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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2001

Myanmar's Shan State: a complex tragedy

THAI-MYANMAR BORDER -- Mae Sai is the end of the road in northern Thailand. This is not to suggest that the lackluster town is undeveloped: It does a roaring trade in gemstones (both real and fake), tourist trinkets, snacks and all kinds of contraband. It's literal. The main street, Pahonyotin, runs...
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2001

Kan urges removal of war criminals from shrine

Naoto Kan, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, said Friday that Class-A war criminals enshrined at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to Japan's war dead, should be enshrined at a different location.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2001

Municipalities could be pared to 622

The current 3,228 cities, towns and villages nationwide could conceivably be merged into just 622 entities, according to the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 25, 2001

A stunningly beautiful work of Great 3 genius

One sure sign of the maturation of a pop-music culture is when artists start releasing albums that are organic, cohesive works of art, instead of collections of their latest hit singles with some B-grade tracks as filler. "May and December," the latest from Japanese pop/rock band the Great 3, is such...
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2001

Mori wins 3 million yen in magazine libel suit

Outgoing Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, whose tenure can be described as one long run-in with the media, won 3 million yen in damages Tuesday in a libel suit against a monthly magazine.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

LDP's Tokyo politicians voice dissent

They are closely watching the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race. In fact, they will be the first to receive the verdict of voters on the party under its new leader.
COMMUNITY
Apr 15, 2001

Where the reading's free and easy

As England was once called a nation of shopkeepers, Japan could be called a nation of readers.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 15, 2001

Sake heaven, free on earth

Like wine, different sake have distinct flavor profiles -- some are light and fruity, while others are heavy and rich. Trying to distinguish between different sake in a kikizake (blind taste-testing), however, is harder than it sounds. At Sake Plaza in the Kasumigaseki district, you can put your taste...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 11, 2001

Heartbreak at its finest moment

In the Mood for Love Rating: * * * * 1/2 Director: Wang Kar-wai Running time: 98 minutes Language: CantoneseNow playing A man and a woman sit in a coffee shop, the table between them maintaining the proper distance. Neighbors in the same cramped apartment building, they have agreed to meet away...
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2001

Matsuo again arrested over missing cash

Police on Wednesday served Katsutoshi Matsuo, a former Foreign Ministry logistics chief, with a new arrest warrant on suspicion of defrauding the government out of roughly 119 million yen.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 4, 2001

While my guitar gently weeps, the video rolls

Few pop-culture icons are as enduring as the electric guitar. Maybe that's why artists so love to destroy the things. Foremost in the pantheon of ax-smashers is Jimi Hendrix, who, after performing a screaming feedback version of the "Star Spangled Banner" at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, set his lighter...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 1, 2001

Schilling reels in a decade of film

CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM, by Mark Schilling. Weatherhill, 1999, 399 pp., $24.95 (paper). Americans flock to subtitled films the way the Swedes flock to church. That is, hardly ever. So when Asian films make their way into the theaters of U.S. shopping malls, it is no small feat.
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2001

Don't keep all eggs in one falling yen basket

On hearing that deposit interest rates in Japan are near zero, an investor from Jakarta said in apparent disbelief "You must be joking."
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2001

U.S.-ROK ties show new signs of strain

SEOUL -- It is difficult not to compare the Seoul summit between South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and its sequel in Washington between Kim and U.S. President George W. Bush, given both countries' long history and deep involvement in Korean affairs. The stark...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 20, 2001

Drop in on Kanemura's Tokyo

SPIDER'S STRATEGY: Photographs by Osamu Kanemura, with a text by Arata Isozaki. Tokyo: Osiris Co. Ltd., 102 pp., 80 b/w plates, 3,780 yen. In his text accompanying this portfolio of photographs of Tokyo, architect Arata Isozaki writes of the difficulty of deciphering this city. Paris was finally properly...
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2001

Miyazawa may tap budget to energize land market

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa voiced readiness Monday to earmark budgetary spending for urban redevelopment projects to revitalize Japan's land market.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2001

Miyazawa will not draft extra budget

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa reiterated Friday that he has no plans to draw up a supplementary budget for fiscal 2001, which starts April 1.
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2001

When is a gaffe not a gaffe?

If you were to play the old word-association game with the name "Mori" today, chances are most people would instantly think "gaffe" (in Japanese, "shitsugen").
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2001

Strange world of parasites on display

While the Meguro Parasitological Museum may at first seem little more than a freak show, visitors soon learn more about the profound nature of these strange creatures.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2001

Aso attacks Hayami for weak yen

Taro Aso, minister for economic and fiscal policy, said Friday that he does not advocate promoting a weak yen to boost the economy -- a negative reference to remarks made Wednesday by Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2001

Japan's history again haunts future relations

The ongoing controversy between Japan and South Korea over a new textbook for Japanese junior high schools has taken a toll on the bilateral diplomatic calendar.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2001

MSDF lieutenant sentenced to 10-month term for spying

A former Maritime Self-Defense Force officer was sentenced Wednesday to 10 months in prison for passing two classified defense documents to a Russian Military attache in June.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2001

Deadline on breakup of NTT unlikely to be issued

A set of telecommunications-related bills the government aims to pass in the current Diet session is unlikely to include a proposed two-year deadline for the breaking up of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., the telecom minister said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2001

Controversial history text under revision

The authors and publisher of a controversial junior high school history textbook being screened by the government are ready to comply with all of the revision requests made by an education ministry panel, sources close to the group said Monday.

Longform

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