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COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 30, 2001

One man's fight for the unvarnished truth

My historian friend Richard Minear tells me that Saburo Ienaga has been nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He then follows up on this news by sending me Ienaga's autobiography, which he has translated, "Japan's Past, Japan's Future: One Historian's Odyssey" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001).
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 29, 2001

Armchair travel to Italy and beyond

Tatsuo Umemiya used to be one of the hardest-working yakuza actors in Japan. Nowadays, he is mainly known as the father of model/talent Anna Umemiya and as "the cooking king" of Japanese show business. He even owns a popular chain of stores that sell all sorts of Japanese foods. The stores are easy to...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Reel world

When "based on a true story" flashes on the screen, many moviegoers are left cold, knowing that Hollywood obliterates so much of the truth in pursuit of dramatic arc and tried-and-true narrative formulas. Documentary film allows a much smaller margin for manipulation, and the best ones prove that truth...
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 25, 2001

A stunningly beautiful work of Great 3 genius

One sure sign of the maturation of a pop-music culture is when artists start releasing albums that are organic, cohesive works of art, instead of collections of their latest hit singles with some B-grade tracks as filler. "May and December," the latest from Japanese pop/rock band the Great 3, is such...
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2001

Mexico keen to boost ties with Japan

The new democratic government of Mexico is eager to strengthen ties with Japan and promote cultural exchanges between the two countries, the Central American country's new ambassador to Japan said Monday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Apr 23, 2001

Moscow exiles a mogul with good taste

The Kremlin wins one: President Vladimir Putin's bitter critic, Media-Most media empire, is dead. Its assets have been transferred to pro-Kremlin stockholders, its journalists have been fired or silenced and its owner, Vladimir Gusinsky, is hiding abroad.
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...
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 20, 2001

Mitsubishi Motors changing gears under new three-year turnaround plan

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is banking on a three-year restructuring effort to change its traditional corporate culture and become a more market-oriented company.
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 / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Apr 19, 2001

Top foreign fashion brands take direct approach

As consumer spending woes continue to weigh on Japan's sluggish economy, foreign apparel makers have expanded their business by taking a more direct approach.
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.
Events
Apr 17, 2001

German center to host free classical concert

Goethe Institut Kansai, a center for German culture, is organizing a free classical music concert by a French alto singer and a German pianist, starting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at its Osaka center in Kita Ward.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2001

1st-year elementary school pupils get more teachers

Education boards in 17 of Japan's 47 prefectures have increased the ratio of teachers to first-year pupils in elementary schools to combat the widely feared breakdown of classroom discipline, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2001

Expert sees legendary Asian horse 'sweat blood'

Horse researcher Hayato Shimizu says he has captured a photograph of a Central Asian horse that appears to be sweating blood, apparently confirming Chinese legends of a similar horse famed for its great speed.
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...
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

Gadget guy puts ideology over profit

On a cluttered desk in a dimly lit office in central Tokyo lies a golden, cylindrical object you can't find in any store. It's a combination lock that would take 3.2 trillion years to crack, about 160 times the age of the universe.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

LDP rivals back approval of textbook

All four candidates vying for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency are defending the government's recent approval of a junior high school history textbook that critics say glosses over Japan's wartime aggression in Asia.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

New rules to trim public organizations

The Cabinet on Friday approved a set of guidelines to reform public organizations financially aided by the government or conducting charity, academic or other work on behalf of the state.
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...
JAPAN
Apr 12, 2001

Youths' public service mulled

Education Minister Nobutaka Machimura told an advisory panel Wednesday to come up with concrete recommendations on mandatory community service by elementary through high school students.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2001

A 'cold war' in the making

The collision between a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea reflects an emerging pattern of confrontation between the United States and China -- a development I noted in this column even prior to that incident.
COMMENTARY
Apr 11, 2001

The hazards of reform -- British-style

LONDON -- Forget sagging stock markets and omens of world recession. Forget global warming and U.S. President George W. Bush's rejection of the Kyoto treaty on carbon emissions. Forget, even, the foot-and-mouth disease that is currently paralyzing Britain's farming and tourist industries and has caused...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 11, 2001

So far, so good for Tigers' foreign contingent

Most everyone (including this writer) picked the Hanshin Tigers to finish last in the Central League standings in 2001 for the third straight season. However, nine games into the schedule, the team does not look so bad. There are some good looking young players (rookie shortstop Yoshinori Okihara, for...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 11, 2001

K-pop, ya don't stop

BoA Last month, 500 members of the media gathered for the debut of singer BoA at the Roppongi club Velfarre.

Longform

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