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JAPAN
May 25, 1999

Tokyo Telemessage seeks protection from creditors

Plagued by a plummeting number of subscribers and intense competition with cellular phone operators, Tokyo Telemessage Inc., a leading pager service, sought court protection from creditors' claims on its assets Tuesday, company officials said.
JAPAN
May 25, 1999

Some wary as pension plight casts 401(k) in rosy light

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 24, 1999

Diet enacts defense bills, but doubts on alliance linger

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 24, 1999

Obuchi, Perry go over Pyongyang policy

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi on Monday told William Perry, U.S. policy coordinator for North Korea, that Japan strongly supports the comprehensive approach to Pyongyang that Perry is putting together and expressed hope Perry's visit there this week will prove successful.
COMMUNITY
May 23, 1999

Osaka fashion school has French leg up

OSAKA -- Carine Zeppelini, a French fashion designer, did not want to return to France at the end of her contract because she enjoyed teaching at ESMOD Osaka, a branch of the famous Paris-based international school of fashion.
EDITORIALS
May 22, 1999

Red alert for the Loonies

There was gloomy news last week in the sphere of international politics -- so gloomy, in fact, that had it not been for Israel's spirited rejection of its most unhelpful prime minister ever, Benjamin ("Turn-the-clock-back Bibi") Netanyahu, monitors of social progress everywhere would now be inconsolable....
JAPAN
May 21, 1999

Indonesia reform assistance pledged

Visiting Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura reaffirmed their commitment Friday to assist democratic reforms in Indonesia by closely watching its general elections next month and a presidential election in November.
JAPAN
May 21, 1999

New runway to come up short; soccer deadline eyed

Staff writer
JAPAN
May 21, 1999

New bill aims for sexual equality

The Upper House voted unanimously Friday in favor of a government-proposed bill to create a society in which both men and women can participate equally.
JAPAN
May 20, 1999

Kawasaki pollution lawsuit settled by pledge to improve

One of Japan's largest pollution suits ended Thursday when about 400 Kawasaki residents signed an agreement to drop all claims, including for compensation, in exchange for a vow from the state and the Metropolitan Expressway Public Corp. to "seriously work" on improving air quality along highways.
EDITORIALS
May 20, 1999

Workers in the new Japan

The change of leadership last week at Nikkeiren, the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations, comes as Japan's worst post-World War II recession is pushing unemployment to an all-time high. It is only natural, therefore, that in his inaugural address, Chairman Hiroshi Okuda, president of Toyota Motor...
COMMENTARY
May 20, 1999

Ever optimistic Mr. Blair

LONDON -- There seem to be two unstoppable trends on the current British scene -- the unending rise in the London stock market and the still rising popularity of Tony Blair, the prime minister.
CULTURE / Art
May 20, 1999

Holland's top designer defies conformists

His comfortable tubs made reading in the bath fashionable again. His bold couches, like giant velvet butter-dishes, brought humor and flair to the living room. When he suggested yellow interiors make the home look sunny, the whole of Holland got out their paint brushes.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 1999

Kosovo refugees need the world's help

Less than four months after the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a major human tragedy continues to unfold near the heart of Europe.
JAPAN
May 19, 1999

Seattle execs gauge economy, hit local third-sector projects

KOBE -- The Japanese economy is still at least two years away from recovering and there are some signs things are bottoming out. But local governments that continue to push third-sector projects mired in red ink and a lack of leadership remain major problems.
JAPAN
May 19, 1999

Peru requests loans totaling $300 million

Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori asked Japan on Wednesday to provide $300 million in untied loans via the Export-Import Bank of Japan to help his nation's ailing financial institutions combat the region's financial crisis.
JAPAN
May 19, 1999

Pollution sparks action to halt Universal Japan

OSAKA -- Three people living near the construction site of the Universal Studios Japan theme park in Konohana Ward here filed a petition Wednesday with the Osaka District Court, seeking a court order against USJ Co. and Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. to suspend the ongoing project.
JAPAN
May 19, 1999

Ramsar signatories aim to extend treaty's scope

Staff writer
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 19, 1999

Once more, Chiang Mai

I had a mission in Chiang Mai. Many years ago I bought a reclining black lacquer Burmese Buddha there. It had been gilded but much of the gold had been worn off, probably by the hands of the faithful seeking some special blessing. It has a remarkable face. It changes expression as the viewer moves even...
ENVIRONMENT
May 19, 1999

Azaleas rioting

WASHINGTON -- Henry Mitchell liked azaleas (and many other plants). "With them," he once wrote, "you can be as riotous, gaudy and vulgar as you please, or as delicate."
JAPAN
May 19, 1999

Life term sought for Asahara's driver

Prosecutors demanded life in prison Wednesday for a former Aum Shinrikyo fugitive accused of chauffeuring one of the cultists accused of releasing sarin in the deadly Tokyo subway gas attack of March 1995.
CULTURE / Books
May 18, 1999

Tracing a profile of the new Japan

REGIME SHIFT: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political Economy, by T.J. Pempel. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1998, 263 pp. I'm confused. On the one hand, we're told Japan has undergone tumultuous change since the beginning of the '90s. The Liberal Democratic Party lost its 38-year-long...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 16, 1999

So long ago

A woman writes of a quest, not hers but a friend's. This friend is looking for a man she knew many years ago. He was born in Hokkaido in 1913. He was a Christian and was active with the Young Men's Christian Association. He traveled widely in foreign countries in connection with that work.
EDITORIALS
May 15, 1999

More legal help for Japanese citizens

Critics have charged for years that government policies deliberately aimed at discouraging the public from resorting to the courts to resolve disputes have also worked to artificially limit the number of lawyers and judges in this country. Now, in a welcome if belated step aimed at increasing the number...
CULTURE / Music
May 15, 1999

Korean rocker carries on the family business

Go to Korea and you feel like everyone's got a chip on their shoulder. It's like everyone wants to pick a fight with you. On this occasion, someone did.
EDITORIALS
May 14, 1999

Mr. Rubin moves on

Mr. Robert Rubin, the U.S. secretary of the Treasury, will step down from his post this summer. The move was expected. Mr. Rubin had talked to confidants about his desire to return to Wall Street. Still, the announcement surprised markets. The dollar, bond prices and the Dow Jones Industrial Average...
JAPAN
May 14, 1999

Symposium eyes stricter laws to curb animal abuse

More than 300 people gathered Thursday at a Tokyo symposium calling for a legal revision to better protect animal rights.
CULTURE / Music
May 14, 1999

Australian pop-rock trio Even battles 'tyranny of distance'

Few Australian bands have managed to gain large audiences and commercial success outside their homeland in the 1990s. Critics down under claim it's the "tyranny of distance," that Australia is simply too far away from the rest of the record-buying world, which keeps many Aussie acts from making it overseas....
JAPAN
May 13, 1999

Kobe volunteers launch activity fund

KOBE -- A fund to support volunteer activities in and around this port city was set up Thursday by a group of volunteers helping to reconstruct the lives of survivors of the Great Hanshin Earthquake.
JAPAN
May 13, 1999

Doctors remove donor's skin

The family of a brain-dead man who donated his heart and kidneys earlier this week also allowed doctors to remove his skin for future surgical needs, officials at the Tokyo Skin Bank Network said Thursday.

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