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JAPAN
Jul 5, 2000

Newly appointed ministers announce policy priorities

The ministers appointed to the second Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori announced their priority tasks in separate press conferences Tuesday evening.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 5, 2000

The Plain of Jars: A place of war and death

PHONSAVAN, Laos -- It should be hard to go missing on the Plain of Jars. But hundreds have.
COMMENTARY
Jul 5, 2000

Advancing smartly backward

LONDON -- It is an old American saying that "the pioneer is the one who gets the arrow in his back." So when President Jacques Chirac of France recently proposed a "pioneering" project to bring France and Germany still closer together at the political level and, as he put it, to "move further and faster...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 4, 2000

Festival fun for the young and those who just wish they were

The main excuses I've heard for not attending one of this summer's two international rock festivals in Japan are: "None of my favorite bands are coming" and "there's hardly any big names."
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2000

Australia pays for security on the cheap

Last week, the Australian government released a discussion paper on defense. As in other mature democracies, it's not easy to sustain support for defense spending when no threat is imminent. But Australia's U.N.-authorized intervention in East Timor last year showed the risks of seeking defense on the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2000

Winds of change blowing through Asia

CHANG MAI, Thailand -- The recent historic handshake between South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang captivated the world. As emotions over the summit subside, what can be said about Korean developments when viewed from a broader Asian perspective?
EDITORIALS
Jul 1, 2000

The Elian saga is over

Elian Gonzalez is home. After a seven-month legal battle, the shipwrecked 6-year-old boy has returned to Cuba with his father. His tale held the world captive -- and made plain the degree to which U.S. politics is held captive by a vocal minority of Cuban Americans in Miami. Now that the boy has been...
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2000

Doctors to protest patenting of data

An international association consisting of doctors from 71 countries will protest a move to patent data on the genetic makeup of humans, claiming such action could bring exclusive benefits to certain companies, according to Japanese members of the group.
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2000

Japan offers compromise in NTT dispute

Posts minister now suggests that 22.5% cut in less than three years possible Japan on Friday offered a compromise in the long-standing dispute with the United States over telephone connection rates, bringing the two nations closer to resolving the bilateral trade row before the upcoming Group of Eight...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2000

What's in a name? Freedom, for one thing

Puritans have long been viewed as people who couldn't stand the thought of anyone anywhere having a good time. The original Puritans really weren't that way, but today the world seems to be full of such killjoys.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jul 1, 2000

Sinking to sulphurous musical depths

One of the few consolations amid the relentless damp and humidity of the Japanese rainy season are the irises and hydrangeas whose colors seem to become ever more limpid in the mist.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2000

War and peace in the coming century

Looking back to the anniversary of the start of the Korean War, on June 25, 1950, and looking ahead to potential crises in Asia, there is much to ponder on the question of military intervention.
EDITORIALS
Jun 30, 2000

Germany says 'no nukes'

The agreement reached earlier this month between the German government and major electric-power companies to phase out that country's commercial nuclear program in about 30 years came as a fresh reminder of the global shift away from nuclear energy production. The "irreversible" landmark agreement is...
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2000

China trade bill delay raises doubts about G8 breakthrough on WTO round

The U.S. Senate's delay in voting on a key China trade bill has some Japanese officials fretting about whether it will kill the chances — if any — of a breakthrough at the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa toward launching a new round of global trade negotiations.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2000

Date for observing Kyoto Protocol unlikely to be set at G8 summit

In an apparent setback for environmentalists worldwide, top leaders of the Group of Eight major nations meeting in Okinawa next month are unlikely to set a specific target date for putting into effect the Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2000

Dioxin emission levels down, but Japan is largest emitter

Estimated dioxin emissions in Japan dropped to between 2,620 grams and 2,820 grams in 1999, a roughly 63 percent fall from 1997 levels, according to Environment Agency figures released Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2000

Radical Hindus wrecking India's tolerant secularism

NEW DELHI -- The new millennium has been terribly cruel to Christians in India. Fanatical Hindu organizations -- which are wings of the country's ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- have unleashed a reign of terror on the second-largest minority group after the Muslims. Murder and mayhem and...
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2000

200 major firms hold shareholders' meetings

About 200 major companies across the nation held their annual shareholders' meetings Wednesday, beating the huge crush for such meetings that will take place today.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 29, 2000

Redemption just a haircut away

We've seen how popular shaved heads have become in sports. Whether for fashion or function, Michael Jordan, Andre Agassi and Brazilian soccer stars are among countless male athletes noted for taking it all off.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2000

Tomen reviewing Sri Lanka mine deal

Tomen Corp. is reconsidering its planned investment in a huge phosphate mine in Eppawala, an ancient village in central Sri Lanka, according to members of a Japanese nongovernmental organization supporting residents who oppose the project.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 29, 2000

Marriage guide for men begs the question, 'Et tu, Brutus?'

In the cultural wars secular liberalism continues its slow, laborious march toward victory (two steps forward, one step back), but one bastion of male-centered tradition remains inviolate: the marriage proposal. Men do the asking, and women wait for them to ask. The vector indicated by this dynamic mimics...
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Jun 28, 2000

Star cafe keeps the customers beaming

Catwoman is back. This time, though, she isn't wearing a black spandex body suit. No mask, no whip and no sexy purr in her voice. In fact, at 67, she's not quite as lithe as she used to be.
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 28, 2000

Nature's playground welcomes kids of all ages

Located on low hills (67 meters above sea level) in Yokohama's Minami Ward, the Yokohama Children's Botanic Garden opened to the public in 1979 (the Year of the Child) with an area of 4 hectares. Since then, many of the trees have matured, creating a woodland atmosphere.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2000

MITI plans minor reshuffle ahead of G8, trade talks

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry will announce Friday a reshuffle of its staff, with fewer major personnel changes than a year ago in view of pending trade issues and the regrouping of government offices scheduled in January, ministry officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2000

Execs, 'sokaiya' held over extortion

Police arrested a professional "sokaiya" and two businessmen Monday for allegedly attempting to extort 50 million yen from a Fujitsu Ltd. subsidiary.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2000

Defeat of Fukaya, ex-ministers stuns MITI officials

Officials at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry were bewildered Monday in the wake of the defeat of its minister Takashi Fukaya and four of his predecessors in Sunday's general election.

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