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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 6, 2001

Carefully controlled exoticism

THE ORIENT STRIKES BACK: A Global View of Cultural Display, by Joy Hendry. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2000, 256 pp., 40 illustrations (16 color). 42.99 British pounds (cloth), 14.99 British pounds (paper). A century ago, the West used to entertain and educate itself with random views of the East. World's...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2001

Proceed cautiously in Irkutsk

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is scheduled to visit Irkutsk, Russia, on March 25 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. What will happen if Mori steps down before then?
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2001

BOJ discussed rate cuts in January

Some policy-setting board members of the Bank of Japan called for interest rate cuts in January to deal with downside risk factors to the nation's economy, according to the minutes of the Jan. 19 Policy Board meeting released Monday.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2001

State may redefine 'deflation'

The central government is considering relaxing its definition of deflation amid continuing falls in consumer prices, government sources said Monday.
COMMUNITY
Mar 6, 2001

Utsunomiya brings 'gyoza' lovers into fold

UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Pref. -- At the bottom of the steps leading out of JR Utsunomiya Station is a statue of Venus quite unlike any other.
COMMUNITY
Mar 6, 2001

Students give technical edge to volunteer activities

TOCHIGI -- It might seem strange that a group of students at a rural Japanese high school would be concerned about the culinary habits of Zambia's wildlife or the conditions of India's walkways.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Mar 5, 2001

Bush works on tax cuts while Clinton dodges more controversy

WASHINGTON -- "Beauty and the Beast" was on television Monday night -- the movie, not the continuing news saga of our current president and the most recent former one. That show seems to be a never-ending saga.
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2001

Are falling prices that bad?

LONDON -- Economists like limited inflation. They reckon it helps growth. Perhaps it may in some circumstances. It also benefits those who have borrowed against assets, which rise in value in an inflationary environment. But even limited inflation can be damaging, especially to those on fixed incomes,...
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2001

Miyake island left to ravages of nature

Six months have passed since the mass evacuation of Miyake Island's 3,800 residents in September, and conditions on the volcanic island are deteriorating with each passing month.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2001

Salmonella detected in imported heart sacs

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has detected salmonella in unused U.S.-made heart sacs -- products suspected of causing inflammation in some 70 heart patients in Japan, ministry sources said Sunday.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2001

Mitsubishi Motors raises net loss forecast to 250 billion yen

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has revised its consolidated net loss figures for the year through March 31 to around 250 billion yen due to slumping sales, recalls and restructuring spending, MMC officials said Sunday.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2001

March 19 eyed for first Mori-Bush summit

Japan and the United States are trying to arrange the first summit meeting between Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and U.S. President George W. Bush on March 19, government sources said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2001

Mr. Bush focuses on the home front

The speech U.S. President George W. Bush delivered to a joint session of Congress last Tuesday was disappointing because it said little about the basic strategy the new U.S. administration intends to follow in the area of foreign policy and security. The speech focused on domestic and economic policies,...
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2001

More tax advice offered on Advanced Ruling System

If an investor or a financial institution has questions regarding how a new financial product will fare in terms of taxation, it can prepare a questionnaire for the NTA, which will respond with information on tax categorization.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 5, 2001

Nanjing Massacre evidence twisted at historian's whim

A publisher asks me to make excerpts from Judge Radhabinod Pal's "dissentient judgment" and write an introduction to the selection. The Indian jurist Pal was one of 11 judges who sat on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the Tokyo Trial). He found Japan not guilty, the only one to...
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 5, 2001

Daiei wins series rematch with Yomiuri

Noriyoshi Omichi drove in five runs with four hits, including a pair of triples, Saturday to power the Daiei Hawks 13-9 over the Yomiuri Giants in a rematch of last fall's Japan Series.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2001

First rules on removing harmful foreign species drafted

A panel of the the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry has drawn up a set of rules that would allow the extermination of some fish and animals introduced to Japan that are endangering their indigenous counterparts, ministry sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2001

More refugees finding life difficult off Miyake

Nearly 70 percent of Miyake Island's evacuees said they felt life away from the volcanic island is "difficult," according to the results of a Kyodo News poll released Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 5, 2001

Meeting mutual expectations

The Bush administration attaches special importance to U.S. allies in its foreign policy. In a news conference held Dec. 16, immediately after he won the presidency, George W. Bush said his administration will work with its allies in Europe and the Far East.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2001

EU, G8 ministers vow to implement Kyoto Protocol

TRIESTE — Environment ministers from the Group of Eight major countries and the environment commissioner of the European Union ended a three-day meeting Sunday in northeastern Italy with a pledge to help implement the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 5, 2001

Paleolithic technology and the boom in cultural evolution

About 300,000 years ago something happened that was unlike anything in the previous few billion years, something that would have ever-expanding repercussions.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 5, 2001

Harada victorious at wind-shortened large hill nationals

Masahiko Harada only needed one jump to ensure himself a fourth large hill crown and his second title in 24 hours at the ski jumping national championships Sunday in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2001

Just the tip of the iceberg

The arrest on Thursday of Mr. Masakuni Murakami, a former Liberal Democratic Party leader in the Upper House and a former labor minister, should have come as no surprise, given the growing suspicions about his role in the bribery scandal involving the KSD small-business mutual-aid foundation. Mr. Murakami...
COMMENTARY
Mar 4, 2001

The media close in on Mori

Media vilification of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, to the point of virtually forcing his resignation, shows just how easily the major press and TV outlets here can control events in this emotional nation.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2001

'Natto' being used to clean up Osaka Castle moat

OSAKA -- "Natto," the infamous fermented soybean dish with its characteristic pungent smell and stickiness, may not exactly be the food of choice for many people. But an Osaka firm, in cooperation with Osaka City University, has begun an experiment to use polyglutamates -- the main component of the natto...

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