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JAPAN
Apr 28, 1999

Sega slammed by poor Dreamcast sales

Electronics game machine maker Sega Enterprises Ltd. said Wednesday that it will suffer net losses of 32.8 billion yen for fiscal 1998, a sharp deviation from a projected 4.6 billion yen net profit.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 1999

Mayor marks completion of Kobe House complex

KOBE -- The mayor of Kobe and the governor of Hyogo Prefecture joined about 200 people at the new Kobe International House here Wednesday morning for a special ceremony to mark completion of its construction.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Reception chilly for Obuchi's 'souvenir'

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi met separately with top officials of various political parties Monday and received a less-than-warm response from opposition leaders to compromises made within the ruling camp over key defense bills.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Teacher held in bombing admits prior blast, anger

A 42-year-old mathematics teacher in custody over a Tokyo high school bombing in March was served a new warrant Monday in connection with the bombing of a metropolitan government education official's home, officials said.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 1999

Support, not coercion, for Indonesia

What Indonesia needs from the United States and the rest of the West is more "carrot" and less "stick." Devastated by an economic crisis not unlike the Great Depression, its principal requirement right now is leadership.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 1999

Women in power still few in number: white paper

Japanese women's participation in the decision-making process is still far lower than that of women in other developed nations, according to a white paper released by the government Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 1999

Vote on defense bill could come Tuesday

The Lower House Special Committee on Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation decided Friday the committee will wrap up its debate Monday and vote on the bills, committee members said.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Apr 21, 1999

Under your skin

Take a second, forget about trash-can icons and QWERTY keyboards and ponder the real interface -- our future interaction with technology. How will we navigate the infosphere in 10 years? Will we use mouses or cursors controlled by biofeedback? Will our browser windows be square and scrolled or dynamically...
JAPAN
Apr 21, 1999

Empress, Foley laud CWAJ feats

Several hundred past and present members of the College Women's Association of Japan, which promotes international education and cross-cultural exchange, celebrated the group's 50th anniversary Wednesday at a luncheon with the Empress and U.S. Ambassador Thomas Foley.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 1999

State to subsidize R&D at smaller firms

The government said Tuesday it will grant a subsidy of 11 billion yen in the current fiscal year to small and medium-size enterprises in promoting development and research of innovative industrial technology, officials said.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 20, 1999

Learning from the real world, not the schoolroom

LEARNING IN LIKELY PLACES: Varieties of Apprenticeship in Japan, edited by John Singleton. Cambridge University Press, 376 pp. For many foreigners living here, the chance to study some Japanese art or craft, be it aikido, shakuhachi or tea ceremony, is very much a part of their "Japan experience."...
JAPAN
Apr 20, 1999

Coupons fail to spur shopping, but 'dango' sales up

Although municipalities have finished distributing the central government's shopping coupons to the public, the result of the hard-fought effort to boost domestic demand seems as flat as the vouchers themselves.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 1999

Hokuriku Special: Illegal immigrants find new gateway

Staff writer
JAPAN
Apr 19, 1999

Hokuriku Special: Russian village goes modern

NIIGATA -- Niigata Russian Village at the foot of the Gozu mountain range will make a new start at the end of this month with additional attractions, including a record-large hot air balloon and a theater featuring the latest technology to lure more tourists to the theme park.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 1999

Hokuriku Special: Bone find linked to relocated Christians

KANAZAWA, Ishikawa Pref. -- When construction workers first dug human bones out of a ridge on Mount Utatsu in Ishikawa Prefecture in October, they had no idea what they had unearthed.
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 1999

A long shadow over Malaysia

After a 78-day trial, former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was found guilty Wednesday of four counts of corruption and sentenced to six years in prison. The verdict, which has triggered protests by Mr. Anwar's supporters, was condemned by the defendant and questioned by others around...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 17, 1999

A confectioner for all seasons

Japanese tea and wagashi (Japanese-style confections) are inseparable in the tea ceremony. Wagashi, served before the tea itself, are said to draw out the essence of the tea.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 1999

U.S. trade policy all at sea

When Pat Buchanan launched his third campaign for the presidency of the United States, the protectionist candidate visited the archetypal steel town of Weirton, West Virginia. Buffeted by a surge in imported steel, Weirton offered a natural backdrop for Buchanan's xenophobic fulminations.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Apr 17, 1999

New version of the old koto makes music for the future

While Japanese traditional instruments boast long histories (up to 1,200 years in some cases, since their importation from the Asian continent) most reached their present forms hundreds of years ago and have not changed since.
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 1999

Moving from words to action

Running as an independent, Shintaro Ishihara overwhelmingly won the Tokyo gubernatorial election, the most closely watched of local elections held nationwide April 11. Voter interest in the election was strong. Despite the inclement weather earlier that day, voter turnout was 58 percent, up 7 percentage...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 15, 1999

Japanese women say single life fine — if they're financially independent

Some say that '70s feminism began its fall from grace in 1986 when a study claimed that a woman's chances of marrying sometime in her life drops to 5 percent after she passes her 35th birthday. The notion that so many nominally liberated women found this conclusion distressing gave rise to the cynical...
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.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 14, 1999

A British art gallery finds an answer to a perennial problem

SOUTHAMPTON, England -- The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is generally acknowledged to be the world's first modern museum worthy of the title. Unlike its predecessors, it was not just a cabinet of curiosities -- archaeological relics and anthropological wonders amassed by some explorer and shown in his...
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 1999

A clear victory for NATO

LONDON -- This time the critics and skeptics are turning out to be wrong. Conventional wisdom holds that one cannot halt an enemy from the air, let alone force a capitulation. Only troops on the ground can do that. This is supposed to be the overriding lesson from the disaster that was the Vietnam War....
JAPAN
Apr 13, 1999

Public debate on defense guidelines set for April 21

The Lower House Special Committee on the Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation on Tuesday set the date of a public hearing in the Diet for April 21, paving the way for the chamber's passage of bills related to the nation's new defense role before Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's scheduled departure...
JAPAN
Apr 13, 1999

DPJ drafts changes to SDF guidelines

The Democratic Party of Japan finished its proposals Tuesday for revising bills covering updated Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines, including the requirement of advanced Diet approval for plans involving the Self-Defense Forces.
JAPAN
Apr 12, 1999

Kokumin's capital deficit about 71.2 billion yen

Kokumin Bank, which was declared insolvent Sunday, had a 71.2 billion yen capital deficit as of Sept. 30, 1998, the Financial Supervisory Agency revealed Monday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 11, 1999

Spring, the sweet spring

"Nothing is so beautiful as Spring," declared a poet looking about him at this time of year more than 120 springs ago. He wasn't a Japanese poet; he was an English one. Still, he seems to have grasped the essence of the season pretty well, even though in this particular sonnet he was recommending the...
EDITORIALS
Apr 10, 1999

Key defense questions need answers

The House of Representatives Special Committee on Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation is winding down its deliberations on the guidelines legislation. Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi is eager to secure passage of the bills in the Lower House before he leaves for the United States later this month...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Apr 10, 1999

A keen ear for the voice of the clay

Japanese ceramists often talk of the materials they use as having spirits and souls. A kiln, for instance, has its own kami, and the clay has a voice that if listened to carefully will reveal a shape that has lain dormant for centuries.

Longform

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