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COMMUNITY
Jul 1, 2001

If you can't stand the heat . . .

It's that time of year again.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2001

Panel drafts debt-waiving guidelines for troubled corporate borrowers

A panel of debtors and creditors on Friday drafted a set of guidelines for debt waivers in an effort to raise transparency in a system accused of distorting market principles.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2001

Yen awaits reform showtime

A series of imminent events seem likely to presage future developments on the currency market.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2001

Green drive may boost economy

More efficient use of resources and better waste policies could boost the economy as well as reaping manifold environmental benefits, according to an inaugural white paper on waste-reduction approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 27, 2001

Maria Muldaur

Maria Muldaur's 1973 debut album remains, for better or worse, the template for all those eclectic SoCal songbird collections by people like Linda Ronstadt and Valerie Carter; albums that included a little jazz, a little blues, one or two country songs (written by Dolly Parton, usually) and a familiar...
CULTURE / Art
Jun 27, 2001

Unleashing the power of color

The keynote of the ongoing exhibition at the Yasuda Kasai Museum in Shinjuku is the brilliance and vividness of color.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2001

Panel approves prepaid car recycling fees

A government advisory panel approved a plan Monday to introduce a prepaid system for car recycling fees, a move intended to reduce the illegal dumping of used cars.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2001

Late lawmaker left 3.54 billion yen

Tokuma Utsunomiya, a longtime lawmaker who died July 1 at the age of 93, left roughly 3.54 billion yen in taxable assets, according to a recent notice issued by a local tax office.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2001

Report urges capture of insulator CFCs

A system is urgently needed to prevent ozone-depleting gases contained in insulation material being released into the atmosphere, the Environment Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2001

Koizumi's reform blueprint promises pain before gain

A key panel headed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday unveiled a sweeping reform program aimed at fixing the bad debt-crippled economy in two to three years.
BUSINESS
Jun 21, 2001

Diet paves way for public entities reform

The Diet on Wednesday enacted a law aimed at reforming public corporations and government-authorized nonprofit bodies.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 20, 2001

A Chinese treasure-trove of beauty

The most astounding piece in the ongoing exhibition of Chinese ceramics, art and objects at Shibuya's Shoto Museum is the large, partially glazed ceramic camel, expressively molded, that greets visitors as they enter.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 20, 2001

'Tribute to Louis': Nicholas Payton

Nicholas Payton's new release, "Tribute to Louis" (Verve), paints the colors, shapes and textures of Louis Armstrong's tunes on a great big, brand-new canvas. The largish ensembles Payton put together on the CD re-energize Armstrong's earlier, blues-based work from the '20s and '30s on songs such as...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Transfer more tax authority to local governments: panel

A state panel on decentralization urged the central government Thursday to transfer more authority to local governments to secure their own tax revenues.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2001

Backers of Chinese press in Malaysia mobilize to defend its freedom

KUALA LUMPUR -- Despite stringent mass media laws, Chinese newspapers in Malaysia have built a reputation for objective, balanced and accurate political reporting and analyses. This widely-held perception among all ethnic groups in multiracial Malaysia -- Malays, Chinese and Indians -- often stands in...
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2001

Major legal reform handed to Koizumi

The Judicial Reform Council on Tuesday submitted its final report to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, calling for an overhaul of the nation's legal system — the first of its kind under the postwar Constitution — to get in step with an era of rapid socioeconomic changes.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2001

Low growth is the price of reforms

Japan will have to endure low economic growth over the next two to three years as the nation undergoes radical reforms, a key government economic panel said in the draft of a reform blueprint to be released later this month.
Events
Jun 12, 2001

Kansai rent remains stable despite drop in land prices

KYOTO — Despite a sharp drop in land prices in the Kansai region, rents for residential properties have failed to come down to comparable levels, a trend many experts attribute to a mix of regional and traditional factors.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 10, 2001

Tanizaki captured in full flow

THE GOURMET CLUB: A Sextet, By Jun'ichiro Tanizaki. Translated by Paul McCarthy and Anthony Chambers. Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International, 2001, 204 pp., 2,800 yen. This is the long-awaited collection of six of Jun'ichiro Tanizaki's shorter works, given us by two of the most eminent of Tanizaki's...
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 7, 2001

In Asia, the swiftlet nest comes before the egg

Due to a belief in the high medicinal value of bird's nest soup, heavy Chinese demand for swiftlet nests has resulted in a multibillion-dollar industry that may be endangering the bird.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2001

Toyota launches Brevis luxury sedan

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it has begun marketing what it calls an active-lifestyle luxury sedan and hopes to sell 2,500 units.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 2, 2001

The missing link in your linguistic skills

Sometimes you just can't find the right word to describe something uniquely Japanese. Thus, I have created the following words for the first Japan Lite Dictionary for foreigners in Japan.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 31, 2001

Drop your drawers and give me 20 (ml, that is)

Mark Heppelle is a 37-year-old Canadian currently living in Japan with his wife and two kids where he runs a small English school. But that's not his only source of income. Heppelle also has a rather unique sports-related job, the results of which can be seen almost daily on sports pages across the globe....
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 27, 2001

Late shift at the Factory

Tokyo's art-party scene is alive and well and sometimes converges in Shibuya. One focal point is Uplink Factory, and one of the more interesting banners under which it rallies is an event known as "Ubique." Uplink Factory is an offshoot of Uplink Co., which, since 1987, has produced and distributed the...
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2001

High-rise hair takes center stage

Early evening thundershowers have raised humidity in Harajuku's Lapnet Ship Gallery to near-sauna level, but despite the sticky discomfort the tiny room is packed on this Saturday night. It's the much-anticipated opening party for Vivienne Sato's exhibition "Wig Wig Wig," and by following a Marge Simpson-like...
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

LDP to extend bad-debt buying

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party decided Monday to allow the state-run Resolution and Collection Corp. to continue buying bad debt from banks for another three years, until the end of March 2004, LDP officials said.
JAPAN
May 22, 2001

Judicial reform panel calls for more lawyers, jury system, faster trials

The Judicial Reform Council released on Monday a draft of its final report on structural legal reforms, calling for more lawyers and better public access to them, more public participation in the judiciary, and juries whose decisions would be nonbinding.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 20, 2001

Amid a whirlwind of change, an elegant history of Japan

JAPAN IN TRANSFORMATION: 1952-2000, by Jeffrey Kingston. Harlow, Essex, U.K.: Pearson Education/Longman, 2001; 230 pp., b/w plates XII, $12. As the British historian, the late A.J.P. Taylor, remarked: "History gets thicker as it approaches recent times." The broad outlines, the major themes, have...

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it