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JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Sakura-Sumitomo alliance wins rave reviews

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

MITI plans to inspect nuclear power plants

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry will conduct on-site inspections next week of the nation's 51 nuclear power plants, trade chief Takashi Fukaya said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Professor calls for legal panel to aid media victims

Staff writer
LIFE / Travel
Oct 14, 1999

Back-to-nature nomads on the open sea

SEATTLE, Wash. -- "I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by."
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Oct 14, 1999

Heeding the siren call of Sopron's wine country

A Japanese friend I recently met amid the late-summer amalgam of humid heat, mucky air and urban frenzy suddenly assumed a rather wistful faraway look and expressed the desire to get away from the whole maddening throng and disappear into nature.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Oct 14, 1999

Yeast developments give rise to wonderful new possibilities

Yeast has been one of those great technical advances in the sake world -- one factor that separates great ginjo of today from the run-of-the-mill sake of yesteryear. Over the last 10 years or so, dozens of new yeast strains have been developed and incorporated into sake brewing.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Envoy says Malaysian economy 'out of the woods'

The Malaysian economy is "out of the woods" and on the path to recovery, Malaysia's Ambassador to Japan Dato Marzuki bin Mohammad Noor said during a visit to The Japan Times Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

IOC exec advises Osaka on Games facilities

OSAKA -- A top IOC official met with Osaka officials Thursday for discussions about the city's efforts to build sports facilities for the 2008 Olympics.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Stores attempt to invent new holiday

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Auto firms pin sales hopes on show

Staff writer
CULTURE / Art
Oct 14, 1999

It's a grill, it's a mini-kiln, it's a shichirin!

Pottery making is one of the most popular hobbies in Japan. Thousands of amateur potters reach the semiprofessional level, but they seldom fire their works by themselves. Unless they have their own kiln, they have to ask pottery schools or professionals to fire their pieces -- a service for which they...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 14, 1999

Food dilettantes need not apply

There are so many plants around the entrance of A Tes Souhaits you'd be forgiven for thinking this is one of those feminine restaurants where flowers and fancy frills take precedence over the food. The sight of the sous-chef squatting by the kitchen door plucking a wild fowl should disillusion you of...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1999

FTC files complaint against 11 oil firms

The Fair Trade Commission filed a criminal complaint Wednesday against 11 oil wholesalers, alleging that they rigged bids on fuel sold to the Defense Agency, in violation of the Antimonopoly Law.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1999

Regional Special: KYUSHU

Reclamation project splits locals, power elite> Staff writer
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Oct 13, 1999

Not just for kids anymore

I was never much of a video-game player, although I did have a brief infatuation with Missile Command. (It ended when a pal proceeded to stomp me every time we went head to head.) I must be one of the few: Video games are reckoned to be a $20 billion-a-year industry and revenues now outpace movie-ticket...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1999

GAISF meeting opens; Osaka told to be prudent

OSAKA -- The Monaco-based General Association of International Sports Federations opened its general assembly meeting Wednesday in Osaka with IOC officials cautioning the city, which is bidding for the 2008 Olympics, to be prudent when passing out gifts.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Oct 10, 1999

Loyalty

A gentleman writes with great affection about his hairbrush. It is, he says, a very nice, heavy hairbrush with a teak back and it is in need of new boar bristles, not surprising since he has used it for 20 years. He hopes to find a shop that can do this kind of work, but where?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 10, 1999

It's a wonder more letter writers don't go postal

Everyone in Japan is worried about unemployment but islands like mine are suffering from overemployment.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Toward a leaner, meaner defense budget

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Republicans and Democrats alike claim to support fiscal responsibility, but you wouldn't know it from the defense budget. The House-Senate Conference Committee has approved $8 billion in budget authority for next year -- $8.3 billion more than requested by the Clinton administration,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Skeletons in Yeltsin's closet

The debate over who lost Russia is intensifying as the U.S. presidential election draws near. Although the United States' policies toward post-Soviet Russia have been bipartisan, politicians sense that Vice President Al Gore is especially vulnerable because of his cochairmanship of the Gore-Chernomyrdin...
CULTURE / Art / ARTS AND ARTISANS
Oct 9, 1999

Whisked away by an age-old tradition

IKOMA, Nara Pref. -- "It is totally handmade and finely crafted work, but no matter how well it is made, chasen (a bamboo tea whisk) is a commodity with a limited life span," says Keizo Kubo, 59, who has been manufacturing the tea-ceremony utensil for 36 years.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

China's canny strategy in East Timor

China supported the U.N. Security Council resolution clearing the way for the deployment of an International Force for East Timor and also offered to send a civilian police contingent to be part of the U.N. peacemaking operation. Given China's advocacy of the principle of noninterference in internal...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 1999

Chongqing leads the next China boom

Japan is poised to lead foreign investment in the next important phase of China's development, centered on Chongqing, an inland city whose name most outsiders have never heard.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Oct 9, 1999

Different stokes for Iowan folks

I never thought my interest in Japanese pottery would lead me to Iowa.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

The Asahara Trial: Lines dwindle as trial shifts to VX

For the first time since the trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara began at the Tokyo District Court about 3 1/2 years ago, there was no need Friday to draw straws for seats at the guru's hearing.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 8, 1999

Waking dream in 'City of Virgins'

NEW YORK -- How do you transport a quintessential Japanese play to the United States and still make it feel genuine?
CULTURE / Music
Oct 8, 1999

Have no fear, the real Soul Train has arrived

So what's up! It's been a little while since I had a chance to talk to my Tokyo soulmates. But have no fear, I am still here.
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 1999

From a cakewalk to a campaign

It might be a race after all. The signs from the hustings are that the 2000 U.S. presidential nominations, once thought to have been sewn up by Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush (as Democrat and Republican, respectively), might not be guaranteed. Mr. Gore's position looks more precarious...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 1999

U.S. alliances under strain

The U.N.-authorized humanitarian intervention in East Timor might provide the model for ad hoc coalitions among democracies in East Asia -- based on the U.S. alliance structure, supported by Washington, but not requiring U.S. combat forces. Australia is leading the International Force for East Timor....
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Yamaha enters Vietnam motorcycle market

Yamaha Motor Co. has started commercial production of motorcycles designed for young people in Vietnam through a joint venture with the Vietnamese government, the company announced Thursday.

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it