximity to the East Asian continent, as well as government and business activity, have all contributed...
EDITORIALS
Oct 18, 2000

The case of Bessie's gaur

Cloning is in the news again, as it has been regularly since the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep in Scotland in 1996. The last four years have seen a flurry of Dollies -- more sheep, cattle, pigs and mice -- and numerous bulletins on their progress, which has mostly proved surprisingly normal. In the...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 18, 2000

Seeing spots before your eyes

Rain brings changes to the African savanna. As storm clouds near, even the smells change. The temperature flutters, falls; the stuttering, buzzing and sawing of insects takes on a different pitch; then a hush, before the pittering of raindrops splashes dust from the baked ground. The pittering turns...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 18, 2000

Rootless, wandering nomads on the shifting sands of time

Of all the things I have given my children (bicycles, braces and bald chromosomes) and of all the things I would like to give them (resilience, compassion and an early introduction to Rogaine) nothing seems farther beyond my meager means than the one gift I care to bestow the most:
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2000

An unambiguous democrat

At the moment of his greatest personal triumph, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung once again demonstrated his magnanimity. "I return all my honor to the people and the citizens of the world, who love democracy and human rights," the president was quoted as saying after he was awarded the Nobel Peace...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2000

Globalization proves a taxing issue

Listening to the bureaucrats at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and in other transnational organizations like the European Union, it appears that the most pressing issues about globalization is the impact upon governments' ability to collect taxes. Of course, these international...
CULTURE / Books / POETRY MIGNETTE
Oct 15, 2000

Rexroth revolution comes home to Japan

Yokohama-based essayist and poet Morgan Gibson has been and continues to be one of the most prolific contributors to Japan's English literary scene. Of his own work he had poems published in the 1970s in pioneering journals like One Mind and Kyoto Review and later, in the '80s, in publications like Blue...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?