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CULTURE / Film
Mar 2, 2001

Dogmatic 'King Lear' stranded in the dunes

The Dogma '95 film movement, started by a group of Danish filmmakers, is a short-list of 10 rules known as the "vow of chastity" -- a pledge to eschew action, sets, props, soundtracks, lighting, stable camerawork, genre conventions and directorial credit. Like many a radical movement, it is entirely...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2001

Don't bet against China's industrial policy

Cambridge, ENGLAND -- At a recent conference in Berlin organized by the Institute of Asian Affairs of Hamburg, Ireland's leading China specialist said quite unequivocally that China's industrial policy has failed. As the speaker has long been known as one of the most vocal supporters of China's state-owned...
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Mar 1, 2001

International spa secrets

Some of the best recipes for a do-it-yourself spa come from those cultures known to go in for a bit of sybaritic pampering. Japan is high up on the list: A highly developed sense of aesthetics, a long tradition of bathing and a sublime appreciation of ritual have helped beauty practices here evolve into...
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2001

Ghosts that lurk in the machine

Someone, perhaps John Carpenter, once said that to make a good horror film, it helps to be a bit of a sadist. True enough, if your idea of horror is whacking teenage girls with a cleaver. But if, like "Kairo (Pulse)" director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, you're making a film about the dead invading the world of...
CULTURE / Film
Feb 24, 2001

Space . . . the funny frontier

Think of it as a "Seven Samurai" in outer space. OK, well there are only six warriors in "Galaxy Quest" but the comparison kinda works. They are a group of has-been actors whose sole claim to fame is a TV series called "Galaxy Quest" that went off the air 18 years ago. But American human beings weren't...
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2001

BINDing the Internet

Security experts recently made an unprecedented appeal to computer system administrators to update software to protect the Internet. The warning highlights the vulnerabilities of the digital era. Security flaws continue to be the Achilles Heel of the information revolution. There is little sign that...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 22, 2001

Zagat updates guide to Tokyo's best restaurants

Not a single local-cuisine restaurant appears in the 10 top restaurants of this year's Tokyo Zagat Survey, the annually updated restaurants guide that many in the West consider the diner's bible.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Feb 22, 2001

Heart and soul of sake in the breweries of Nara

Nara Prefecture can easily be considered the historical heartland of sake. Far more than any other prefecture, historically and culturally, Nara is an extremely significant sake-brewing locale.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 22, 2001

Sticking to sophisticated yakitori

Yakitori. The term covers a multitude of chicken possibilities, ranging from smoky yatai and stand-up nomiya under the proverbial tracks all the way to plush establishments for Ginza madames where every bird on the menu is reared in free-range bliss, cooked over premium charcoal and washed down with...
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2001

AIG to buy operating rights of Chiyoda Mutual Life

The receiver of the failed Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co. is expected to pick American International Group Inc. to buy its operating rights.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2001

Ban on human cloning abroad urged

Takashi Sasagawa, minister in charge of science and technology policy, said Tuesday that Japan should revise its law banning human cloning to prohibit Japanese from cloning humans abroad.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2001

Ban on human cloning abroad urged

Takashi Sasagawa, minister in charge of science and technology policy, said Tuesday that Japan should revise its law banning human cloning to prohibit Japanese from cloning humans abroad.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2001

Supreme Court accepts advisory panel on judges

The Supreme Court said Monday it will accept the establishment of a panel that will advise the top court on appointing district and high court judges.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 20, 2001

A convenient but fragile liaison

BROTHERS IN ARMS: The Rise and Fall of the Sino-Soviet Alliance 1945-1963, edited by Odd Arne Westad. Cold War International History Project Series, Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, Stanford University Press, 2000, 404 pp. (paper). At least once a year, the leaders of China and Russia get together...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 18, 2001

Memories of Fido remain from hair to eternity

I am covered, head to foot, in dog hair. It's as if it had rained cats and dogs and I splashed through a puddle of them.
LIFE / Digital
Feb 16, 2001

From video game to big screen

HONOLULU -- Aki, the scientist/heroine of Square Picture's new movie "Final Fantasy," steps from the door of her space shuttle and surveys the wreckage that is Old New York.
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 15, 2001

Tickets to 2002 World Cup go 'on sale'

Get your wallets out, find some friends (don't forget their names), make sure you know exactly what you're doing in 16 months time, fill out a form and hope for a bit of luck.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2001

Politicians rethinking reliance on vote-gathering machinery

Staff writer It is election year in Japan again. About half of the seats in the Upper House will be up for grabs in the triennial election in July, while the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election -- often seen as an indicator of voting trends in national polls -- is expected in June.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2001

Politicians rethinking reliance on vote-gathering machinery

Staff writer It is election year in Japan again. About half of the seats in the Upper House will be up for grabs in the triennial election in July, while the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election -- often seen as an indicator of voting trends in national polls -- is expected in June.
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2001

A nation without a road map

The primary task of the ongoing ordinary Diet session is to present a credible picture of future Japan, a blueprint for the structural reforms needed to rebuild the nation. Plenary debates were held in both houses of the Diet earlier last week, followed by committee-level debates during the rest of the...
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Feb 12, 2001

Getting back on the right track

In all walks of life, those who make successful comebacks have always been admired. They become figures of resilience with a commendable never-say-die attitude; think Muhammad Ali or even Bill Clinton.
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2001

How do you spell that again?

Another storm has been raging lately in the teacup of English. Like many linguistic squalls, this one is centered on spelling. It blew up in Britain late last year after the government's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority decreed the use of internationally agreed spellings for some scientific terms...
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2001

Sick building syndrome on rise in homes

OSAKA -- The number of housewives and children suffering from sick building syndrome is on the rise, according to the results of a recent nationwide survey.
EDITORIALS
Feb 8, 2001

Fear is the winner in Israel

Israelis have elected a new prime minister. Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon has trounced Prime Minister Ehud Barak in a historic vote. The results cap a stunning comeback for Mr. Sharon, who was written out of Israeli politics after the 1982 invasion of Lebanon which he masterminded. The results also...
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2001

Auto unions begin spring wage talks

Labor organizations representing employees of major automakers on Wednesday presented their annual list of wage and benefits demands to management as another difficult year looms for Japan's blue-collar workers.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2001

Auto unions begin spring wage talks

Labor organizations representing employees of major automakers on Wednesday presented their annual list of wage and benefits demands to management as another difficult year looms for Japan's blue-collar workers.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Feb 8, 2001

Religion and health in the etymology of sake

Sake has not been around forever, and at one point in time, they had to come up with a name for this new stuff. Hooch, da good stuff, giggly juice . . . It is likely that the Japanese equivalents of these have all been used, but there must have been some point when the word "sake" itself came into being....
EDITORIALS
Feb 5, 2001

Save Ariake Sea before it dies

Yet another possible man-made disruption of nature has been reported from Kyushu's Ariake Sea. This major nori (seaweed) cultivation area appears all but dead. Not only has output dropped sharply, the plant has also discolored. The abnormal growth of phytoplankton has created a serious shortage of nutrients...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?