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CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jul 24, 1999

New and old blended in earthy harmony

One of the greatest challenges facing any Japanese artist is to mix tradition with meaningful innovation. Many artisans merely imitate the past with little originality -- a rehashing of past masters that leaves many of Japan's great artistic traditions in stagnation.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 1999

Experts work to coordinate environmental conventions

Staff writer
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 1999

Time for women to 'hold up half the sky'

Adrian Cozette Chandler, a U.S. educator and colleague of mine, has come up with a great idea and hopes to see it materialize: the publication of a bilingual book, written in easy-to-understand English and Japanese, in which ordinary American and Japanese women review and candidly discuss issues crucial...
LIFE / Travel
Jul 14, 1999

Memphis, where the 'King' still rules

In reference to the legacy of Elvis Presley, Neil Young once sang "The King is dead, but not forgotten."
JAPAN
Jul 7, 1999

Osaka puts on job fair to help the unemployed

OSAKA -- In a bid to help job-seekers in the Kansai region, where the unemployment rate exceeds the national average, Osaka Prefecture Wednesday kicked off Job Information Fair '99, featuring 200 computers listing 15,000 jobs.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 1999

Promise of autonomy fades in Hong Kong

HONG KONG -- Right from the start, the current legal and political case concerning "right of abode" in Hong Kong has been a journalist's nightmare. Highly complex, profoundly nuanced, and containing contradictory strands, the case was impervious to easy simplification. Both sides to the dispute could...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 30, 1999

Let's digital

Let's digital. That's the message in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications 1999 White Paper on Communications in Japan. The annual survey, released earlier this month, reveals a nation poised for the millennium, its finger firmly on the mouse, clicking its way into the 21st century
CULTURE / Books
Jun 29, 1999

A century after emancipation, buraku issue still haunts Japan

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BURAKU ISSUE: Questions and Answers, by Suehiro Kitaguchi. Translation and introduction by Alastair McLauchlan. Richmond, Surrey: Japan Library, 1999, pp. 211, 35 British pounds (cloth). This is the translation of a number of important articles by Suehiro Kitaguchi in which he...
JAPAN
Jun 24, 1999

Dad of Matsumoto victim vents anger

As the fifth anniversary of the fatal sarin attack in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, approaches, a father of one of the victims voiced his disbelief Thursday that Aum Shinrikyo still exists and is even regaining momentum after all the trouble it has caused.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 1999

Scary home companion

Just a couple of weeks after R2D2 and C3PO clicked and whirred their way back into public consciousness with the release of the latest "Star Wars" movie, Sony Corp. unveiled a rich person's toy that may be the best preview humanity has yet had of real-life "droids" to come. It was an instant hit, too....
JAPAN
Jun 9, 1999

Adviser sees extra budget around summer's end

The government should decide on a supplementary budget within a month or two, a veteran politician and economic adviser to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 1, 1999

Ratify the stand against torture

It was in 1984 that the United Nations adopted the "Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment." More than 110 countries have since joined the treaty, but surprisingly Japan is not yet one of them. Finally, however, the government has decided to ratify the...
JAPAN
May 20, 1999

Author blamed for Nanjing book cancellation

Kashiwashobo Publishing Co., which canceled publication of a Japanese version of the U.S. best-seller "The Rape of Nanking," said Thursday the translation deal collapsed because author Iris Chang rejected "corrections" the company wanted to make to the book.
CULTURE / Art
May 13, 1999

Smithsonian celebrates culture, history of Ainu

WASHINGTON -- An unprecedented, in-depth look at the culture of the Ainu is being offered in the U.S. capital.
EDITORIALS
May 5, 1999

All smiles at the summit

Judging from the mood at this week's summit between Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and U.S. President Bill Clinton, the bilateral relationship is on its best footing in years. The Japanese economy appears poised for a rebound, and the security alliance has been strengthened. It is a reassuring...
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Apr 30, 1999

Buffalo Daughter reinvents new rock again

After more than a year of touring, remixing, producing and more touring, Buffalo Daughter has returned home to the more mundane matters of daily life. Bassist and Moog player extraordinaire Yumiko Ohno recently tied the knot with longtime paramour Zak (producer of the Fishmans among others) while DJ...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 27, 1999

Haiku as a tether to life and emotional safety net

HAIKU: This Other World, by Richard Wright, edited by Yoshinobu Hakutani and Robert L. Tener, with an introduction by Julia Wright. Arcade Publishers, distributed by Little, Brown, 1998, 320 pp., $23.50 (cloth). Richard Wright (1908-60) author of the classic 20-th-century novels "Black Boy" and "Native...
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 1999

Moving from words to action

Running as an independent, Shintaro Ishihara overwhelmingly won the Tokyo gubernatorial election, the most closely watched of local elections held nationwide April 11. Voter interest in the election was strong. Despite the inclement weather earlier that day, voter turnout was 58 percent, up 7 percentage...
COMMUNITY
Apr 15, 1999

Choosing to release world's bonds

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, gives one sermon annually in the main temple's court, right in front of the entrance to his residence in the Tibetan exile community Dharmsala, in northern India.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 1999

Miyazawa shrugs off dying support for debt scheme

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Wednesday played down the eroding enthusiasm within the private sector toward a debt-for-equity scheme that would help industries out from under mountains of debt.
EDITORIALS
Apr 10, 1999

Key defense questions need answers

The House of Representatives Special Committee on Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation is winding down its deliberations on the guidelines legislation. Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi is eager to secure passage of the bills in the Lower House before he leaves for the United States later this month...
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Apr 2, 1999

Sonic adventures in mixed media

Samm Bennett's ideal record store would be organized alphabetically, each floor dedicated to a segment of the alphabet rather than a particular musical genre. This would be perhaps the only way of finding all of his work in the same place.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 1999

Spring wage hike likely lower for electronics sector

The average increase in monthly pay for workers at Japan's 17 major electronics makers resulting from this spring's wage negotiations is likely to fall below 7,000 yen, labor union sources said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 1999

Obuchi pins hopes on guidelines, other matters

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Thursday restated his determination to strengthen the Japan-U.S. relationship by quickly pushing through bills related to updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation during the current Diet session.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Mar 10, 1999

And the winners aren't ...

A stunned Webmaster rises from his seat, shaking his head in disbelief. As he makes his way to the aisle, fellow programmers and designers pat him heartily on the back and shake his hand. After accepting his trophy from a cybercelebrity, he stands there speechless, and finally says with a trembling voice,...
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 5, 1999

Stylistic zenith of wild flurries

Ryuichi Arisaka has perfected the choreography of the distraught. For his company Agua Gala, in collaboration with French artist Olivierde Schrynmakers, Arisaka created the piece "Industrial 03" which premiered Feb. 25-27 at the Japan Foundation Forum.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Feb 10, 1999

You've got e-mess!

Calling the Internet a borderless world isn't far from the truth, but try saying that every time you get an e-mail you can't read. You know, one of those buggers that is full of incomprehensible code or one that has a mysterious file attached that refuses to open no matter how hard you click it.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 1999

Credit-rating agencies, critics defend their views

Tokyo-based media recently met with rare opportunities to hear countering views on how credit-rating agencies operate and how they should operate, when officials from Moody's Investors Service defended their business and the head of a Japanese research institute detailed how it "rated" such agencies....
JAPAN
Dec 9, 1998

Obuchi says bureaucrats should speak for Diet members

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi expressed his intention Wednesday to leave some room for bureaucrats to answer questions during Diet sessions, rather than having only Diet members do the job, as proposed by Liberal Party leader Ichiro Ozawa.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 1998

Miyazawa rules out consumption tax cut

The 5 percent consumption tax will not be lowered at least for the time being, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa reiterated Friday.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan