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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2001

The Thai dilemma: ethics or stability?

BANGKOK -- Is Thailand's prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra just an entrepreneurial businessman in a hurry, anxious to bring to the country the same benefits that he won in the telecom business, where he became a U.S.-dollar billionaire and very quickly, one of the world's richest 500 people? Or does...
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2001

Nikkeiren calls on government to implement jobless aid fund

FUJIYOSHIDA, Yamanashi Pref. -- The Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (Nikkeiren) called on the central government Thursday to implement a 1 trillion yen emergency employment scheme to help cope with rising unemployment.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 3, 2001

Poetry, music and art make for a peaceful soul

Several summers ago, while at St. John's University in Minnesota, I came across a book that had matched a poem by Ntozake Shange with paintings by American artist Romare Bearden (1912-88).
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2001

Six banks expand writeoff estimates

Under pressure to get to the bottom of their bad loans, six major banks tripled their bad loan disposal projections for fiscal 2001 in revised business plans submitted to financial regulators Thursday.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Aug 3, 2001

Japan skittish about emerging from FTA lab

Think of it as entering a long tunnel with no light at the other end anywhere in sight.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2001

Yasukuni furor sparks legal threat

Citizens' groups said Thursday they may sue Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for violating the Constitution if he visits Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on the Aug. 15 anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender.
EDITORIALS
Aug 2, 2001

Fishing in troubled waters

Talks between Japan and South Korea over the latter's fishing activity in waters around the Russian-held Northern Territories have broken down as both sides have dug in their heels. With little prospect of the two governments reaching agreement soon, the dispute could develop into yet another knotty...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2001

Blame misplaced in Okinawa rape case

I am deeply disturbed, although not surprised, by the news that Japanese weeklies are harassing the young woman who claims to have been publicly raped in late June in Okinawa. Even Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka evidently blames her for having been out so late, drinking, in a bar frequented by American...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 2, 2001

Salt tolerance and life's dispersal derby

Salt is an interesting mineral. We all need it. It is crucial to the operation of the cells that make up our bodies.
ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM
Aug 2, 2001

Yamayuri (Golden-rayed lily)

"The snake fleeing away, The mountain is silent. This lily flower!"
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2001

Vanity stamps on offer at Tokyo exhibition

Visitors to a weeklong stamp exhibit that began Wednesday in Tokyo can have their photo printed on a stamp sheet, postal services officials said.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2001

JSAT to cover North America

Compiled from wire reports JSAT Corp., the nation's largest communications satellite operator, and PanAmSat Corp. of the United States, announced a tieup Wednesday that will make JSAT the first Asian satellite company to cover North America.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2001

A samurai flick for the MTV generation

Red Shadow Aka Kage Rating: * * 1/2 Director: Hiroyuki Nakano Running time: 108 minutes Language: JapaneseOpens Aug. 11 at Marunouchi Toei and other theaters Silent-era samurai movies fulfilled the same function as the westerns of W.S. Hart and Tom Mix: They entertained the common herd, particularly...
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Koizumi wavering on plan to visit Yasukuni: Tanaka

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Tuesday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is wavering on his decision to visit Yasukuni Shrine after she urged him to reconsider in view of diplomatic relations with China and South Korea.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Prize-winning ninja novelist Futaro Yamada dies at 79

Futaro Yamada, whose unique, romantic and exciting ninja novels sent tidal waves through the Japanese literary world, died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital Saturday, his family said Tuesday. He was 79.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Tokyo education board leans toward contentious text for disabled children

The Tokyo metropolitan education board has tentatively decided to adopt a contentious history textbook penned by nationalist historians for use in public schools for disabled children beginning next April, sources close to the board said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 30, 2001

Is yellow journalism in vogue again?

Why do so many foreign commentators feel they can get away with anything they say about Japan?
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2001

Hardliners threaten Musharraf's quest

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf argues that his quest for peace with India would receive a boost from the "peace-loving majority" in both countries.
COMMUNITY
Jul 29, 2001

Every breath you take

The children were considered lucky when they were admitted a place at the popular Sashigaya public nursery in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward. Little did their parents know what a high price their young ones might have to pay for the privilege.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 29, 2001

A lively, authentic Edo view

JAPAN THROUGH AMERICAN EYES: The Journal of Francis Hall -- 1859-1866. Edited, annotated and abridged by F.G. Notehelfer. Boulder: Westview Press, 2001, 466 pp., 33 plates. $30. When Francis Hall arrived in Yokohama in 1859 he found that the place had "all of the newness of a Western town" and that...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 29, 2001

Patrons of the arts and the vine

Wine and the arts belong together. In cafes from Vienna to New York, there's a tradition of poets, painters, composers and their cronies huddling around tables, where carafes of wine inspire debate, revolutions and love affairs. The food is simple, and the wines are rarely expensive. Yet the conversation,...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 29, 2001

A hot tip for you cool cats

Like many of the proprietors of Tokyo's mini-live houses, Mashimo Mitsuo's first passion was music. Though these days he will deny any skill with a soprano sax, his regular customers wink and tell me otherwise. Of course, Mashi (as everyone calls him) doesn't deny having been the sound engineer at the...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 29, 2001

Tie the knot, raise a family, take the plunge

TBS's new daily, 30-minute hiru-dora (afternoon drama) series premieres Monday at 1:30 p.m. "Kids War 3," which TBS is promoting as a "home comedy," is the third 45-episode series about the ups and downs of the Imais, a Brady Bunch-like family trying to make do in contemporary Japan. Haruko (Akiko Ikuina)...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2001

Malnutrition plagues Tibet's children

NEW YORK -- Recent studies on children's health in Tibet reveal that almost half of them suffer from malnutrition. As a result, they suffer from stunted growth and their mental development has potentially been damaged.
COMMENTARY
Jul 28, 2001

Policy priorities need balance

The nation goes to the polls Sunday for the Upper House election, which in essence is a battle between the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party on the one hand and the opposition group of the Democrats, Liberals, Communists and Social Democrats on the...
COMMENTARY
Jul 28, 2001

Chirac defends credibility of leadership

PARIS -- Once again, the French people celebrated their national feast July 14, which marks the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille royal jail -- the beginning of the great 1789 Revolution.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 28, 2001

David Dinen

ST HELENA -- The RMS St. Helena stayed tied up dockside in Cardiff, South Wales, for four days beyond her scheduled departure date. When eventually she sailed, she was hit by a Force 9 gale and unexpectedly high swells in the Bristol Channel. Most passengers, many of the crew and even the ship's doctor...

Longform

Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows