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EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2000

Budget does Japan a disservice

The Finance Ministry's budget for fiscal 2001, which was announced last week, falls far short of expectations, particularly because it does not lay out a road map for fiscal reform. It seems as if the ministry is marking time along with the stagnant economy. Critical issues, such as spending cuts, deficit...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 25, 2000

World fisheries collapsing as technology and demand soar

As this is the season of giving, here is a gift, a riddle:
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2000

How fast is China's economy growing?

CAMBRIDGE, England -- It is that time of year again when statisticians in Beijing have to decide how fast the Chinese economy grew in the last year. Or rather, not so much how much it grew but how much they are going to claim it grew. More so than anywhere else the figures for growth in gross domestic...
COMMUNITY
Dec 24, 2000

The miraculous manifestation of a man of the cloth at Xmas

T'was 10 days before Christmas, and all through the house . . . complete and utter panic! Who to interview for Christmas Eve? Jim Carey (promoting his seasonal movie "The Grinch") has come and gone -- along with most of the foreign community (for the holiday break). As for the Japanese, they are all...
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

World's stock markets battling pessimism

Pessimism abounds in stock markets worldwide. New York share prices have taken a beating amid concern over corporate earnings and economic prospects. The tumble in New York quickly spilled over to Tokyo, sending key market gauges to their year-to-date lows.
EDITORIALS
Dec 21, 2000

Taking it easy on tax reform

A basic agreement reached earlier this month by the three ruling parties on fiscal 2001 tax code changes is a case of being unable to see the forest for the trees. Their myopia distorts an overall tax review and undermines the basic principles of taxation: fairness, neutrality and simplicity.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Dec 20, 2000

Real democracy, anyone?

Have we learned our lesson in democracy? God forbid anyone should ever weasel out of voting again with the claim that their ballot doesn't count, that it doesn't make a difference. There is almost no way the margin in the U.S. vote could have been narrower, and with the divisions elsewhere in the country,...
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2000

The world may welcome Bush

LONDON -- While the United States adjusts to the idea of having George W. Bush as its new president, his predecessor has been treading the international stage for the last time -- at least in a presidential capacity. Bill Clinton's "final" visit to Britain received immense coverage, some of it almost...
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2000

Structural reform is still key

The Japanese economy seems to have hardly improved in the past three months and appears likely to slightly worsen in the next three. This dim picture is painted by the Bank of Japan's latest "tankan" survey, which sums up how business managers view their companies' performances. The economic perception...
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 19, 2000

Monkey magic takes hold of the Kabukiza

The Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo is ending the year 2000 with two selections of plays and dance numbers befitting the occasion.
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2000

Draw the line at human clones

It all started with the announcement of the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first clone of an adult mammal, in February 1997. That breakthrough experiment has led to the cloning of cows and mice, creating the perception that humans might eventually also be cloned. The big challenge, of course, is drawing...
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 2000

Help needed for discontented workers

Despite the continuing bleak employment picture, perhaps partly because of it, many Japanese working men and women say they are unhappy in their jobs. This is not surprising, since changes in the traditional workplace are occurring so rapidly that the old rules and procedures for minimizing employee...
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2000

Mori sues over story on gangster ties

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori filed a libel suit with the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday against a magazine that published an article and photographs allegedly linking him to a rightwing gangster, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 13, 2000

The willow world stripped bare

GEISHA: The Secret History of a Vanishing World, by Lesley Downer. London: Headline Books, 2000, 370 pp., 20 British pounds. A common question asked about geisha is: Do they or don't they? Their attraction seems balanced between artistic prowess and sex appeal, but just how often is the latter properly...
COMMENTARY
Dec 13, 2000

Look to history for guidance

THE REICHSTAG, Berlin -- Here in this building, 68 years ago, German democracy died, ushering in the darkest period of 20th-century history.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 10, 2000

Japanese players strike: believe it when you see it

A number of articles appeared in the press this past week, leading us to think there may be a players strike on the horizon in Japan pro baseball. To my thinking, however, a work stoppage by the players here is about as unlikely as a no-hitter being pitched on opening day or Yomiuri selling the Giants....
COMMENTARY
Dec 10, 2000

American democracy teeters on the brink

NEW YORK -- There's plenty of room for reasonable disagreement in this post-election netherworld. The Bushies are right that we need a president-elect and we needed one weeks ago; despite lackadaisical opinion polls and surprising public apathy, the legal maneuvering over recounts can't go on forever....
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2000

12-year air pollution suit officially ends

OSAKA -- A 12-year air pollution suit was finally resolved Friday as residents of Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, and the central government and an expressway operator formally settled the case at the Osaka High Court after the state pledged to take specific steps to reduce harmful vehicle emissions.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2000

Environment Agency rises a rank

In less than a month, the Environment Agency will -- at least in theory -- get its hands on a bigger piece of the administrative pie.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2000

Sogo executives ordered to pay 6 billion yen

The Tokyo District Court on Friday ordered ex-Sogo Co. Chairman Hiroo Mizushima and 16 other former executives to pay about 6 billion yen to the department store chain for mismanagement in a series of shady and allegedly illegal business deals.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2000

Auto-parts makers report improved earnings in first half

Japanese auto-parts makers registered improved earnings in the first half of fiscal 2000 as their sales grew both at home and abroad, the Japan Auto-Parts Industries Association said in a report released Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Dec 8, 2000

Mori's prospects remain dim

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori Tuesday inaugurated his new Cabinet, which includes two former prime ministers. Mori retained Kiichi Miyazawa as finance minister and named Ryutaro Hashimoto as special minister for administrative reform and chief of the Okinawa Development Agency. Effective Jan. 6, Hashimoto...
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2000

Journalists debate role of English in Asia

English, as the dominant language in cyberspace, is becoming an indispensable communication tool for Asian people. And the increased use of English among nonnative speakers should make it more colorful as a world language.
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2000

New Cabinet looks familiar

As expected, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has completed his Cabinet reshuffle. Yet at a time of political tumult, there is much that is familiar in the new Cabinet and LDP leadership, and the means by which they were chosen. Despite being assaulted on all sides, Mr. Mori and the Liberal Democratic Party...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 7, 2000

SMAP star finds true love, new role

When the public recently learned that 28-year-old idol Takuya Kimura was marrying singer Shizuka Kudo, who is already four months pregnant with his child, the SMAP-man's image immediately changed from sex symbol to . . . well, actually, the image still seems to be under construction.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 6, 2000

Expats all losers, choosers or abusers?

Wetting my whistle on a humid afternoon inside a Tokyo establishment for the soberly impaired, I listened to the following affirmation by a foreign longtime friend.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2000

Firm says air conditioners pose fire risk

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Monday that some of its air conditioners produced from 1988 to 1996 could malfunction and catch fire.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 5, 2000

What is the weight of a fractured atom?

ATOMIC FRAGMENTS: A Daughter's Questions, by Mary Palevsky. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000, 272 pp., $24.95 (cloth). With the benefit of hindsight and a distant or nonexistent memory of World War II, we pass moral judgment on those who were directly involved with the invention and construction...

Longform

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