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COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2000

A Taiwanese lesson in statesmanship

CAMBRIDGE, England -- So our great leaders were unable to reach agreement in The Hague last month on how to save the planet from environmental pollution. So we can continue pumping out ozone-destroying fumes to our hearts' content, especially gas-guzzling drivers in the good old United States. Forests...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 5, 2000

Handful of history

COLUMBIA CHRONOLOGIES OF ASIAN HISTORY AND CULTURE, edited by John S. Bowman. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000, 752 pp., $85. Oh, "if men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives is a lantern on the...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 3, 2000

Art to help heal the soul

Artists Without Borders and its offspring, Kids Without Borders, are devoted to providing humanitarian relief to the victims of war and ethnic strife. As such, they share obvious connections with Doctors Without Borders.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 3, 2000

The cutting edge of sound and vision

For some, myself included, the U.K. Sound Design exhibition, held Nov. 23-27 at the Ground in Harajuku, was a stroll down memory lane. Organized by the British Council in Japan, the show assembled record sleeves from seminal British designers of the last 30 years. Seeing many old records that had made...
CULTURE / Art
Dec 2, 2000

Treasures of ancient China

Until the 16th century, when the first Europeans reached these shores, China had, for over 1,000 years, been the sole foreign influence on the development of Japanese culture. Some of this influence had been refracted through Korea, but Korea itself was in a position similar to Japan's: a recipient of...
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2000

Law permits SDF to inspect foreign ships in emergencies

The House of Councilors passed and enacted a number of bills Thursday, including one that allows Japanese authorities to inspect foreign vessels within or beyond its territorial waters as part of international economic sanctions and another outlawing human cloning.
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2000

Swedish bazaar to benefit charity

The public is invited to the Swedish Christmas Charity Bazaar Dec. 9, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Embassy of Sweden in Roppongi, Tokyo.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 30, 2000

Ignore the skipper and go west, young men

What on earth has Bobby Valentine been smoking these days? The guy is a great manager and he keeps us sportswriters in business with witty quotes and humorous antics. But this time he's gone too far. We're talking Siberia here. In a recent interview with the Boston Herald, Valentine expressed his feelings...
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Mori to commend Paralympian

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori plans to present a commendation to swimmer Mayumi Narita, who won six gold medals at the Sydney Paralympic Games, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Railways brace for onslaught of holiday-season drunks

For most people, the end of the year is a time for making merry. For the nation's railroad employees, who have to deal with those merrymakers, it is a nightmare.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2000

Asia debates the merit of political debates

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- I don't want to add to the endless debate over the chances of the two U.S. presidential contenders. Rather, I want to focus on the debates and some possible corollaries for Asia.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 26, 2000

From delicacy to passion: inspiration from the spoken word

Books of drama, literature and poetry have often served as the basis for musical compositions. The Bible and Shakespeare's plays are prominent in the list of works by great authors writing in many languages to portray the human condition.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2000

In Peru, the strong man takes his leave

LONDON -- Alejandro Toledo, the man who would have won the Peruvian election last spring if President Alberto Fujimori had not cheated at every stage of the process, got it exactly right: "Alberto Fujimori's government will be illegitimate, a source of permanent instability, and I don't think it can...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2000

Two countries, one system?

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Last week, Willy Wo-Lap Lam lost his job as the China correspondent on the South China Morning Post. That technically he resigned rather than be "promoted" to a non-China-related job is irrelevant, as it was clear that he was not going to be allowed to continue writing his weekly...
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2000

Japan to propose culture exchange with South Korea, China

Japan will propose to China and South Korea this week that the three neighbors designate 2002 a special year of cultural and personnel exchanges in an effort to promote mutual understanding and friendship, government sources said Monday.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 21, 2000

From the mouths of babes: a myth

SPITTING IMAGE: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam, by Jerry Lembcke. New York University Press, 2000, 280 pp., $18.95 (paper). My most lasting memory of the Vietnam War is the divisiveness it created in the small American town where I grew up. The nation was divided at every level. Even junior...
COMMENTARY
Nov 18, 2000

Wired world has its limits

LONDON -- Is everything breaking down?
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2000

Small classes but big ideas at new multicultural school

MAEBASHI, Gunma Pref. -- A new international school here may be starting off small, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in aspirations.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2000

Panel to outline ideas on education change

An advisory panel to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori agreed at a meeting Tuesday to clearly state in its final report to be submitted Dec. 22 whether it supports revising the 1947 Fundamental Law of Education, panel members said.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 15, 2000

Timeless tales reflect the times

SANSHO DAYU, by Dudley Andrew & Carole Cavanaugh. BFI Film Classic Series. London: British Film Institute, 2000, 80 pp., with b/w illustrations, $20. Kenji Mizoguchi's 1954 film, "Sansho Dayu" (Sansho the Bailiff), is based upon the well-known 1915 Ogai Mori narrative, which was in turn taken from...
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 14, 2000

MLB stars leave Japan on winning note

Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants cranked out a solo home run in the sixth inning Sunday afternoon as a touring team of Major League Baseball All-Stars scored a 5-4 win in the eighth and final game of a goodwill series against their Japanese counterparts.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Nov 14, 2000

The last of the best from Cuba

Even after 10 years, I still find it difficult to predict what actually turns Japanese world-music fans on.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 12, 2000

Welcome to WVE wines in fertile vintage year

Australian Philippa Davern and New Zealander Sarah-Kate Wilson have a lot in common, despite the difference in their ages. For one thing, they both love wine. For another -- not entirely disconnected -- they both have the capacity to fall with assured delicacy on their own two feet.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2000

White paper hails volunteers

Volunteer activities are becoming increasingly important in Japanese society as it undergoes changes to the lifetime employment system and traditional corporate culture, according to an annual government white paper on lifestyles released Friday.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 11, 2000

Capturing private moments of a gritty London

"Point and Shoot" -- an exhibition of gritty black-and-white photographs of nothing in particular, the work of the inimitable Henry Bond and his shots of the streets, people and places of London -- his home -- is now on show at the Taro Nasu Gallery.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2000

Where information is only for the rich

PHNOM PENH -- In an information-technology world, the vast majority of Cambodians remain deprived. While the amount of information in the country has been growing significantly, compared with the dark past, as with everything else here information is being hoarded by the rich and powerful.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 10, 2000

Alomar keeping eye on the future

Picture this: It's the year 2010 and the Yomiuri Giants are gunning for their first title in 10 years. It's late in the season and they desperately need a win. With two out in the bottom of the ninth, an aging batsman strolls to the plate. You've seen him a million times before on both sides of the Pacific....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 9, 2000

Smoke gets in your eyes

A scar on her arm reminds Kyoko Saito (not her real name) of an unpleasant experience she had a month ago. The Tokyo office worker was hurrying home one night after working three hours overtime, when she overtook three men chatting as they sauntered along the crowded sidewalk to the nearby station.

Longform

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