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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2001

Deal with the Taliban by humanizing it

NEW YORK -- It is easy to feel antagonism toward Afghanistan's Taliban leadership. As if its assault on women's basic rights were not enough, it has turned its rage against historical monuments in actions that have been almost universally condemned. But this condemnation has not changed its policies...
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2001

Technology obscuring Japan's culture, calligrapher believes

For many contemporary Japanese -- both children and adults alike -- everyday life is becoming unthinkable without personal computers and cellular phones.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Apr 29, 2001

How Tiger got his game back in five easy sips

Recently Tiger Woods secured his place in golfing history by winning this past Masters tournament. But there's a secret to Woods' recent success that few know about: sake.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 22, 2001

A bird's-eye view of history

JAPAN: A Short History. Supervised by John Gillespie. New York/Tokyo: ICG Muse Inc. 2001, 80 pp., map, profusely illustrated, 950 yen. When Ralph Waldo Emerson remarked that "there is no history, only biography," he was implying that our annals are really only accounts. Like so much else, history...
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Apr 22, 2001

Real block-rocking beats

With dance music gaining more of a presence on the charts and more play on many people's CD players, rhythm rather than melody is supreme. Granted, much of it -- from fey pop to dance crossovers -- is soulless. It is mechanical, not just in the way it is produced, but also in the way it sounds.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2001

A new drumbeat resounds around the world

The powerful beat of taiko (Japanese drums) of different sizes vibrates the air, while the delicate sound of shinobue (bamboo flute) adds spice to the dynamic rhythm. On stage is taiko troupe Tokyo Dageki Dan: four muscular men drumming and another with the flute.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2001

Where to go to hear hogaku

With the gradual extinction of the old Japanese yose vaudeville theaters in the postwar era, regular venues for enjoying hogaku have become hard to find.
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....
EDITORIALS
Apr 19, 2001

Beyond the textbook controversy

A junior high-school history textbook edited by a nationalist group continues to stir controversy and provoke anger, especially in South Korea. The textbook in question, written by the Japanese Society for Textbook Reform, which calls existing history textbooks "masochistic," recently cleared censorship...
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2001

1,900 join spring bash with Imperial Couple

About 1,900 people, including Olympic judo gold medalist Ryoko Tamura and Nobel Prize winner Hideki Shirakawa, on Tuesday attended a spring garden party hosted by the Emperor and Empress.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2001

Train accident victims win workers' compensation bid

Labor standards inspection offices in Tokyo will allow workers' insurance to cover the deaths of a South Korean student and a Japanese photographer who were killed by a train Jan. 26 while trying to rescue a drunken man who fell onto the tracks at JR Shin-Okubo Station, the Labor Ministry said Tuesday....
CULTURE / Art
Apr 18, 2001

Leaves left by the divine wind

When England was conquered by the Normans in 1066, it was profoundly changed. We might expect the same to have been true in Japan's case if it had fallen to the invading Mongols and their Chinese and Korean auxiliaries in 1274 or 1281.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2001

Crown Princess showing signs of pregnancy

The Crown Princess, 37, is showing signs that she might be pregnant, the Imperial Household Agency announced Monday.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Apr 17, 2001

Small minds behind the small screen

Have you been lucky enough to follow England's World Cup qualifiers or Liverpool's progress in the UEFA Cup on SKY PerfecTV recently? Let me rephrase that: Have you been clever enough?
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2001

Securities firm's failure scorches investors

OSAKA -- The Financial Services Agency on Monday declared an Osaka-based mortgage-backed securities company insolvent, sending shock waves across the country as 20,000 investors saw their principals suddenly vanish.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Apr 15, 2001

Let's raise a glass to the final batch

The sake brewing season is drawing to a close. Except for the handful of large breweries that brew year-round in climate-controlled factories, most sakagura (breweries) will be finishing up their brewing sometime this month. Naturally, there will be ceremonies connected with significant activities within...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2001

Korean impasse is U.S.' fault

SEOUL -- "Sooner or later, the North Koreans will return to the negotiating table," said South Korea's former Foreign Minister Lee Joung Binn in an interview on the eve of his resignation. At this moment, political realities on the Korean Peninsula don't seem to justify his optimism. As the government...
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

Aum membership grew in 2000

The number of Aum Shinrikyo members living in the cult's facilities nationwide increased by about 150 to around 650 in the year 2000, Justice Minister Masahiko Komura said during a Cabinet meeting Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Apr 12, 2001

Tropical fusion in southern Satsuma

It is well known that first impressions count, and my first impressions of Kagoshima Flower Garden were excellent.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2001

Seoul recalls ambassador over textbook controversey

South Korea's ambassador to Japan returned to Seoul on Tuesday in a move to protest Japan's approval last week of a history textbook that many Asian nations say brushes over descriptions of Japan's wartime atrocities.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2001

EU needs Japan's help to keep protocol: activist

Japan's actions may hold the key to the rescue of the Kyoto Protocol, according to a World Wide Fund for Nature climate change campaigner.
COMMUNITY
Apr 8, 2001

How to escape the urban grind

After a grueling week at the office, we naturally look forward to getting outand about on the weekend. For diversions, Japan's major cities have it all, from art exhibitions and the latest movies to shopping and sporting events. Problem is, who wants to fight thesame workday-commute crowds at museums,...
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2001

Spring is couple's harbinger of sorrow

Yukitomo and Mitsuko Hiraga do not anticipate the onset of spring with the same relish as most others. Each April, as cherry trees in full bloom welcome freshmen to colleges, the couple are reminded of their son who died soon after taking the first step toward his dream.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Apr 7, 2001

The U-2 affair all over again

Spy-plane pilot is one of the few professions we should strongly discourage our sons from developing an interest in. Rich in experience, critically important and thrillingly challenging, it is, nevertheless, a career charged with personal and collective disaster. Along with the ongoing anxieties of parents...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 7, 2001

Rebeka Majid

At the beginning of this year, the Asian Ladies Friendship Society was formally renamed the Asia-Pacific Ladies Friendship Society. "This name better reflects the society's present composition," said Mrs. Rebeka Majid, wife of the ambassador of Bangladesh.
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2001

Mr. Milosevic behind bars

It was not pretty, but the job was done. Last weekend, Serb police arrested former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic after a 36-hour standoff at his villa. Mr. Milosevic now faces corruption charges, but officials in Belgrade are hinting that more serious charges could be added. Mr. Milosevic should...
ENVIRONMENT
Apr 5, 2001

Soy may protect women against Alzheimer's

SAN DIEGO -- Soy may help protect against the onset of Alzheimer's disease, especially in postmenopausal women, according to research presented Tuesday at the 221st national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 5, 2001

Climate change blamed for Okinawa coral death

Scientists at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa have published evidence showing that global climate changes in 1998 devastated coral reefs around Sesoko Island. The report, published in the April edition of the journal Ecology Letters, comes on the heels of George W. Bush's unilateral abandonment...

Longform

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