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May 14, 2000

Where have all the leaders gone?

May has not been a good month for leadership in Japan. And surely I'm not the only one disappointed.
JAPAN
May 13, 2000

Vast Hawaii telescope out of service

The Subaru telescope, one of the world's biggest, has been out of service for the past two months due to damage to its mirror supports, officials of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan said Friday.
JAPAN
May 12, 2000

Usui backs lowering age limit for adult trials

Justice Minister Hideo Usui indicated Thursday that he supports lowering the minimum age at which people can be penalized for crimes as adults, which currently stands at 16.
JAPAN
May 12, 2000

Kyokudozan set to retire from Lower House

Legislator and former sumo wrestler Kyokudozan said he will retire from politics at the end of the current House of Representatives term and will not run in the next general election.
COMMENTARY
May 12, 2000

LDP members pass the baton

The general election to be held in June will provide an opportunity for the rejuvenation of the Lower House. About 30 Lower House members have already announced -- or are moving to announce before the election -- their retirement from politics. They cite old age, illness and family reasons for retiring....
COMMUNITY
May 11, 2000

Young women study up for the future

A high attendance in classes ranging from aromatherapy, beadwork and flower arrangement to exotic languages and cooking, offered at department stores and community centers all over Japan, is a sign of a new trend among women in their late 20s and early 30s.
SUMO
May 11, 2000

Takanohana keeps slate clean

Takanohana cruised to his fourth straight victory Wednesday, while fellow yokozuna Akebono rebounded from Tuesday's setback with a hard-fought win over Tochinonada on the fourth day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2000

Dubai: the Mideast's global village

DUBAI -- Last month, Gen. Sheikh Muhammad bin Maktum, minister of defense of the United Arab Emirates, announced at a press conference that the Internet revolution and the "new economy" were coming to the government of Dubai. It was an incongruous spectacle, so traditional a figure, in distinctive black...
JAPAN
May 10, 2000

Feeding G8 press a tall order

It's said that too many cooks can spoil the broth. But for those charged with feeding the thousands at the upcoming Okinawa summit of the Group of Eight, it's likely a dash of diplomacy will be a key ingredient along with local flavors.
JAPAN
May 10, 2000

Landlord poll finds a quarter turn elderly away

About 25 percent of real estate agents and other property managers said they have denied elderly clients a lease on such grounds as difficulty in dealing with sudden illness, an industry survey said earlier this week.
JAPAN
May 10, 2000

Communities tapped to teach kids foreign languages

Elementary school students in 29 communities across Japan will receive community-run foreign language lessons outside of school, Education Ministry officials said.
LIFE / Travel
May 10, 2000

Postcards from the flip side of Japan

Think of the antithesis of Japan. A place where there are few people, an abundance of unspoiled natural beauty, a low standard of living and, perhaps most importantly for the visitor, sparkling blue oceans teeming with fish and alive with coral reefs.
JAPAN
May 9, 2000

39 court districts have no practicing lawyers

Japan's lawyers are disproportionately concentrated in Tokyo, leaving 39 district court jurisdictions out of 253 nationwide with no practicing lawyers, according to a report issued Monday by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
CULTURE / Books
May 9, 2000

Testing times for Japan-U.S. alliance

ALLIANCE ADRIFT, by Yoichi Funabashi. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1999, 501 pp., $49.95 (cloth). The jacket of this hefty chronicle of the recent history of Japan-U.S. security relations proclaims that Japan has found its Bob Woodward. Consider yourself warned.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2000

Tackling sectarian strife in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD -- A volley of gunfire that followed a grenade attack last month in a small village two hours from Islamabad shattered the myth that the government had begun to effectively contain the country's religious extremists.
BUSINESS
May 8, 2000

E-commerce tax under construction

PARIS -- Talk about the information technology revolution is everywhere. Electronic commerce is taking off, financial institutions are trading online, and schools are holding class on the Internet.
COMMENTARY
May 8, 2000

Japan drifts without goals

This last decade of the 20th century has been labeled a "lost decade" for Japan. The Heisei recession that began in May 1991 bottomed out in October 1993. In subsequent years, however, Japan's economy continued to stagnate, contrary to general expectations. A decade of economic drift has created a sense...
JAPAN
May 8, 2000

Cult may have paid to get religious status

The Honohana Sampogyo religious group paid several million yen to a then member of the Fuji city assembly in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1986, one year before the prefectural government certified it as an authorized religious corporation, cult sources said.
SUMO
May 7, 2000

Trio of favorites for Natsu Basho

The Natsu Basho is shaping up as a three-man struggle among yokozuna Takanohana, yokozuna Akebono and sekiwake Miyabiyama, with two other would-be favorites, yokozuna Musashimaru and new ozeki Musoyama, nursing injuries and unable to compete this time around.
CULTURE / Art
May 7, 2000

Of statues and men -- the fourth plinth problem

LONDON -- Trafalgar Square is all things to all people. For out-of-towners and tourists, it is where you have your photograph taken with the National Gallery and the church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields as a backdrop, or of you feeding the pigeons or climbing Sir Edwin Landseer's lions. Four of them...
BUSINESS
May 5, 2000

Bluetooth wants bite of mobile market

Portable computers' claim to fame is that they allow you to access and send information anytime and anywhere. But what if you leave a cable at home or bring the wrong one on a business trip?
EDITORIALS
May 4, 2000

Make the high seas safe

It seems hard to believe, but pirates still roam the seas. The International Chamber of Commerce reported 285 attacks on ships in 1999, up from 42 in 1991, but even that statistic is assumed to be a fraction of the actual number. Nearly three-quarters of the attacks occur in Southeast Asian waters. A...
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2000

U.S. foreign policy overlooks democratic progress in Asia

ROBERT A. MANNING Special to The Japan Times KUALA LUMPUR A series of fascinating recent displays of democracy entrenching itself in East Asia imply an important critique of, and profound lessons for, U.S. foreign policy, making that question a central one. Yet with the notable exception of Taiwan's...
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
May 4, 2000

How to hang on to luscious locks

Rakugami, kuzume: When you're happy, your hair grows; / when sad, your fingernails -- Japanese proverb
JAPAN
May 2, 2000

Daiichi Mutual ordered to shut down

The Financial Supervisory Agency ordered financially troubled Daiichi Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co. to suspend its operations Monday. It is the first bankruptcy in the nation's nonlife insurance sector.
JAPAN
May 2, 2000

Bedridden Takeshita to quit politics

Ailing former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, the behind-the-scenes kingmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party, announced through a recorded message Monday that he will retire from politics for health reasons.
JAPAN
May 1, 2000

Subway crash puzzles experts

Experts trying to find the cause of a fatal train crash near Tokyo's Nakameguro Station have succeeded in making a train wheel lift off the tracks at the spot where the accident happened, but they have yet to pin down the actual reason for the derailment that caused the crash, Transport Ministry officials...
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2000

Winner takes all? Not yet

The New York stock market remains volatile, even after rebounding from its worst-ever decline in points that was posted April 14. Following the crash, the Tokyo stock market also nosedived; it is troubled by even more jitters than Wall Street. Some analysts say the recent replacement of some of the stocks...

Longform

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