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CULTURE / Stage
Sep 22, 2000

One-man show moves beyond the big tent

"Snowflake," a silent one-man show created and performed by Gale LaJoye, will be held at the Rikkokai Hall in Shinagawa Sept. 26-28. Centering on a homeless man called Snowflake, the show follows his life after he finds a doll abandoned in a garbage dump.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2000

Sabah -- unfinished business between Malaysia and the Philippines

SINGAPORE -- The kidnap-for-ransom hostage crisis triggered by the Abu Sayyaf rebels in a remote corner of the South China Sea has attracted worldwide attention. But of even greater significance, it has further strained ties between the Philippines and Malaysia, as each country blames the other for allowing...
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2000

Crown Princess' dad named as possible U.N. ICJ judge

The government will field former Japanese ambassador to the United Nations and the Crown Princess' father, Hisashi Owada, in an election for the post of a U.N. International Court of Justice judge, scheduled for late 2002, government sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2000

Korean firms unite on software for translation

A Tokyo-based computer software joint venture set up by a pro-Pyongyang firm and a South Korean company will team up with a North Korean government agency to develop software capable of the simultaneous interpretation of mobile phone conversations between Japanese and Korean speakers, company officials...
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2000

Panels approve outline of IT bill

Business leaders and Cabinet members Wednesday approved the framework of a government-proposed bill to set guidelines for Japan's strategy to facilitate social and economic changes in line with an IT revolution.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 21, 2000

Japan insurance market just a phone call away

For the past several years, the insurance industry has been battered on two fronts by bad publicity. On the one hand, the collapse of almost all the major life insurance companies has been blamed on poor investment choices and even poorer management, while on the other, the spate of recent murder-for-insurance...
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2000

Bill calls for advanced telecom network

A bill on information technology calls on Japan to build "the world's most sophisticated computerized telecommunications network" so that IT powers the nation's economic growth, government sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2000

Obituary: Ichiro Mikuni

Television celebrity Ichiro Mikuni died Friday of malignant lymphoma at a Tokyo hospital, his family said Tuesday. He was 79.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2000

Firms back Windows CE in cars

Six companies, including Nevada-based Microsoft Product Development Ltd., Clarion Co., Denso Corp. and Mitsui & Co., announced Tuesday they will cooperate to develop a car information system that can be operated by voice and will automatically read e-mail messages.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 20, 2000

The night train to Nha Trang

A few minutes before dawn on the night train to Nha Trang I awake to the sound of a nonstop diesel speeding past in the opposite direction. It hurtles past just inches away from the open windows of our own side-tracked train, sending us rocking nearly out of our bunks.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Sep 20, 2000

Harry Potter, Castles and Voodoo

www.cesnur.org/recens/potter_00.htm One of the best Harry Potter sites comes from an organization that fights censorship of modern-day culture. There's chapter-by-chapter notes for "The Goblet of Fire," the latest in the series. But most of the site is dedicated to news articles (culled from all over...
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2000

Tokyo called on to protect gays' rights

Private groups are calling on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to add homosexuals to its list of people whose basic human rights need to be protected.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2000

Bishop urges pressure on Jakarta to oust militias

Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, East Timor's top Catholic leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, called on the world to pressure Jakarta to relocate Indonesian army-backed militias still operating with impunity in West Timor and outlined the current state of the reconciliation and reconstruction process...
COMMUNITY
Sep 19, 2000

Urban life's high cost in health

The bright lights of the city are drawing a record number of people in search of careers and excitement. But city life comes at a price. Recent studies have found that Japan's city dwellers are jeopardizing their lives and their offspring.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2000

Sky Perfect to issue 400,000 new shares

Sky Perfect Communications Inc., operator of communication satellite broadcaster Sky PerfecTV, said Monday it will issue 400,000 new shares by public offering in a bid to raise some 105.1 billion yen to boost its business.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 19, 2000

Poetry that brings countries together

THE WEATHER IN JAPAN, by Michael Longley. Jonathan Cape, 2000, 70 pp., 8 British pounds. HAY, by Paul MULDOON. Faber & Faber, 140 pp., 7.99 British pounds. A SMELL OF FISH, by Matthew Sweeney. Jonathan Cape, 2000, 64 pp., 8 British pounds. Irland and Japan: two countries at the far extremities of the...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 19, 2000

Program laying groundwork to conserve rivers and trails

John Monroe jokingly refers to himself as a "conservation venture capitalist." Unlike most investment bankers, however, Monroe is investing for the long term.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 19, 2000

A fascinating figure of 13th-century Japan

CHARISMA AND COMMUNITY FORMATION IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN, by S.A. Thornton. Ithaca: Cornell University East Asia Series, 1999, 290 pp., unpriced. The "charisma" of the title of this carefully researched and impressively thorough work of scholarship refers, in the first instance, to the medieval Buddhist...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 19, 2000

Laos' fractured human map

LAO HILL TRIBES: Traditions and Patterns of Existence, by Stephen Mansfield. Images of Asia: Oxford University Press, 2000. 120 pp., 21 color plates, 24 monochrome, unpriced. In a sense, Laos remains closer to a conglomeration of tribes than it does to a conventional state composed of a unified people....
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2000

Quick economic steps said crucial

The need for Japan and other Asian countries to make quick decisions on economic policies is growing in step with the pace of economic globalization, according to Thomas Donohue, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2000

Photos present child's view of life after Turkey quake

KYOTO -- A black-and-white photograph shows a mother preparing breakfast in a tent. Another picture depicts two children playing outside a row of tents.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2000

Current 'soft' Myanmar policy was threatened by Suu Kyi's detention

Foreign-policy makers are relieved -- at least for now -- that their long-standing policy of "constructive engagement" toward Myanmar survived its biggest potential challenge with Thursday's release of prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from 12 days of effective house arrest.
COMMUNITY
Sep 17, 2000

Fusing technology, arts in fabulous future shocks

Omote-sando's cafe-restaurant Las Chicas needs no introduction. But few realize that the two-floor building in which it is situated was once a consulate, designed to wrap around the central courtyard -- one of the nicest places to eat in town. Under the umbrella organization Vision Network, the complex...
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2000

More rice mulled for Pyongyang

Japan will consider providing between 200,000 tons and 300,000 tons of rice to North Korea when the World Food Program makes an appeal for food aid to the country, according to government sources.
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2000

Young people play key role in IT ventures

Young people are increasingly playing a key role in Internet-related ventures amid the information-technology revolution in Japan.

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