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JAPAN
Jul 21, 2000

Greenpeace calls for action on forests

Environmental group Greenpeace on Thursday urged the Group of Eight countries to stop subsidizing "destruction of the last ancient forests" within two years.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2000

Human chain surrounds Kadena base

NAGO, Okinawa Pref.-- In a unified expression of opposition to the U.S. military's presence in Okinawa, some 27,000 citizens from Okinawa and the mainland formed a human chain around the U.S. Kadena Air Base on Thursday.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 21, 2000

Nourishing one's own inner source of joy

Just as the sun draws life from the earth, urging flowers to bloom and fruits to ripen, thus creating an earth "worthy" for humans to dwell in, so, I believe, in each person's soul an "inner sun" shines which makes human life well worth living.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2000

Once-needed water tanks now a concern

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- In times when the water supply was chronically short, locals learned to cope by storing water on their own. Today, even though the supply is secure, they keep up the practice, saving it for a rainy day, as it were.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2000

Nigeria leader frustrated at G8 inaction on debt

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo expressed frustration Thursday over the lack of concrete action by the Group of Eight major nations to cancel the debts of developing countries.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2000

Stimulus policy should continue: Imai

While acknowledging that the much-anticipated economic recovery has become more evident, Takashi Imai, chairman of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), is emphasizing that the government should continue its current stimulus-oriented fiscal and monetary policies for the foreseeable...
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jul 21, 2000

Just say yes! yes! yes! to Seagulls' 'No! No! No!'

Negative charisma has been a staple of rock from Jerry Lee Lewis to Courtney Love. With its latest album "No! No! No!" (Trattoria), Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her takes it to a whole new level.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2000

Few anti-base protests before summit

NAHA, Okinawa — Japanese police, whose only new equipment for the event are 23,200 pairs of sunglasses, have effectively caused anti-U.S. bases demonstrations at the Okinawa G8 Summit to flop badly.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2000

Kadena Air Base noise stirs memories of war

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Pref. -- For many elderly people living near the U.S. Kadena Air Base in central Okinawa, aircraft noise is intolerable not only because it disrupts their sleep but also because it brings back unbearable memories of war, according to Kozo Hiramatsu, an expert in acoustic ecology.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2000

Amerasian kids get short shrift in divorce capital of Japan

Staff writer GINOWAN, Okinawa Pref. -- After dropping out of junior high school here, Steve Oakley, 16, spent all his time at home because it was the only place he would be understood.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2000

Dollar probably stuck in 105-110 yen range

Given that Japanese monetary authorities have indicated their commitment to keeping the dollar from falling below 105 yen, the dollar-yen rate appears unlikely to snap out of its current 105-110 yen range anytime soon.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2000

Typhoon Tenbin forms south of Japan

This year's fifth typhoon, named Tenbin, Japanese for the constellation Libra, has hatched in the Pacific Ocean south of Japan, the Meteorological Agency said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2000

Enron plans power-ful inroad

As business opportunities loom with the deregulation of Japan's mammoth electricity market, Enron Corp. of the United States is preparing to launch comprehensive energy services in the world's second-largest economy.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2000

T-shirts keeping traditional Miyako tattoos alive

GINOWAN, Okinawa Pref. -- "She lies with her arms folded, in peace / Where blue are the marks of fidelity"
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2000

Execs put priority on increasing profile

KARUIZAWA, Nagano Pref. -- As moves continue to consolidate major business organizations, members of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) discussed ways to make their organization more prominent during a two-day annual seminar that ended Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2000

USTR welcomes NTT cuts, hopes more are on the way

U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky on Wednesday hailed the Tokyo-Washington agreement on the reduction of NTT Corp.'s interconnection charges and expressed hope for further rate cuts over the next three years.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2000

Lawyer nabbed for loan ties

The Metropolitan Police Department on Wednesday arrested an ex-prosecutor of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office for allegedly starting an illegal partnership with a loan broker.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2000

Prodi praises NTT deal as positive sign of reform

European Commission President Romano Prodi on Wednesday welcomed the announcement of a 20 percent reduction over two years in interconnection fees charged by NTT Corp.
EDITORIALS
Jul 20, 2000

Remembrance and responsibility

Germany is closing one of the last chapters of its Nazi past this week. The establishment of a 10 billion deutsche-mark fund (520 billion yen) to compensate those who were slave laborers during World War II will, in the words of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, set down "a durable marker of historic...
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 20, 2000

Fears for Okinawa's unique ecosystem

Okinawa Prefecture punctuates the Japanese archipelago as the period on its southern border. Stretching westward like an island path leading to Taiwan, the island group, though small, is teeming with a diverse abundance of plant and animal life.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000

A critical visit for Clinton

This year's Group of Eight summit meeting in Okinawa presents U.S. President Bill Clinton with a particularly sensitive political and diplomatic challenge. The success of the summit for Americans will probably be judged more by the tone of the president's reception in Okinawa than by the substantive...
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 20, 2000

Euro 2000: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Euro 2000 maybe fading into the memory banks, but before it disappears it's worth recapping the tournament's pluses and minuses and, where applicable, what Japan and South Korea might learn for the 2002 World Cup. So here then is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly rundown of Euro 2000.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 20, 2000

Coverup just makes the scandal worse

The Yukijirushi (Snow Brand) contaminated-milk scandal was the product of corporate arrogance aggravated by a bunker mentality. President Tetsuro Ishikawa's apologies meant little after he admitted he had no idea what goes on in his plants. Having helmed the number one dairy products company for several...
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Jul 20, 2000

Haute couture for your face

Along with Terry de Gunzburg's new haute couture beauty venture, By Terry, discussed in the last column, which is perhaps the most high profile and exclusive of the current custom beauty lines, there are some others worth having a closer look at.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000

Okinawans behind Japan-U.S. alliance

Following the tragic rape of a 12-year old Okinawa school girl by three U.S. servicemen in 1995, Secretary of Defense William Perry, perhaps the most respected member of President Bill Clinton's Cabinet, invited former Ambassadors Mike Mansfield and Richard L. Armitage to have lunch with him and the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000

A chance for Japan to define and refocus the globalization debate

The world is in an uneasy mood.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000

Balancing act for G8 leaders in a land apart

Four years ago, in July 1996, I suggested in an opinion piece for the Sankei Shimbun that the Group of Eight summit in 2000 be held in Okinawa.

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.