Search - 2000

 
 
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2001

Let Aibo tell you about brand image

Ku-Ku the kitten was top cat in the battle of the robo-pets in 2000, but guess which bionic beast got to snuggle up to Janet Jackson?
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2001

Emperor encourages all to overcome difficulties

As the Imperial family prepared to mark the first New Year's Day of the 21st century at the Imperial Palace, the Emperor expressed hope that the Japanese people will pull together to deal with difficulties such as the economic slump and the aging society and create a better future for all.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 1, 2001

Much ado about nothing

In a fierce fit of free-market commercialism, ads in Moscow subway insist that the real new millennium will start today. With the economy weakened by crisis, revenues from the advent of Y2K were not as impressive as in the West, and now Russian boutiques, travel agencies and software stores are trying...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

A question of hegemony

An implicit alliance has emerged in Washington since the Cold War's end between avowedly "Wilsonian" liberals, anxious to extend American influence and federate the democracies, and unilateralist neoconservative believers in U.S. power projection, who call for American world leadership, aggressively...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

Toward mutually assured peace

As we enter the 21st century, recent trends in technological development make the problems of nuclear weapons a pressing issue requiring greater attention and a more serious response.
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2000

Economy still stuck in a rut

Looking back to 2000, the critical question hanging over the Japanese economy is: Has there been movement, or at least the preparations for a move, toward a new system befitting the start of a new century? The answer, unfortunately, is no.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 28, 2000

Buffs give Nakamura hefty raise

The Kintetsu Buffaloes signed infielder Norihiro Nakamura to a one-year contract carrying a 300 million yen annual salary and a performance-hinged bonus of up to 50 million yen Wednesday, making him the highest-paid player in the Pacific League.
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...
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 23, 2000

Giants give Kiyohara 20 million yen raise

Infielder Kazuhiro Kiyohara agreed Thursday to a 20 million yen pay hike and signed a new one-year deal with the Japan Series champion Yomiuri Giants worth an estimated 300 million yen.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

Switch China's ODA terms to project basis, panel urges

Japan should start providing its official development assistance to China on a project basis and terminate its habit of multiyear disbursement programs, a report released Monday by a Foreign Ministry advisory panel says.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 19, 2000

K-beat knocking on Japan doors

Within moments of taking the stage of the Pasha Club in the downtown Tokyo district of Nishi-Azabu, Drunken Tiger, a hip-hop duo from South Korea, had the trendy club-goers dancing frantically to its beat-heavy sound.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

Mori allots 250 billion yen toward IT 'revolution'

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Monday unveiled the breakdown of a 700 billion yen special budget that places special emphasis on efforts to realize an information technology "revolution" in Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2000

Societal barriers facing disabled may prove the most formidable

As deputy chief of the Japanese delegation at the Sydney Paralympic Games this summer, Tsunenobu Wakana was impressed with the handicapped-friendly facilities and transportation system.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 17, 2000

Quiet scenes from an ordinary life

"London NW11, July 1993" (from ("Ruthbook") color photograph by Nigel Shafran If national stereotyping has not fallen completely out of fashion, it would probably be accurate to say that Nigel Shafran is the quintessential British artist. It is necessary, however, to qualify this so as to differentiate...
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

Ogi rocks the boat with airport review

Transport Minister Chikage Ogi recently sparked a row over a key part of the nation's future infrastructure plans when she suggested a review of the roles of Haneda and Narita airports.
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2000

Business confidence has stalled: 'tankan'

The rising optimism reported by the nation's large manufacturers in the last quarter has ground to a halt, according to a key business sentiment survey released Wednesday by the Bank of Japan, fueling concerns that the nation's main engine of recovery is running out of steam.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 9, 2000

Bringing Russia and Japan together

Permit me a brief personal anecdote if you will: Some 20 years ago, a cold December night in Toronto found me inspired to chip, using my house keys, a few raisin-sized shards of concrete from the base of that city's newly-constructed CN Tower. Friends I mailed the little gray jewels to would later remark...
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2000

Japan to demand slower rise in mandated imports of rice

Japan decided Friday to demand a slower pace of growth of mandated rice imports in order to protect Japanese rice farmers from cheap imports, government officials said.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Dec 2, 2000

The new American autism

George W. Bush, Al Gore or civil war? This is the question being asked now by alarmists, especially those with a taste for theatrical overstatement.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2000

LDP wants minimum import levels of rice cut

Panels of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party agreed Thursday to call on the government to demand that minimum access levels on rice imports be reduced in its proposals for the next round of trade liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 25, 2000

Farewell to art world's jewel

Some five weeks from today, a few artists and friends will gather in the Sagacho Exhibit Space.
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...
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
Nov 1, 2000

Suspected hormone disrupter joins agency's priority list

An Environment Agency committee on Tuesday added a plastic-softening chemical to its priority list of suspected hormone disrupters after finding it in high concentrations in a study of umbilical cords.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 31, 2000

Hot off the press

THE JAPANESE PRESS 2000. Nihon Shinbun Kyokai, 2000, 154 pp., 2,000 yen. Nihon Shinbun Kyokai, the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association, has released its annual survey of the Japanese press. As always, it includes a summary of industry trends, as well as a media directory.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 29, 2000

Hawks' Pedraza found relief in Japan

You wonder why he never made it to the majors. Talking here about Fukuoka Daiei Hawks relief ace Rod Pedraza, the best closer in the Pacific League if not all of Japanese baseball, and one big reason the Hawks have won the PL pennant each of the two years Pedraza has been their game-ender.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Global effort to fight hormone disrupters

To successfully curb the threat of endocrine disrupting chemicals, an independent and global effort is needed and is expected to be initiated early next year, according to award-winning scientist Theo Colborn.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2000

Nobel chemist to get Order of Culture

Nobel laureate Hideki Shirakawa will be among the six people to receive this year's Order of Culture from the Emperor at the Imperial Palace on Culture Day on Nov. 3, government officials said Tuesday.

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