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EDITORIALS
Sep 26, 2000

More facts, less politics, on education

At first glance, the interim report from the National Commission on Educational Reform, an advisory panel of the prime minister, appears cautious about revising the 1947 Fundamental Law on Education. In marked contrast to an earlier subcommittee report that explicitly supported a revision, the panel's...
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2000

Pupils to be required to volunteer: panel

An education advisory panel to the prime minister on Friday submitted an interim report calling for drastic changes in the current education system that would nurture volunteer spirit among students by requiring them to do community service.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2000

Continued aid for Chernobyl sought

While memories of the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl have faded in the international community, continued assistance is still needed for the disaster-hit region, according to the head of the United Nations relief program still dealing with the tragedy.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 19, 2000

Program laying groundwork to conserve rivers and trails

John Monroe jokingly refers to himself as a "conservation venture capitalist." Unlike most investment bankers, however, Monroe is investing for the long term.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2000

Little reason to celebrate in East Timor

Just over a year ago, in August 1999, I was in the Baucau district of East Timor, helping to monitor the leadup to the referendum on independence as a U.N.-accredited observer with the independent International Federation for East Timor Observer Project.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2000

Chinese leadership sows seeds of democracy in the neighborhoods of Beijing

BEIJING -- On a cold January morning in the Caoyuan (Grass Garden) neighborhood of east Beijing, residents huddled together to watch the hustings. Yang Guiying stepped up to speak. "If I am elected, our committee will think for the residents here, help them when they are in need and provide the best...
COMMENTARY
May 18, 2000

Hypocrisy is the only standard

When white Europeans are dying, the Clinton administration acts. When black Africans are dying, Washington talks. Such is the hypocritical cynicism that passes for U.S. foreign policy today.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 20, 2000

Troubling truths about India's bomb

INDIA'S NUCLEAR BOMB: The Impact on Global Proliferation, by George Perkovich. University of California Press, 1999, 597 pp., $39.95 (cloth). In many ways, the remarkable thing about India's nuclear bomb test on May 11, 1998 is not that it occurred, but that it didn't happen sooner. Ever since India...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2000

Diplomacy without guideposts

Ten years after the Cold War ended, we are moving toward the 21st century. In the past decade, the international community has been trying to catch up with fast changes and to establish a viable theory for creating a new order. However, drastic changes in the world have made it impossible for human wisdom...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Feb 20, 2000

It depends

A gentleman tells us that he is puzzled by the term suspended sentence, often seen in newspapers. He encloses a copy of a headline: "Accountant gets 28 months suspended sentence for poisoning." The accused had put poison in the water for making tea. Nine of his coworkers became ill, and while no one...
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2000

Austria calls Europe's bluff

The formation of a coalition government in Austria that includes the rightwing Freedom Party headed by Mr. Joerg Haider is a potential nightmare for Europe. The prospect of an extremist party joining the Cabinet in Vienna has forced other members of the European Union to examine their own past. It has...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 8, 2000

Life during wartime through a child's clear eyes

A BOY CALLED H: A Childhood in Wartime Japan, by Kappa Senoh, translated by John Bester. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1999, 528 pp., 3,200 yen (cloth). In Roddy Doyle's "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha," and again in Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes," we are told of life in poverty-ridden back streets of Ireland's cities...
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2000

Citizen advisers planned for schools

Beginning in April, local boards of education will be able to establish local resident advisory panels to school principals to enhance community-school cooperation, Education Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said Thursday. At a general meeting of the heads of prefectural boards of education held in Tokyo's...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Dec 29, 1999

An open ethOS

The latest tale of cyber-riches involves the Linux crowd. A recent string of IPOs earned shareholders obscene amounts of money. Red Hat, a distributor of the Linux operating system, is worth about $15 billion. VA Linux, a company that sells computers that use Linux, made history: Its shares leaped 700...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Dec 8, 1999

May we help you?

They say this might be the year that online Christmas sales in the U.S. actually live up to past promises of e-commerce's ascendancy. Hurrahs could be heard when it was reported that online transactions over Thanksgiving were up 10-fold (and groans could be heard as servers started overloading with the...
JAPAN
Dec 1, 1999

Grocers' group aids family businesses

Staff writer
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 1999

Japan's Middle East role

In January 1996, I was dispatched by the Japanese government to observe the election of the Palestine Council and the president of the Palestinian Authority. Because Palestine was still under Israeli occupation, it was not a sovereign state: Sending international observers to such a region was unprecedented....
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Nov 17, 1999

A Web DJ saved my life

Let's look at the headlines from Net music news. Maestro, hit the rewind:
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1999

Eatery gives elderly more than good food

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1999

Convenience stores in race for Y2K compliance

Staff writer
JAPAN
Sep 15, 1999

Don Quijote sees itself as lord of discount 'jungle'

Staff writer
CULTURE / Books
Jul 6, 1999

Glimpses of Indonesia after Suharto

THE POLITICS OF POST-SUHARTO INDONESIA, edited by Adam Schwarz and Jonathan Paris. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1999, 120 pp.. $17.95 MILITARY DOCTRINES AND DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION: A Comparative Perspective on Indonesia's Dual Function and Latin American National Security Doctrines, by Jun...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 9, 1999

The random walk

Hoping to tap into that Amazon.com magic right here in Japan, Softbank (a software and publishing company), Seven-Eleven, Yahoo! Japan and Tohan, a book publisher and distributor, last week announced a joint venture to sell books online. e-Shopping! Books (who thinks up these names?) plans to open for...
CULTURE / Film
Jun 4, 1999

Somewhere over the airwaves

Once upon a time, back in the '50s, there existed a "better" America, a wholesome utopia of crew cuts, unquestioning white-bread conformity and mom in the kitchen baking apple pies.
JAPAN
May 21, 1999

New runway to come up short; soccer deadline eyed

Staff writer
COMMUNITY
May 2, 1999

Seed money no problem at Flower Bank

MIYASHIRO, Saitama Pref. -- While many Japanese banks are struggling to overcome their tainted image, at least one is enjoying an increasingly favorable reputation.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 15, 1999

Healing society's ills from the roots up

BANGKOK -- As Thailand rapidly converts from agrarian state to economic dragon, a growing number of Thai people are looking for solutions to modern society's own brand of ills. The Bangkok-based Spirit in Education Movement (SEM) points to the country's traditional Buddhist roots for answers.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 1999

Cambodia aid donors mull $450 million aid package

Aid donors to Cambodia are likely to pledge a total of $450 million in economic aid to Phnom Penh during a two-day meeting of the Consultative Group for Cambodia beginning today in Tokyo, according to the chairman of the meeting.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 1998

Government approves 'bridge bank' scheme

The government on Thursday formally approved a "bridge bank" plan to take over banks that fail and extend loans to their sound borrowers.

Longform

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