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JAPAN
Aug 13, 2000

Takadanobaba: A lot of history and a bit of romance

Waseda Dori near JR Takadanobaba Station is dotted with budget restaurants, bars, book shops and travel agencies, all ready to cater to Waseda University students.
COMMUNITY
Aug 13, 2000

Women! Enhance your lifestyles with Webgrrls

Talking with American Khristine (Khris) Schaffner lowered the heat in Tokyo's Nishi-Shinjuku by several degrees. She has that kind of tall, willowy, pale blonde beauty that acts as a psychological cooler even if she is talking 10 to the dozen and making a complete fool of herself over a Starbucks chocolate...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2000

Beijing boils over Chen's U.S. stopover

China doesn't like it that the United States has given Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian a visa for a stopover in Los Angeles today on his way to the Caribbean.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 13, 2000

Seven key ways to enjoy the rest of your days

I've finally figured out why Japanese people don't take more vacations -- they don't want to. Work is comfortable and safe for them. Vacations offer too much adventure. Japanese people try to avoid using the "f" word: Fun.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 13, 2000

A Dance of hope: Rediscovering the artistry and power of Choi Seung-Hee

On March 20, 1926, a 14-year-old Korean girl was in Seoul, watching a performance of the internationally renowned dancer Baku Ishii and his troupe.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

Base cuts beyond SACO sought

ITAMI, Osaka Pref. -- In order for the U.S. and Japan to maintain friendly relations, America must reduce its military presence on Okinawa, which is little more than a colonial outpost controlled by the U.S. military, said leading Okinawa politician Tokushin Yamauchi during a recent symposium.
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2000

Japan, Singapore to begin formal free-trade talks soon

In a significant departure from its traditional trade policy, Japan will open formal negotiations with Singapore by the end of this year on concluding a free-trade agreement between the two Asian countries, according to government sources.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

Police think they've caught i-mode's e-mail prankster

Police believe they have tracked down the prankster responsible for sending e-mail to subscribers of NTT DoCoMo's i-mode mobile phone service that causes the phones to automatically dial the police, investigative sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

Not our fault: health ministry

The Health and Welfare Ministry on Friday denied responsibility for the widespread use of imported dura mater -- it estimates 200,000 transplants of the human tissue have taken place nationwide -- which has been linked to the contraction of the deadly Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

Cases of child abuse rising

Police dealt with 94 child abuse cases nationwide during the first half of this year, 33 more than in the corresponding period of last year, the National Police Agency said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

Ex-Zero pilot tells Japan to avoid all war

A former Zero fighter pilot who shot down more than 60 Allied planes during World War II has called on Japan not to forget the horror of war and to make sure that it never becomes involved in a military conflict again.
EDITORIALS
Aug 12, 2000

Preparing to welcome foreign students

Japan could soon see the long-expected increase in the number of foreign students attending its universities and specialized schools that the government has been promoting with only limited success. In a marked departure for this country's official development assistance policy, a new program scheduled...
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2000

Number of new condos for sale in Tokyo rises 17.9%

The number of new condominiums put on sale in metropolitan Tokyo rose 17.9 percent in July from a year earlier to 9,081, a private research institute said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

Entry for Japanese tougher at Portland, Oregon airport

OSAKA -- Japanese travelers to the United States appear to have become targeted by U.S. immigration officials at an Oregon airport amid a crackdown on illegal immigrants from Asia, according to recent press reports from Oregon.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

Young journalists cover Republican National Convention

PHILADELPHIA -- Mika Maeda, a 16-year-old high school student from Kanagawa Prefecture, made her journalistic debut last week here at the Republican National Convention.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

Cases of student violence toward teachers up 11%

Incidents of students being violent toward teachers at public schools increased more than 11 percent to about 5,000 cases nationwide in the 1999 school year, according to an Education Ministry report released Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2000

Japan sends economic mission to southern Lebanon

Japan will dispatch a government mission to Lebanon this month to explore the possibility of extending economic aid for the reconstruction of the former Israeli-occupied zone in southern Lebanon, Foreign Ministry sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

Blasted kids need scolding, Tokyo government says

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Friday announced a plan to save the capital's children from "a state of moral and social decay," by calling on adults to scold children and participate in activities like "family bonding day" every third Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

Cuba's VP coming to Tokyo in fall

Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage plans to visit Tokyo in early October at the Japanese government's invitation to discuss with Japanese leaders ways to strengthen hitherto estranged relations between the two countries, diplomatic sources said Friday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 12, 2000

Bush makes Moscow nervous

The election year is disrupting the normally smooth, quiet summer in the United States. Newspapers replace Harry Potter books as beach reading, Republican and Democratic conventions dominate television, the two parties are finalizing platforms, the two candidates exchange mutual verbal abuse, voters...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Aug 12, 2000

Lieberman gives Gore a boost

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut is Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore's choice for vice president. The choice is a masterful one. Lieberman brings several big pluses to Gore's candidacy:
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

BOJ votes to abandon ultraeasy money policy

The Bank of Japan on Friday defied acute political pressure and decided to abandon its "zero-interest-rate" policy.
COMMENTARY
Aug 12, 2000

What are the world's options in Myanmar?

KAWTHOOLEI, Myanmar -- From a distance, the jungle looks peaceful. Dense, green growth covers hills that march endlessly onward. Primitive villages emerge in simple clearings: wood and bamboo buildings, covered by thatched roofs, sitting on stilts and open to rain, animals and mosquitoes.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 12, 2000

Bringing out the flavor of the clay

Shuroku Harada is the consummate potter. First off, this highly successful ceramist doesn't put on any proud airs; he maintains a humbleness that is important when working with the earth. He shapes the clay and the clay has shaped him, so to speak, into what he is today; mutual respect at its best.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2000

NPA survey finds Internet-related crime, arrests surging

The number of Internet-related criminal cases in which arrests were made totaled 201 in the first six months of this year, compared with 247 cases in all of 1999, according to a National Police Agency survey released Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2000

Major political players plan to scatter for summer break

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will play golf in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, this week, while Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa will spend about two weeks in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, beginning next week during their summer holidays.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.