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LIFE / Travel
Oct 11, 2000

In the quiet domain of the stone Buddhas

As you turn into the quiet country road leading to Usuki's Buddhist rock carvings, a stone torii gate, riveted into the earth, deeply corroded by wind and rain, comes into momentary view. Standing in a field of rippling green paddy, it is an unintentional signal that you have entered a different time...
EDITORIALS
Oct 9, 2000

What's in a symbol?

"Symbolism," according to Edward N. West in "Outward Signs," his classic study of Christian symbols, "is so powerful that the message conveyed, regardless of origin or context, is perfectly clear."
TENNIS
Oct 9, 2000

Serena reigns supreme at Toyota Princess Cup tennis

Second-seed Serena Williams demolished France's Julie Halard-Decugis in two sets on Sunday to win the $535,000 Toyota Princess Cup and add the icing to the cake after her gold medal in the Sydney Olympic doubles.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 9, 2000

Limp prose from an angel of mercy

TOTTO-CHAN'S CHILDREN: A Goodwill Journey to the Children of the World, by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi; translated by Dorothy Britton. Kodansha International, 2000, 222 pp., with photographs, 2,500 yen (cloth). Tetsuko Kuroyanagi is a familiar figure on Japanese television quiz shows. She's the one decked out...
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Oct 9, 2000

Festival highlights the myriad sounds of Africa

The South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, I was told upon my arrival, has everything, from snowboarding in the morning to surfing in the afternoon. And from the itinerary that Swize, from the local tourist board, handed me, it looked like I would be doing it all: a trip to a game reserve and a Zulu...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2000

ASEAN+3 gives Asia hope for the future

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- A new acronym emerged recently in the world of international relations: APT. For those unaware of its meaning, we translate: "ASEAN Plus Three," i.e., the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China and South Korea.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 8, 2000

Hawks clinch PL crown

The Daiei Hawks clinched their second straight Pacific League crown on Saturday with a 1-0 victory over the Orix BlueWave in Fukuoka.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 7, 2000

Catching up on Japanese baseball

With the Sydney Olympics now history, let's take a look at what happened in Japanese pro baseball while most of the sports world focused its attention on Australia and the Summer Games.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2000

Japan to give Pyongyang rice aid despite kidnap claims

The government on Friday officially announced plans to send 500,000 tons of rice as additional food aid to North Korea.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2000

Osaka seeks interpreters for hospitals

OSAKA -- Osaka Prefecture will take steps to increase the number of volunteer interpreters at its hospitals in an effort to better deal with the variety of foreign languages spoken by patients, it was learned Friday.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Oct 7, 2000

Tales of romance and bloodshed come alive in Shinnai song

Some of the performing arts of Japan are so spectacular that they grab your attention and immediately make you feel a part of the music. Taiko drumming is one; rhythm speaks directly to our bodies, and the beating of a stick on a drum has a physical appeal to all, regardless of language or culture.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 7, 2000

Purple princess outdukes Dokic

Serena Williams might aspire to be the queen of women's tennis, but for now she's merely aiming to be a Toyota Princess.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2000

Britain's future is at the heart of Europe

Britain is still on course to join the euro despite the narrow rejection of formal membership by Denmark in last week's referendum. Denmark is Europe's second-smallest country, represents only 2 percent of European gross national product, and anyway has already tied its currency, the krone, to the euro....
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 7, 2000

Loose Sock theater company offers creative collaboration

Nestled in the cloudy seaside bluffs of Yamate in Yokohama stands the newly renovated Gaiety Theater. With origins dating back to 1870, the Gaiety has operated from various locations and hosted numerous theatrical organizations of Yokohama's foreign thespian community.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2000

Sansei make busy visit for the sake of relations

Most of them can't speak Japanese, or can't speak it very well. Some have only been to Japan a few times.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2000

Festival to celebrate composer Ikuma Dan

"Dan Year 2000," a nine-month festival featuring the works of Japanese composer Ikuma Dan, will begin Oct. 15.
COMMENTARY
Oct 5, 2000

No rush to grant foreigners voting rights

A major domestic political debate is brewing over whether non-Japanese permanent residents should be granted the right to vote in local elections of prefectural governors, prefectural legislators, and chiefs and council members of lower local administrative entities. Those foreigners will still be ineligible...
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2000

Food aid to North Korea gains approval

A key Liberal Democratic Party panel approved a plan Wednesday to send 500,000 tons of rice as food aid to North Korea, effectively paving the way for an aid program the government hopes will add impetus to normalization talks.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 5, 2000

Seles, Serena pass first tests at Toyota Princess Cup tennis

Monica Seles and Serena Williams, the first and second seeds, respectively, who both had byes in the first round, cruised through their first tests at the Toyota Princess Cup on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Medical researcher accused of embezzlement

The chief of the Juntendo University medical department misappropriated around 60 million yen in government subsidies over the five-year period to 1999, sources close to tax authorities alleged Tuesday.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 4, 2000

On the track of buried treasure

George Braseros is certain there is gold buried in the jungles of Mindanao. He is so sure it is there, just waiting to be dug up, that he has sunk a small fortune of his own into searching for it. And he knows other men have died for it.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 4, 2000

Just a pot of gold on the moon? Or stolen billions?

In January 1971, a locksmith called Rogelio Roxas from Baguio City, 200 km north of Manila, met a half-Japanese-half-Filipino "mestizo" whose father had been a translator for Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita during the war. When the man was 15 years old, his father had taken him into the jungles near to the hospital...
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Tokyo hotel reheats G8 menu

The Okinawa Prefectural Government and a top Tokyo hotel launched a festival of culinary delights Tuesday featuring the same menu served during the Okinawa summit of the Group of Eight nations in July.
EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2000

Don't shortchange young readers

Despite all the talk about the need for educational reforms, little serious attention is being paid to a fundamental way in which Japan's schoolchildren are being shortchanged. Except among the educators directly involved, few have expressed concern over the Education Ministry's announcement that libraries...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2000

A real German lesson for the two Koreas

SEOUL -- In one of numerous books dealing with unification matters, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung refers to his meetings with leading German politicians in the early part of the 1990s. According to Kim's account, the German politicians told him, "You are fortunate because you can analyze all the...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 3, 2000

Diners, look before you eat

AT THE JAPANESE TABLE, by Richard Hosking. Images of Asia. Oxford University Press, 2000, 70 pp., 22 color plates, 19 b/w, unpriced. THE ESSENCE OF JAPANESE CUISINE: An Essay on Food and Culture, by Michael Ashkenazi and Jeanne Jacob. Richmond/Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, 252 pp., 11 b/w photos, 45 British...

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