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COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2001

Charting a course as wide as the region

To understand the logic that is driving the Bush administration's redesign of U.S. military strategy, overlay two maps. The first focuses on wealth and population. It highlights Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, some of the world's richest and most important trading nations. China, India and...
BUSINESS
May 24, 2001

Employees encouraged to start ventures

When Noriyuki Ichihashi, an employee of Itochu Corp., proposed his idea to the firm's Internet venture incubation office about a year ago, the trading house was quick to give him the green light. Within a month, the 34-year-old had set up a planning company.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2001

Tobishima reports return to profit

Construction firm Tobishima Corp. said Wednesday its group net balance returned to the black in fiscal 2000, mainly due to sales of securities holdings.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2001

Matsushita Electric allies with Hitachi

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Hitachi Ltd. formally announced Wednesday an alliance to promote businesses centering on information services and home appliances.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 24, 2001

Highway interchange to obliterate historic sites

Look southwest from the top of Mount Takao on clear winter mornings. Mount Fuji soars above its surroundings, white and massive in the royal blue sky. Except for a few pylons in the distance, the view is timeless.
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2001

K.O. punch from the heart

Girlfight Rating: * * * * * Director: Karyn Kusama Running time: 111 minutes Language: English Now playing at Marunouchi Picadilly in Yurakucho and other theaters The only regret of seeing "Girlfight" is that it wasn't made two years earlier. Then it could have been released along with "Fight Club,"...
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2001

Bright horizon seen from Odaiba

Reflecting the energy and vibrancy of the surrounding Odaiba district on Tokyo Bay, the "New York Philip Morris Art Award: 24 Winners from 1996 to 2000" exhibition is housed in the Fuji Television Forum, on the 22nd floor of the landmark Fuji Television Headquarters Office Tower.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

BOJ's view of economy unchanged

The Bank of Japan on Monday left its gloomy economic assessment unchanged, saying economic activity remains in an adjustment phase due largely to weak industrial output and exports.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2001

Blazing policy paths in Kasumigaseki

It's a little before 9 a.m., and Masahiko Aoki is discussing complex adaptive systems and path dependency. It's an odd conversation even though the topics are familiar ones for Aoki, a professor of economics at Stanford University and an author of several standard texts on the Japanese economy.
JAPAN
May 20, 2001

Visually challenged violinist's career is an accidental passion

Seeing violinist Narimichi Kawabata in the spotlight at a concert, people often believe him to be one of the lucky few who have made a career out of what they love.
CULTURE / Music
May 20, 2001

You gotta fight for your right to freedom

Adam Yauch, MCA of the Beastie Boys, has come a long way since 1986's "License to Ill," the obnoxious, wildly juvenile album that launched the careers of the punk-turned-hip-hop trio from New York. And not just musically. He's become one of the voices of a worldwide political movement, one heard in Tokyo...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
May 20, 2001

Large portfolio of wines blesses the Anderson Valley

An easy drive from San Francisco, Northern California's sun-drenched wine country is a favorite destination among devotees of food and drink. Napa Valley, home to many prestigious, big-name Cabernet Sauvignon producers, draws the heaviest tourist traffic. Napa visitors spill from buses at lavish tasting...
JAPAN
May 19, 2001

White paper calls for foreign investment

To cope with intensifying competition with China amid a prolonged economic slump at home, Japan should actively woo foreign direct investment and become more efficient, according to the White Paper on International Trade 2001 released Friday.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2001

Meager gains in premiums precede mergers of insurers

Increased competition saw premium revenue rise only incrementally at Japan's largest property insurance companies, according to fiscal 2000 earnings reports released Friday.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2001

Ukraine says 'yes' to missile defense

KIEV -- The Bush administration is reviewing U.S. security policy, including deployment of a national missile defense. Washington's decision should be made easier by Ukraine's offer to help turn NMD into a reality.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Government may tap road-construction funds to alleviate debt burden

The government is looking to make legal changes to allow special road-building revenue to be used for alternative purposes, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Optimism, foreign investors fuel rebound

The initial trigger for the Tokyo share price rally in recent weeks was foreign investors' stepped-up purchases.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 17, 2001

Darwin's uncomfortable facts

As we wander the natural world, from mud flat to mountain top, from river bed to rocky outcrop, the life that we encounter falls into readily recognizable forms or, as we know them now, species. The similarities and differences between species help even the layman to recognize the extent of their relationship....
JAPAN
May 16, 2001

Solution eyed to defense issue

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday that although he would prefer to revise the Constitution in order to clarify Japan's right to collective defense, another option would be to pass a Diet resolution allowing Tokyo to exercise this right.
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
May 16, 2001

Can 'e-Japan' make leap from paper to reality?

The economic slump over the past decade has crushed Japan's confidence and raised fundamental questions about the government's ability to turn things around.
Events
May 15, 2001

Japan's ancient capital looks for new-tech entrepreneurs

KYOTO -- Size doesn't matter -- it's how good you are.
JAPAN
May 15, 2001

Former Australian prime minister hits U.S. over missile shield

AWAJI ISLAND, Hyogo Pref. -- A former Australian prime minister has slammed the decision of U.S. President George W. Bush to deploy an as-yet undeveloped missile defense system in Asia, saying it poses a "significant" threat to stability in the region.
COMMENTARY
May 14, 2001

Signs of creative destruction

Japan today needs what the economist Joseph A. Schumpeter once called "creative destruction." The immediate need is to shake up the political and economic systems from the ground up. Without such drastic changes Japan will not be able to regain vitality.
JAPAN
May 13, 2001

Maglev link between Osaka, Tokyo starts to move forward

A plan to operate magnetically levitated -- or maglev -- trains between Tokyo and Osaka in one hour at speeds of up to 500 kph is moving ahead, with the government starting a feasibility study.
JAPAN
May 12, 2001

State lodges appeal against Minamata disease ruling

The government filed an appeal Friday with the Supreme Court against an April 27 Osaka High Court ruling that found the state failed to act to prevent mercury poisoning and ordered it to pay damages to victims of Minamata disease.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2001

'Green' car panel makes debut

The government on Wednesday established and held the first meeting of a panel to craft recommendations for promoting development and use of environmentally friendly vehicles.

Longform

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