Search - events

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2000

Awards lift expectations of Kim Dae Jung

SEOUL -- South Korean President Kim Dae Jung is more popular abroad than he is within his own country. This is the impression I have gathered after discussing South Korean politics with many people both in South Korea and beyond the shores of the peninsula.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Nov 18, 2000

Russia delights in U.S. electoral confusion

Delightful. This is how many Russians describe the postelection crisis in the United States. For 10 years, Russian elections have been a favorite target of the American media. Finally, Mother Russia is allowed to retaliate. The delicious irony of the moment is that two weeks earlier hardliners in the...
CULTURE / Art
Nov 18, 2000

A peep into Tokugawa Japan

During the almost two and a half centuries when Japan shunned the rest of the world, the one Western country that remained on nodding terms was the Netherlands. This year the two countries are celebrating 400 years of continuous contact in what must be one of the strangest international relationships...
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2000

Bust of father of Japanese chemistry installed in Osaka

OSAKA -- A bronze bust of Koenraad Wolter Gratama, a 19th-century Dutch chemist considered the father of Japanese chemistry, has been installed near the site where a state-run chemistry school was once located in Osaka.
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2000

Mourning period over for Empress Dowager

Japan on Sunday ended a 150-day mourning period for the late Empress Dowager, posthumously known as Empress Kojun, who died June 16 at the age of 97, Imperial Household Agency officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2000

Japan-Sri Lanka ties to focus on IT

The Sri Lankan Ambassador on Friday said the relationship between the two countries will be further strengthened through cooperation in information technology.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Nov 9, 2000

More the merrier at Shinjuku's Zonbun

Shinjuku can be daunting, to say the least. Especially when you are in a group, looking for a place to hang and eat and drink. Where to begin looking can be as problematic as finding a place the whole group can fit. Add the prospect of everyone enjoying good sake, and you might as well throw in the o-shibori....
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2000

Jiang's troubling ambitions

CAMBRIDGE, England -- So the U.S. presidential-election campaign is over and we will soon know who is the next "leader of the free world." This time no one has alleged that any Chinese organization or individual has tried to affect the outcome. But why shouldn't they? Analysts say that Texas Gov. George...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 9, 2000

Now is the season of our great content

It's all too easy to take for granted a restaurant of the caliber of Les Saisons. Ensconced within the venerable portals of the Imperial Hotel, it is plush, self-assured and runs with the same effortless reliability as a well-tuned Bentley sports car. You just know that an evening at table is going to...
LIFE / Travel
Nov 8, 2000

Wreck and return of the Mary Rose

The man o' war, moving gracefully under billowing canvas sheeting, moved purposefully through the water. The pride of King Henry VIII of England's navy, HMS Mary Rose was a state-of-the-art warship tasked with repelling a French invasion across the Channel.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2000

Mori to recognize Paralympians

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will present silver cups to Japanese gold medalists of the Sydney Paralympic Games, including swimmer Mayumi Narita, who bagged six gold medals, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Nov 7, 2000

A fine fuzzy day out at Rocktober

The inaugural Rocktober festival on Sunday, Oct. 15, at Shiokaze Park in Odaiba, confounded my expectations: I had a great time.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Nov 7, 2000

U.S. vote goes all the way to the wire

I used to say, "The only thing certain in our elections are that they will end on time." Well, the election of 2000 tops them all. Not only is it still "too close to call," this election is unlikely to end on time. Let me explain why. It all centers on Washington state and a new election law it initiates...
CULTURE / Art
Nov 5, 2000

Redefining to rescue Kyoto

KYOTO -- When people talk about traditional Kyoto culture, all the "a" verbs come out -- everyone appreciates it, everyone admires it, many adore it. So why is it disappearing so rapidly?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 5, 2000

Norman Tolman

A household name, not only in Japan, amongst print artists, painters and art collectors, Norman Tolman appreciates art in realms beyond his own strict specialties. Japanese architecture, pots and fabrics naturally fall within his orbit. He can rearrange the interiors of other people's homes to delight...
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2000

Web site gets volcano evacuees online and in touch

Hiroyuki Noda never imagined that he would become a messenger for fellow Miyake Island residents when he bought a personal computer six years ago to keep books for his inn and diving shop.
COMMUNITY
Nov 2, 2000

Exhibiting style around Japan

Just ahead of the Tokyo collections, in which over 50 designers will show their spring/summer 2001 collections this week and next, here are some things to do if your name's not on the invite list or if you are looking for a fashion-related event to attend on a rainy day.
EDITORIALS
Nov 2, 2000

When the people rise up

It has been an extraordinary year for people power. Mass protests have overturned governments round the world, checked blatant abuses of power and offered hope that the 21st century may prove to be an era of genuine democracy. In each case, however, the government that was turned out had already ridden...
EDITORIALS
Oct 29, 2000

Glamour in a good cause

There was a gathering at the United Nations in New York last Monday that nobody paid much attention to. The World Series and a high-wattage Senate race were distracting New Yorkers. A murderous flareup in the Middle East and a surreal encounter in Pyongyang were distracting the rest of the world.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

With shield gone, Mori may be next

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's decision Friday to accept Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa's resignation was apparently aimed at containing further damage to his administration, which was battered recently over his comments regarding a controversial proposal to North Korea.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 28, 2000

'International' festival is dominated by national talent as budgets pared

Tokyo International Festival of Performing Arts 2000 kicked off Oct. 13 with the production "Melancholy Baby" at Aoyama Enkei Gekijo, one of the main venues hosting the festival. In truth, though, there is little "international" about this year's festival, through mid-December.
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2000

Shortsighted electoral reform

The heavy-handed tactics the ruling parties employed to railroad a controversial Upper House electoral reform bill have left an ugly blot on the nation's parliamentary history. No substantial debate was conducted in the Diet. In the Upper House, the opposition parties boycotted discussion because of...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 28, 2000

What price NATO's new philosophy?

CAMBRIDGE, England -- While you were on the beaches of Hawaii or Hainan or wherever else you spent the summer, the secretary general of NATO, or U.S.-led NATO as Beijing calls it, spelled out the new philosophy of that organization, as it was expressed in the Kosovo war. Referring to Kosovo in a speech...
COMMENTARY
Oct 28, 2000

Luck gets Clinton out of a Balkan jam

Seldom have events more dramatically demonstrated that it is better to be lucky than smart. The popular uprising that ousted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic happened despite, not because, of Clinton administration policy. A U.S. foreign policy based on humility, as suggested by Republican presidential...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Oct 27, 2000

'Tis fall, and the brewers gather around their vats

In sync with the new colors and cooler weather of fall, the brewing season begins. Except for a few dozen brewing factories operated by the largest sake-brewing companies, sake is brewed in the colder months, generally from the end of October to the beginning of April. Larger brewers' facilities keep...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 26, 2000

ASEM fails to live up to hype

The third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) held in Seoul last weekend was long on ceremony and performance, but short on substance. While impeccably hosted by South Korea and held in a glittering new conference center in southern Seoul, the conference lacked "soul." For all the talk of Partnership for Shared...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.