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COMMENTARY
Jan 29, 2001

'Real' deregulation is a powerful idea

WASHINGTON -- There's no better place to spend Christmas in the United States than San Diego. Amid the warmth and sun you see snow only on television. No high heating bills here.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 29, 2001

Was Pearl Harbor really a surprise?

My young colleague at work, Donald Howard, comes to me and wryly asks: Why is this Japanese office having a Christmas party on Dec. 7? Impressed by his historical acuity, I only manage: Well, from the Japanese perspective, the Pearl Harbor assault didn't take place on Dec. 7, but on Dec. 8 in the predawn...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2001

Egalitarian values stifle creativity: researcher

The egalitarianism embedded in Japanese society deprives researchers and scholars of the economic incentives to pursue creative and innovative studies, according to 46-year-old Shuji Nakamura.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2001

Tokyo residents facing grave backyard problem

The view from the living room of Hisako Watanabe's home in central Tokyo is not exactly one to die for.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 28, 2001

Beauty can be ugly -- insouciant Frenchman

What makes a great photographer? An artist usually needs to have special skills or unique concepts, but a photographer in a well-lit studio with the right equipment and beautiful models can get by even without good timing if he uses enough film and then selects the best images.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 28, 2001

In what other country can you ski in a zoo?

When we finally arrived at the ski area after three hours of driving, I realized I had not packed my ski jacket. I had packed my winter sailing jacket instead.
COMMENTARY
Jan 27, 2001

KSD places Mori in peril

Dark clouds hang over Japanese politics. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been jolted by allegations that some of its leading members took payoffs from the mutual-aid organization KSD. The scandal came after Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori reshuffled his Cabinet last month and the restructured central...
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2001

Remembering Queen Victoria

Britain this week celebrated an anniversary that may have prompted more national self-reflection than either of the two competing millennial observations did.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 27, 2001

Some guys have all the luck

Here's a strange thing. All our lives, movies have taught us that for love relationships to happen, men must be tall and smooth-skinned and lookgreat in Levi's (let's not even think about how women must be). Yet the very people responsible for generating the myth are often polar opposites of the characters...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2001

Nothing new about U.S. boom-bust cycle

Fears that a bear market in the United States will dampen consumer spending and cause a recession are unfounded. This is not to say that the U.S. economy will not experience a slowdown. But when the recession comes, it will be for a different reason.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jan 27, 2001

The art of appreciating ceramics

In pottery, as with life, sometimes the most basic questions are the most important: Why is this so? Or, how did this happen? Or, what does this part mean?
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2001

Academics indicted over exam leak

Prosecutors indicted two academics Friday on charges of leaking questions from last year's national dentistry examination in violation of the Dental Practitioners' Law.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2001

Environment under assault

It has been a bad week for the environment. On Monday, a United Nations conference unanimously approved a report confirming that the threat of global warming is both real and intensifying. It identified human activity as the chief culprit. If we needed more proof that we are poor stewards of the environment,...
COMMENTARY
Jan 26, 2001

Plagued by scandal yet again

Fukushiro Nukaga was forced to resign Tuesday as minister for economic and fiscal policy over allegations that he received 15 million yen from the mutual-aid organization KSD in return for favors. Nukaga denied accepting the money himself but admitted that one of his secretaries had received it. He said...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2001

Major trends start at microeconomic level

2000 should be remembered as the first year in which it was statistically confirmed that microeconomic activities can significantly affect macroeconomic performance, according to Naoki Tanaka, president of the 21st Century Public Policy Initiative.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 26, 2001

From any angle, you've seen it before

They've got self-help books for just about every disorder you can think of out there, but I can think of one more niche that needs filling, namely, "Why Good Directors Make Bad Films." Chapter One: The Angle.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2001

Three groups dominate underworld

About 68 percent of some 83,600 known gangsters in Japan were affiliated with three large "boryokudan" underworld syndicates as of the end of last year, reflecting the growing oligopolization of the mob, a National Police Agency report said Thursday.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 26, 2001

Many rivers to cross in Les Rivieres Pourpres

On what attracted him to the project -- Matthieu Kassovitz: "The book was a best seller in France, and the producer came to me with the project. Jean was already interested in playing the lead, and I also thought it was a good chance to work with Vincent again. So getting this script was like a big present...
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2001

Fired Foreign Ministry official facing embezzlement charges

A senior Foreign Ministry official was fired Thursday for allegedly embezzling state funds and a criminal complaint was filed against him with the Metropolitan Police Department, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said.
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2001

Scandal threatens the Mori Cabinet

An unfolding bribery scandal surrounding an insurance group for small business led to the resignation of Mr. Fukushiro Nukaga, state minister for economic and fiscal policy, on Tuesday. Just a week earlier, Mr. Takao Koyama, a Liberal Democratic member of the Upper House, was arrested on charges of receiving...
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2001

Automakers zero in on Thailand

BANGKOK -- As Thailand gradually recovers from the financial crisis of 1997, Japanese automakers will likely see whether their effort to cut costs over the past few years has given them the strength to tackle intensifying competition in the market they have dominated for so long.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2001

Annan waits on re-election decision

Visiting U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Wednesday that he will announce in March whether he will run for a second term as head of the United Nations.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2001

Time for drastic reforms

The Tokyo stock market remains in a deep slump.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2001

Snow links up with Nestle on range of dairy products

Nestle Japan Holdings Ltd. and Snow Brand Milk Products Co. announced Wednesday that they have agreed to set up a joint venture on Feb. 1 to promote a range of products.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2001

CJD plaintiffs die before end of suit against state

Two people who sued the government after contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease for failing to inform them of the risks of contracting CJD in operations have died, their relatives said Tuesday.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go