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CULTURE / Books
Oct 31, 2000

Hard lessons Japan failed to learn

JAPAN'S FINANCIAL CRISIS AND ITS PARALLELS TO U.S. EXPERIENCE, edited by Ryoichi Mikitani and Adam S. Posen. Washington: Institute for International Economics, Special Report 13, Sept. 2000, 228 pp., $20. There's an old joke about a politician's plea for a one-handed economist, one who can't say, "but...
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2000

The tea with chewy marbles from Taiwan gains foothold

What's got chewy, marble-size balls, tastes like ice milk tea and gets sucked through a big, fat straw? The answer is pearl tea -- a wacky and tasty snack-in-a-beverage from Taiwan now being served in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2000

A lonely voice calls for shared values

It is one of the ironies of our time that the very process that is tying the world's disparate peoples together is at the same time generating friction between them. Globalization may be spinning a vast web of relationships as it builds a single world market, but as it does so, citizens are accentuating...
COMMENTARY
Oct 30, 2000

Zhu puts relations to rights

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to Tokyo this month marked a turning point in Sino-Japanese relations, which have been strained for the past two years as a result of disagreements over wartime history. In a Tokyo news conference Oct. 16, Zhu said the Japanese people, as well as the Chinese, were "victims...
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2000

Collectors go cuckoo for Choco Eggs

KADOMA, Osaka Pref. -- Chocolate eggs are an integral part of Easter celebrations in the West. Although they have yet to catch on in Japan, one particular egg-shaped variety has become a hit here.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 29, 2000

Two chamber orchestras go for Baroque

Johann Sebastian Bach, who died in 1750, 250 years ago this year, has been lovingly remembered with significant performances of his great masterworks throughout the year. Recently eminent ensembles from Europe presented performances of the monumental "Saint Matthew Passion" almost simultaneously here....
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2000

Election rules rewritten

Lawmakers from the ruling bloc on Thursday passed a contentious bill altering the way some Upper House members will be elected.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 27, 2000

The highs and lows of izakaya dining

The ethereal, powder-blue fiber-optic lights that illuminate the entrance to Yui-an give a remarkable sense of stepping into another dimension -- a sensation heightened by the high-speed elevator ride to the top of the Sumitomo Building. With your brain suitably befuddled before you even get through...
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2000

System to track sea radiation from nuclear mishaps

Japanese maritime authorities will launch a computer system by March 2004 to trace radiation in seas after accidents involving vessels carrying cargo such as spent nuclear fuel, according to Transport Ministry officials.
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2000

Nine stores to close in Sogo revival plan

The Sogo department store group unveiled a comprehensive revival plan Wednesday that includes the closure of nine of its 22 existing stores and the slashing of the group's workforce by 3,100 employees to 6,000.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 26, 2000

Everyman Redgrave anything but in boat

LONDON -- From across a crowded room, Steve Redgrave hardly looks like a legendary athlete. He's lanky, excessively polite and his hair is thinning at an alarmingly quick rate. He walks around wearing a sheepish grin and his laugh is loud and long. If you didn't know any better, you'd swear he's the...
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2000

Mori fights criticism during Diet debate

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori was forced to fight back Wednesday as opposition leaders urged him to resign during a terse Diet debate that centered on the latest in a growing string of gaffes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 26, 2000

Hair today, gone tomorrow

With a father and grandfather who were both completely bald, sports journalist Nobuya Kobayashi had always suspected that he would turn out the same way. Yet, when he actually started losing hair in his late 20s, he was shocked and found himself unable to accept his fate.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2000

G8 to tackle disposal of Russian plutonium

The Group of Eight countries will begin full-scale talks on an international financing scheme for Russia's disposal of weapons-grade plutonium as part of an effort to curb the global proliferation of nuclear weapons, government sources said Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Oct 25, 2000

Chrysanthemum by any other name

The chrysanthemum (kiku) is the seal of the Imperial family, and along with the cherry blossom (sakura) is symbolically used as the national flower by the Japanese people. Chrysanthemums have been cultivated in Japan since the Heian Period (794-1185). In the olden days autumn used to be called the "chrysanthemum...
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2000

The reality gap still looms

The latest economic stimulus package, unveiled last Thursday, reinforces the impression that deficit spending in the name of economic recovery has become an annual routine. In fact, almost every year since the economic bubble burst a decade ago, the government has pumped trillions of yen into the system,...
CULTURE / Music
Oct 24, 2000

Creating soundtracks for modern pop culture

Dodgeville, Mich. Ever heard of it? Perhaps not. It's just another small Midwestern town you pass through on your way to the big city. It certainly wouldn't occur to you it's where one of America's most talented and hardworking composers was born.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2000

Vice governor complains over scuffle with photographer

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has sent a written complaint to Shinchosha Ltd., the publisher of the weekly photo magazine Focus, claiming a vice governor was injured during a scuffle ensuing from an attempt by the magazine to take a photograph of him, it was learned Sunday.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 22, 2000

Young talent surfaces at Tokyo Designers Week

If you happened to be in the Aoyama, Shibuya or Daikanyama districts of Tokyo over the last week you may have noticed a brightly patterned bus zooming around. It was transporting whoever was interested in going to the many spots in this area that were exhibiting the work of Japanese and international...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 22, 2000

David Powell

He says that although he is not Welsh, he has always been pleased to have a Welsh name. Last year David Powell strengthened a Welsh sentiment when he became executive vice president, Japan, of the Welsh Development Agency. He has very special appreciation of Wales, a small country of "charm and delight."...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 22, 2000

ZERI student volunteer recalls Expo experience

Agreeing to be interviewed but only 18, Ikuko Sato brought along her elder sister Kyoko for support. Actually, Kyoko had her own motive for joining us. Soon to visit a Filipino friend in England, she wanted information on traveling in the U.K.: "Is there a special rail pass for tourists? And what do...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2000

Quirky weather improved air in '99

The air quality in Japan registered major improvements last year due to favorable meteorological conditions, according to an annual Environment Agency report released Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2000

Blackman suspect remains tight-lipped

Police have yet to make any significant progress in the Lucie Blackman case, despite the arrest last week of a company executive suspected of having had some connection with the missing Briton.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2000

Japan offers $10 million in food aid to Yugoslavia

Japan will provide about $10 million in emergency food and medical aid to the new Yugoslav government set up by opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica to help ordinary Yugoslav citizens get through the winter, government sources said Tuesday.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 18, 2000

Yonezawa's tourist industry rises from the ashes

YONEZAWA, Yamagata Pref. -- When he received a phone call saying that a fire was blazing through the hotel where his grandfather was once a carpenter, local shop owner Masahiro Ohta rushed to help.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2000

Zhu tones down stance on wartime atonement

Visiting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji said Monday that Japan needs to admit its wartime aggression and be careful not to repeat the same mistake.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2000

Court asked to settle H-II rocket bill

In a rare move, the National Space Development Agency of Japan is requesting court arbitration to settle the bill for the failed launch last November of an H-II rocket, NASDA officials said Sunday.

Longform

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