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COMMUNITY
Sep 4, 1999

In pursuit of glittering perfection

Mikimoto pearls have always ranked high among Japanese girls. They're the top choice for a first jewelry present from parents, for Coming-of-Age Day, or for weddings.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 1999

Japan may host U.N. environment summit in 2002

Staff writer
LIFE / Travel
Sep 1, 1999

Eyes wide shut in North Korea

It's late afternoon in Beijing. Beside a gloomy, concrete platform an antiquated train lumbers into place. In the dim light, people scurry about looking for the right car. This is, in fact, important. The first four carriages are bound for Dandong, a small Chinese border town, but the last two will continue...
JAPAN
Aug 31, 1999

Yokomichi enters DPJ race on battle cry of constitutional debate

Takahiro Yokomichi, chairman of the Executive Council of the Democratic Party of Japan, formally announced his candidacy in the party's presidential race Tuesday, saying he will make the war-renouncing Constitution one of the main focuses of campaign debate.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 1999

Canadian software puts face on crime

Staff writer
JAPAN
Aug 31, 1999

Russia still hopes for Yeltsin visit sometime

Russia is determined to have Boris Yeltsin visit Japan, visiting Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko told Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 1999

Japan confident of victory in auto row with Ottawa

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 1999

The slow road to gender equality

Barely two months have passed since the govern ment enacted the Gender Equality Law. While defenders of the new law insist that is hardly enough time for its effectiveness to be tested, many women's groups, and their male supporters, disagree. The reason, they say, should be obvious: Like the Equal Employment...
EDITORIALS
Aug 27, 1999

Jitters in Central Asia

The information is sketchy, but this much is certain: Islamic guerrillas have taken hostages, including four Japanese, in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan. The number of hostages, the number of guerrillas, their nationality and their demands are uncertain. This incident set the stage for the Central...
JAPAN
Aug 26, 1999

Sendai hosts biotech, life science talks

A five-day international conference to cover a wide range of topics related to biotechnology and life science will be held in Sendai, starting Sunday, with noted scholars and researchers attending from around the world.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 1999

Students call for halt to child conscription

Twenty students on Wednesday called on the government to take concrete steps to outlaw the recruitment of child soldiers.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 25, 1999

Drumming up interest in traditional music

Your buddy asks if you're up for a night of dancing and you're likely to think: crowded, sweaty hall, vibrating with a booming backbeat.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 1999

MITI appoints Hirose to top administrative post

Katsusada Hirose will replace Osamu Watanabe as vice minister for international trade and industry on Sept. 3, officials of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 1999

Brazil to extend cut-rate tariff on auto imports to year's end

Staff writer
JAPAN
Aug 23, 1999

Vignaud urges FAO streamlining

In response to North Korea's famine issue, Argentina's ambassador to Sweden, Juan Carlos Vignaud, said on Monday in Tokyo that the Food and Agriculture Organization should go wherever it is needed.
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 1999

Bridging Kosovo's gulf of hatred

Nearly 10 weeks after the last Yugoslav forces pulled out of Kosovo, ethnic cleansing has once again reared its ugly head in the troubled Balkan province. This time around, however, it is ethnic Albanians that are terrorizing Serbs and forcing them to flee. Reports are heard daily of Serb deaths or beatings....
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 1999

A super-bank in the making

A "super-bank" will soon be born in Japan. If everything goes according to plan, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan will combine to create a gigantic financial group with assets that will eclipse all other banking institutions in the world. The fact that the three banks...
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Aug 21, 1999

Fanning the flame for sensu

When you open up a sensu (folding fan), or ogi as they are also known, a unique little world opens up in front of you.
COMMENTARY
Aug 20, 1999

A season for political typhoons

The Japanese political world entered a summer recess when the extended ordinary Diet session closed Aug. 13. The session, convoked in January and extended in June for 57 days, passed a series of important bills, thanks to a legislative tieup among the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party...
JAPAN
Aug 19, 1999

Kobe seabed survey begins amid airport protests

KOBE -- City officials Thursday began surveying the sea bottom off Port Island to prepare for construction of Kobe airport, scheduled to begin in mid-September, while airport opponents continued to call on the mayor to stop the project.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1999

Prof gives shtick a shot to loosen up academia stodge

Staff writer
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1999

Fiscal woes, controversy stop plan for air raid hall

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has decided to scrap a plan to secure funds for construction of the Tokyo Metropolitan Peace Memorial Hall under next year's budget.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 18, 1999

Re-enactors make history come alive

I was buying a jar of jam at the sutler's tent when the cannon went off, close enough and loud enough to make my teeth rattle and my eyes widen into an excellent impersonation of fear. The salesman, a stout, bearded fellow in the woolen blues of a Union soldier, barely blinked. As he handed me my credit...
JAPAN
Aug 18, 1999

Japan nears deal to ease Saudi Arabia's WTO entry

Staff writer
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 18, 1999

Refuge of the world's wildest rabbit

The wildlife of the Nansei Shoto is a fascinating mixture of species, and as is clear from recent research on the spiny rats that are unique to the central islands, there may be more species there than we realize.
COMMENTARY
Aug 15, 1999

U.S. Taiwan policy is courting disaster

Don't underestimate the size of the Taiwan problem. As with the two other divided Asian nations -- Korea and Vietnam -- past U.S. policies mean there is every chance of eventual escalation into full-scale hostilities.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 15, 1999

Food with an attitude coming to a table near you

Irritated? Feel like having an argument? Argue with your food. And don't presume that just because you'll get the last bite, that you're going to win the argument every time. Linda Matthie-Jacobs, author of two cookbooks about "food with an attitude," has followed up her previous "Fire 'n' Ice" cookbook...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 14, 1999

Forging ahead into the new millennium

Summer in Japan is notorious for being hot, humid and unpleasant. If you are a blacksmith, however, even the summer air is probably refreshing.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 14, 1999

More than a humble piece of clay

Japan is a ceramic paradise, plain and simple.

Longform

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick