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JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Mori to commend Paralympian

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori plans to present a commendation to swimmer Mayumi Narita, who won six gold medals at the Sydney Paralympic Games, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

State adopts national info-tech strategy

The government adopted a national strategy Monday to turn Japan into the world's most advanced country in the area of information technology within the next five years.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Railways brace for onslaught of holiday-season drunks

For most people, the end of the year is a time for making merry. For the nation's railroad employees, who have to deal with those merrymakers, it is a nightmare.
JAPAN / FREEDOM OF PRESS IN THE BALANCE
Nov 28, 2000

Media 'self-discipline' lacking: politicians

It was like a kangaroo court when the House of Representatives Communications Committee in March 1999 grilled the president and chief news editor of Asahi National Broadcasting Network about the contents of a popular news show, said Taizo Fukudomea, who was on the committee.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 28, 2000

Miserable every step of the way

REDISCOVERING NATSUME SOSEKI, with the first English translation of "Travels in Manchuria and Korea." Introduction and translation by Inger Sigrun Brodey and Sammy I. Tsunematsu. Folkestone, Kent: Global Books, 2000, 155 pp., 24 b/w plates, 2,950 yen. In the autumn of 1909, Natsume Soseki, already...
MORE SPORTS
Nov 28, 2000

The charm of an autocratic Frenchman

The big mistake many Japanese people make with Philippe Troussier is thinking he doesn't have a sense of humor. If he didn't, he probably wouldn't have survived over two years of dealing with the Japan Football Association.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Water-tossing lawmaker suspended

House of Representatives member Kenshiro Matsunami, who threw water on opposition lawmakers at one point during debate over a no-confidence motion in the Diet last week, is being punished with a 25-day suspension that takes effect today.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 28, 2000

Embracing both past and present, shakuhachi gala blows up a storm

KYOTO -- A gala concert by shakuhachi grandmaster Genzan Miyoshi Dec. 3 at the Kyoto Concert Hall promises something for everyone: An array of traditional and modern pieces performed as solos, "hogaku orchestras" and everything in between.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 28, 2000

Thunderstruck by the Asian ascent

THUNDER FROM THE EAST: Portrait of a Rising Asia, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000, 377 pp., $27.50. This is a mediocre potboiler of scant significance. One suspects that these Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters for The New York Times know a great deal more about...
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Fujimori staying in home of Nippon Foundation chief

Ousted Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has been staying at the house of popular writer Ayako Sono in Tokyo's Ota Ward, Sono told a hastily arranged press conference Monday.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 28, 2000

When writing Asia-Pacific history, the rhetoric is the reality

JAPAN AND PACIFIC INTEGRATION: Pacific Romances 1968-1996, by Pekka Korhonen. London/New York: Routledge, 1998, 246 pp., $50 (cloth). The title of this book suggests that it is about the integration of the Asia-Pacific area, about regionalism, and about the role Japan plays in this process.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 28, 2000

Back to square one in politics

Koichi Kato, a leading dissident in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, failed miserably in his latest attempt to unseat Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Nov 28, 2000

Cuban musical wave keeps on coming

At the beginning of next year, not much will have changed from this year, when it comes to the pick of world and roots music concerts. More Cubans!
EDITORIALS
Nov 27, 2000

Europe chokes on its beef

Fears of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, mad cow disease, are spreading across Europe. New incidents of the disease have been identified in herds across the continent. Several suspected cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human variant of BSE, have been reported as well. European governments must...
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 27, 2000

Antlers clinch stage after scoreless draw

The setup was perfect: The last day of the J. League's second stage, a beautiful autumn day at a sold-out National Stadium in Tokyo, the top team against the second-placed team with the latter needing a win to clinch the stage.
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2000

Fujimori denies transfer of funds

Deposed Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on Sunday denied allegations that he has had $18 million in secret funds remitted to Japanese bank accounts.
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2000

Alleged thief won't reveal name at trial

An unusual criminal trial is under way at the Tokyo District Court in which a suspected shoplifter refuses to reveal his identity, causing awkwardness for the bench but not posing any legal problems.
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2000

Detente mission to Russia to follow Cabinet reshuffle

Japan will send its foreign minister to Russia to seek a breakthrough in a decades-old territorial dispute after a Cabinet reshuffle expected in early December, government sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2000

Arrests of fake-goods vendors prompt smuggling probe

OSAKA -- A street vendor arrested in Hiroshima in September on suspicion of violating the Trademark Law has confessed to purchasing fake Louis Vuitton, Chanel and other brand-name products from a group of brokers in Osaka, investigative sources said.
JAPAN / OBITUARY
Nov 27, 2000

Ex-Foreign Minister Zentaro Kosaka dies

Zentaro Kosaka, a conservative politician who worked for normalization of diplomatic relations with China and promoted rapprochement with the Soviet Union during the Cold War era, died of renal failure at his home in Tokyo's Ota Ward on Sunday afternoon, his family said. He was 88.
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2000

Planned ministry merger to share responsibility for public pension fund

The new Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to be created in January will share responsibility along with the new pension fund administration in handling the nation's 144 trillion yen public pension fund, ministry officials said.
COMMENTARY
Nov 27, 2000

Japan reconsiders the free trade agreement

Next January, Japan and Singapore will kick off a round of government-to-government negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement. The plans in the works reportedly call for signing the pact by the end of 2001 so that it will take effect in 2002.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2000

Russia on the right track

WASHINGTON -- While awaiting word on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, Russian President Vladimir Putin has just reiterated his desire for deep cuts in nuclear forces. Reportedly, he would consider a treaty allowing Russia and the United States only 1,000 strategic nuclear warheads each....
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2000

DPJ's Kan raps Nonaka's remarks

Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Naoto Kan on Sunday criticized his counterpart in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Hiromu Nonaka, for saying the defeat of a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori does not mean his Cabinet has the public's confidence.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2000

Shaky finances threaten to sink KEDO

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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2000

Asia debates the merit of political debates

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- I don't want to add to the endless debate over the chances of the two U.S. presidential contenders. Rather, I want to focus on the debates and some possible corollaries for Asia.

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