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EDITORIALS
Nov 6, 1999

Coming to legal grips with Aum

Citizens who are justifiably wary of the lingering threat to public safety posed by the Aum Shinrikyo cult welcome the bill seeking to control its activities now under consideration in the Diet. It is expected to be enacted into law before the end of the year. The numerous criminal activities with which...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 2, 1999

And a drum shall lead them

THE ROUSING DRUM: Ritual Practice in a Japanese Community, by Scott Schnell. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, pp.364 with b/w photos xxvi and maps. $59.00 (cloth); $33.95 (paper). Interpretations of that folk festival, the "matsuri," vary. Kunio Yanagida, the founder of folklore studies in Japan,...
JAPAN
Nov 2, 1999

Hatoyama calls Obuchi government a 'moral hazard'

Calling the new coalition government of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi a "moral hazard" formed solely to reinforce political power, DPJ head Yukio Hatoyama on Tuesday demanded the early dissolution of the Lower House.
JAPAN
Nov 1, 1999

Tokyo bans 'legal drug' products

The Tokyo metropolitan government's Public Health Bureau on Monday ordered retailers in Minato Ward and Chiyoda Ward to halt sales of 10 products -- so-called "legal drugs" -- sold at adult-goods stores and through the Internet, because they contain unlawful compounds.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Oct 27, 1999

Eyes on the storm

You don't have to be the wonky sort to want to keep tabs on what is going on in Northeast Asia. Yes, diplomacy can be tedious -- although North Korean rhetoric does liven things up a good bit -- but most Japan Times readers live in Japan and that puts them within range of those missiles ostensibly threatening...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 1999

Futenma debate near conclusion

Staff writers
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Oct 20, 1999

Nature scenes pure eye Kandy

If you visit the Sri Lanka hill capital of Kandy and fall in love, be content. You are in illustrious company.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

JCO president apologizes to lawmakers

Looking pale and worn and sitting with his head bowed, the president of JCO Co. on Tuesday appeared before Diet members and repeatedly apologized for the nuclear accident 19 days earlier that was Japan's worst.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

Air pollution not improving

Air pollution levels around the nation remained little changed in 1998 from the year before, with nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants known to cause respiratory disorders still a problem in major cities, according to an Environment Agency report released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1999

Dioxin levels fall but benzene still above limits

Dioxin levels in air throughout Japan improved in 1998, but levels of benzene -- a potent carcinogen found in automobile exhaust -- are still above government safety levels, according to the government's most comprehensive survey of harmful airborne chemicals.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Groups host Canada education fair

An education fair will be held at the Canadian Embassy today and Sunday in Tokyo's Akasaka district. The fair will be the first sponsored by the Canadian Education Centre Network in conjunction with the Canadian Education Alliance, two nonprofit organizations officially supported by the embassy.
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 13, 1999

Regional Special: KYUSHU

Reclamation project splits locals, power elite> Staff writer
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

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...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1999

Top LDP execs to put wrangles aside

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Cabinet Interview: FRC chief favors safe approach

Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Oct 6, 1999

Familiar features of a new Cabinet

The reshuffled Cabinet of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi will literally have to lead Japan into a new millennium fraught with uncertainties. Its immediate task is to solidify the nascent recovery of the long-foundering Japanese economy and put it on the path of sustained growth. To meet this demand, Mr....
CULTURE / Art
Oct 2, 1999

Winged labors of love

Bird carvings have typically been thought of as a Western art form, but Haruo Uchiyama is challenging this assumption. Even the birds that have come into contact with his carvings have been made believers.
COMMUNITY
Oct 2, 1999

Grains of water and drops of sand

Every day, when the beach is quiet, a small figure can be seen walking on the sands of Hayama, gazing at the waves. She is Reika Iwami, an artist whose work is in museums in Britain and America, and who is only now, at the age of 72, becoming better known at home.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 1999

More reform needed to underpin Japan's economic recovery

Japan has made important progress in recent years in the area of regulatory and other structural reforms, but there is an urgent need for further and more rapid progress to strengthen future Japanese growth and prosperity.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 1999

Japan sets first specific waste-reduction target

The government for the first time on Tuesday set a specific target for reducing the mountains of waste the country produces each year.
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 1999

Tenure in bronze for Todai's foreign professors

The number of outdoor statues of foreigners (five) on the campus of the University of Tokyo might seem unusually high for a Japanese institution.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Sep 23, 1999

Osaka still has reasons to be proud of its brewing culture

Osaka has long been a great center of commerce and activity, but likely doesn't stand out as a major brewing center in the minds of most people. True, it has never been nearly as significant as its Kansai cousins -- Kyoto, Hyogo and Nara -- but the sake brewing culture was, and still is, strong there....
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Sep 22, 1999

Green-tea cappuccino under the Ark Hills leaves

Looking for a stylish spot to meet a client? Blossoming romance needs to be nurtured over a cappuccino? Maybe, like most of us, you just need a respite from the mad rush of the city, but don't have the time (or cash) to catch the next train out of town.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 1999

Ex-Im Bank hit by protests over dam loans

As the board of directors prepared to meet inside, activists rallied outside the Export-Import Bank of Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday, protesting the organization's plan to resume funding for a controversial dam in the Philippines.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Sep 19, 1999

Encounters

Recently I had a minor automobile accident. How often have you seen drivers discussing their accident with the police and felt great sympathy for the participants, who were obviously going to be there for a very long time. This time one of the participants was me, and I was, even though the damage was...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 17, 1999

Ten reasons why English is an evil language

English is an evil language. If it wasn't, all Japanese people would speak fluent English upon graduating high school. After all, seven years of English study should be enough.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 1999

Kanazawa to get wired in experiment

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Matsushita Communication Industrial Co. will begin a one-year joint experiment on a community-based information network in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, from April 2000, the companies said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 1999

Road to closed captions no freeway for hearing impaired

Staff writer

Longform

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