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BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2000

Yoshimoto Kogyo branches into entertainment catering

OSAKA -- Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., a major, Osaka-based entertainment firm, has found yet another business area to cash in on -- entertainment catering. The move, according to Yoshimoto officials, is part of its business diversification plan as it goes into the 21st century.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2000

Socialist International surveys the scene

The Socialist International's Asia Pacific Committee met Aug. 7-8 in Wellington, New Zealand, at the invitation of Helen Clark, the Labor prime minister. The urgent issue on the agenda was Fiji. Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, the Fiji Labor Party leader who had been overthrown, explained the background....
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2000

Motorcycle makers gear up to tackle domestic slump

Despite brisk business in the global market, Japanese motorcycle makers have for years watched their domestic sales slide.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 16, 2000

Of Rubber Ridley and his Gardens

The Gardens: That is how many locals refer to them. Just The Gardens. As if there were no other, as Bonnie Tinsley wrote in "Visions of Delight."
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 3, 2000

World Cup vote: Africa needs a good PR officer

The jury is not out on this one: Africa should be hosting the World Cup in 2006. The continent is long overdue, having made a significant contribution to world soccer in the past 20 years.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2000

Disneyland offers gays chance to come out in the sun

As is always the case at weekends during summer vacation, Tokyo Disneyland was packed by tens of thousands of visitors Sunday.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 1, 2000

Sowing authentic 'seeds of peace'

HIROSHIMA WITNESS FOR PEACE: Testimony of A-Bomb Survivor Suzuko Numata, by Chikahiro Hiroiwa. Translated by Tadatoshi Saito. Tokyo: Soeisha Books/Sanseido, 1,000 yen. Thirty-six years ago, not two decades after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Kenzaburo Oe was already writing about the imperative...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Aug 1, 2000

Hard training is its own reward as big event looms

Note: By the time you read this you're still probably suffering a hangover with the force of two stars colliding in a distant galaxy (courtesy of Fuji Rock Festival): far out and painful, in other words. Well, this article concerns the Fuji Rock warmup weekend, an annual ritual where Fuji Rockers imbibe...
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2000

Third phase of monetary rule prompts G8 to renew focus

This year's Group of Eight summit was concluded over the weekend in Okinawa, wrapping up a series of meetings that began July 8 with the G8 finance ministers in Fukuoka.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2000

Crown Princess will miss funeral

The Crown Princess will be absent from today's funeral ceremony for the Empress Dowager and related events that will run until Wednesday, the Imperial Household Agency said Monday.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 20, 2000

Euro 2000: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Euro 2000 maybe fading into the memory banks, but before it disappears it's worth recapping the tournament's pluses and minuses and, where applicable, what Japan and South Korea might learn for the 2002 World Cup. So here then is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly rundown of Euro 2000.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jul 20, 2000

It's convention time again

It is convention time, folks. The Republicans meet in Philadelphia's Comcast-Spectator's First Union Center from July 31 through Aug. 3; the Democrats at the Staples Center in Los Angeles from Aug. 14 through 17. The conventions have a serious purpose. They are the supreme authorities in which the parties...
CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2000

Berlin Phil brings greetings: from one capital to another

Political and economic capital of Germany and home of the famed Berlin Philharmonic, Berlin is high on the list of cities Tokyoites most wish to visit and explore, as I did recently. Berlin and Tokyo have much in common, certainly including the quantity and quality of the musical scene.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jul 13, 2000

Compulsories of sake keeps brewers in top form

Last month, I gave an overview of the Shinshu Kanpyokai, the national new-sake tasting competition held each spring, and its logistics. Here is a look at what kind of sake wins, and what the big deal is about anyway.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2000

Osaka releases detailed Olympic plan submitted to IOC

OSAKA — The city of Osaka on Thursday released the details of its 2008 Olympic plans, three days after submitting them to the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2000

No easy fix for Japan's economic woes

The debate over monetary policy in Tokyo is shaping up to be the mother-of-all-battles over economic policy. The latest skirmish began when Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami spoke out in favor of ending Japan's zero-interest policy.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 18, 2000

Giants and 'Maru-chan' a perfect match

Yomiuri Giants first baseman Domingo Martinez last week celebrated his one-year anniversary with the team, and plucking him out of the Mexican League last June and bringing him back to Japan was one of the best things the Giants have ever done.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 18, 2000

Toshio Sugihara

Recently the College Women's Association of Japan held an anniversary celebration. "Music and Tea" was an afternoon program commemorating 25 years of the activities of Volunteers for Blind Students, a group that is part of CWAJ's education program. "In April, The Japan Vocational Development Center for...
COMMENTARY
Jun 8, 2000

U.S. presidential candidates use 'soft money' campaign funds to stock war chests

WASHINGTON -- With still six months to go, the U.S. presidential campaign of 2000 is in the doldrums. Neither candidate really has much wind in his campaign sails. Texas Gov. George W. Bush is still out in front -- 47-41 -- of Vice President Al Gore. That is about the same margin his dad was behind at...
LIFE / Travel
Jun 7, 2000

A magical world of wonder on the urban fringes

Hotaru (fireflies) are one of nature's smaller, yet sublime occurrences. The tiny, 15-mm-long bugs live only two weeks after hatching, but are blessed with phosphorescent rear ends which make clusters of them a captivating sight on summer nights. Their almost-fluorescent glow also ensures the continuation...
JAPAN
May 30, 2000

Global warming to strike hard: IPCC

Global warming may cause large-scale flooding after 2100, leading to water shortages and the spread of infectious diseases, according to the draft of a report to be issued next year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
CULTURE / Art
May 28, 2000

Reinventing the art of exhibition making

Harald Szeemann's recent visit to Japan, at the invitation of the Benesse House on Naoshima Island and Kanazawa City's museum construction office, was a rare chance to hear the freelance curator's views on exhibition creation.
JAPAN
May 23, 2000

Sydney Olympics tours ready to wreak havoc on wallets

With the Sydney Olympics now less than four months away, many travel agents in Japan are busy selling tour packages to the Games.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 16, 2000

Cindy Fueki

More than 70 years ago, a group of women living in Yokohama founded the International Women's Club. They devised lively social programs and gave their attention to welfare work. The outbreak of World War II meant that the club ceased its activities.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Apr 13, 2000

Fish, sake and crowds come together at Uoshin

Like the indigenous beverages of most countries, sake developed along with its national cuisine. Indeed, there are great differences in Japanese cuisine from region to region, small country though Japan may be, and these differences are reflected in the subtle differences in the sake.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 22, 2000

Chinois chic in Tokyo's 'experimental' cyber cafe

Can't be bothered with waitresses? Not in the mood for a menu? Just want to grab a hot beverage and snack, plug in and kick back?
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2000

Obuchi apologizes to Kok for Dutch victims of war

In a meeting Monday with his visiting Dutch counterpart, Willem Kok, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi expressed Japan's "deep remorse and a heartfelt apology" for Dutch victims of World War II, a Foreign Ministry official said. Kok said that although the events of history cannot be undone, the two nations...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2000

Japan ill-served by its whitewash of wartime crimes

At the dawn of the new millennium, many nations continue to grapple with the historic and moral implications of World War II. In Berlin, the German government broke ground for a new Holocaust Memorial, and in Stockholm 40 heads of state joined with historians, educators and Jewish survivors of the Nazi...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 9, 2000

Fresh and fragrant -- Kyushu's new spring sake

Kyushu may not be as famous for its sake as for shochu, but historical findings tell us it's probably been drunk here since the rule of Himiko -- around A.D. 300. While northern Japan is more famous for sake, Kyushu brewers too produce some fine labels, meeting changes in consumer tastes. Kyushu's sake...

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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.