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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 16, 2000

Masayuki Kurokawa

At the recent Art of Dining Exhibition sponsored by Refugees International-Japan, Masayuki Kurokawa and his wife, Taki Katoh, cooperated in presenting a table setting profoundly and strikingly simple. It symbolized, they said, "the harmonization of natural and man-made phenomena."
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2000

Viva Odaiba! Ishihara dreams of casinos in the bay

Cigarette smoke wafts out of noisy pachinko parlors, crowds armed with racing forms jostle one another on trains on horse racing days, and lines form in front of lottery ticket booths. You may or may not call it gambling, but playing to test your luck has grown into a huge industry in Japan.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2000

Make 'Rebuilding Confidence' the government slogan for 2000

Last year a series of mishaps shook our faith in various things we have grown to trust over the years, from the H-II rocket failure and the crumbling tunnels of our shinkansen lines to the nuclearcriticality accident in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2000

Tent city gone but common bonds remain

KOBE -- The idyllic image of a father and son flying a kite in Minami Komae Park bears no resemblance to the scenes visited on this place during the devastating 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 8, 2000

Oh, the glamour of poetic injustice

Violence aspires to poetry and vice versa in "Death in Granada," an American/Spanish production that sheds a fleeting but eerie light on one of Spain's greatest poets: Federico Garcia Lorca.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Jan 5, 2000

Good deeds

I wrote this column before Y2K became a reality instead of a speculation. I had water, a charcoal stove, six cans of tuna, batteries, and the hope that since I was ready, nothing would happen. But I didn't know. Now I do: Being prepared pays off again. Perhaps there was a hint of disappointment. We were...
BUSINESS
Jan 4, 2000

Domestic banks embrace information technology

Domestic banks, lagging behind their American counterparts in the use of information technology, are stepping up their Internet banking operations and expanding services available to retail customers via the Net.
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2000

Wake-up call for the private sector

As the New Year begins, many corporate leaders and economic experts will be holding their breath to see what the Japanese economy will do -- work its way to a self-sustained recovery, or be pulled along by the steamroller of government spending.
BUSINESS
Jan 1, 2000

The next loud bang could be in retailing

Just as foreign companies have accelerated reorganization of financial and automobile industries, powerful foreign chain stores are now gearing up to expand in the general merchandising market in Japan.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 1, 2000

A little air time for Japan's own

Television in Japan is not known for its extensive coverage of the traditional Japanese performing arts. It is much easier to tune into a performance of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra than it is to catch one of Japan's own Living National Treasures performing. There are weekly radio and television...
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2000

Public must face higher tax burden: Imai

Japan must act on its deteriorating financial health by launching discussions on fiscal reform and revealing the results to the public, said Takashi Imai, chairman of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren).
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 1999

Russia's Jewish homeland: a Stalinist experiment in social engineering lingers on

BIROBIDZHAN, RUSSIA -- Mikhail Kul was a soldier in the Soviet Army that helped defeat Germany in 1945, but he returned home to find that the Holocaust had emptied his Ukrainian village of most of its inhabitants.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 1999

50-year-old art exchange emerges from Montana

Staff writer Koichi Ogawa encountered a surprise during a two-month tour across the United States with two other Japanese earlier this year. Ogawa, 61, was visiting a friend in California who told him that an acquaintance from Montana would come down with some artwork. Ogawa was expecting to meet someone...
JAPAN
Dec 28, 1999

Corruption in local government back on the rise

A total of 127 cases of corruption at 111 organizations within local government offices were reported in fiscal 1998, involving 156 civil servants, the Home Affairs Ministry said Tuesday. Compared with fiscal 1997, the latest figures show an increase of 22 cases at 18 organizations, the report says....
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
Dec 26, 1999

Point of view

Here is a count-your-blessings column for the yearend, reminders of what we may miss but also of what we gain by international exposure. First, a list of what Japanese like best about the West, and then, Western views of living in Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 1999

Highlights of 2000 budget

"Millennium Projects" 1) 11.9 billion yen for education projects, such as providing Internet access to all public schools by the end of fiscal 2001; 2) 15.2 billion yen for information technology; 3) 64 billion yen for projects to analyze human, rice genomes. Foreign aid 1) Official development assistance...
JAPAN
Dec 24, 1999

Cabinet OKs 85 trillion yen 'final push' budget

The Cabinet on Friday approved an 84.99 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2000 that leans more heavily than ever on bond issues in what is being billed as the final push to strengthen the long-fragile economy. The general-account budget, the same size as the Finance Ministry's draft proposed Monday, will...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 1999

Walking Queen contestants take pride in stride

Staff writer Chest out, stomach in! Forget that chic Private Label suit, the 20-cm platform boots, cowgirl hat or bleached hair. If you want to truly express yourself, take pride in how you regulate your gait. That was the message sent out at the '99 International Walking Contest held last Sunday at...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 1999

Making sweet music together an educational experience

June 10, Donald Hunsberger conducting in Takemitsu Memorial Hall -- Second Suite in F for Military Band (Gustavus Theodore von Holst, 1874-1934), Fantasy Variations (Donald Grantham, born in Oklahoma in 1947), Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra (Henri Tomasi, 1901-1971; transcribed by Mamoru Nakata)...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 1999

Protect business accounts: panel

There should be an exemption to the planned end of the government's full protection of bank deposits, an advisory panel to the finance minister said Tuesday. Bank accounts for business settlements should be fully protected for a "limited time" even after the current scheme expires, the Financial System...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 1999

Police misconduct scandals fuel calls for public scrutiny

Staff writer "I knew that the same things would surely be repeated in the future," Kenji Chiyomaru said. "You cannot expect self-cleansing action by police." Since he launched "Human rights dial 110" in 1979, Chiyomaru, a civic activist who lives in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, has been helping people having...
JAPAN
Dec 20, 1999

Asia archive with LDP spin in works

Japan will open an Asian history archive inside the National Archives in April 2001, as proposed in 1995 by the Cabinet of then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama. The archive will include documents on the war Japan fought from 1926 to 1945 and records of its colonial rule in Asia that are now scattered...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Dec 18, 1999

A banquet of deities and genres

In January 1993, a group of like-minded young and mid-career performers of traditional Japanese music and dance got together and created Tokiza. Their aim was to create new group venues and markets for their music and dance, while maintaining their individually high standards of excellence.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 18, 1999

Seattle art world meets on Gallery Walk

SEATTLE -- Eric Painter is a potter. Actually, he was a biologist before he quit his research job with National Marine Fisheries and bought a pottery school and gallery in downtown Seattle's historic Pioneer Square.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 1999

100 billion yen base carrot waved at north Okinawa

Tokyo is ready to disburse 100 billion yen over the coming 10 years to boost the economy of northern Okinawa if the area accepts a new airport for the U.S. Marine Corps, the central government told Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine on Friday. For a start, the central government would allocate 10 billion...
JAPAN
Dec 13, 1999

'Tankan' readings rise modestly across board

Businesses have become less pessimistic about their outlook over the past three months, according to the Bank of Japan's "tankan" business confidence survey. The central bank's quarterly survey for December, released Monday, shows business sentiment has improved among firms in all four main categories...
JAPAN
Dec 9, 1999

Diet enacts 6.8 trillion yen extra budget

The Diet enacted a 6.79 trillion yen supplementary budget Thursday that is intended to put the nation's fragile economy back on track for a full recovery. The second supplementary budget for fiscal 1999, which began April 1, passed the Upper House plenary session with support from the ruling coalition...
COMMUNITY
Dec 9, 1999

How to learn more in less time

One of the great things about living in Tokyo is the opportunity to participate in the vast array of workshops that are offered every season. With Glenn Fraser's Accelerated Study Techniques Workshop, students and adult learners of all stripes will really be hitting the jackpot.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Dec 9, 1999

Plenty to imbibe on the Internet

Sake has slowly seeped through the Internet, having reached a fairly saturating presence there. Any search on the word sake will yield intoxicatingly broad results. A lot of it is good information, some of it is a bit light and some of it is pure business. Here is a quick rundown of what can be culled...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 9, 1999

Good-time dining for the new year

It's the time of year for that annual conundrum: Where to go for that end of year celebration. It really does have to be something European, with wine and a soft, jazzy backing track. You want something with style, but definitely not too formal; a place with a buzz, but not too well known; with good...

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