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JAPAN
Feb 25, 2001

Kanda's Jinbo-cho is book-lovers' paradise

With about 150 used-book stores in addition to ordinary bookstores and publishing houses, Kanda Jinbo-cho in Chiyoda Ward is a cultural asset that Tokyo and all of Japan can be proud of.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 25, 2001

Metal chaos and the forces of artistic evil

Love him or loathe him, you just can't ignore him. That old cliche certainly rings true with Marilyn Manson. Rap might have thrown up its first genuine white rapper, Eminem, to get up the establishment's nose, but metal has the ghoulish Goth freak to take care of the other end.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2001

Kanda's Jinbo-cho is book-lovers' paradise

With about 150 used-book stores in addition to ordinary bookstores and publishing houses, Kanda Jinbo-cho in Chiyoda Ward is a cultural asset that Tokyo and all of Japan can be proud of.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 25, 2001

Helping quake victims with paper-tube houses

NEW YORK -- It may be drawn from a deep feeling of responsibility or a perverse sense of guilt, but when architect Shigeru Ban sees the suffering earthquakes bring, he feels compelled to act.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2001

Joint effort imperative on climate change: U.N.

Countries must settle their differences at climate talks later this year to minimize the impact of global warming, according to the head of a U.N. panel of climate change experts.
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2001

Matsushita and Toshiba plan Singapore venture

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Toshiba Corp. said Friday they will set up a joint venture in Singapore next month to manufacture low-temperature polysilicon liquid crystal display panels used in video mobile phones and other digital appliances.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2001

Putin, history and the Korean Peninsula

SEOUL -- The inter-Korean railroad project across the DMZ makes a great deal of sense for the two Koreas, but it also makes sense for outside powers, above all for Russia. With space to spare on the trans-Siberian route on the return trip east, Moscow is looking south for passengers. It is offering huge...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 24, 2001

Asian music celebration

Next time you feel like pulling your hair out over the bureaucratic pitfalls of overseas travel, spare a thought for Richard Pontzious.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 24, 2001

Yasuji Kiyose's lifelong quest for a modern Japanese voice

Music can be a passive history lesson. Sometimes, it can take us on a fantastic, aural journey, as with Japanese composers active before World War II who reflect in their music nearly half a century of tumultuous, societal change.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2001

Japan to extend new loans to mend ties with Pakistan

Japan will provide new yen loans worth between 7 billion yen and 10 billion yen to Pakistan in a fresh bid to mend bilateral ties soured by Islamabad's nuclear tests three years ago, government sources said Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 23, 2001

JBC slaps ban on Philippine boxers

has barred Philippine boxers from fighting in nontitle bouts in Japan to help prevent a further increase in illegal workers from the country, JBC officials said Wednesday. The decision, which is expected to last at least until the end of the year, was made to cope with an increasing number of Philippine...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2001

India's census will only confirm the obvious: the nation is overpopulated

The ongoing census in India, the sixth since its independence in 1947, is bound to unfold an ocean of data, perhaps bewildering to an outsider given the country's complex social and caste divisions.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 22, 2001

Sugiyama to skip Fed Cup matches

Japanese ace Ai Sugiyama will not play in the Fed Cup World Group first-round tie against Argentina in April because of her tight schedule, the Japan Tennis Association said Wednesday.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 22, 2001

Zagat updates guide to Tokyo's best restaurants

Not a single local-cuisine restaurant appears in the 10 top restaurants of this year's Tokyo Zagat Survey, the annually updated restaurants guide that many in the West consider the diner's bible.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2001

Cuba's foreign minister to visit in March; aid may be further away

After decades of estrangement, Japan and Cuba in recent years have warmed to each other through visits by high-level political figures. But it likely will take much longer for the sunny disposition to shine on the economic landscape.
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2001

The G7 prescription for Japan

With signs of a slowdown in the U.S. economy casting a shadow over the global economy, the Group of Seven finance ministers and central-bank governors who gathered in Palermo, Italy, last weekend emphasized the need for coordinated action to ensure sustainable growth worldwide. That appeal for cooperation,...
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 21, 2001

Tiny birds and dwindling treasure

BANGKOK -- Imagine for a moment that you are an edible-nest swiftlet. You are a dusky bird, tiny enough to fit in the palm of a hand. In southern Thailand, where you live, you soar above the turquoise waters and jungle-clad islands of the Andaman Sea. You build your nests inside island caves hidden by...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 21, 2001

CWAJ lecture series draws a line

"What characterizes Japanese art is its obsession with lines," says Sumie Jones.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2001

Small-cap issues find favor

Small-capitalization stocks, especially those traded on the over-the-counter market, are drawing strong buying interest.
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2001

No game plan for a new politics

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's days are numbered. The latest popularity survey by one vernacular newspaper has found that public trust in his administration has plummeted to 9 percent. Not only the leader of a coalition party but also members of his Liberal Democratic Party are now speaking of the possibility...
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2001

Firms develop chip interface allowing cellphone video transmission

Toshiba Corp. and Infineon Technologies AG, a leading German semiconductor and system solution company, have jointly developed an interface between their microchips that enables the transmission, decoding and encoding of video to next-generation dual-mode cellular phones, Toshiba said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2001

Firms develop chip interface allowing cellphone video transmission

Toshiba Corp. and Infineon Technologies AG, a leading German semiconductor and system solution company, have jointly developed an interface between their microchips that enables the transmission, decoding and encoding of video to next-generation dual-mode cellular phones, Toshiba said Monday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 20, 2001

Volkswagen Sevens slated for April

England's seven-a-side team will make its first appearance before Japanese rugby union fans when it comes to Tokyo for the Volkswagen Sevens, the seventh round of the World Sevens Series, on April 29-30 at Chichibunomiya Stadium, the Japan Rugby Football Union announced Monday in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2001

Support for Asian filmmakers

Facing nonexistent government support, meager prospects for private-sector funding and even diminishing turnout at box offices, any aspiring filmmaker in Japan might lose sight of their movie-making dreams.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2001

WTO to approve Japan's rice tariffs as Uruguay backs down

When Japan introduced a controversial tariff scheme for its rice imports in April 1999, it was like a train departing before all passengers were on board.

Longform

The building of new high-rise residential buildings has some alarmed that they could empty and fall into disrepair as Japan's population shrinks.
The high cost of letting Japan's condos crumble