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CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 22, 2001

Wiggle

W iggle combine the hard, harsh beats of The Chemical Brothers with the noisy exuberance of The Boredoms and an occasional female vocal that sounds like Shonen Knife on speed. Bravely straddling the accessible and the arty, they would be worth going to see for the music alone.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2001

Sony's Idei to lead exchange with China

Sony Corp.'s charismatic chairman and chief executive officer, Nobuyuki Idei, has been tapped as the point man for galvanizing exchanges with China next year to mark 30 years of diplomatic ties between Japan and China.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2001

Teachers lash out at new text selection procedures

The selection period for textbooks to be used starting in April in elementary and junior high schools across Japan draws to a close today, but the past months saw the selection procedure draw fire along with some of the texts on view.
COMMENTARY
Aug 14, 2001

Cleaning up after Tanaka

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi faces a serious problem: How to restore confidence in Japanese diplomacy, which has been eroded by Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka's inept conduct in the first 100 days of his administration.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

Koizumi visits Yasukuni Shrine

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Monday afternoon, two days before the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender, amid strong domestic and international criticism.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2001

Koizumi will not go to Yasukuni Shrine, key LDP ally claims

Tetsuzo Fuyushiba, secretary general of the New Komeito party, a member of the ruling coalition, said Saturday he expects Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to cancel his plan to visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Tobacco lobby keeps lid on state health plans

Staff writerSusumu Motojima, head of Japan Tobacco Inc.'s Kyoto branch, recently said smoking is a "pastime or habit an adult has the right to choose."
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Cabinet trio plan to visit Yasukuni on surrender day

Three of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's 17 ministers confirmed Tuesday they will visit Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Celebrity politicians debut at extraordinary Diet session

Celebrity politicians, including TV personalities and a professional wrestler, attended a Diet session for the first time Tuesday since they were elected to the House of Councilors on July 29.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2001

Dual-surname system gaining support

Those in favor of permitting married couples to have different surnames far outnumber those opposing it, according to a government survey released Saturday.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 5, 2001

From the outside looking in

THE DONALD RICHIE READER: 50 Years of Writing on Japan. Compiled, edited and with an introduction by Arturo Silva. Stone Bridge Press, 2001, 238 pp., $19.95 (paperback). Full disclosure: I've known Donald Richie for more than 20 years and, like many people who have known him for a long time, I count...
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2001

Riken denies organized part in U.S. genetic material case

The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) has denied any organized involvement in the alleged 1998-1999 industrial espionage in which U.S. prosecutors accused an institute member of stealing genetic materials from an Ohio laboratory.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Matsuo admits embezzlement

The Foreign Ministry's former head of logistics for VIP trips abroad pleaded guilty in court Tuesday to defrauding the government out of some 161 million yen by padding expenses of overseas visits by two former prime ministers between 1997 and 1999.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2001

Fear of enemies still guides CCP policy

"Who are our enemies? Who are our friends?" Mao Zedong asked in 1926. It is a useful question to keep in mind in the wake of the "friendship treaty" just signed between Russian President Putin and China's President Jiang Zemin.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2001

Exploitation of children takes terrible toll

Agnes Chan, ambassador of the Japan Committee for UNICEF, as well as a popular TV personality and pop singer, visited the Philippines from June 2 to 6 on a fact-finding mission for the UNICEF Japan group to see for herself the plight of children there, especially conditions surrounding the commercial...
EDITORIALS
Jul 21, 2001

A foundation for Africa's renewal

The Organization of African Unity, created nearly four decades ago as a symbol for the new Africa, is about to enter the history books. It will be replaced by the African Union, perhaps as early as next year, to achieve a new mission: developing a region plagued by conflict, AIDS and poverty. It remains...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 21, 2001

Mihoko Horiguchi

Mihoko Horiguchi says that her life is "a great muddle." By that she means she has not followed accepted paths, but has found her own way. She says she was always searching for something. "So when an opportunity came, I didn't hesitate to take it," she said.
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2001

Avoid temptation of populism

The July 29 Upper House election is effectively a national referendum on the "reform without sacred cows" program of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration. The central question is whether "Koizumi reform" will jump-start Japan's stalled economy and put it back on the long-term recovery course....
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2001

Mr. Lee makes headlines again

Taiwan's former President Lee Teng-hui has a penchant for controversy. His tenure in office was marked by some of the highest tensions between China, Taiwan and the United States over the past four decades. Some watchers had hoped that he would escape the spotlight after retiring from office. However,...
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2001

Ruling tripartite coalition to continue: Koizumi

The present three-way coalition government led by the Liberal Democratic Party will be maintained beyond the July 29 Upper House election, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2001

28 Upper House members to retire ahead of election

Twenty-eight members of the House of Councilors are expected to retire from politics ahead of the Upper House poll slated for July 29, political sources said.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2001

Professors get suspended terms for dental test leak

The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced two former professors to suspended 10-month prison terms for leaking questions in a state dentistry exam held last year.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 27, 2001

New media center has no center

Almost five years after the InterCommunication Center opened in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, the same question remains: Is this a gallery for artists working with new media, or is it an exhibit hall for techies toying with art?
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2001

Commercial Code revision threatened by old mind-set

Japan is changing from a society tightly ruled by proactive laws into one where economic activities are supervised only on a retrospective basis. This is the result of progress in administrative and fiscal reforms, and it is one reason behind the proposal to overhaul the judicial system.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2001

Yamamoto won't fight fraud verdict

Former House of Representatives member Joji Yamamoto has dropped his appeal against a fraud conviction for the misuse of public funds, his lawyers said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 19, 2001

Harsher conditions coming, BOJ warns in new assessment

The Bank of Japan downgraded its monthly assessment of the economy and projected a future squeeze on industrial output, according to a monthly report released Monday.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
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