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JAPAN
Apr 29, 2001

Japan and ASEAN mull free trade pact

Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will next week set up a study group on the conclusion of a free trade agreement in a bid to compete with emerging powerhouse China and growing trade blocs in Europe, as well as both North America and Latin America, government sources said Saturday....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 28, 2001

Masumi Muramatsu

"Aka M.M.," laughed Masumi Muramatsu. In no time at all he introduces a lighthearted note into conversation.
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Apr 27, 2001

I know! Let's put on a show in the barn!

Peals of laughter erupt in the audience as the performers onstage go through their routines. It's not every day that the residents of Kitagawa, a village outside of Kochi, have the opportunity to see a musical performed entirely in the local Tosa dialect, and they're relishing every minute of it -- especially...
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2001

Policy pact with coalition partners seals Koizumi's prime minister job

Junichiro Koizumi, new president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, inked a policy deal with his coalition partners on Wednesday, securing his ticket to become Japan's new prime minister.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 24, 2001

Conserving world heritage in Dunhuang

DUNHUANG, China -- Approaching China across the Eurasian continent, one crosses the Tianshan mountains only to be confronted by the mighty Taklamakan Desert, with its sinister epigraph: "If you go in, you won't come out." At Kashgar, the Silk Road divides into two branches, skirting the northern and...
LIFE / Travel
Apr 24, 2001

A tale of two Thai tribes

BAHN BOON YEUN, Phrae Province, Thailand -- Small, wild-haired figures in ragged clothes move barefoot through the moonlit mango grove. Some carry archaic muskets as long as spears, others squat beside soot-stained shacks murmuring to each other in the darkness. Inside a big wooden house at the heart...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2001

Anmitsu dishes up some hot licks

In junior high school, going to shamisen lessons was something Yuka Annaka and Kumi Kindaichi hid, even from their friends. "There was this image that it was something our grandparents did," says Kindaichi. "Other kids reacted like it was strange. I didn't talk to anybody about it all through junior...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2001

Nurturing the next generation of traditional musicians

Many observers attribute the steep decline of Japanese traditional music in the 20th century in large part to the fact that Japan's school system teaches Western music intensively and hogaku almost not at all. That situation is due to change as the Education Ministry introduces new guidelines, effective...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 22, 2001

Big novels get the small-screen treatment

Jiro Asada won Japan's prestigious Naoki Prize for literature in 1997 for his novel "Poppoya," which was later made into a hit movie starring Ken Takakura. His followup, "Tengoku made no Hyaku Mairu (The One Hundred Miles to Heaven)," was published in the fall of 1998. Veteran TV director Katsumi Oyama...
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Researchers decode genome of highly-resistant bacterium

Japanese researchers said Friday that they have produced the world's first complete genetic sequencing of a bacterium which is a major source of human infection and one of the most resistant organisms in hospital-acquired infections.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2001

Polyester fiber imports face antidumping probe

The government will launch an investigation Monday to decide whether antidumping duties should be imposed on polyester staple fiber imported from South Korea and Taiwan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Compensation deal reached with incinerator firm

The government has agreed to pay an industrial waste disposal company near the U.S. Atsugi Naval Air Facility in Kanagawa Prefecture some 5.2 billion yen in compensation for halting the operations of its incinerators, which have been linked to high levels of dioxin, officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Koreans weigh merits of gaining Japan citizenship

Staff writer One Hokkaido resident is too proud to give up his South Korean nationality despite the disadvantages it brings while living in Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 21, 2001

Jane Best Cooke

In Queen Elizabeth II's New Year's honors list, Jane Best Cooke was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire. She was awarded this distinction in recognition of her contribution to the promotion in Japan of British culture, and to a wide range of charitable and international friendship activities....
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2001

Singapore and Japan to hold new trade talks

Japan and Singapore will hold a second round of negotiations on a bilateral free-trade agreement for four days starting Tuesday in Tokyo, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Apr 19, 2001

Calling all Internauts...

www.zingasia.com An Asia travel site that for some reason wants to be a portal. The only other shopping experience on the Net that offers so much to contemplate is Amazon. But looking for vacation possibilities just isn't the same as browsing through books, and the reams information and suggestions can...
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2001

Isahaya gates to remain shut

An advisory panel to the agriculture minister on Tuesday took action that will delay by at least one year any reopening of a large part of Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture to the Ariake Sea.
COMMENTARY
Apr 18, 2001

The crew's home; now what?

HONOLULU -- The release of the crew of the American EP-3E reconnaissance plane from Chinese "protective custody" may have defused the crisis but hardly represents the end of this affair. Meetings are now under way between U.S. and Chinese officials to deal with the aftereffects. While both sides agree...
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2001

Cabinet imposes emergency curbs, tariffs on Chinese farm imports

The Cabinet decided on Tuesday to impose emergency import curbs on three agricultural products, starting Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2001

More youth exchanges

OSAKA -- New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark on Monday called for more youth exchanges between New Zealand and Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2001

LDP presidential candidates spar over cure for economy

The four hopefuls in the race to replace Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori remained divided Sunday over their prescriptions for Japan's diseased economy.
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 2001

Prepare now for demographic changes

The rapid aging of Japan's population, combined with a steady decline in the birthrate, makes it certain that the productive-age population will begin to fall sharply in the not-so-distant future. As a result, the entire population will also start shrinking, making it necessary to redesign the economic...
COMMUNITY
Apr 15, 2001

Where the reading's free and easy

As England was once called a nation of shopkeepers, Japan could be called a nation of readers.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Apr 15, 2001

Between rock and a jazz session

What do famous guitarists do after climbing to the top of their field, having contributed to literally hundreds of the most influential jazz, rock and pop records of the past 30 years? Well, if you ask Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather, the answer is: They turn up the amps, load their guitar chops with...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2001

Bush's Spanish narrows gap with Latinos

In the late 1800s, U.S. President James Garfield, a former classics professor, amused friends by translating simultaneously an English document into Greek with his left hand and Latin with his right hand. President George W. Bush cannot match this linguistic ability, but his use of Spanish and his family...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 14, 2001

Sylvie Gramegna

"Small and beautiful" is the description people use when they speak of Luxembourg. This little country, tucked between Belgium, Germany and France, has for centuries been a meeting place of Germanic and Latin cultures. It is known for being open to the movement of people and the different influences...

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan