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JAPAN
Sep 9, 1999

Exhibition displays horrors of Minamata disaster

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 9, 1999

Obuchi, Kato and Yamasaki kick off LDP campaigns

The presidential race for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party officially began Thursday as Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, former LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato and former LDP policy affairs chief Taku Yamasaki filed their candidacies with the party's election management commission.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 9, 1999

Taverna Rondino: Kamakura's most excellent cucina

Now that summer is finally past its punishing prime, it's time for the beach. September is the finest season down on the Shonan waterfront: The sun and water are still plenty warm enough; the teenybopper crowds have dissipated; and the rip-off beach houses have packed up and gone, taking their dubious...
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

Ishihara holds shindig to tackle school lunches

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara met with a group of celebrities and private-sector executives on Wednesday in an unstructured get-together where a new idea to help pare the budget came up -- doing away with school lunches.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 1999

Beleaguered Pakistan faces tough choices

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is trying hard to put on a brave face, even as his nuclearized country's opposition politicians agitate increasingly loudly for his resignation.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

Japanese, Korean activists picket Kepco over MOX

OSAKA -- South Korean and Japanese antinuclear activists demonstrated in front of Kansai Electric Power Co. in central Osaka late Wednesday afternoon to protest the company's involvement in shipping mixed plutonium-uranium fuel (MOX).
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

U.S. firm eases decision-making on pension options

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 8, 1999

12-year-old illegal immigrant sent back to U.S.

OSAKA -- A 12-year-old runaway from Colorado who illegally entered Japan by pretending to have been separated from his mother has been returned to the United States, it was learned Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 7, 1999

Tokyo declares war on diesels

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara is proving to be a man of his word -- up to a point. It remains to be seen whether or not he can keep some of his promises. Not long after announcing plans to seriously tackle the capital region's notorious traffic congestion, Mr. Ishihara and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government...
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 1999

Independence for East Timor

The East Timorese have voted for independence. Twenty-four years after the Indonesian military invaded the former Portuguese territory and forcibly annexed it to their state, the people of the province have been given the opportunity to choose their own destiny. Despite intimidation and what appears...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 1999

California squares off on apology issue

SAN FRANCISCO -- "Apology diplomacy," a staple of politics in Asia, has made its way to the California State Assembly. Taking action on an issue that has divided Japanese Americans, the state assembly in the capital at Sacramento recently passed a resolution asking Japan to apologize for World War II...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 5, 1999

Ultranationalist groups: aliens with sunglasses

It's another Sunday in Japan as rightwing organizations in black buses the size of semi-trailer trucks roll through the city streets spewing nationalist slogans. These military-style buses are driven by men who are usually described by others as "wearing sunglasses." Japanese people hardly notice when...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Sep 5, 1999

Late returns

A reader remembers a column about Gen. Douglas MacArthur's office in the Dai-Ichi Insurance building. It was ideally situated for the role he was to play -- it overlooked the Imperial Palace. He established his own imperial pre-eminence when the Chinese carpet he always used in his office was delivered:...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 1999

The politics of love and hate

LONDON -- Here we are on the second anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, and neither her life nor her death seems as momentous as it did this time last year. Does this mean she really was just a media phenomenon, ephemeral, superficial, appearing and disappearing in our lives without consequence?...
EDITORIALS
Sep 4, 1999

Business embraces the bit

The business of doing business underwent a radical transformation this week. First, Sun Microsystems announced that it would offer some of its critical business software free over the Internet. Responding to the challenge, Microsoft Corp. two days later revealed that it would offer its own top-selling...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Sep 4, 1999

Bang a gong, sing a sacred Buddhist song

Sound is an integral part of traditional Buddhist ceremony in Japanese temples. Time in the temple is structured around a procession of ceremonies: rising, meditating, giving alms, eating, etc., and each ceremony is accompanied by the sonorities of men chanting sutras in unison, called shomyo.
COMMUNITY
Sep 4, 1999

In pursuit of glittering perfection

Mikimoto pearls have always ranked high among Japanese girls. They're the top choice for a first jewelry present from parents, for Coming-of-Age Day, or for weddings.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1999

Japan urged to see Taiwan as own entity

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1999

Lawyer challenges Japan to reveal WWII labor details

A California-based lawyer on Friday urged the Japanese government and Japanese companies to disclose wartime documents that would expose facts about the forced labor of American prisoners of war in Japan during World War II.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1999

Cultist says he could not defy 'poa' order

A former key member of Aum Shinrikyo said Friday he had doubts about killing a fellow cultist in 1989 but acted upon the order from Shoko Asahara because he was not in a position to defy the guru.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1999

Japan can intervene at any time: Miyazawa

Japan can step into the currency market on its own to sell yen for dollars without consulting the United States, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1999

LDP, New Komeito reach accord on five policies

The Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito reached policy agreements in five key areas Friday, bringing the second-largest opposition party a step closer to the coalition government, officials of the two parties said.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1999

Tokyo government proposes 4% pay cut for all staff

Trying desperately to pull itself back from the brink of bankruptcy, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government proposed Friday that salaries for all 180,000 city employees be cut 4 percent for three years starting in fiscal 2000.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 1999

Narita airport submits runway plan to state

The New Tokyo International Airport Authority applied Friday for government approval of its plan to build a shorter-than-planned second runway at the airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Sep 2, 1999

Another stab at peace in Congo

One month after six of the seven parties fighting in the Congo signed a peace agreement, the remaining holdout has joined the ceasefire. Peace is desperately needed in the long-suffering nation, impoverished by decades of looting by former strongman Mobutu Sese Seko and then wracked by civil war after...
JAPAN
Sep 2, 1999

DKB loans to 'sokaiya' result in suspended terms

Three former Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank executives were given suspended eight-month sentences Thursday for extending illegal loans to a "sokaiya" corporate racketeer.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 1999

Abduction probe focusing on autos

Several hundred vehicles that traveled from Tokyo to Nagoya on expressways Aug. 24 are being looked at as part of investigations into the abduction of a 19-year-old woman, informed sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 1999

Disabled ask Tokyo to reconsider cuts to aid program

A group of disabled people and members of citizens' groups supporting them petitioned the Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Thursday to withdraw its plan to cut financial assistance to people with heavy disabilities.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 1999

MITI spells out strategy for 1 million new jobs

The government will implement measures to increase business startups to generate 1.32 million jobs over the next five years, officials at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 1999

Low-dose birth control pill makes debut

Staff writer

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