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CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2001

When justice looks the other way

Directors, as they age, usually must either move with the times or find themselves waiting by a silent phone. Since the days of D.W. Griffith, Hollywood has been full of once lordly directors who, having fallen out of fashion, are relegated to telling anecdotes about their glory days to deferential young...
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

Costa Rican president to visit Japan

Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez Echeverria will begin a five-day trip to Japan on Monday. The visit is at the invitation of the Japanese government, the Foreign Ministry said.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2001

Aggressive action could make Mori great

Japan has been dealing with its economic problems more aggressively than ever since the mid-February meeting in Sicily of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrial powers.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2001

Fukuoka City Bank under review

Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Monday it has placed the E-plus financial strength rating of Fukuoka City Bank under review, awaiting a possible downgrade.
EDITORIALS
Mar 27, 2001

A small step forward in Irkutsk

Both Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the achievements made at their talks Sunday in Irkutsk, Siberia. Assessing the same meeting, however, the two leaders inadvertently acknowledged publicly that they were giving different interpretations of the talks on the...
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

With budget passed, focus turns to Mori

The 82.65 trillion yen fiscal 2001 state budget, featuring a record-high 48.66 trillion yen to fund policies to bolster the economy, was enacted Monday evening.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2001

Department store sales dip for fifth straight month

Sales at department stores dropped 2.5 percent in February from a year before for the fifth straight month of decline, an industry group said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

Norwegian royal couple treated to banquet, tours

Norwegian King Harald V and Queen Sonja attended a dinner party hosted by the Emperor and Empress at the Imperial Palace on Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

Ex-professors admit role in leaking dental exam

A former university professor and an ex-member of the committee that prepares the national dental examinations admitted Monday to being involved in the leaking of exam questions in violation of the Dental Practitioners Law.
SOCCER / World cup
Mar 27, 2001

Tickets for Confederations Cup

said Sunday it will accept ticket applications for this year's Confederations Cup, a rehearsal event for the 2002 World Cup finals, for 10 days beginning April 1. Domestic ticket applications for the May 30-June 10 tournament will be accepted via mail and over the Internet at the JFA's official Web site...
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

Wartime redress suit rejected

The Tokyo District Court on Monday dismissed a compensation suit brought against the government by South Korean women who were forced to provide sex for Japanese servicemen and by South Korean men who fought for Japan during the war.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2001

Affiliate of Asahi Mutual Life liquidates due to sour loans

Asahi Jitsugyo, a real estate affiliate of Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co., is in the process of liquidation after racking up liabilities of 18.3 billion yen, Teikoku Databank said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

5.2-magnitude aftershock rocks west; none injured

OSAKA -- A strong earthquake measuring an estimated magnitude of 5.2 jolted a wide area of western Japan on Monday morning, the largest aftershock from the powerful 6.4 magnitude quake that hit the region Saturday, the Meteorological Agency said.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

Ex-minister Yoshikawa to retire

Former Labor Minister Yoshio Yoshikawa notified the ruling Liberal Democratic Party through a secretary on Monday that he will retire from politics at the end of his current six-year term, aides said.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

Ticket agencies join the digital age

Kyodo News The Internet set the scene, cellular phones followed, and now convenience stores have jumped on the bandwagon, drastically changing the way people in Japan buy tickets for concerts, plays and sports events.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2001

Honda prepares to build transportation system in Singapore

Honda Motor Co. said Monday that it will start research next month on a new transportation system in Singapore under which people will share environmentally friendly vehicles.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

War flick touting Japan's role in Indonesia's birth irks Jakarta

A new Japanese film depicting the role of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in Indonesia's war for independence from the Netherlands highlights a stark difference in views between Indonesians and Japanese over the republic's 1945 birth.
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 27, 2001

Movement that weaves an otherworldly spell

It's not often that a dance production lives up to an ambitious title, but "Luminous," by Saburo Teshigawara and the dance company Karas, certainly does.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

Taiwanese visitors attacked, robbed

OSAKA -- Four men assaulted and tied up four Taiwanese in an Osaka building early Monday then stole 3.5 million yen and $500 in cash and other valuables from them, police said.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 27, 2001

States, nations and identities

ASIAN NATIONALISM, edited by Michael Leifer. Routledge, 2000, pp. 196, 17.99 British pounds (paper). In many ways, an understanding of nationalism is essential to understanding contemporary Asia. For many Asian nations, the colonial experience is only a generation away. They are still wrestling with...
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2001

Japan stuck between Mori and a hard place on farm trade

If the world's poorest countries harbor high expectations about any fresh trade concessions from industrialized countries at a key international conference in May, Japan will probably turn out to be a real letdown.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Mar 27, 2001

Tradition and innovation in modern Celtic music

Julie Murphy and Sharon Shannon are two of the most talented, forward-looking and musically challenging women in Celtic music. Both have captured the spirit of the times, setting a benchmark for a new generation of musicians in their respective traditions. They will soon be performing in Japan with fine...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 27, 2001

Farewell to the rabbit hutch

THE JAPANESE DREAM HOUSE: How Technology and Tradition are Shaping New Home Design, by Azby Brown and Joseph Cali. Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International, 2001, pp. 132, profusely illustrated with Japanese-language translation insert, 6,000 yen. This big, beautiful, well-designed book tells and shows...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 27, 2001

The Elephant Man's other side

You know the old adage about how consciousness operates? Tell a person not to think of elephants, and they won't be able to stop thinking about elephants.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 27, 2001

Poetry for every mood and season

RYOKAN: Selected Tanka, Haiku, translated by Sanford Goldstein, Shigeo Mizuguchi & Fujisato Kitajima. Kokodo, 2000, pp. 218, 2 ,000 yen. LOVE HAIKU: Masajo Suzuki's Lifetime of Love: Translations by Lee Gurga & Emiko Miyashita. Brooks Books, 2000, pp. 112, 1,600 yen. UTSUMUKU SEINEN /LOOKING DOWN:...

Longform

The students at Mitaka Municipal No. 7 Junior High School have access to various cooling devices for when they play sports.
Japan's extreme heat is causing a rethink of school sports