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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2000

Patient, clever Mori comes into his own

Yoshiro Mori, who replaced Keizo Obuchi as prime minister after Obuchi suffered a stroke and went into coma, is a very lucky man. As secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Mori was a loyal aide to Obuchi, who had recently suffered a sharp drop in popularity. Mori firmly believes in...
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 2000

Mr. Ishihara's insensitivity

No informed Japanese would have been surprised to hear Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara using dead but racist language in his speech at a Ground Self-Defense Force anniversary last Sunday. He has been known for repeatedly indulging in a poor choice of words, for his complacent tendency to confuse arrogance...
ENVIRONMENT
Apr 12, 2000

Genkyu-en Garden and the House of Ii

The Tokugawa Period has long ended, but dotted around the country there are remains in the form of castles (originals or replicas), yashiki (the residences of the daimyo ruling class) and of course the magnificent gardens with which the yashiki were adorned. Indeed, in most cases only the garden remains;...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2000

Beijing resorts to rattling its saber again

In Washington, politicians and pundits alike are debating how to understand and react to the white paper released on Feb. 21 by Beijing. And even in China, there seems to be some discussion on how to interpret the verbal missile lobbed at the United States, Taiwan and Japan.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2000

Japan against outright ban on dioxin

Japan will oppose including a total ban on dioxins and dibenzofuran in a proposed international treaty aimed at minimizing the release of persistent organic pollutants into the global environment, Japanese government sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2000

Taiwan goes to the polls at a critical time

Four years ago, Taiwanese cast votes in the island's first ever direct presidential election as China lobbed missiles into the Taiwan Strait. This time around, the fireworks are coming not from the Chinese mainland, but from a three-way, neck-and-neck race that has Taiwan's ruling Nationalist Party (KMT)...
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 6, 2000

Never mind lions, look at the birds

When thinking of traveling in South Africa, many people imagine safari-style ventures into the bush to spy elephant, rhino and cheetah.
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,...
EDITORIALS
Feb 27, 2000

The imitable Jeeves

Correct us if we are wrong, but we seem to have detected a certain half-veiled annoyance recently on the part of a British literary agency named A.P. Watt. The trouble is, these Watt chaps' duties include looking after the estate of the late, great comic novelist P.G. Wodehouse, creator of the supposedly...
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...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 22, 2000

Hearing the global groove

Just back from an exhilarating recording trip to Santa Cruz, Calif., for the second installment of the project by Okinawa's Takashi Hirayasu and American guitarist Bob Brozman. This time the duo was joined by other musicians on percussion, drums and bass, and also David Hidalgo from Los Lobos and the...
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2000

Japan keeps expo on track despite BIE's concerns

Despite environmental concerns about Japan's proposed 2005 world exposition, a top official on Monday said Aichi Prefecture is expected to register its plan at the general assembly of the Paris-based International Bureau of Expositions (BIE) in May. "The important thing is for us to continue efforts...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2000

Kono, Ivanov signal further efforts toward a peace treaty

In the first foreign-ministerial meeting since former Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned on New Year's Eve, Japan and Russia confirmed Friday that they will continue to cooperate on a foreign policy course to advance peace treaty negotiations, a Foreign Ministry official said.
EDITORIALS
Feb 5, 2000

Men, machines and messages

Sen. John McCain has jolted the race for the Republican presidential nomination. His landslide win in the New Hampshire primary this week stunned the front-runner, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, and reinvigorated the campaign. New Hampshire is not representative of U.S. politics, but the results there foreshadow...
COMMUNITY
Feb 1, 2000

Dance craze swinging into action

The 1996 hit movie "Shall We Dance?" has helped the Japanese appreciate the charm of ballroom dancing. Yet despite the surging popularity of dance schools across the country, social dance continues to play a minor role in the local nightlife. Now, some devotees are promoting swing, a more casual version...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2000

Restructuring, but with a human touch

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The most popular "buzzwords" in this time of change must surely be "globalization" and "restructuring." Allow me to indulge in one more reference to the latter with some remarks that may be quickly criticized as an example of "old-school, bureaucratic" thinking.
EDITORIALS
Jan 17, 2000

Begin the Constitutional debate

The postwar Constitution of Japan, which was put into effect in 1947, will come up for formal and continuous debate for the first time in the ordinary Diet session that opens on Friday. It is unclear, however, whether the Constitutional Review Council -- which was created last year in both houses --...
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2000

Kobe closes last quake shelter

Staff writer KOBE -- Local government officials marked the fifth anniversary of the Kobe earthquake by announcing that the last temporary shelter has been closed and that it was time to move on and take stock of the lessons learned. But while much of Kobe and the surrounding area has recovered, many...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Jan 16, 2000

Effective action

Now I know how we can rid our cities of crows. I have a wooded area behind my apartment where they gather to caw about their day, and all morning they have been especially raucous as they settle there for a short rest before taking off on another forage. Then suddenly, quiet. I looked up from my desk...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 13, 2000

A winning resolution: wine tastings among friends

If you've already broken a few New Year's resolutions, welcome to the club: You belong to the majority. But don't worry; just put a positive new twist on the onerous matter of New Year resolutions. Resolve to make wine an even greater pleasure. Herewith, a few ideas:
COMMUNITY
Dec 30, 1999

Cashing in on the new millennium fever

At the turn of the millennium, marketer Kenneth Walker will be seeing lots of zeros. Not only will he be seeing the numbers 01-01-00 everywhere, he'll be seeing lots of zeros coming behind dollar signs.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 1999

Russia's Jewish homeland: a Stalinist experiment in social engineering lingers on

BIROBIDZHAN, RUSSIA -- Mikhail Kul was a soldier in the Soviet Army that helped defeat Germany in 1945, but he returned home to find that the Holocaust had emptied his Ukrainian village of most of its inhabitants.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 1999

Oil rights talks stumble again over rail request

Tokyo and Riyadh have failed to narrow their differences in their latest negotiations over the renewal of Arabian Oil Co.'s drilling rights in a major Saudi Arabian oil field, International Trade and Industry Minister Takashi Fukaya said Tuesday. Fukaya made the remark in reference to a two-day governmental...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Dec 23, 1999

Sake tools you can trust

Happy Holidays to all Japan Times readers.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 1999

SDP legislator demands apology for comic

Diet member Kiyomi Tsujimoto of the Social Democratic Party has demanded that major publishing house Shogakukan Co. and cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi apologize to her for a cartoon in the magazine SAPIO that she claims libeled her. Tsujimoto told a news conference Wednesday that she made the demand...
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 1999

'Get out or die'

Russia has always talked tough. Last week, the world got a double dose of invective, however. First, residents of the Chechen capital of Grozny were told to "get out or die" before the Russian military launched an assault. A few days later, Russian President Boris Yeltsin expressed his displeasure with...

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