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CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2001

Takeout that fails to deliver

The first Japanese filmmakers, like first filmmakers almost everywhere, thought of their new medium as an extension of still photography: a way of recording reality. Thus the early films of kabuki plays, in which the camera was planted squarely in front of the stage and left there, with pauses only to...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 20, 2001

Shanghai, the heart of China

NEW SHANGHAI: The Rocky Rebirth of China's Legendary City, by Pamela Yatsko. Wiley, 2001, 298 pp., 2,300 yen (paper). Few doubt that Shanghai is the nerve center of China's second "Great Leap Forward." This metropolis -- long considered the most cosmopolitan of all Asian cities -- is the cornerstone...
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2001

Technological advances pose challenge for 21st century

Progress and technological innovation bring economic prosperity, as everyone knows. The advent of the steam engine brought about the Industrial Revolution, and the information technology revolution has reinvigorated the U.S. economy today. It is only natural for us to expect technology to continue contributing...
COMMENTARY
Mar 18, 2001

Solving the democracy deficit

LONDON -- Transparency and accountability are the buzzwords of the age. No gathering of policy experts or seminar on public affairs is complete without demands all round that the institutions of modern government, both national and global, especially global ones, should become more accountable and open...
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2001

Three Fukuoka judges reprimanded

Three judges have been reprimanded in connection with a scandal involving copies of police investigative documents concerning a Fukuoka High Court judge's wife, who was arrested on suspicion of sending death threats.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 18, 2001

Tsuyoshi Akiyama

According to Dr. Tsuyoshi Akiyama, until rather recently psychiatry as a branch of medicine did not receive in Japan the recognition it merits. He, however, made psychiatry his specialty. His reasons at the time were very specific.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 18, 2001

Where all your nightmares come together

I'm watching breathtaking video footage of a skier hucking air off 30-meter cliff then making smooth carved turns down a deadly 55-degree rock face. The last time I hucked and tucked a 55-degree rock face I woke up just before falling into a crevasse.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 17, 2001

Upon further meditation . . .

Sometime after Gus Van Sant had released "Goodwill Hunting," he took a trip to India. During his stay, he was faxed a screenplay from Sony Pictures. Written by an unknown anchorman called Mike Rich, "Finding Forrester" had everything that prompted Van Sant to cut off his journey and return to LA. Three...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Successor before new stimulus, Mori hints

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori indicated his support Friday for holding the Liberal Democratic Party presidential race before compiling emergency measures to boost the ailing economy, effectively indicating he is not trying to hold onto power.
COMMENTARY
Mar 17, 2001

Two old allies, two visions

LOS ANGELES -- Remember how the senior George Bush, when he was president, admitted to having trouble with "the vision thing." Has that deficiency been passed on to his son?
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2001

All told, a strong rebound is in the offing?

There has been mounting alarm around the world that a global stock market rout might be developing.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2001

Tomy develops new robot that can hold conversation

Toymaker Tomy Co. said Wednesday it has developed a robot with artificial intelligence that is capable of recognizing words in a conversational context.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 15, 2001

Taking the long view on history

EAST ASIA AT THE CENTER: Four Thousand Years of Engagement with the World, by Warren I. Cohen. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000, 516 pp. You don't have to believe in the Asian Century or any other form of that nonsense to admit that Western understanding of Asia is woefully inadequate. The intellectual...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 15, 2001

Thai women, twice victimized

OWED JUSTICE: Thai Women Trafficked into Debt Bondage in Japan. Human Rights Watch, 227 pp., unpriced. For many women, the journey begins in northern Thailand, where refugees and hill-tribesmen languish in poverty and statelessness. The favored prey of sex-trade recruiters, these undocumented Thai...
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2001

No more secret funds

The criminal complaint filed in January by the Foreign Ministry against the former official in charge of logistics for VIP trips overseas has led to his arrest on a charge of fraud. An internal investigation has revealed that Mr. Katsutoshi Matsuo, who was fired in January for embezzlement, had swindled...
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2001

U.S. naval inquiry reveals inadequate search

HONOLULU -- A computerized simulation shown at a navy inquiry Friday revealed the Ehime Maru would have been clearly visible had the USS Greenville conducted a standard three-minute periscope search closer to the surface and at a higher power.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2001

Mori signals intention to resign

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Saturday effectively expressed his intention to resign to top executives of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, possibly after the fiscal 2001 budget passes the Diet next month.
EDITORIALS
Mar 10, 2001

An untimely defense move

The government and the ruling parties are making preliminary moves toward enacting legislation designed to meet future military crises directly involving Japan. The assumption is that in the event of an armed attack from abroad, the Self-Defense Forces will be mobilized to defend the country with the...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 9, 2001

Dirty, rotten, brilliant scoundrel

Woody Allen's films tend to be best when he manages to get beyond himself, which isn't often these days. But if there's one thing Woody loves more than a part in which he lands a younger leading lady, it's jazz. "Sweet and Lowdown," Allen's latest film, is a semifictional paean to guitarist Emmet Ray,...
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2001

Japan's history again haunts future relations

The ongoing controversy between Japan and South Korea over a new textbook for Japanese junior high schools has taken a toll on the bilateral diplomatic calendar.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 9, 2001

They might be giants -- or 10 players who should be

Still don't know who's got what to offer in the J. League? Here's a quick guide to some of the players who should pique your interest in the coming season.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 8, 2001

Putin plays a bad hand well

"I was deeply touched, when he smiled and looked at us with his blue eyes, my old sweet memories flooded back to me," a middle-aged Soviet-trained Vietnamese woman told the TV crew. The blue eyes in question belonged not to a movie star, but to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting Hanoi,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2001

Genetically modified corn slips into human food chain

The safety of the nation's food has recently been called into question following the discovery of StarLink corn in a shipment of corn imported from the United States.
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2001

Isahaya Bay project suspended

The government will suspend a land reclamation project in Isahaya Bay, Nagasaki Prefecture, to allow data to be collected from the reservoir formed by the dike that is blamed for the area's poor seaweed crop this season, Farm Minister Yoshio Yatsu said Tuesday.

Longform

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