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JAPAN
Jan 14, 2001

Miyazawa, Jin worried over U.S. economic woes

KOBE -- Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and his counterparts from South Korea and Europe expressed concern Saturday that the slowing U.S. economy could deal a major blow to the economies of their respective regions, Japanese government officials said.
COMMUNITY
Jan 14, 2001

Turning gray offices into great places to work

Steven Louie, vice president and design director of Gensler Tokyo, is not only warm, open and charming; he's also sensitive, patient, and very very kind. This was illustrated by his treatment of the 16-year-old student from the U.K. (on a work experience program) who accompanied me, listening attentively...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 14, 2001

Danger! Americans may smother you in kindness

I always get a kick out my students when they come back from the United States and exclaim, "Wow! Americans are so friendly!" Of course, what they really mean is, "Wow! No one even tried to kill us!"
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2001

Don't fret about economy: IMF chief

International Monetary Fund chief Horst Koehler told Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Friday that there is no need to worry about the outlook for the Japanese economy, although Japan will experience pain as its labor market goes through a transitional period.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2001

Tanaka payoff eased Kim abduction row

South Korea handed hundreds of millions of yen to the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka in 1973 to help arrange a breakthrough in the diplomatic standoff between the two countries over the kidnapping of Kim Dae Jung, Tanaka's former aide said in a recent issue of a Japanese monthly.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2001

Corolla tops in car sales for 32 years straight

Toyota Motor Corp.'s Corolla was the best-selling car in Japan in 2000, maintaining its status as the nation's favorite passenger car for the 32nd straight year, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 12, 2001

Still waiting for real reform

A slimmed-down national government debuted Jan. 6, when Japan's central bureaucracy was reorganized. The realignment cut the number of ministries and agencies, under the Cabinet Office, to 12 from the previous 22.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2001

Farm minister to discuss rice with WTO chief

Yoshio Yatsu, head of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, will go to Europe next week to discuss a plan to slow growth in mandated rice imports into Japan with the World Trade Organization chief, ministry officials said Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Jan 10, 2001

Daimyo's garden: tall trees among the embassies

Arisugawa Memorial Park has an area of 3.6 hectares and is the largest park in Tokyo's Minato Ward. The collection of tall mature trees gives the park a pleasing woodland effect.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2001

APEC paving the way for cooperation

We believe history will judge the eighth APEC Economic Leaders Meeting held in Brunei Darussalam Nov. 15-16 an important milestone in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's mission to create a peaceful, prosperous and open Pacific community. The Brunei meeting saw three "firsts" for APEC.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 8, 2001

Revisionists open a front in China

NORTH CHINA AND JAPANESE EXPANSION, 1933-1937: Regional Power and the National Interest, by Marjorie Dryburgh. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2000, 249 pp., 50 pounds (cloth). China is not only the world's most populous nation, but it is also one of the largest. In territorial reach, Russia and Canada alone...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 8, 2001

When two worlds collide

JAPAN AND THE DUTCH 1600-1853, by Grant K. Goodman. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000, 304 pp., 40 pounds. Thanks to the Tokugawa shogunate's decision at the beginning of the 17th century to expel the Portuguese and other Christian missionaries who had started to meddle in Japanese affairs, the...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 8, 2001

Zero emissions: route to sustainability for a clean revolution in the 21st century

The age of zero emissions is dawning, and Japan could one day lead a global clean revolution. The next decade should tell whether this nation will lead, or will consign itself to industrial mediocrity by adhering to the status quo.
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2001

Business chiefs gauge economy

The leaders of Japan's four most powerful business groups on Friday voiced cautious optimism over the nation's economy, predicting an annual growth rate of between 1.5 percent and 2 percent for 2001.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jan 6, 2001

Japanese music gets support from New Year's tradition

New Year's in Japan is a period when Japanese suddenly seem to "rediscover" their traditional music. Radio and television stations, which, except for NHK, practically ignore traditional music for most of the year, get into the seasonal spirit and air programs of the classical performing and theatrical...
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2001

Mori to embark on African trip

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori leaves Sunday for a nine-day trip to South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Greece with the aim of boosting diplomatic ties with sub-Saharan Africa. He will be the first Japanese prime minister to visit the region.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2001

Changing diet brings rising food concerns

The traditional Japanese diet of rice, grilled fish and vegetables has long been heralded as among the healthiest a culture has produced -- just witness Japan's long life spans.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2001

Tap dance zealot leads revival of making 'music' with feet

Tap dance instructor Kaoru Tomita has a simple yet effective approach to teaching the percussive dance in a country where rote learning and imitation are pedagogic mainstays: Do what you want and don't copy anyone.
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 4, 2001

2002 cohosts draw 1-1 with world stars

YOKOHAMA -- Soccer players from the South Korean K. League and the Japanese J. League on Wednesday night played alongside each other for the first time ever in an official game when they drew a World XI 1-1 in an exhibition match at International Stadium Yokohama.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2001

Five-year, muscle-pumping defense plan passed easily

The Cabinet approval last month of the 25-trillion yen medium-term defense buildup program came without heated debate among lawmakers or the public, to the apparent surprise of some Defense Agency officials.
EDITORIALS
Jan 1, 2001

The rebuilding starts now

At the dawn of a new century, the Japanese seem to be looking to the future with more worry than hope. The realities of contemporary Japan are grim. The nation seems to have lost its way. The social and economic systems that raised it to unprecedented levels of prosperity are falling apart at the seams....
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Jan 1, 2001

Carrying out reform is only the beginning for politicians

The final 10 years of the 20th century have been called a "lost decade" for Japan, which continues to suffer woes from the burst of the late-1980s bubble-economy. Japan's comeback as a globally competitive economic powerhouse will require fundamental reforms not only in the industrial and financial sectors...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 1, 2001

America gets a bang out of Melt-Banana

It's rare that a Japanese band is more successful in America than in Japan, but Melt-Banana are an exception to many rules.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

An Asia-Pacific checklist for Bush administration

George W. Bush's greatest foreign policy challenges over the next four years may well originate in the Asia-Pacific, where two-thirds of the world's population reside, and where probably two-thirds of the world's major geopolitical crises fester.
COMMUNITY
Dec 31, 2000

Michinoku Ginko chief banks on Japanese-Russian relations

Talk about a profitable end to the year. Invited to meet a Taisho man -- that is, someone born in the last year of what many consider to be Japan's most liberal period of the 20th century -- I was met in one location to be maneuvered into a taxi and delivered outside another: a nondescript utility block...
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2000

Fresh from ODA victory over Kamei, Mori turns to IT aid initiative

Fresh from surviving a hard-fought battle against political pressure for Draconian cuts in its foreign-aid budget, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's government is stepping up efforts to implement his $15 billion aid initiative in the area of information technology.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat