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like a toll on a turnpike or a personal seat license at a new stadium , an upfront fee is required these days for a 26 year old ace pitcher from japan . the bidding for daisuke_matsuzaka has begun , and no one knows quite how high it will go . but these facts are irrefutable teams are desperate for power starting pitchers , and matsuzaka 's agent , scott_boras , is not known for discounts , even when negotiating with only one team . when asked how to get fair value for a player who goes through the japanese posting process , boras said ''i think for a midlevel player , it would have an effect . but when you have a player this gifted , the loss of the player 's skill is outcome determinative to your team . '' the posting process is a system used by japanese players who want to play in the majors but do not have the service time to be free agents . matsuzaka has seven full years of service japanese players must have nine years to become a free_agent . matsuzaka 's team , the seibu lions , made him available for posting through the japanese commissioner 's office . that office contacted the major_league baseball_commissioner 's office , which notified all 30 teams late thursday . thus began a window of four business days for teams to submit sealed bids to lou melendez , a vice_president of major_league_baseball . the bidding ends at 5 p.m . wednesday , when baseball will notify the lions of the amount of the highest bid , but not the team that submitted it . the lions then have four business days to accept or reject the bid . if they reject , they will keep matsuzaka . if they accept , matsuzaka has 30 days to negotiate with the team that made the bid . if he fails to work out a contract , he returns to japan , and the bid is returned to the team that made it . the winning bid is expected to be around 20 million , with the yankees , the mets , the boston_red_sox and the chicago_cubs among the teams said to be interested . all sides have incentive to make a deal . the winning bidder will badly want matsuzaka , a hard throwing right hander who went 17 5 with a 2 . 13 earned_run_average this season . and matsuzaka badly wants to play in the majors . ''during these past two years , my feeling toward participating in major_league_baseball has grown more and more , '' he said last week , through an interpreter , at a tokyo news conference . he added ''i 'm not nervous about anything . i think i have to raise my level a bit , but i think i have it within me to succeed . '' the lions will almost certainly accept the bid . the team is in financial peril after the conviction in october 2005 of its owner , yoshiaki_tsutsumi , for insider_trading and falsifying company records . tsutsumi , whom forbes_magazine once ranked as the richest man in the world , is a resort and railroad mogul who pleaded_guilty to conspiring with other executives to falsify the financial_statement of seibu_railway in 2003 . he was fined and given a suspended prison sentence . if the lions hold onto matsuzaka , they may very well wind up with nothing in return . by posting him , they will get a windfall . precisely how much , though , may never be known . quoting an unnamed lions executive , the japanese newspaper sankei sports reported last friday that three unidentified major_league teams had approached the executive about setting up a prearranged deal for matsuzaka . the executive told the newspaper that he did not engage the teams in conversation because he considered it tampering . but , in theory , a team could effectively tell the lions ''we want to get matsuzaka . what if we bid 50 million to make sure we win his rights , and then we paid you 20 million ? '' the seattle_mariners had a working agreement with the orix blue wave , ichiro_suzuki 's old team , before winning his negotiating rights with a 13 million bid in 2000 . there have long been rumors that the mariners never had to pay the full amount . the baseball spokesman pat courtney said that in a case like matsuzaka 's , the commissioner 's office would ask for a copy of the paperwork between the japanese team and the major_league team . courtney also said one team could not block another from signing matsuzaka by submitting an outrageous bid ( say , 100 million ) and then not negotiating in good faith with boras . ''that would be something we would have to get involved in , '' courtney said , adding that the team with the next highest bid would probably win negotiating rights . still , a feeling persists in some circles that the posting system is far from ideal . ''there are a lot of holes in the system , so some teams can cheat , '' said gaku tashiro , a baseball reporter for sankei sports . ''that 's not a fair system . if you have a good connection to the team , you can do anything you want to . also , the japanese player cannot choose the team . '' boras has tried to give matsuzaka some control over his destination . the seattle_mariners said last week that they would not make a bid , without stating a reason . the los_angeles_dodgers also publicly dropped out , citing the cost . boras would not say so directly , but he might have let those teams know that matsuzaka did not want to play for them . ''we 've been candid with teams about where we would want to go , or more importantly where we would not want to go , '' boras said . ''and you 've probably seen the response to that . '' whoever lands matsuzaka will have a potential top of the rotation starter , but a pricey one . the yankees , in particular , can attest to the importance of starting pitching . in 13 postseason games since taking a three games to none lead over the red_sox in the 2004 american_league_championship_series , the yankees' starters have gone 2 7 with a 5 . 82 e.r.a . not surprisingly , the yankees have lost 10 of those 13 games . but a larger question is whether it is wise to pay top dollars to free agent pitchers . the st . louis_cardinals just won the world_series with a rotation that included no pitchers who had signed rich free_agent deals with the team . chris carpenter initially signed with st . louis for one year and 500 , 000 because he was an injured free_agent . jeff suppan was a bargain ( three years , 10 million ) coming off two shaky months in boston . jeff weaver had been designated for assignment by the angels . the yankees have randy_johnson signed for 16 million and would like to bring back mike_mussina at a cost of more than 10 million a year . two winters ago , they paid premium prices for carl pavano and jaret wright , ignoring a track record of injuries and concentrating instead on their performance the year before free_agency . the yankees do have a young , inexpensive and proven starter in chien ming wang , along with the 20 year old phil hughes , who dominated class_aa last season . the free_agent market offers other starters besides matsuzaka , including suppan and weaver . but it is considered a mediocre pool , headlined by barry zito , jason schmidt , gil_meche and ted lilly . two others roger_clemens and andy_pettitte are unsure if they want to keep pitching . baseball	has a location of japan
it is the end of a school day , and hiroyo ikoma is laughing in the junior high bathroom , doing what 12 year old girls in japan normally do with their classmates at this time . she 's scrubbing the floors . " bathroom duty is the worst , " miss ikoma complained lightly as she sprayed a hose in the direction of her partner 's mop . " of course , we 're supposed to scrub the toilets , too , but we do n't . " in japanese schools , like this one in the verdant hills near ise in central japan , it is children rather than janitors who do the cleaning . from first grade through the senior year of high_school , children spend 15 minutes to half an hour a day to take out the garbage and remove any graffiti that their buddies have unkindly left behind . " kids write graffiti in pencil , " explained miyuki shibahara , a teacher at the junior high_school in the nearby town of nishiki , since they have to clean it themselves . " they do n't have the stomach to write in pen . " as americans dissatisfied with their own educational system look at alternatives , japanese schools stand out in many ways . they offer discipline , orderly classes , safe corridors , rigorous training in basics like reading and mathematics , and practical lessons in physics like this one for every action , like sticking gum under a desk , there must be an equal and less pleasant reaction , like removing it . several days around omiya , a town of 5 , 700 set at the foot of hills covered with cedar forests , leave one with a feeling that schools here are not so much institutions of learning as of social_engineering . much of japanese society , good and bad , seems rooted in school practices if the battle of waterloo was won on the playing fields of eton , the japanese economic_miracle was won in the ( student scrubbed ) classrooms of omiya and a thousand towns like it . no diverse country can be captured in a single microcosm , but omiya has rhythms and anxieties that resonate beyond the rice_paddies that mark the edge of town . in tokyo , nearly 200 miles away , people talk about who will be the next prime_minister in omiya , folks chat about whether fireflies are visible and whether schoolgirls will be allowed to wear skirts that rise above their kneecaps . these days the young people of omiya ( pronounced oh mee yuh ) are eagerly anticipating the beginning of summer vacation on july 21 , for if they sometimes seem angelic during the school year , perhaps it is only because they are too busy studying to get into trouble . japanese schools provide a crime free and drug free environment , but sometimes they also risk providing a fun free environment . in omiya , as in many japanese towns , loudspeakers broadcast a message each evening during the school year " good boys and girls , it 's almost 6 o'clock . let 's be careful of cars and go home now . " regimentation lots of rules some rebellion schools are social cookie cutters in japan , assembly lines that press students into the same shape and constantly remind them that they are members of a larger community . rules are ubiquitous , and the atmosphere even at public schools is a bit like that of an american military academy . omiya junior high , for instance , not only stipulates the uniform but also bans wristwatches , hair ribbons , curled hair , bleached hair , perfume , scented deodorant , earrings , makeup , money , non standard school bags or anything else that could set one student apart from another . the school even bans colorful shoes , although footwear is left at the entrance and exchanged for identical slippers that students and teachers wear inside the school building . yet the student whom the others describe as the coolest kid in the junior high_school , kazuhiro fujikura , has triumphed over the homogenization process and that is what makes him so kakkoii , or cool . that plus the fact that , although mediocre academically , he is a good baseball_player and , as 14 year old asaha shimomura gushed , " he 's so cute . " mr . fujikura bored a hole in the heel of his slippers . this creates a distinctive " thump , thump " when he walks down the hall , sending pulses soaring among his admirers . it is striking that for all their reputation for docility , students in japan seem as rebellious in spirit as american youths . the difference is degree they smoke cigarettes instead of marijuana , get into fistfights instead of knife fights , and mostly just get kissed instead of pregnant . mr . fujikura rebelled by showing up at school earlier this year with brown hair . the teachers made him dye his hair black again , but he is unapologetic . " it 's interesting to have a funny hair style , " he said as he sat on the floor in a corridor . " i 'd love to have blond_hair . " students test the rules in many other ways . skirts are supposed to extend to at least the kneecap , but girls pull them up at the waist to titillate with an inch or two of flesh above the knee . one boy used a fragrant mousse in his hair only to have a teacher drag him by the hair to a faucet and wash it out . a problem for students is that the school uniform requires white socks , and it is difficult to be kakkoii while wearing white socks . but white socks are regarded as acceptable if they are bunched up a bit above the ankle . so to keep socks at this height , without having them drop further , students use sock touch , a special glue stick marketed for just this purpose . one girl demonstrated by applying sock touch to her bare calf and then putting on the sock at just the kakkoii height . schools in japan freely set standards for students not only in the classroom but also at home and even during summer vacation . the idea is that schools not only teach students but also train them how to fit into society and remind them that the school is the source of their identity , and that they can no more escape it than they can flee their other family , the one at home . junior high_schools bar students from stopping anywhere on their way home from school , even at a store to buy a drink . on vacation , they are not allowed to visit karaoke restaurants , coffee houses or arcades . romances are scrutinized as well . some of the 154 students in omiya junior high_school have boyfriends and girlfriends , and teachers try to keep an eye on them and make sure that no one gets hurt . " if they 're really going out , then we have to talk to the parents and make sure that they do n't get in trouble , " said akio murata , the principal . schools begin to inculcate the values that dominate japanese society , like the emphasis on hierarchy . beginning in junior high_school , for instance , everyone is cast as senpai , or elder , or as kohai , or junior . " if a senpai says 'morning , ' we 're supposed to answer politely with 'good morning , ' " explained naomi yoshida , an eighth_grader . " if a senpai says 'bye' in a casual way , we 're supposed to say 'goodbye . ' " miss yoshida is addressed by older students as " yoshida " or with the diminutive " yoshida chan . " but to younger pupils she is " yoshida san , " just as if she were an adult . work , work , work school pressure means little play mr . fujikura , the coolest student , says he does no homework and does not go to a cram_school , but that is unusual . most japanese students work far harder than their american counterparts . for starters , there is a half day of school two saturdays a month , and summer vacation lasts only six weeks . during vacations , teachers assign homework , so that students will not forget what they have learned . shingo horie , a 16 year old junior , catches a train each morning at 7 a.m . for the hourlong ride to senior_high_school . omiya has no senior high , so the 7 a.m . train is jammed with the town 's young people commuting to several high_schools in the larger city of matsuzaka . mr . horie dozes or does homework on the train , and then plays on the basketball_team after school . he gets home at 8 p.m . and then does two or three hours of homework before going to bed . " i have hardly any time to play with friends , " he said . why do young people work so hard ? " we want to go to good universities and get good jobs , " mr . horie said . " then there 's also pressure from parents and teachers . " pressure from teachers includes the requirement that students take all school books home each night . the high_school has lockers though nearly all students leave them unlocked , for theft is unknown but even so , students must lug all their books home as an inducement to use them . the pressure from parents is even greater , particularly from the " education mama . " these are devoted housewives whose mission in life is to wheedle and bully their children to spend every moment studying . some " education mamas " have been quoted in the japanese press as saying they had sex with their own sons , so that the boys would not need to waste time dating girls . soap_operas and a movie have been made about such mother son relationships . the japanese themselves refer to the teen years as " examination hell , " a time of extraordinary pressure when a few failed exams can peg a student as a prospective lathe worker instead of a corporate executive . but japanese youths also have intact families and sometimes a close_knit community of students to provide support , and in fact the suicide rate for japanese teen_agers is well below that for americans . in any case , the academic pressure perhaps pays off , for japanese students learn a lot . at matsuzaka high_school , where some of the best omiya students go , all pupils learn calculus , chemistry and trigonometry . international studies have consistently shown that japanese students perform among the best in the world in math and science . a survey of 13 year olds in 15 countries found that in math , japanese ranked first and the united_states ranked 11th . japan excels in these comparisons even though government spending on education accounts for a smaller proportion of its gross_national_product than in the united_states . the lower spending is partly attributable to spartan physical conditions not only do students do all the window cleaning and floor waxing themselves , but students are left to shiver in the winter in unheated classrooms . shortcomings some learning omits thinking while the academic side of the ledger is generally very impressive , there are some subjects that japanese schools teach miserably . one is english , and after visits to english classes in omiya it is easy to see how japanese manage to study the language for six or more years without learning to speak it . english classes are taught almost entirely in japanese , by a teacher lecturing at a blackboard with very little class participation . english words are memorized as if they were chemistry symbols . takeshi niwa , the english teacher at omiya junior high_school , notes that the all important college entrance_exams test only the students' knowledge of written english . " if we taught a lot of spoken english , we would be behind on the grammar , and students would fail the entrance_exam , " mr . niwa said . another area that seems poorly taught , perhaps because it conflicts with the japanese desire for consensus , is world_war_ii . the young people in omiya seem to learn almost nothing of the war and their country 's role in it . the rape of nanjing , in which japanese soldiers killed tens of thousands of chinese civilians , was a central event in the war and remains a major sticking point in relations between japan and china . yet of a dozen students interviewed only a few had even heard of it . none knew that the massacre had happened in china , and one said he thought that it had occurred in the united_states . the textbooks edited by the government suggest why students know so little about the war . the high_school textbook simply records in one sentence that " nanjing was occupied , " without specifying that more people may have died in the course of that occupation than immediately after the atomic bombing of hiroshima . more broadly , while american students learn to question , japanese students learn to obey . the network of rules seems intended partly to teach the same lesson that is central to marine boot_camp that people must obey even rules that they think are silly , that they must subsume themselves to a larger community . students in omiya are taught to memorize but perhaps not to think . class participation is rare , and the ideal educational task is an equation for which there is only one precise answer . perhaps as a result , japanese students do very well in international mathematics comparisons with questions that are purely equations . but in story problems , where students have to think as well as compute , they do not do nearly so well , though still much better than americans . some scholars say japan 's educational system served admirably over the last century , in building an industrial society with a labor force skilled at bolting together cars or even engineering steadily smaller radios . but these scholars worry that " trained seals , " as one japanese critic described graduates , will lack the creativity to master the information_age in the coming decades . " i serious believe that if we do not change our educational system , it will be the ruin of our country , " morihiro_hosokawa , a former prime_minister , warned in an essay this month . he complained that the system is so regimented and so focused on cramming information into young minds that it stifles the children . whatever the merits of these concerns , it would be too harsh to suggest that schools around omiya are nothing more than bleak assembly lines of memorization . in rules and rigidity , the overall atmosphere is a bit like that of parochial schools or especially private boarding schools in america or britain earlier in this century . the system can be brutal for those who do not fit bullying is a big problem in japanese schools , though not in omiya but it also creates a tight sense of family for most of the students . " i 've never seen any system that is so family oriented , where teachers and students are together as one , " said matthew low , an american who lives near omiya and has taught english for two years in japanese high_schools . " you see the kids crying at junior high_school graduations , and then they hold reunions . whoever heard of a junior high_school in the u.s . having reunions ? " main_street , japan later articles will examine other aspects of life in a small town in japan .	has a location of japan
a student reads aloud during a graduate seminar at the university of tokyo in classic japanese literature , and an american , prof . robert campbell , gently corrects a reading error in the soft mannered way of a traditional japanese teacher , or sensei . in this class , students from korea , italy and japan are interpreting and analyzing travel writing by japanese visitors to western countries in the late 19th_century , and the class seems not to care that their professor is not japanese . ''i 'm completely at ease , '' with learning japanese literature from an american teacher , said lee han jung , one of the students . still , professor campbell 's presence is remarkable . the university , which stands at the pinnacle of the japanese educational system , has been considered the most exclusive and closed of academic institutions here . admission and recruitment standards have been inflexible , and unlike many american institutions , the university did not value diversity . in a nation that has long stressed rote learning over creative thinking , the university has been criticized for graduating smart but uninventive minds . but it is changing , now recruiting foreign professors for tenured positions , admitting more international students and increasing the proportion of women faculty_members . ''it is a new trend , and it is a good trend , '' said tetsuo shimomura , professor of education at waseda university . leading this change is a decidedly nontraditional president , shigehiko hasumi , 64 , a professor of french literature who seemingly knows everything about movies and spends a good deal of time watching them so much so that japanese movie buffs have coined a new term . to hasumi means to watch one film after another . mr . hasumi , who saw 400 films a year before becoming president in 1997 , pointed to a wall sized poster for the 1934 movie ''design for living , '' starring gary cooper , miriam hopkins and frederic march . ''only one in three presidents of an american_university who have visited this office could tell what that poster is , '' he said . ''when they do recognize it , they are ecstatic . '' before becoming president of the university , mr . hasumi developed a course on cinema studies . ''i am hoping that film directors will emerge out of my class , '' he said . one of his primary goals as president has been to diversify and internationalize the university , which is now dominated by japanese men . some progress was made in that direction before mr . hasumi took office . in the last 10 years , the number of foreign full time professors and lecturers has jumped to 73 from 29 , while the number of tenured foreign professors has grown to 23 from just 2 . international students have more than tripled in the last 15 years to 1 , 614 , just over 6 percent of the university 's 26 , 000 students . ''i want to see this university gain greater diversity in age , gender and nationality , '' mr . hasumi said . however , much will remain to be done under his successor , for mr . hasumi will complete his four year term next march , and will be succeeded by takeshi sasaki , a political_scientist who is a member of the law faculty . mr . sasaki said at a news conference announcing his selection , ''the days are gone when being from the university of tokyo gave you some guarantee in life . '' the university of tokyo , or todai , as it is popularly known here , dominates academia in japan in ways that no single institution dominates american higher_education . it outranks all other universities in most fields of research and has served as a breeding ground for most of the country 's government officials . approximately 70 percent of the bureaucrats who guided japan through its postwar economic_growth to unrivaled financial prosperity at least until recently graduated from the university of tokyo . at the ministry of finance , the most elite department within the government , about 90 percent of the officials are todai graduates , and most of them graduated from the faculty of law , the most prestigious at the university . so , quite naturally , the appointment of ikuo kabashima , 53 , as a professor at the university of tokyo 's faculty of law in 1997 created a stir , not only was professor kabashima not a graduate of the university of tokyo , he had not even gone to a japanese university . after graduating from a high_school in the southern prefecture of kumamoto , where he said he finished 220th in a class of 250 , he went to work for a local agricultural cooperative . going to a university was not even a consideration , professor kabashima said . he dreamed only of running a large farm of his own one day . but an agricultural exchange program in the united_states took the young mr . kabashima to a farm in idaho . he then studied reproductive physiology at the university of nebraska and later went to harvard to earn a ph . d . in political_science . he taught at tsukuba university in ibaraki prefecture before coming to tokyo . despite his progress , professor kabashima said of his appointment to the todai law faculty ''i was impressed that they hired me . it was beyond my imagination . '' except for a few foreign professors , he is the only one in the 80 member todai law faculty who is not a graduate of the faculty . hiroshi watanabe , dean of the faculty of law , said ''the perception that we were closed is not accurate . we have always wanted to hire the best people . '' but , he added , they happened to be graduates of the law faculty . today , professors like dr . kabashima , while still a rarity , no longer surprise people . tadao ando , a japanese architect who was appointed a professor recently , had no higher_education at all . the outsiders said they rarely faced discrimination or barriers . ''my bicultural aspects have been more comfortably and naturally integrated into my life as a scholar , '' said professor campbell , 43 , a tenured associate professor of literature who teaches in japanese . he added that he believed his tokyo appointment would not have happened 10 years ago . professor campbell , a native of new york , joined the university after teaching and researching at a few other japanese institutions . the acceptance of diverse talents at japan 's top educational institution is emblematic of the times . people here are opening up to outside competition and integrating foreign products and people into their lives , although slowly . the days are gone , education critics say , when japan 's exam oriented educational system served the country well . the formula raised the educational standards of the masses , equipping people well for an industrial economy that produced high quality , standardized industrial products like electronic goods and automobiles . at the top were todai graduates , always in demand among corporate recruiters . ''they figured if they passed that difficult exam at todai , they should be fine , '' mr . hasumi said , but the needs of society today , he added , are ' 'much more diverse , and it is important to be able respond to those various needs . '' in 1991 , the faculty of law established a graduate law program intended in part for those already established in careers . ''that was a big change for us , '' mr . watanabe said . the university has also begun to put greater emphasis on graduate education , attracting students of diverse backgrounds and people who have started their careers . and at the graduate level , the university competes more with overseas universities , leading to a move to internationalize its programs . befitting the changes at the university and the larger society , students' career interests are undergoing a significant shift . mr . hasumi said more students were interested in taking jobs at foreign companies . students used to shun working for foreign companies , and many still do , ''because they thought those jobs were not stable , '' mr . hasumi said . now , there are students who want jobs where they can test their skills , he said . kiyoshi kameshima . a fourth year law student who has been active in organizing sports events at the university , is representative of the growing ranks of students who are ready to take chances . he wants to go directly into politics after graduation next year , perhaps by working as a secretary for a member of parliament from his home town of ooita , a southern prefecture on the island of kyushu , rather than work his way up in the government bureaucracy or in a company . ''i want to be in a position to move and take action , '' mr . kameshima said . ''i get the feeling that things are not working properly in japanese politics . i want to change this country . '' abroad miki_tanikawa writes for the new york times from tokyo .	has a location of japan
when emiko sato was growing up on okushiri , island residents wanting to travel to the mainland had to endure a three hour ride on the cramped deck of a cargo_ship . tonight , more than 30 years later , mrs . sato is in a familiar position , crouched on the crowded deck of a ship laden with cargo , leaning against a carton containing a portable toilet and wrapped in a sheet to protect her from the chill air . " it reminds me of the vietnamese boat people , " she said . but rather than escaping , mrs . sato is returning to her childhood home or what is left it . on monday_night okushiri , a small island in northern japan , bore the brunt of the strongest earthquake to hit the country in 25 years . so far , 102 people have been reported killed and 163 are missing after the quake and seismic sea waves , or tsunamis . the death toll now seems likely to surpass the 104 killed in a big quake 10 years ago , making this japan 's most lethal earthquake in 30 years . 77 deaths on island at least 77 of the deaths occurred on okushiri , where a tsunami now estimated to have been as high as 30 feet , and then fires , destroyed hundreds of homes and caused the collapse of a hillside on a hotel and an adjacent restaurant . the owner of that restaurant was mrs . sato 's youngest sister , akiko morikawa , who died in the landslide along with two of her three children . mrs . sato 's other sister , etsuko kambu , clung to some grass for dear life and barely escaped being dragged out to sea by the receding wave . " when i read that in the newspaper , i cried and cried , " said mrs . sato , who now lives in nagoya . most of the 240 people crammed on this ship , who have come from all corners of japan , seem to have a relative who died on the island , or is missing , or has been left homeless . many of the people on board grew up on the island , known as a fishing and vacation spot , and were shocked to see scenes on television of their childhood neighborhoods lying in ruins . the boat ride would be like a high_school reunion were it not for the sadness . but there is no clasping of hands of long lost friends , no embracing , no crying on one another 's shoulders . this is japan , where outward displays of emotion are frowned upon . airport remains closed for all the fear and hardships endured by those on the island , there was great anxiety for those outside as well . few phone connections to the island have been working since the earthquake struck . it measured 7.8 on the richter_scale and occurred 30 miles beneath the sea of japan , west of the northernmost main island , hokkaido . the small airport on okushiri remains closed because of cracks on the runway . the regular ferry_service also is not operating , in part because automobiles swept offshore by the tidal_wave now litter the harbor at esashi , the ferry embarkation point on hokkaido . that is why people waited all day for this patrol boat , operated by japan 's coast_guard , to take them home . some people still have no knowledge of the fate of their loved ones . the local branch of nhk , japan 's public_broadcasting corporation , allowed people to call in this evening to seek information about their relatives . " i 'm worried about you , " one woman from near kyoto cried over the phone , in search of a sister who lives on okushiri . " if you are listening to this , please call me . " others already knew the bad news . one woman said she had heard from her father that her mother " seems to have been taken away by the waves . " some stories , however , have somewhat happier endings . michihiko inagaki , who works for a printing company in tokyo , said his parents' house and the convenience_store they ran were demolished by the waves . but both his parents were safe , having evacuated their home as soon as they felt the quake . an all day wait " my father was taking a bath and he ran out in his underwear and bare feet , " mr . inagaki said . they escaped with nothing but their lives . " i heard people who tried to search their houses to bring valuables with them were late in escaping and were drowned , " he said . mr . inagaki said that a smaller tidal_wave had hit okushiri 10 years ago and that his parents and some others remembered it . " without that experience 10 years ago , the death toll would have been higher , " he said . to board this ship many people waited all day in esashi , the ferry terminal . they wiled away the time sitting quietly or watching a crane fish cars from the water and pile them on the pier . on the ferry terminal window a handwritten sign described five bodies that had recently been retrieved from the water and asked for help identifying them . " woman , late 20 's , wearing pajamas , " one description said . the ship was supposed to depart at 2 p.m. , then maybe 3 or 4 p.m . it waited outside the harbor , reachable only by tugboat . first the cargo had to be loaded portable_toilets , bottled_water , soup and potato_chips . then , the names of the waiting people were called one by one and they boarded tugboats to be brought to the ship . the lights of home the trip to okushiri , a distance of less than 40 miles , did not finally get under way until 8 p.m . the vessel arrived off the island before 11 p.m . and then it was time to transfer to a tugboat again . the mood of many people brightened as they saw the lights of their island coming into view . but the tugboat heaved up and down on rough seas , making a transfer impossible . so the captain of the patrol ship decided to anchor and wait until the waves died down . passengers were not expected to actually reach the island until dawn . for many of them , the long ordeal is just beginning .	has a location of japan
the biggest pothole on the road to a cashless society has always been coins , those pesky pieces of metal needed to buy everything from bubble_gum to bus tickets . credit_cards and checks are fine for bigger ticket items , but they have never been practical for smaller , faster and more frequent purchases . pockets in japan , however , are getting lighter with the growing use of integrated circuit smart cards . the size of a credit_card , they are packed with thin antennas and an encrypted integrated chip that can be used thousands of times to pay for train fares , meals at restaurants and snacks at convenience_stores . in less than two years , nearly seven million people in japan have started using one of two types of cards , both based on technology developed by sony . so far , the main client for the cards is jr east , the largest railway company in japan . nearly six million train and bus commuters have started using the first of the two types , known as suica cards , since they were introduced 18 months ago . although train riders in hong_kong and paris have been using that type of card for several years , japan is the largest market yet to adopt them . their biggest selling point is speed . the card 's antenna sends signals to readers at ticket gates , so no card to machine contact is needed . the entire transaction takes one fifth of a second , faster than is possible with similar technology introduced by the philips group . ''it 's a marginal improvement , but our society is wealthy because of millions of these little improvements , '' said jeffrey funk , an associate professor of business at kobe university who tracks wireless_technology . ''taken together , they are part of the elimination of cash from society . '' in the united_states , toll collection systems like e_zpass employ similar radio wave technology , as does the speedpass system , in which customers can pay for gasoline and convenience_store products at exxon and mobil service stations . procter_gamble , gillette and other companies are now using the technology to track products from assembly_line to store_shelves . jr_east , which operates in the tokyo area , spent 45 billion_yen ( about 384 million ) to roll out suica . its hope is to save money fewer coins means fewer security guards to haul them away . the card also cuts down on paper for tickets and on repairs to ticket vending_machines . suica , which requires a 500 yen deposit ( 4 . 25 ) , is essentially a debit card . riders take the cards to vending_machines and add as much money as they want . if the card is lost , the cash cannot be recovered , but there is no need to call a credit_card company to cancel it because it is not linked to a specific account . within a year , jr east plans to add card readers to its bullet_train ticket gates and to 500 of its fast_food and convenience_stores . for the cards to generate more profits , experts say , credit capability would need to be added to allow shoppers to spend more freely . by and large , however , the japanese prefer cash over credit . the japanese fear that the government and aggressive marketers could use the cards to track their every purchase , and they like to keep a tight rein on debt . ''with the prepaid cards , i know how much i am spending , '' said kotaro matsuoka , a 22 year old student who started using suica last april . ''if there was a credit function , i would n't know how much i owe . it 's scary . '' companies are trying to make it more convenient to add money to the cards . toward that end , sony and 28 other companies have formed a joint_venture called bitwallet , which created the edy network . the network is based on the same technology used in the suica cards , except that readers require contact with the cards . for 2 , 980 yen ( about 25 ) , consumers can buy a small reader that connects to a computer with a u.s.b . cable . they can log on to a secure web_site from home or the office and add money to their cards , sending the bill to their credit_card issuer or bank account . the bitwallet venture also plans to lease vending_machines , at 3 , 000 yen a month each ( about 26 ) , to shops that accept its cards . at the moment , edy cards are accepted in 2 , 100 shops nationwide , including about 1 , 400 convenience_stores they are also being tested in several tokyo neighborhoods . about half of the 650 , 000 users , however , are people who work for companies that have installed the system in their cafeterias and other places . but bitwallet expects eight million users by march 2004 as it installs readers in more shops . by then , bitwallet , which takes a percentage of sales on the cards , hopes to break even .	has a location of japan
digital film_festival can an even longer ' 'director 's cut'' of ''blade runner'' be far behind ? the sharp corporation and japanese government researchers have developed a new memory disk that can store 200 gigabytes of data , more than 40 times as much as conventional dvd disks . but it will not be available for at least two years . sloth without effort good news for couch potatoes everywhere la z boy inc . ( www . lazboy . com ) will sell its furniture on line next year . and the company is also releasing the oasis , a chair with a built in cooler that should appeal to its new wired audience . still no word on the footrest modem or armrest microwave .	has a location of japan
''i do n't want to think about it , to tell you the truth , '' shigenori miyashita said resolutely on a recent day , casting a glance over his shoulder at mount_fuji , whose symmetrical slopes , capped with a picture perfect dusting of white snow , have made it one of the world 's best known peaks . mr . miyashita , manager of the fuji view hotel , had just been confronted with statistics showing that the number of low frequency earthquakes , a major indicator of an impending volcanic eruption , had risen sharply near his hotel . it is easy to forget that mount_fuji is an active volcano . tranquil , serene and just a bit mysterious , it seems impervious to the angrier forces of nature . ''i look at it , and when it 's cloudy i think tomorrow we 'll have rain , '' said ayako chihara , who lives in this tiny city sitting on the mountain 's skirt . ''and when it 's nice i just look at it and think it 's beautiful . '' besides , she said , ''ever since i was little , i 've been told that if mount_fuji erupted , the lava and other stuff would flow toward shizuoka'' the prefecture on the other side of the mountain . but that complacency is misplaced . ''nowadays , volcanoes are either active or dead , and mount fuji is n't dead , '' said tsutomu takekawa , the mayor of fujiyoshida . ''but most adults in the area who are of a certain age and older think of mount_fuji as dormant . '' in september , though , there were 35 low frequency earthquakes under the foothills at the northeastern slope of the mountain , instead of the usual one or two a month , the japan meteorological agency reported . there were 133 earthquakes , which signal movements in magma deep beneath the earth 's surface , in october and 222 in november . december had only 143 , but these numbers are far higher than any the agency has recorded in a single month in the 20 years it has collected such information . four or five a month would raise eyebrows , an agency spokesman said . the increase has grabbed the attention of earthquake and volcano experts and made central and local government officials uneasy . ''what makes this period different is the number of earthquakes , by far the greatest number we 've ever seen , '' said setsuya nakada , a professor at the volcano research institute of tokyo_university . ''it 's difficult to say what it means , though , because there is no consensus in the academic world about this matter . '' indeed . mount_fuji 's temperature has not risen , nor has the mountain swelled , two other strong indicators of impending volcanic activity . nor is there any evidence that magma is rising through the mountain or that there are abnormal shifts in the earth 's crust , said motoo ukawa , an earthquake specialist at the volcanic activity laboratory of the government 's earthquake research center . ''nonetheless , we need to pay special attention to the activity at the mountain , particularly given the history of its activity , '' he said . dr . ukawa said records showed that mount_fuji 's last violent eruption was in 1707 , and volcanologists put its eruption cycle at 300 to 500 years . ''there 's been roughly a 300 year quiet period since the last eruption , which may be long enough to have built up enough energy for the next eruption , '' he said . ''but we do n't know if the next eruption is close or a hundred years away . '' seismic and volcanic activity in japan have increased greatly in the last year . mount usu in hokkaido erupted in march , and mount oyama , on miyake island south of tokyo , burst in july . both eruptions followed significant increases in low frequency earthquakes . in december the meteorological agency convened a conference of earthquake and volcano specialists to discuss the situation . the governor of yamanashi prefecture , on the northeastern side of the mountain , is expected to announce its first evacuation drill . the prefecture also has promised to make a hazard map for the area . after the eruption of mount mihara on oshima , a volcanic island southeast of tokyo , in 1986 , the government ordered up hazard maps for the regions surrounding japan 's 12 largest volcanoes in the early 1990 's . but a central government official in what is now called the cabinet_office said local officials had resisted one for mount_fuji , the largest volcano in japan . more than 110 , 000 people live at the foot of the volcano on the yamanashi side , and 16 million tourists a year visit the area , the bulk in july and august , when it is open for climbing . because the winds tend to blow from the west , an eruption here would have an impact on airports , trains , cellular_phones , electricity generators , water and food supplies in short , the stuff of everyday life in tokyo and other crowded areas . ''this is not just a problem of the area at the foot of the mountain , '' governor ken amano of yamanashi prefecture said pointedly . japan 's regional governments are effectively bankrupt , and mr . amano would no doubt like some help in disaster planning from the government in tokyo . mr . amano denied that the reason no map had been drawn for mount_fuji was that officials feared that it would harm tourism . ''as mount_fuji is a very big live volcano and it has never erupted in the same crater twice , it is very difficult to predict a hazardous area , '' he said . but he was clearly nervous discussing the subject . prefecture officials wanted to cancel an interview , and when it went forward mr . amano refused to deviate from a prepared script . mayor takekawa was far more candid , and other regional officials say the area 's powerful tourism_industry has long lobbied against a hazard map . mr . miyashita , from the hotel , said , ''this area is a resort area , and the main attraction is mount fuji and the five lakes , so if there are widespread stories about the possibility of mount_fuji erupting , tourists will be frightened away and that will be very bad for business . '' nonetheless , mr . amano said his government realized how valuable mount usu 's map had been in evacuating residents . ''a map should be completed as soon as possible , '' mr . takekawa said . ''i do n't think it should take four or five years . '' masayuki tanabe , 26 , is the fourth generation of his family to serve as a priest at the fuji sengen shrine at the foot of mount_fuji , where residents prayed to the god of the mountain the last time it erupted . he has little use for hazard maps , measurements and calibrations . ''i 'm not sure about these low frequency earthquakes , '' he said , ''because i do n't feel them . but as someone with a religious occupation , i 'm wondering whether it is n't a sign that the world is getting crazier . '' he said he had heard of mountains of garbage heaped at its summit , left by the people who climb in droves in the summer . ''i 'm thinking maybe the gods are getting angry over the arrogance of humanity , '' he said . the shrine is heavily dependent on tourists , but mr . tanabe does not have the same concerns about discussing a potential earthquake as the bus operators and hotel managers . ''sure , pilgrimages from some places might decrease , '' he said . ''but local people would probably come more often and pray more . ''	has a location of japan
like many japanese , naoto eguchi feels relentless pressure to get ahead . rising at dawn , he works a full day with his regular colleagues and an additional three hours each evening in special study sessions . he then does a couple of hours of work at home before going to bed at midnight . it is a heavy burden for an 11 year old . naoto 's immediate goal is to pass entrance_exams for a private junior high_school , a crucial step for eventual admission to a prestigious university . but he is already thinking about the future . " my goal is to get a good job with a good company , " he said . competition early the struggle to succeed in one of the world 's most competitive societies is starting earlier and earlier , and nowhere is it more evident than in the growing popularity of cram_schools that train students for examinations for private schools and colleges . once on the fringe of the system , cram_schools , or jukus , are so pervasive and time consuming in japan that , especially for the elite , they have begun to function as a kind of shadow educational system , supplanting regular schools in importance for parents and students and reaching down to 2 and 3 year old children . the rise of jukus is praised as a secret of japanese success , a healthy reflection of a system of advancement based on merit . it is also criticized as forcing a new generation to surrender its childhood out of an obsession with status and getting ahead . " jukus are harmful to japanese education and to children , " said ikuo amano , professor of sociology at the university of tokyo . " it 's not healthy for kids to have so little free time . it is not healthy to become completely caught up in competition and status at such a young age . " recently the respected yano research institute found that nearly 4.4 million students were enrolled in 50 , 000 to 60 , 000 jukus . that represents 18 . 6 percent of elementary_school children and 52 . 2 percent of students in the seventh through ninth grades . japanese spent 10 . 9 billion on tutoring and cram_schools last year , according to the institute , including 9 billion on jukus for students in the ninth_grade or below almost double the figure spent seven years ago . the people who run and teach at jukus say the schools are popular only because they work , creating a lively and interesting environment in which students learn because they are enjoying themselves . one of the most prestigious cram_schools for 2 and 3 year olds , shingakai juku , sends most of its pre_kindergarten graduates to prestigious elementary schools . these students can even opt out of the " examination hell , " because if they get good grades in a prestigious school , they can advance all the way to a university without having to take examinations . " we really do n't push knowledge on them , " said kigen fujimoto , head of a branch of this juku at a huge office building in northwest tokyo . " we are interested in teaching them how to play and enjoy learning . " in a nearby class , eight children about 3 years old sat politely in little chairs in a row as a teacher held up pictures of a kite , a dragon and other objects , calling on the students to identify them . " what is this shape ? " she then said , holding up first a square , a triangle and then a circle . a mother 's misgivings several mothers who were waiting to pick up their children expressed anxiety about subjecting their youngsters to such pressures . but they reasoned that it would be worth it if their children got into private schools early and did not have to worry about passing examinations later on . " it 's not an ideal thing to send your kids to such a place , " said one mother , asking not to be identified for fear of criticism from other parents . she said she thought her daughter was having a good time in this school but " if i told you i was n't thinking about entrance_examinations , i would be lying . " juku teachers and administrators say that since their schools are profit making enterprises , they have to guarantee results to succeed . the results are easy to measure since they depend on how many graduates pass the examinations for private_school . the profit motive , in other words , provides an incentive to create an atmosphere in which students want to learn . " do n't believe what the mass_media says , that all we do is force kids to memorize and pass tests , " said ryuichi nakatsuka , a 52 year old science teacher at yotsuya otsaka , a big juku chain . " we use experiments and we break the information down into more digestible bites . the kids enjoy it . " kunio kijima , head of a private association of jukus and director of his own juku chain , nihon kyoiku gakuin , said that regular schools tend to bore the smartest students and leave the weakest students behind . " our goal is to help all kids get ahead , " he said . on a recent evening , the atmosphere at a branch of mr . kijima 's juku chain in an office building in tokyo was filled with the boisterous byplay of boys and girls 11 to 13 years old . it was nearly 9 p.m. , but they were attentive . teachers joked in class but frequently paused , saying , " pay attention , because this is important for the examination . " but when asked what they would be doing if they were not in school , the first answer among the students was , " sleeping ! " many said it was common for them to get to bed close to midnight , only to rise the next morning at 6 30 a.m . for regular school . " i know it 's a sacrifice , " said terumi saeki . " i know i 'm cutting down on my son 's play hours . he 's sacrificing two years of his adolescence . if he had more leisure , i 'm sure he 'd be a more lively boy . but look at what he 's gaining in the long run . " critics say the growing influence of jukus means in effect that education policy is set by institutions whose main motive is profit , not education . shares in 5 juku chains are traded publicly , and 25 others are said to be ready to issue stock as well . the " examination hell " inflicted on children is widely criticized here . in a recent survey , two thirds of parents said competitive examinations were their worst problem in raising children . but parents are also eager to give their children every advantage . " jukus are playing on the status anxieties of these parents , " said makoto oda , an author who taught in jukus in tokyo for more than 20 years . " all parents are absolutely terrified that their children will fall behind . " juku defenders say students gain the discipline and ability to withstand pressure that they will need in life . but the very success of jukus in training youngsters to pass exams has made the competition worse jukus help more students pass exams , so the exams have to be made more difficult to screen out the students . many educators feel that examinations are growing increasingly esoteric , and compounding the emphasis on education as merely a means of memorizing the " right " answer . " jukus are raising a generation of kids who can only pass entrance_examinations , " said hiroyuki tsukamoto of the japan teachers union . " but the most important educational purpose is giving children the ability to live in society . that 's being left out . " the education ministry has tried to combat the juku system by improving public schools , reducing class_sizes , upgrading teacher training and making the curriculum more flexible . but ministry officials acknowledge that those steps have not worked . " we worry that parents are plunging their kids into such fierce competition at such a young age , " said motoyuki ono , director of lifelong learning at the education ministry . " education should be more humane than that . " the ministry and others also fear that jukus are undermining the goal of an egalitarian society , since only the affluent can afford them . the average fee is 160 a month for elementary_school and 175 a month for junior high_school , but the best ones are several times that amount . finally , there is fear about the stress . a principal of a public elementary_school who insisted on not being identified said juku children cannot take up after school pursuits like sports , music or hobbies . " whenever we organize something , the parents tell us , 'let my kids come home , they have to go to juku , ' " the principal said . " the kids are really suffering . they ca n't even stay awake in school . they have no time for themselves . " 'not enough sleep' increasingly , energy drinks with vitamins , sugar or caffeine are being marketed to youngsters . one popular title song for a television cartoon , " not enough sleep , " has these lyrics " as always , i did n't get enough sleep today . i get headaches . sleep , sleep , not enough sleep . " one of the most successful jukus , yotsuya otsaka juku , which has 18 , 000 fifth and sixth_graders in 24 offices in metropolitan tokyo , is famous for giving sample 30 minute tests every sunday at 8 30 a.m. , the only day those youngsters have free . the tests are followed by a three hour review sessions , frequently attended by parents who then drill their children at home . " the teachers are so wonderful , " said one mother , fumiko oda , who gets her 11 year old daughter up at 6 30 on sundays , and then attends school with her . " she enjoys the tests . i never worry that she 's too tired . " in a way , jukus are a reflection of the relentless pressure that japanese society brings to bear on everyone workers , students , executives , government bureaucrats . the achievement of japan 's system , some say , is that it trains youngsters for the adult world . " jukus are part of the tightening of screws on kids as they go from first to 12th_grade , " said thomas p . rohlen , a professor of education at stanford and a specialist on japan . but he said japan may be evolving into a " duller and less robust society " even as it turns out increasingly competent students . thus the most serious critics of the system see it as a symptom of a larger problem in a nation that not only does not value individualism , but actually discourages it . jukus survive , many say , because they serve what probably is the most hierarchical and regimented society that exists outside the remnants of the communist world . " there can be no real solution except to break up the entire education system , " said mr . oda , the former juku teacher . " we should have a revolution like they had in eastern_europe and russia . you know , schools should n't be like prisons . kids need to have some freedom to fool around . "	has a location of japan
the yankees played an exhibition_game here on sunday_night , slept for a few hours and came back to the tokyo_dome for another exhibition_game on monday afternoon . it was the dreaded day game after a night game routine , but this time the yankees welcomed it . the schedule gave them more than 24 hours to relax for their faraway opening act . the baseball season was to start for real on tuesday at 5 a.m . in new york and 7 p.m . in tokyo with the first of two games against the tampa_bay_devil_rays . it was to be the first game for the yankees' new star , alex_rodriguez , and the start of what could be an historic season . ''i think everyone 's a little curious to see how good we can be , '' derek_jeter said . ''but that takes a little time to find out . '' the yankees split their exhibition games against japanese teams , beating the yomiuri_giants and losing to the hanshin_tigers . jos_contreras dominated the giants in the first game , and the tigers rocked donovan osborne in the second . for all of the yankees' offensive thunder , manager joe_torre said , they were only as ready for the start of the season as their starting_pitcher , mike_mussina , who was to oppose the devil_rays' victor zambrano . ''when you look at these two games we played , the success was spelled 'pitching' and the defeat was spelled 'pitching , ' '' torre said . success , of course , will also be determined by torre 's hitters . one batter torre has not been impressed with this spring is kenny_lofton , the longtime leadoff man who was signed in the off season to spark the lineup . lofton was to bat ninth in the opener , with jeter leading off , followed by hideki_matsui and rodriguez . with bernie_williams recovering from an appendectomy in tampa , fla . , ruben sierra was to start at designated_hitter and bat seventh . williams is on the active roster and could be available when the yankees play their united_states opener on april 6 in tampa . jon lieber , the fifth starter , is out with a strained groin , and torre decided to keep both of the candidates to replace him , osborne and jorge depaula . the team will not need a fifth starter until april 10 . general_manager brian_cashman said the fifth starter is probably his biggest area of concern as the season begins . but cashman has not been compelled to seek a trade because he expects lieber back by may . the bigger question was contreras , and he starred in spring_training . in five march starts , including the game against the giants , contreras went 3 0 with a 1 . 83 earned_run_average . he struck out 28 in 19 2 3 innings , throwing his fastball with more confidence and baffling hitters with his tumbling forkball . ''if you 'd asked me a month ago about jos_contreras , i would have said him , '' cashman said , referring to his most pressing concerns as the exhibition schedule began . ''but not the way he 's pitched the last month . he 's pitching more like a no . 1 . i think all of our starters , even lieber when he 's healthy and right , have the ability to pitch like a no . 1 on any given day . '' kevin brown , who starts the second game of the season on wednesday against tampa_bay 's jeremi gonzalez , had a 1 . 86 e.r.a. , in five starts in spring_training . javier_vazquez , who did not make the trip to japan so he could continue working out in tampa , allowed one earned_run in 11 spring_training innings . if the front of the rotation mussina , brown and vazquez holds up as the season progresses , contreras could thrive in the back . ''a lot of it depends on moose and kevin brown and all those guys , '' torre said of contreras . ''if they pitch well , i think it 's a lot easier , as opposed to piling everything on him and saying , 'we need this game . ' not that he 's not capable , but i 'd like to get him in a consistent mode . '' the yankees fortified their right handed setup relievers in the off season , signing tom gordon and paul quantrill , who have pitched well . the left handers felix heredia and gabe white have looked shaky at times , but torre said , ''i anticipate our bullpen will improve from the left side , because the ability is there . '' cashman acknowledged that the yankees have some problems that will not go away . the lumbering jason_giambi is manning first base , and even if lofton plays himself up to the top of the order torre said he wants lofton there eventually the yankees are still slow . ''we 're not going to be the fastest team in the league and we 're not going to be the best defensive team in the league , '' cashman said . ''that 's just a byproduct of who we are , the collection of talent we have . that 's an area of weakness . but i think our positives far outweigh the negatives . '' rodriguez , giambi and gary_sheffield the yankees' 3 4 5 hitters as the season opens have slumped lately , but torre was not concerned . all three have joined the yankees since their last championship , in 2000 , and torre and cashman have called this lineup the best of their yankees tenures . in many ways , it is george_steinbrenner 's dream team . ''there 's no question there is a quiet confidence that 's within this team , '' rodriguez said . ''i think when you collect talent like we have here , our biggest challenge is , how do we channel that and hone it and come up with wins ? the biggest thing is not to try to do too much . '' then again , too much is never enough for steinbrenner , the principal owner , who was to watch the opener from his home in tampa . the rodriguez trade in mid february brightened steinbrenner 's mood and energized the yankees' empire . but with games that count upon them , the yankees know the good vibe could turn at any time . ''will it help us win games on the field ? '' cashman said . ''only if we perform at our best . '' inside pitch outfielder bubba crosby made the 25 man roster , beating what he guessed were 100 to 1 odds . crosby had an advantage over the veteran darren bragg because bragg was a nonroster player , but manager joe_torre said crosby earned the spot with his spirited play . crosby , 27 , has one major_league hit in his six year pro career . he said he was so nervous before torre told him that he could not eat a peanut_butter and jelly sandwich . . . . as expected , catcher joe girardi did not make the team and will join the yes network as a broadcaster . baseball	has a location of japan
japan put into operation a national computerized registry of its citizens today , provoking two un japanese responses civil_disobedience and a widespread feeling that privacy should take priority over efficiency . yokohama , japan 's second largest city , made the national government 's registry voluntary , and half a dozen other cities refused to be included in the computerized system connecting local registries , effectively leaving four million people out of the system . but a much larger mass of angry public opinion was behind this visible resistance . critics noted that the government had labored for three years to produce the system on time , but had been unable to produce a privacy law that was to accompany it . in a survey of 1 , 948 people conducted two weeks ago by the newspaper asahi_shimbun , 86 percent of respondents said they were concerned about misuse or leakage of information , and 76 percent said the posting of the database should be postponed . at a ' 'disconnecting ceremony'' this morning , nobuo hoshino , mayor of kokubunji , one of the cities that refused to take part , said to television cameras , ''residents are sending us their views by e mail , fax and various other ways , and almost all of them support us . '' under the system , all citizens , from babies in hospital nurseries to elderly in nursing homes , have been assigned individual 11 digit numbers . for now , the number allows retrieval of only basic information name , address , sex and birth date . the information is only to be available to government employees for official use , and is not on the internet . furthermore , all the information and more is already in government hands , in the creaking 19th_century era ''koseki'' or paper registry , which is scattered around city halls across this nation of 126 million people . the new system is intended to cut red_tape and to make it easier for citizens as well as officials by registering a change of address in only one place , for example . but the government 's zeal in creating the system was not matched by its zeal for pursuing a personal information protection bill , which died last week as parliament ended its summer session . ''i am sure the information will be expanded , so privacy is the most important issue , '' takaharu yoshioka , a landscape gardening company executive , said in a random interview that seemed to capture popular mistrust . ''we ca n't get rid of the hacker problem , so it is not safe . we need to take more time . '' despite near 100 degree temperatures here , japanese have been moved to protest , sometimes dressed up as bar codes or computers . makoto sataka , a social critic who is leading a campaign against the system , warned , ''in the resident registry network system , the state will become a stalker with control over personal information . '' today , protesters compared the residential registry to a_10 digit computerized identification system for cows , which was adopted last fall in an effort to contain mad_cow_disease . ''cows are 10 digit numbers and human beings are 11 digits , '' read one protest banner outside the public management ministry , the agency responsible for creating the network . inside , the minister , toranosuke katayama , met reporters and appealed for ' 'more dialogue'' with opponents . his spokesman , yoshiuki baba , stressed that even without a new privacy law , people convicted of leaking personal information face up to two years in prison and a fine of 8 , 300 . japan 's new registry differs from the american system of social_security numbers , said koji ishimura , an information law specialist at hakuo university . the japanese number is mandatory and universal . ''right now , the government is saying that the card will be used for 93 types of administrative matters , '' he said , referring to such steps as obtaining pensions and passports . ''but in the future , the government has a bigger project , named ''e government'' which will have 16 , 000 administrative usages . ''	has a location of japan
a huge underground chamber that made historic observations of ghostly particles called neutrinos that stream through the cosmos was crippled over the weekend when thousands of light detectors imploded in a chain reaction . the accident at kamioka neutrino observatory , a large particle physics laboratory outside of tokyo , is a major setback to research on the neutrino , one of nature 's most elusive components . it brought to a halt an experiment that has been considered a candidate for a nobel_prize . ''people at the site heard a sound , '' said hirotaka sugawara , director of kek accelerator laboratory . ''it happened inside the water and surely must have had something to do with the pressure , but i will not comment further . '' he said the accident happened as the water tanks were being refilled after having been drained for maintenance . he called the accident ''a huge tragedy'' and said it would take at least a year to repair the damage . in confirming the accident , officials at tokyo_university gave few clues as to its origin , saying only that thousands of light detectors had been destroyed in the water filled chamber , known as super_kamiokande . the neutrino detection apparatus relied upon roughly 20 inch tubes called photomultipliers that lined a tank filled with very pure water , over 1 , 000 yards underground , to gather evidence of the particles , which have no charge and are so light that physicists thought for decades that they had no mass at all . but in 1998 , experiments at super k established that at least one of the three types , or ''flavors , '' in which neutrinos come must have at least some mass . this was big news for the universe because according to the standard calculations that describe the big_bang that started the universe , neutrinos are the most populous elementary particles in the universe and their cumulative mass could have an effect on cosmic geography and the formation of galaxies . the super_kamiokande detector consists of 12 . 5 million gallons of water in a tank about the size of a cathedral a mile underground in the kamioka zinc mine 180 miles northwest of tokyo . it was completed in 1996 at a cost of 100 million by a consortium of american and japanese researchers . the tank is lined with 11 , 242 photomultiplier tubes spaced about a yard apart , which detect a bluish streak of light left in the water when a high speed particle passes through . a researcher familiar with the experiment said compared the accident to corn popping or a string of firecrackers going off . about 7 , 000 of the detector 's 11 , 000 tubes imploded , he said , each of which costs about 3 , 000 . he estimated the total loss at 20 to 30 million . ''thank goodness we got our nobel already cooking , '' he said .	has a location of japan
gentlemen , start your zambonis . up to now , the olympic winter_games have consisted mostly of japanese soldiers dutifully tamping down the slopes after the latest blizzard , but now it really does n't matter if they ever run those outdoor events . you people with the rosy cheeks and the red noses you can throw away your sorels and your gore tex . it 's all happening indoors . this is not just me talking . this is juan_antonio_samaranch . he 's the one who invited the millionaires who hit millionaires with sticks to the winter_games , thereby making it harder than ever to take seriously the curlers with their cigarettes and the snowboarders with their nose rings . when quinn the eskimo gets here , everybody 's gonna jump for joy . the winter_games became official yesterday morning when michelle_kwan floated on the practice ice , a few hours off the plane , batting her eyelashes as if to say , ''oh , was everybody waiting for me ? '' you bet we were . if these games could be boiled down to one event , it would be a week from saturday when michelle_kwan and tara_lipinski and nicole_bobek and a few others skate for the medals , without which we would all be back home writing about the knicks without patrick_ewing . some will quibble that kwan should have been here for the opening ceremony , but let 's face it stars arrive late . jackie o . the spice girls . greta garbo . monica_lewinsky . they know we 'll wait for them . kwan arrived at 1 30 a.m . yesterday and was on the ice at 11 30 a.m. , skating her long program , and turning the quiet practice rink into the bolshoi_ballet , center court at wimbledon and the fashion runway at milan . ''i hope you folks know what that took for her to skate her long program a few hours after getting off a plane , '' raved carol heiss jenkins , the 1960 gold medalist who is coaching other skaters but intently followed every second of kwan 's practice . ''i have taken that flight , '' heiss continued , ''and i know how you feel the next day . you 're dying . michelle showed mental toughness doing her long program . i was so impressed . '' a few hours after kwan turned up the lights and the music , the big_boys tromped into nagano prefecture , amazingly alert from being so many time zones from the red lines and the blue lines . they were here to cement the holy alliance between the international_olympic_committee and the national_hockey_league . when the canadians took the bullet_train from tokyo and arrived in nagano station , a huge crowd awaited them . ray bourque reported ''there was an alley between the fans . i was amazed how many of them had hockey cards and knew who we were . actually , i think they were trying to get to gretz . '' so were the international journalists who had heard that wayne_gretzky has been as durable as sergei_bubka and as brilliant as pele . the scrum of news_media around gretzky would have embarrassed the other canadians , if they did not feel the same way about gretzky . i could not get within five yards of him . the americans flew from san_francisco to tokyo , with a long stopover in anchorage for refueling and stretching of those giant bodies . the yanks even had an exercise bicycle on their chartered flight . mike_richter of the rangers kept busy on the flight by reading , then he checked into an athletes' village for the first time since he represented the united_states in 1988 in calgary . back then , the hockey players at the winter_games were young hopefuls . but now , through the open door policy of samaranch , the olympic hockey players are athletic gods , articulate and muscled and worldly and famous and rich . ''just because we get the media attention does n't make us better than anybody else , '' richter said . ''these guys train hard but they 're not as singled out . '' asked if he thought other athletes would resent the attention , richter said , ''i hope not too much . '' pat_lafontaine , richter 's teammate on the rangers , an olympian in sarajevo in 1984 , said , ''back then , americans just hoped for college scholarships . '' he admitted to having mixed emotions about professionals taking over the winter_games . ''i feel for that kid who wo n't have the chance , '' lafontaine said , ''but the way i see it , it 's an opportunity to promote hockey . '' oddly enough , the n.h.l . and the i.o.c . and the television networks feel the same way . the great gretzky is at the winter_games , but even he is an opening act . you 've not seen nothing like the mighty kwan .	has a location of japan
lead at 11 58 thursday morning , tokyo did not crumble and burn . but nine million people here pretended that it did . at 11 58 thursday morning , tokyo did not crumble and burn . but nine million people here pretended that it did . it was at that same moment 65 years ago that the great kanto earthquake took tokyo unawares and reduced it to rubble in seconds , setting off firestorms that killed 100 , 000 people . so on thursday , more out of obligation than genuine fear , it seemed , schoolchildren ran through tunnels of smoke with handkerchiefs over their faces and grandmothers shot fire extinguishers at collapsing plywood buildings . subways slowed . to the south , where the earth has been rumbling ominously in recent months , the air_force pushed boxes of medical supplies out of planes and staged rescue attempts from helicopters . still , the drills felt more like a county fair than like a war zone , with neighborhood ladies pouring tea for survivors of the smoke tunnel . and to many here , that is the problem . a dwindling number of people here remember the 1923 earthquake well among them emperor_hirohito , who , still three years from the throne , surveyed the damage on his horse . but almost everyone else , even those who witnessed the firebombings of world_war_ii , say they cannot really imagine high tech , high finance tokyo leveled again . disaster planners , perhaps fearful of touching off a scare , are remarkably vague when asked specific questions about the kind of damage they foresee . and seismologists and disaster engineers , who are drawn to tokyo like rock collectors to the grand canyon , cannot agree on whether the next one will be better or worse than the last . they only know it will be different . ''next time , '' tsuneo katayama said , ' 'more of the buildings will stay up . that 's definite . '' he is a professor at tokyo_university 's institute of industrial science , who says his specialty is ''urban seismic disaster mitigation . '' there is other good news , he says most people in tokyo no longer cook with open fires at lunchtime , and far less of the city is built of wood . but the optimism ends there . anyone who gets too strident about the ability of technology to overcome nature is likely to be reminded , as several were at an earthquake conference here about two weeks ago , that japan 's postwar progress may also make tokyo 's next big earthquake far more destructive . while much of tokyo_bay was made up of wooden piers 65 years ago , today it is a seascape of gas tanks and chemical containers . ''there is far more to burn , and some people say that 30 percent of metropolitan tokyo could be burned down , '' mr . katayama said . ''so the situation may not be much improved . '' the thought of superheated , chemical fed fires is particularly unsettling in tokyo 's honjo neighborhood , not far from the bay , where tens of thousands of people collected on the vacant ground of a military clothing depot 65 years ago thursday . a cyclone like firestorm passed over them , with the oxygen sucked out of its core , and 40 , 000 died of suffocation . population increases 3 fold sheer size may also be working against the city . around the time of the last great quake about 2.5 million people lived in central tokyo today the figure is three times that . there were also only 40 fire engines , and virtually no cars during the last earthquake , impeding rescue efforts . today there are hundreds of fire vehicles , scrubbed clean each morning by fire brigades that have the discipline of marines . but in a real earthquake , it is questionable whether the fire engines would get past the station driveway . tokyo lives in perpetual gridlock in the best of times , a city fire official said , and with debris added to that ''we probably could n't move . '' then there is the question that has preoccupied scores of ministry of trade and industry officials in this business minded city even if japan survived the next earthquake , would its economy ? the issue is one that few here want to talk about in public it seems callous , they say , to discuss saving assets instead of lives . nonetheless , scores of tokyo 's blue suited bureaucrats toil over the problem every day . when the 1923 earthquake struck , japan was still so separated from the rest of the world that it was 12 hours before anyone heard the first radio report of the disaster . next time the world will know instantly the money will stop flowing . some huge percentage of the world 's funds flow through tokyo every day no one seems to be able to measure how much . what would it mean if all that halted with no warning ? would money markets and stock_exchanges grind to a halt , or would new york and london be able to pick up the slack ? ''in truth , we have absolutely no idea , '' one ministry official admitted . adieu to microchips many of the same doubts surround japan 's electronics industry , which supplies critical components to virtually every computer , automobile , defense system and piece of sophisticated machinery in existence . by historical accident the two regions of the world that supply chips to world markets , japan and silicon_valley in california , both sit on top of faults . that fact alone has already inspired the plots of a james_bond movie and scores of corporate disaster plans . but experts here say it is nearly impossible to determine whether world shortages would last for months or for years . so tokyo is back to guessing . all summer the izu peninsula , a vacation area to the south of tokyo , has shaken with tens or hundreds of tremors in a day . after one good jolt hit tokyo a few weeks ago , a solemn faced member of parliament went on television to offer assurance that a government committee was ' 'monitoring the situation . '' he did not specify what the committee planned to do . meanwhile , the rest of japan , in its own precise way , is leaving nothing to chance . at one of the drills thursday morning , everyone who stepped up to a simulated bedroom window , flung it open and yelled ''earthquake ! put out flames ! '' was given a printout showing the decibel level of the warning . next year , presumably , they can check for improvement .	has a location of japan
news watch	has a location of japan
mets manager art_howe apologized on saturday to a small group of japanese reporters who cover the team after admitting that he had intentionally made a false statement about tsuyoshi_shinjo . howe had said shinjo , a reserve outfielder , might be demoted to the minors to make room for jeromy burnitz , who came off the disabled_list on may 23 . but howe later admitted that he had never considered such a move . howe ''apologized to them if he offended anybody , '' jay horwitz , the mets' media relations director , said yesterday . horwitz , who witnessed the apology , added ''he was kidding around and was trying to add some levity . there was nothing malicious about it . '' jeff duncan , who had spent five days with the mets , was optioned to make room for burnitz . shinjo , a flamboyant athlete who played 10 years in japan for the hanshin_tigers , made his major league debut with the mets in 2001 and played with san_francisco last season . several japanese newspapers have reporters covering him in the united_states . baseball	has a location of japan
six months ago , in a sleepless , adrenaline fueled rush of last minute dealing in kyoto , japan , delegates from around the world agreed for the first time to make specific , legally_binding reductions in industrialized_countries' emissions of heat trapping gases believed to affect earth 's climate . now , in something of a morning after , what have we done state of mind , negotiators grappling with the details of putting the first cuts into effect are finding the task as difficult as that of hammering out the original accord . as they made their first formal efforts to flesh out the kyoto accord in talks here over the last two weeks , it became clear that the agreement remains largely a work in progress . thanks to the same clash of interests that nearly scuttled the negotiations in kyoto , the work may not be finished for quite some time . before the kyoto meeting took place , said michael zammit cutajar of malta , who heads the united_nations climate secretariat , the initial agreement was seen as a kind of summit to be reached . but ''when we got to kyoto , we saw it was n't a peak at all but a plateau . '' with a new mountain ahead , he added , ''we are not anywhere near the top . '' as the next phase of the struggle got under way , developing_countries renewed their insistence against submitting to specific , mandatory emissions caps until wealthier nations achieve reductions . that left open the question of whether the poorer nations can be drawn more fully into the reduction program anytime soon . if not , american politicians say , the kyoto_protocol , as the agreement is called , cannot be approved by the united_states_senate . the talks here set the stage for the next high level conference of the more than 150 countries that signed the 1992 treaty under which the kyoto_protocol was negotiated . the conference is scheduled for buenos_aires in november . its main objective will be to make as much progress on the details of the protocol as possible . the kyoto_protocol requires industrialized_countries to reduce emissions of carbon_dioxide and five other heat trapping atmospheric gases by an annual average of about 5 percent below 1990 levels for the period 2008 through 2012 . some countries are to cut their emissions by more than that , some less . the united_states' reduction target is 7 percent . carbon_dioxide is produced by the burning of fossil_fuels like coal and oil . the kyoto targets are widely viewed as a first step , since overall concentrations of greenhouse_gases in the atmosphere will continue to rise if deeper cuts are not eventually made . without any reductions at all , scientific advisers to the delegates here say , the earth 's average surface temperature will rise by 2 to 6 degrees_fahrenheit , with a best estimate of 3.5 degrees , by 2100 . a warming of this magnitude , the scientists say , would cause the sea_level to rise and inundate many coastal areas . it would also worsen droughts and rainstorms , cause more heat waves and floods , increase precipitation generally and shift climatic and agricultural zones . for the countries here , the immediate challenge is to enable the first steps included in the kyoto accord to be taken . that involves agreeing on how new mechanisms for cutting emissions will work in practice . one , which negotiators have named the clean development mechanism , is a system for channeling and certifying rich countries' investment in emissions reducing projects in poor countries power_plants that emit less carbon_dioxide , for instance . the two nations involved would share the credit for emissions reductions achieved , and part of the proceeds would help the developing_countries adapt to climatic change . another mechanism is called emissions trading . in this system , much favored by the united_states , a country or private company could achieve its reductions target partly by buying reductions from a country or company with excess cuts . proponents say this arrangement would work globally , and at lowest cost . these two mechanisms are the operational heart of the protocol , and both came under criticism in the talks just concluded . developing_countries balked , resisting pressure to move rapidly until questions about the mechanisms are answered . what is required now is ''to learn and understand , '' said vijai sharma , the chief delegate from india , who said that much had been unclear in the chaos of kyoto . answering the questions and then formulating rules for operating the mechanisms ''is going to take long , '' he said . one reason for the developing_countries' caution is that they are likely , eventually , to come under the same rules as the rich nations . and many delegates from the poorer countries say privately that while the clean development mechanism holds apparent benefits for them , it is unclear what the costs might be . on emissions trading , a split developed between the european_union and much of the rest of the industrialized world , including the united_states , over the critical issue of how much of a given country 's reduction it should be allowed to achieve by purchasing emissions rights from another country . the europeans insisted that some cap be placed on the proportion of a country 's reduction that can be achieved through trading . the united_states and other countries insist just as strongly that trading should be unrestricted . otherwise , they say , the market mechanism will not function properly and the cost of reductions will rise . the americans say it is simply not yet known how much emissions can be reduced by domestic action .	has a location of japan
having endured arctic storms , dangerous fissures in the ice pack , polar bear intrusions and a year of crushing pressure while frozen into a drifting floe , the canadian icebreaker des groseilliers reached prudhoe_bay , alaska , over the weekend . aboard the vessel was a rich cargo of data expected to reveal subtle mechanisms that drive changes in the world 's climate . the ship 's arrival on saturday marked the end of a yearlong round of experiments paid for mostly by the national_science_foundation , with support from the office of naval research and the japanese government . the 19 . 5 million project , called sheba , for surface heat budget of the arctic ocean , was a detailed measurement of heat flow among the water , ice and air of the arctic , and the results are expected to improve the mathematical modeling of global climate change . sheba , administered by the university of washington , was the largest and most complex project ever supported in the arctic by the national_science_foundation . in a telephone call from the ship , dr . richard e . moritz of the university of washington , director of the project , said the atmospheric , oceanic and geophysical scientists who spent part of the year aboard the floating laboratory would spend several months compacting and analyzing the data collected by thousands of sensors on and around the ship . the investigators will meet in tucson , ariz . , at the end of january to begin consolidating their findings , dr . moritz said . some preliminary results include indications that the entire year was markedly warmer than past years . the ocean was open much farther_north than normal , and the ice began breaking up sooner than normal in the spring . moreover , the salinity of ocean surface water was low , indicating that the water was mixed with an unusually large proportion of fresh_water from melting ice . dr . moritz said the warming_trend may have been mainly the result of the recent el nino climate event in the pacific_ocean , but could also reflect a global_warming trend . dr . donald perovich , sheba 's chief scientist on loan from the army 's cold regions research and engineering laboratory , in hanover , n.h. , said the research year had been eventful . ''we had a real scare during the winter when our headquarters floe started to break up , '' he said . ''one of our ice camps near the ship broke away and drifted a half mile from the ship in less than an hour . '' from the point at which the ship was intentionally embedded in ice 320 miles north of deadhorse , alaska , a coastal village 200 miles southeast of point barrow , the icebreaker drifted about 1 , 800 miles before her powerful engines were started and the vessel headed for land . ''toward the end of the summer , '' dr . perovich said , ''the ice had melted so much that thin patches barely covered the water . '' ''scientists were constantly falling through into the nearly freezing water 11 , 000 feet deep so everyone took to wearing flotation devices while working , '' dr . perovich said . ''sometimes we had polar bear visits , '' he added . ''once , a mama bear was instructing her cub how to floss its teeth with a cable strung out to one of our sensors , and we had to chase them away with a tractor . ''but it was a wonderful project . ''	has a location of japan
narumi nakagawa has plenty of problems , like a house that collapsed in last week 's earthquake , but as she sits on a futon in a refugee shelter , she is fretting about another painful quandary . friends have brought her so many apples and rice balls and other gifts that she can never get through them all . that creates the risk of an aftershock of horrible embarrassment what if a friend returned and found a gift moldering in a corner ? " it 's tough , " said mrs . nakagawa , who was surrounded by piles of food , water bottles , tissues and other gifts . " i just try to hide these things , or i give them away . but everybody here in the shelter already has these things . " a surplus of tissues and rice balls does not make up for the loss of a home and job . but it may help just a little bit , and many of the 300 , 000 homeless people have been moved by the outpouring of gifts from friends who trudge for miles to deliver the goods in person . while quake victims had little or no food and water for the first day or two after the earthquake , now the shelters are piled high with just about everything imaginable . the relief supplies include apples ( american as well as japanese ) , instant noodles , pickles , bread rolls and rice balls , to be washed down with hot_chocolate , tea or bottled_water . the shelters have also set up tables of donated clothing , with separate stacks for men , women and children . the rumor in the shelters is that homeless people from osaka are coming to kobe to pose as quake victims and claim the bounty . the homeless do not seem particularly grateful to the government for its relief efforts indeed , some complain about how lethargic officials were right after the quake . but the generosity of individuals , friends and strangers alike , is on everybody 's lips . " everyone is bringing things to me , " yoshiharu yamane , a shop owner whose home and stores survived undamaged , said in a tone of wonder . " they 're bringing instant noodles , water , toilet_paper , fruits , vegetables , lots of things more than i can eat . " one friend even brought me a truckful of gifts , " mr . yamane added . " it was a good thing it arrived at night , because if it had been daylight , i would have been really embarrassed . " the gift bearers reached their peak over the weekend , when they became too much of a good thing the road between osaka and kobe became so clogged that even emergency vehicles , sirens wailing , could move at only a snail 's pace . at its worst , the one way journey from osaka to kobe , normally a 30 minute trip , took more than eight hours . so people hiked . they took the train as far as it went and then hiked for several hours an endless stream of hundreds of thousands of pedestrians lugging bags and backpacks . " yesterday , my relatives came from hiroshima , " said kishiko koyama , a 40 year old woman whose home is now a few square yards on the floor of a school gymnasium . " they all wanted to bring so much , but it took them 14 hours to get here . so they got very tired along the way , and they gave things away bit by bit to other people , to lighten the load . so when they finally arrived , they did n't have anything left . but i still felt great seeing them come from so far . " the postal system started free delivery of boxes of relief supplies , and so private citizens from all over japan began shipping clothes , food , even dog food . volunteers in kobe sort the packages and try to figure out what to do with it . gift giving is a ritual in japan , with the giver offering " a silly little thing " and the recipient hesitating to accept such a magnificent present . but traditionally in japan , philanthropy was directed more at one 's own clan or village than at anonymous disaster victims in general . this time it was different there was an outpouring of donations of goods and cash from people all over japan . and volunteers are now all over kobe , dishing out hot meals , washing laundry , examining patients . the japanese hearse drivers association even found scores of volunteers in kobe to cart off the bodies to other cities to be cremated . yukari kashima , a 22 year old from osaka , traveled to kobe with a church group and spends the day serving steaming miso soup and other food to earthquake victims . " some people say they have n't had hot food in a week , so this makes me feel great , " miss kashima said , beaming as she chopped up ingredients for the soup . some foreigners are among the volunteers , and some say the earthquake has shown them a new side of japan not the cool and reserved society that they sometimes ran up against , but rather a warm and caring oversized village , in which everyone rushes to help everyone else . hazel kaye lehmann , a norwegian zimbabwean teaching in kobe , said the earthquake had brought the people of kobe together in a way she had not seen before . ms . lehmann is volunteering at a shelter and has also started a foster_care service for pets left homeless in the quake .	has a location of japan
lead a strong earthquake hit the capital and much of northern japan today , killing one person and injuring another , shaking buildings and briefly halting some train and airline service , officials said . a strong earthquake hit the capital and much of northern japan today , killing one person and injuring another , shaking buildings and briefly halting some train and airline service , officials said . the quake , registering 5.6 on the richter_scale , hit at 9 27 p.m . a spokesman for the meteorological agency said . the agency placed the epicenter 60 miles north of tokyo . a local fire department official said that a 78 year old man died at a hospital in matsudo , east of tokyo after a heart_attack , the japan broadcasting corp . and kyodo_news service said .	has a location of japan
rejecting calls that it select an american computer maker , the national_science_foundation announced yesterday that it planned to buy a supercomputer from the nec corporation , the first such purchase by the government from a japanese company . at the same time , however , the foundation said that it had evidence that nec had offered the computer at a price below cost , supporting accusations by several congressmen and cray_research inc . , nec 's american rival for the supercomputer contract . according to a statement released late yesterday by the foundation , commerce_department officials had advised it that " they had reached a preliminary conclusion that the proposal does not constitute an offer at 'fair value . ' " the awarding of the supercomputer contract , which is worth 13 million to 35 million , had been closely_watched as an indicator of united_states trade policies . washington has pressed tokyo to open its governmental procurement to foreign suppliers . but the award was critical to cray , with thousands of american jobs at stake . cray , the dominant american supercomputer company , has struggled in recent years . the national_science_foundation said that while nec demonstrated that it had the superior supercomputer , the question of whether the japanese company had offered it at a price that was below cost would remain an issue in the negotiations for the final contract . the award yesterday meant only that nec had won the right to enter into final contract negotiations with the government_agency , the foundation stressed . still , supporters of cray 's bid were sharply critical of the federal award . " i am absolutely appalled by the arrogance and irresponsiblity displayed by officials of the n.s.f . in their decision to go forward with the procurement of a japanese made supercomputer despite clear and compelling evidence that the computer is being dumped on the u.s . market by japanese producers , " said representative david r . obey , democrat of wisconsin . supercomputers are the fastest computers available , performing tens of billions of calculations a second . they are typically used by the military and for scientific and engineering simulations . the new national_science_foundation supercomputer , which will be installed at the national center for atmospheric research in boulder , colo . , is intended to aid climate research by helping scientists develop advanced simulations that model the environment . cray_research has sold more than 100 supercomputers in japan to government agencies , while no japanese machines have been sold to government agencies in this country . cray said yesterday that it was concerned that a rival had offered a supercomputer at a price below cost , an illegal trade practice known as dumping . " there seems to be a shadow over the procurement having to do with the potential anti dumping charge , " said steven conway , a spokesman for cray_research , which was acquired in april by silicon_graphics . mr . conway said an internal analysis done by cray " convinced us that there were some potential improprieties that looked as if they constituted dumping . " he said that earlier this year cray had brought these issues to the attention of both the clinton_administration and congress . nec officials said that they were aware of the dumping issues and that they were carefully acting within united_states laws . " we 're very sensitive to this issue , " said samuel adams , vice_president of marketing and sales for hnsx supercomputing , a subsidiary of the nec corporation in boxboro , mass . " it 's a normal reaction by the u.s . government to make sure the first award of a japanese supercomputer is thoroughly examined . " there is no way we could be a winner if we dumped . so why dump ? " nec was a finalist in the bidding contest along with cray and the fujitsu corporation , another japanese supercomputer maker . officials of the national_science_foundation said that they had taken extraordinary_measures to insure that the competition had been a fair one and that it was wrong to draw general conclusions about the relative capabilities of american and japanese computer technologies from a single award . " for our purposes the guiding_principle was that it had to be fair and open and it had to provide the best computing for a specific scientific purpose , " said lawrence rudolph , the general_counsel of the national_science_foundation . " this is not the photo finish picture of the derby that says by all means that japan has the world 's fastest processor . " he also stressed that the announcement did not indicate a final contract award . " we are as concerned about the dumping issue as others are , " he said . mr . adams of nec said that he was not yet certain how powerful the supercomputer would be . the bidding has taken place over two separate plans and has ranged from 13 million to 35 million depending on the length of the contract . he said nec 's most powerful machine , known as the sx4 , can have from one to 512 separate processors and can range in performance from one billion mathematical calculations a second up to one trillion operations a second . nec has installed only one of its largest machines in the united_states , at a research center in houston , but the company recently won a bid from the canadian atmospheric environmental service for a machine to aid in weather forecasting . cray has long dominated the market for weather forecasting supercomputers , but its status has been shaken recently both by the loss in the canadian bidding and last year 's purchase of a 40 million fujitsu system by the european center for medium_range weather forecasting in berkshire , england .	has a location of japan
now after mike powell 's record breaking long_jump , the question is asked anew what are the limits of human potential ? how much farther can a person jump ? how much higher ? how much faster can he run , or swim , or hop and skip ? some people once said , " well , they pole vaulted 14 feet but they 'll never pop over 15 feet . " now , they 're soaring past 20 feet . some maintained that the human body could never run a mile in under four minutes . oh no ? and they also said that robert fulton 's newfangled steamboat some called it the folly would never start when it did , they said it would never stop . other people are obstinate enough to continue proving that the impossible , the incredible and the unassailable are possible and credible . and yesterday in the track and field world_championships in tokyo , mike powell faced an extraordinary record and sailed right through it . in powell 's event , the world record had held up for almost 23 years , the longest standing record on the track and field books . some thought it might be there forever . and we ask what are the limits of human potential ? it is said that sports mirrors society ( or is it the other way around ? ) . sports is often held up to show what we are capable of , what can be done with our heads and hearts and muscles and will . we see what our heroes can do , and they establish a mark for us to shoot at . naive maybe , but true . our sports heroes allow us to tell our kiddies and ourselves that look , if you work hard , this is what you can sometimes do hit a home_run , or score a touchdown , or break through a barrier . " barrier " is metaphorical sometimes . in the soviet_union now , the citizens are actually dismantling an institution that has lasted 74 years , which breaks a pretty good record in itself , better even than the records of communist domination that have been ended in nearby countries . so , by dint of better cereals , better informed trainers , better communication systems , and an old time wondrous and gritty spirit , men and women fly around on tracks and fields like never before while some struggle to improve their way of life in other arenas , and sometimes succeed to a startling degree . mike powell smashed the record of bob beamon , and we are startled afresh . powell jumped 29 feet 4 1 2 inches , two inches farther than the record , and this was said to be extraordinary . when you set it against beamon 's feat , however , it 's somewhat less awesome , though nonetheless sensational . beamon broke the record by nearly two feet , or 21 3 4 inches , to be precise . the record before beamon was 27 4 3 4 , so even after beamon broke the mark no one else had yet jumped 28 feet . beamon just flew right through it , all the way to 29 2 1 2 . " i was training to jump 27 feet , maybe 28 feet , " said beamon when i spoke with him a few years ago . " but i never dreamed of 29 feet . " how did he do it ? some say the high altitude of mexico_city helped him by reducing the air density and giving loft to his invisible magic carpet . some attributed it to a nice wind at his back . others said that every factor was just right in his favor . regardless , no one else was able to surpass what he did , then or after , until yesterday . even beamon never jumped past 27 feet again . beamon said he had " gone across the board with explanations " and he had decided this " a person is capable of performing some phenomenal things when people least expect it . " like most others , beamon believed that if the record would be broken , carl_lewis would do it . lewis , after all , had not lost in a long_jump event since 1981 , a 65 meet winning_streak . his best jump until yesterday was 28 10 1 4 . powell 's previous best was 28 5 , jumped last year . " i was a little confused with the person that had set the record , mike powell , " said beamon , upon hearing the news . " it was a surprise . " lewis finished second to powell . mike powell , born in philadelphia , is 27 years old , and the winner of a silver_medal for the long_jump in the 1988 olympics . but he was , for the most part , just another track guy until yesterday . yesterday he accomplished the prodigious . it changed the record book . nice to dream that it could change the world a little , too " what , mike powell broke beamon 's record ? wow , if powell can do what he did , we can do the extraordinary , too . let 's stop hating people . let 's stop hurting people . let 's stop oppressing them . " the impossible is possible , the unassailable sailable . powell proved it . as his predecessor in the record book said , " a person is capable of performing some phenomenal things when people least expect it . " i guess that means all of us .	has a location of japan
to the sports editor cbs 's coverage of these winter_games is so disjointed and fragmented that it seems as if all i am seeing are quick edit summaries of whole events . this is truly maddening . it is no wonder viewership of these games is down . i wholeheartedly agree with john krimsky , the united_states_olympic_committee 's managing director for business affairs , when he says , ''the networks have got to be able to sustain sports competition for a longer period of time and they 've got to stop interrupting at critical points to throw in one more ad , and one more billboard . '' in addition , the judging of the ice_dancing competition is a perversion of the open and fair competitive spirit that the olympic_games symbolize . the whole panel of judges should be removed and penalized . competitive ice dancing for me ( an avowed figure_skating fanatic ) has lost its credibility . judith rivera schneider brooklyn	has a location of japan
first of all , avoid asking a luger if he steers . ''beginner question , '' said the american wendel suckow . lugers do steer , even though their sleds have no steering mechanisms . they shift their body weight and applying pressure on the runners , the only part of the sled that touches the ice . for some reason , german speaking people seem to do this best twenty seven of the 28 olympic golds awarded in current luge events have been won by germans , austrians or northern italians . the setup there are three luge events men 's singles , women 's singles and doubles , which is , in theory , open to both men and women but , in practice , is a male only domain . the men 's singles sliders start from a higher point than the women and doubles teams . luge tracks are nearly as distinctive as formula one tracks , and this olympic track , a 90 million creation known as ''spiral'' and located in iizuna kogen , is more distinctive than most . it is the only track in the world with two uphill sections ( the environmentally minded designers chose to follow the lay of the land ) . maximum sled weights for singles are 50 . 6 pounds and 59 . 4 pounds for doubles . the scoring in the olympics competition , during which singles competitors take four heats over two days , the fastest aggregate time wins . the doubles format is two heats on a single day . luge and short_track skating are the only olympic sports timed in thousandths of a second . the strategy the goal is to relax every part of the body that is not being used to steer or maintain optimal aerodynamic position . and an advantage of one hundredth of a second at the start is believed to translate to three hundredths at the bottom . the names in the men 's singles , georg hackl of germany and markus prock of austria will renew their rivalry , and the lighter hackl will have to contend with the fact that spiral is expected to favor heavier lugers . armin zoeggeler of italy and suckow , who won the olympic test event last february , also bear watching . one favorite among the women is susi erdmann of germany . the americans have never won an olympic_medal , although that looks more likely in nagano . sheer and chris thorpe became the first american doubles team to win an overall world_cup title last season , and mark grimmette and brian martin became the second this season . christopher clarey nagano '98	has a location of japan
while president_clinton and many other world leaders will be attending lavish banquets or otherwise feting the arrival of the new millennium , japan 's prime_minister , keizo_obuchi , will reportedly be cloistered with senior aides throughout the night just in case major y2k problems erupt . mr . obuchi 's caution may be owing to a recent history of weak government responses to disasters , from the 1995 kobe earthquake to this year 's accident at a nuclear_fuel plant at tokaimura . elections must be held sometime in the next 10 months , and with the economy in uncertain health , mr . obuchi 's political advisers seem to have decided that it is prudent for him to appear to be on the case . for two weeks already , the prime_minister has been appearing in television announcements warning of the possible consequences of computer mishaps , even as he seeks to reassure the public . ''we do not think any major confusion will occur , but you are advised to prepare for the one in ten thousand chance of trouble , '' mr . obuchi says in one of his announcements . ''may everyone have a peaceful new year . '' still , given the almost martial feel of japan 's preparations for the problem in which some computers may malfunction after midnight on dec . 31 many here wonder if a real shock is in store . in recent days , the government has placed 96 , 000 soldiers on alert over the new year 's weekend , and ordered the top 160 officers of the country 's military to remain on duty . in tokyo , 24 , 000 police officers will be on duty , far more than the ordinary level of 10 , 000 . thousands of mid level bureaucrats are being ordered to report to work . and as is the case in many other countries , employees of computer , securities and other industries highly dependent on computers have been ordered to cancel their year end vacations to be on call . people with long experience of japan say this country 's reaction to the y2k problem reflects more on the political and corporate culture than it does on the preparation for the possible computer glitch , which most experts here say has been thorough . ''whenever they see a problem coming , they just throw people at it , and that is exactly what is happening here , '' said john neuffer , a senior research fellow at the mitsui kaijyo research institute in tokyo . ''they are putting an awful lot of people on duty , essentially to cover their backsides . japan is really a worst case scenario culture , where people imagine the worst , and this is what they prepare for . '' for all of the extra workers being thrown into action , japan has not merely chosen a human wave approach to the problem . indeed , if initially the country seemed a bit slow to react to the challenge , the last several months have been marked by a highly aggressive readiness campaign , both in government and industry . even the most mundane events of daily life , from riding the subway to entering an elevator , are accompanied by recorded warning messages spoken by women with squeaky voices . according to the prime_minister 's task_force , at the government 's insistence ''all major banks , regional banks and second tier regional banks'' completed major systems corrections and millennium dry runs by the end of september . ''we have been working on this since 1996 , and have had a special team in place since april 1998 , '' said kazuyuki hashimoto , a spokesman for daiwa_securities , japan 's third largest brokerage . japan 's financial markets have an added advantage of a public holiday on jan . 3 , which means that on the monday when the rest of the world 's stock markets and banks will discover if they have serious computer problems , this country will still be closed for business . if there is havoc in any major international market , officials here say , at least japan will have the luxury of a day 's warning . public utilities , airports , airlines and hospitals , meanwhile , have performed similar industry wide blanket checks , government and industry officials say . to be extra safe , service will be interrupted for several minutes on the country 's rail and subway lines , which will run all night to accommodate revelers . similarly , major hotels and other large buildings say their elevators will be taken out of service shortly before midnight , and tested for several minutes afterward , to make sure that they work properly . asked if he had any particular areas of concern in tokyo , one of the world 's largest and most densely_populated cities , shintaro_ishihara , governor of tokyo prefecture , said that although he remained vigilant , he could not pinpoint any particular area . ''we 've come up with the best measures we could , '' he said . ''but even at that , there are limits to what you can do . there are millions of systems with chips out there , and even if you check with their manufacturers , you ca n't always know what will happen . we will simply have to wait until the new year to see . ''	has a location of japan
after darkness fell on the schoolyard , a dozen survivors warmed their fingers over a bonfire fed by pieces of collapsed houses . pitched tents competed for space with stockpiles of blankets , tangerine crates and unwieldy stacks of debris . " it reminds me of the time after the war , " said masakazu koga , 55 , throwing a kitchen cabinet door on the fire . " everything is a wreck , and i do n't see how we 're going to rebuild it all . but the earthquake also drew us together . i 've seen generosity in people that i thought had disappeared from japan . " mr . koga , a tailor , wears a white gauze patch on his forehead , where a sewing_machine landed when his home fell to pieces on tuesday . he is one of more than 2 , 200 newly homeless people who went to a temporary shelter in the motoyama daisan elementary_school in the last five days to look for a spare futon , and some empathy . many moved on after a night or two , and on friday night nearly 1 , 000 remained . hundreds of makeshift shelters have emerged in kobe , virtually wherever a public building still stands . beyond a hot meal and a roof , the shelters also offer the psychological analgesic of a place to share pain , about which japanese are ordinarily private and stoic . in classroom no . 2 1 at this shelter , a pale yellow carpet is barely visible in between the crowded rows of futons and blankets . with school desks pushed to one side and broken windows patched by cardboard , the unheated room provided a place for 20 people to sleep on friday night . before going to bed , they traded stories and exchanged sympathetic murmurs . " i lived on the second floor , but now my second floor is a first floor , " said sachiko hyuga . " i go back every day to see what i can recover , but it 's dangerous . i 'm afraid an aftershock will topple the rest of it . " kyoko sano , 5 , played among the piles of blankets with her brother ryo , 9 . although the sano family is now living out of four shopping bags , kyoko 's mother , kazuko , said she worried most about the psychological scars her children might bear . several of their young friends were killed , and mrs . sano is not sure how to tell her children . maybe when school resumes , probably in a few weeks , teachers will explain why some students are not there , she said . uncertainty seems to hover over everyone here . while people are quick to tell their stories , many pause thoughtfully when asked how long they expect to remain at the shelter . a week , mrs . sano said . a month , her husband guessed . on a street of houses that were mostly destroyed or upended in a part of kobe that was particularly hard hit , the school is one of the few structures still intact . it is the only one on the block with electricity , coming from a generator donated by a local businessman . there is no heat or running water , and a makeshift latrine is outside , where the temperature dropped close to freezing today . but there is plenty of food . it was scarce for two days after the earthquake , and some shelter inhabitants fought to get more than one small serving of noodles . by thursday the school began receiving donations from neighbors and from volunteers who are now streaming into kobe with backpacks carrying rice , fresh vegetables and fruit , even beer . the school 's principal , shinji nomura , runs the shelter almost single handedly , around the clock . but each makeshift dormitory has a leader who attends four short meetings a day with mr . nomura to share information , and dozens of other refugees have come forward to help . " on the second day , a liquor_store owner brought a huge bag of rice and then burned it , " said miyako morimoto , 60 , as she prepared miso soup in a steaming caldron out in the schoolyard . " so i decided i better step in . " although she arrived as just another refugee , she now cooks for perhaps 100 each day , making soup specially for older people who prefer softened rice . at midnight she was still outside , chopping leeks . a dozen other sleepless souls huddled nearby at a bonfire late into the night , trying to find humor in the earthquake and the desperate situations it caused . " i 'm a heavy sleeper , and when i woke up , half my furniture was on top of me , " said a young woman wearing a bomber jacket . " luckily i do n't have much furniture , so i was able to wiggle out from under it . " yet desperation never seems far away . shortly before 2 a.m. , a heavyset woman wandered up to the fire , coatless and shoeless in the cold . she mumbled something about fires how they were dangerous and had killed people in kobe . as the others around the bonfire fell silent , the woman sang a campfire song and eventually began to sob . " do you think i 'm mad ? " she finally asked a woman seated next to her . the second woman led her away in the darkness . the others remained silent until they were gone . then the woman in the bomber jacket remarked that she felt lucky that no one close to her had died . inside mr . nomura , the school 's principal turned crisis manager , said matter of factly that more than 40 bodies had been stored in the school before cremation . eleven bodies still lay in classroom no . 1 1 . only six were in coffins , though , the rest covered by blankets and each topped with a pair of apples and sweet rolls . an elderly man slept overnight beside one coffin , perhaps a relative 's . himself sleepless at 4 a.m. , mr . nomura finally got around to picking up the pebbles from an aquarium that gave way all over the school 's entrance hall during the earthquake . " the fish all died too , " he said . he was interrupted by the arrival of three young men looking for a place to sleep , and showed them to a classroom with some space . " i 'm not in a position to turn anyone away , though i wonder how long we 'll go on like this , " mr . nomura said . " as long as people need a place to stay , i think we 'll be here . " quake in japan the shelters	has a location of japan
onimusha warlords ( developed and published by capcom for playstation 2 49 . 95 for ages 17 and older . ) fear effect 2 retro helix ( developed by kronos digital entertainment and published by eidos interactive for playstation 29 . 99 for ages 17 and older . ) stupid invaders ( developed by xilam and published by ubi soft entertainment for windows 95 and later and dreamcast 29 . 99 for windows , 39 . 99 for dreamcast for ages 13 and older . ) often we have shocking stories that we feel obliged to relate to all our friends . these stories may involve outrageously rude behavior , incomprehensible instructions or defective equipment , and we need everyone to be as appalled as we are . my stories often involve video_games that i ca n't or wo n't finish . the current candidate is the capcom adventure game onimusha warlords , which takes place in 16th_century japan . a samurai named samanosuke sets out to rescue a kidnapped princess , wandering the countryside , killing monsters and sucking up their spiritual essence to fuel his magical weaponry . at one point , samanosuke walks through a door and meets a young woman named kaede . after chatting for a bit , they are suddenly trapped behind iron bars and together must pull a lot of levers to open a series of gates . samanosuke winds up in a room with a trick door , and after finding its secret , he and kaede must walk across a booby_trapped floor . then , when samanosuke is trapped in a room that is filling up with water , kaede must solve a sliding tile puzzle before he drowns . i could select a tile but could n't get the hang of moving it . there were no instructions . time ran out and samanosuke drowned . as with all capcom adventure games , you can save only in certain locations . i went back to the place i had saved 20 minutes earlier . but because onimusha wo n't let you skip narrative scenes , i had to listen to samanosuke and kaede 's conversation again . then i guided them through the pulling of the levers , past the secret door , over the booby_trapped floor and into the watertight room , where , once again , samanosuke drowned before i could figure out the tile puzzle . so i went back to the save point . heard the conversation . pulled the levers . opened the trick door . avoided the booby_traps . and drowned . again . and again . then i went on the internet and found a solution for the puzzle . after going through all that , i stopped playing onimusha . the game had treated me badly and i was unable to forgive it . ''does this make any sense to you ? '' i asked my friends . ''it 's one thing to make you go through battle scenes over and over , but once you 've solved a puzzle , why should you have to keep solving it over and over again before you can get to a ridiculously hard timed puzzle ? '' my friends wearily agreed yes , it 's a bad thing , now quit talking about it . it 's bad , but it 's not unusual . games can require a tremendous amount of effort they can make ridiculous demands and create needless busywork . you may find yourself cursing the designers for being cruel , unfair , unreasonable and just plain stupid . if the game is bad enough , you just stop playing . how long , after all , do you allow the agony to continue ? the answer depends on the individual . people who crave games that crush their souls should play eidos 's fear effect 2 retro helix . fear effect 2 is a futuristic game involving weird dna experiments , espionage , monsters , complicated scientific equipment and lots of very bloody action . with the look of a graphic novel , an elaborate and involving story and a fair amount of gratuitous sexual titillation , fear effect 2 is utterly fascinating . onimusha stopped me with one nasty punch , but fear effect 2 had to pummel me senseless before i let go . it became clear within the first few hours that there was only one way i could get through fear effect 2 i would have to cheat . at a web_site called game faqs ( www . gamefaqs . com ) i found a walk through that said the game was ''like six john woo movies , the mensa test and a punch in the stomach all mixed into one . '' the writer went on to suggest that finishing the game took ''a special blend of hatred , skill , reflexes and sheer bloody determination . '' and those were the comments of someone who really liked the game . staying alive is difficult , even with a strategy guide , and i never got from one save point to the next without many tries . the puzzles are abstruse it is often unclear what a device is or what you are trying to achieve . a mount_everest in the gaming world , fear effect 2 is not for those who want to walk up the hill and have a picnic lunch . agony was interspersed with some entertaining puzzles , tough action and animated sequences in which sexy female spies would banter wittily and remove articles of clothing . video_games are entertainment you have to work for , unlike movies or television . no one ever missed the ending of a movie because of poor eye hand coordination . as game elements become more sophisticated , stories more involved and characters richer , giving up on a game becomes more difficult . but after realizing that i had spent more than 30 painful hours on fear effect 2 and was less than halfway through , i quit . i lacked the skill , reflexes and sheer bloody determination , but those 30 hours had given me some of the hate . the ubi soft adventure game stupid invaders was another story . i made it all the way to the end , not because the game was easier to play , but because it was easier to cheat . the game is based on ''space goofs , '' a short lived saturday morning cartoon program , the only real distinction of which was a theme song by iggy pop . you must help five aliens escape from earth before they are captured and taken to area 51 , which is described by an evil scientist as ''the club_med of death . '' stupid invaders is one of the best looking games ever made . it uses gorgeous animated sequences to further the story , and at times it seemed as if it had been conceived simply as an excuse to create beautiful scenery . games with old fashioned two dimensional graphics have become scarce , but stupid invaders shows why they should not be abandoned . unfortunately , the game itself is infuriating , a compendium of adventure game design flaws . at one point , for example , you must sweep a darkened area with your mouse to find an object you are given no reason to believe is there . death can come senselessly and without warning press one button and you further the game , press the one next to it and you die horribly . and although the least popular type of puzzle in adventure games is the maze , stupid invaders has two of them . despite too many jokes about bodily functions , the game is sometimes perversely amusing . unfortunately only a handful of puzzles are genuinely clever , and most are quite annoying . things get worse toward the end of the game as the player encounters busywork , like traipsing up flight after flight of stairs . one suspects that the designers realized that stupid invaders was too short and wanted to pad it out . without a walk through , i would not have bothered to finish the game and would have missed its funny and malicious punch_line . like life , games can be unfair and cruel but unlike life , it 's easy to get a new one you like better . game theory e mail herold nytimes . com	has a location of japan
the new sony playstation 2 game_console , introduced last week in japan , has already sold more than a million units there and is expected to be equally popular when it reaches the united_states this fall , despite a list price of nearly 400 . besides its highly advanced 3 d graphics capabilities , its ability to play dvd movies with surround sound output and its broadband ready internet connections , the playstation 2 is also backward compatible with thousands of existing playstation game titles . in the past , each new generation of game_console was incompatible with the previous one , leading to a scarcity of new game titles and a flood of older consoles at local garage sales . with playstation 2 , consumers will be able to keep their favorite first generation playstation games while building a collection of new games . eager game players in the united_states are already trying to smuggle the japanese consoles into the country , even though they cannot play region 1 ( north_american ) dvd discs without serious unauthorized tinkering with the dvd copy protection system . meanwhile , the microsoft corporation , which used to be the second largest software company in redmond , wash . , before overtaking nintendo , is preparing to announce tomorrow its own game_console , whose code name is x box . details are scarce , but sources say the x box will feature an advanced_micro_devices athlon processor and an nvidia 3 d graphics card . microsoft 's bid to enter the game_console market with its x box , which is not expected to reach the market until the 2001 holiday season , follows the software giant 's apparently unsuccessful attempt to establish windows ce as an alternative operating system for the sega dreamcast game_console last year . sega says it has sold more than 1.5 million dreamcast systems so far , but software developers prefer sega 's own proprietary operating system . ''the playstation 2 is the most powerful product ever introduced to the consumer market , '' said richard doherty , director of envisioneering group , a technology consulting company in seaford , n.y. , who described its 3 d graphics capabilities as the equal of a_20 , 000 silicon_graphics workstation vintage 1997 . he also said the new playstation is so popular that thieves are ambushing japanese teenagers when they emerge from stores carrying the new game machines . nintendo is preparing to introduce its own high end console , code named dolphin , later this year . the dolphin system is expected to include a powerpc g4 microprocessor and a dvd drive , and like the playstation 2 it will also sell for about 350 . peter h . lewis news watch	has a location of japan
snowboarding , which makes its olympic debut , is a young sport , a product of american youth looking for an alternative good time . one part of it the freestyle event known as halfpipe is skateboarding on snow . the other olympic part the giant_slalom is a combination of surfing and skiing on snow . the setup the halfpipe is a giant snow trough . at nagano , the course is 394 feet long and 49 feet wide , with walls 11 1 2 feet high . the snowboarders travel down the course from one wall to the other , performing inverted flips , horizontal spins and other tricks of their choosing . the giant_slalom is similar to a skiing giant_slalom , with two courses of 40 to 50 gates each . men and women compete separately , always riding with both feet on a custom made board . for halfpipe , the boards are 5 feet or a little longer for men , maybe 4 inches shorter for women . the giant_slalom boards are longer and narrower , ranging from 5 feet 7 inches to 6 3 for men , a little less for women . the scoring the morning preliminaries in halfpipe will trim the field of 35 men to 16 , and 20 women to 8 . the qualifiers will advance to finals of two runs each , with combined scores deciding the standing . five judges will score the competition on style and technique , each judging one element . in the giant_slalom , the 35 men and 30 women will race over two courses with total time the deciding factor . the names a few of the best competitors , notably terje haakonsen of norway , are unhappy with what they perceive as the regimentation of the olympics , and they have declined to compete . however , the most celebrated woman , 33 year old sondra van ert of hood river , ore . , will be there as the favorite in the giant_slalom . a former world_cup skiing competitor , she won a snowboarding world championship last year . other american medal_contenders include mike jacoby of hood river , ore . , in the men 's giant_slalom todd richards of breckenridge , colo . , in the men 's halfpipe , and michelle taggart of salem , ore . , in the women 's halfpipe . the united_states could win more medals in this sport than in any other except figure_skating . among the favorites in the giant_slalom are martin frienademetz of austria , the world champion thomas prugger of italy , karine ruby of france and margherita parini of italy . in halfpipe , fabien rohrer and anita schwaller of switzerland are the world champions and medal favorites . frank_litsky nagano '98	has a location of japan
in another serious setback for japan 's budding space_program , the government announced today that it would delay the initial launching of its next generation rocket by one year because of a recent accident . the rocket , known as the h ii , is the first to be built solely by japan , without reliance on foreign technology . as such it is a source of national pride and will be the first rocket powerful enough to let japan launch communications and weather satellites for other nations and private companies . but much to the embarrassment of this usually technically proficient nation , development of the rocket has been dogged by a series of accidents and delays , including an explosion in august that killed an engineer . the new delay of the first launching , from early 1993 to early 1994 , puts the program fully two years behind its original schedule and could hurt japan 's chances of competing in the commercial launching business against american companies and europe 's arianespace . " this is a very big problem for us , " said hiroshi imamura , a managing director of rocket systems corporation , a two year old venture owned by 75 japanese companies that was formed to offer launching services using the h ii . already , mr . imamura said , potential customers have been reluctant to sign up to use the h ii until it has shown it works . the latest setback occured during an engine test on june 18 at japan 's space center on tanegashima island . within seconds after ignition , liquid hydrogen fuel leaked , setting off a fire and explosion that severed some parts of the engine and melted others . the national space development agency of japan said today that it had determined that the leak started with a crack in a weld that joined a chamber in the liquid hydrogen fuel pump to an elbow shaped pipe leading to the fuel injector . it appeared the weld had been subjected to greater temperature fluctuations than expected , officials said . moreover , subsequent inspections revealed other tiny cracks in other welds within that engine and in other test engines , necessitating a complete review and redesign of part of the engine . " if it was only in this particular engine , the problem would have been minor , " dr . tomifumi godai , executive director of launch vehicle development and operation at the space agency , said at a news conference today . " but we consider this a more comprehensive problem . that is why we decided we need a design change . " dr . godai said it was not surprising that there have been problems building that type of engine , which uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen under high pressures . " nobody in the world develops liquid engines easily , " he said . " it 's better not to have any trouble , but i think we are making steady progress . " an american aerospace executive stationed here agreed . " they 've tackled a very challenging engine , " he said . " when they get it completed , it will be as advanced as anything we have in the u.s . or france . " still , for all its expertise in cars and computer chips , japan is not playing to its strength in the space business . for one thing , rocketry involves building a few very expensive items , rather than millions of inexpensive items , a task at which japan excels . moreover , japan is a latecomer to space , in part because of restrictions imposed by the american occupying forces after world_war_ii on developing military technology . japan did not launch its first satellite until 1970 , a year after the united_states had already landed on the moon . in previous rocket generations , japan has licensed technology from the united_states , but with restrictions that prevented it from offering commercial launching services . frustrated with that situation and eager to build its own industry , japan has been trying to become more self sufficient .	has a location of japan
lead a japanese television_network said today that it had signed a contract with the soviet_union to send a reporter to the mir_space_station , the first journalist to report from space . a japanese television_network said today that it had signed a contract with the soviet_union to send a reporter to the mir_space_station , the first journalist to report from space . as part of the the unusual deal , the tokyo broadcasting system will reportedly pay about 12 million to the soviets to launch the reporter on a soyuz rocket sometime in 1991 . it is unclear whether the launching will take place before the first japanese astronaut travels aboard the united_states space_shuttle , in a flight scheduled for july 1991 . the network 's agreement with the soviet_union was signed monday in moscow , and it took the japanese government by surprise . until now , japan has taken part only in the american and european space programs , and its relations with moscow have been plagued by a territorial_dispute that has kept relations frosty . ''this is happening completely outside our own space_program , '' eijiro hirohama , an official of japan 's national space development agency said . ''we did not expect it . '' selling advertising the network was wasting no time lining up sponsors for its venture . ''what we are planning is six days in space , 10 minutes a day of a live broadcast , and 20 minutes of radio broadcast , '' toshio nakanishi , a spokesman for the network , said today . ''from now , we are already beginning to sell advertising . '' four years ago , the united_states announced a plan to send a journalist into space aboard the shuttle , and had begun to accept applications . but the program was canceled after the challenger accident on jan . 28 , 1986 . if successful , the japanese soviet mission will mark a major coup for both the soviets and tbs , one of the networks locked in a battle for japanese viewership . for more than a year , the soviets have been offering commercial launching services to companies in the west , mainly offering to boost satellites into space on its proton rockets . but so far business has been slow , in part because the united_states will not allow the soviet_union to launch sensitive american technology , including satellites . but the presence of a japanese reporter will help ratify the safety and reliability of the soviet space program , space experts here say . the network , engaged in a ratings war with the japan broadcasting corporation , or nhk , the giant quasi_governmental network that dominates japanese television , and with other privately_owned networks , also hopes to gain publicity and status . tbs officials say that they are hoping to time the launching to come on the network 's 40th_anniversary in may 1991 . tbs is japan 's second largest privately_owned network , after fuji television .	has a location of japan
text messaging may be all the rage in japan , but typing on mobile_phones has never made much sense to americans . now a mobile_phone keyboard promises to make the task easier . designed by think outside and motorola , the iboard keyboard lets you use your mobile_phone as you would a laptop computer , to write e mail messages , surf the internet , and use expense or datebook functions . the 13 1 2 inch wide iboard , designed for use with motorola 's i85s and i50sx handsets and future models , folds to a compact 3 1 2 by 5 inches . ( think outside makes a similar portable keyboard known as the stowaway for hand held devices . ) the keyboard has a cradle to hold the phone at a 45 degree angle and a protective case . the iboard is available for 99 from motorola 's online store ( www . idenstore . com ) or through compusa and office depot stores . there 's no question that the iboard will make it easier to enter new information into your phone , but will it offend your fellow diners when you pull out a keyboard in a crowded restaurant ? andrew zipern news watch mobile technology	has a location of japan
as smoke pots simulating fires spewed yellow fumes from the buildings , military trucks rumbled today into shirahige nishi , a dilapidated quarter of tokyo , rushing in olive uniformed reinforcements for civilian rescue squads overwhelmed by the wounded . just when the action seemed to reach its peak , as clattering helicopters danced green against the blue skies above , this show 's director swooped in . following an elaborate schedule with clockwork precision , he visited neighborhood after neighborhood to view staged earthquake devastation . the choreographer of all of this action was shintaro_ishihara , the very pleased looking governor of tokyo prefecture who has long been known as a populist conservative showman . it was clearly a moment of glory for this politician , who had turned a boring annual earthquake readiness drill , traditionally held in early september in recognition of the great tokyo earthquake on sept . 1 , 1923 , into one of the largest military exercises most japanese have seen since the end of world_war_ii . the prime_minister had to content himself with a low profile visit to a basement command room of japan 's armed_forces to monitor the progress of the drill before rushing off to greet the visiting russian_president . but mr . ishihara , who flitted from one neighborhood to another all day aboard a red rescue helicopter , was fulfilling a nationalist 's dream returning the military to the national stage , and getting hugged by female admirers at every step . beyond the rope lines of eager supporters who waved to the governor all along his passage today , the appearance of more than 7 , 000 uniformed soldiers in the streets of central tokyo has also revived discussions of a militarist past that is fast fading from living memory . political activism may be feeble in japan , but pacifism here still runs deep . many japanese who questioned the need for a military drill on this scale said that they saw the exercise , tokyo big rescue , as being as much a public_relations operation for the military as a disaster preparedness drill . japanese politics have been inching rightward in recent years , these critics say , and one of the cherished goals of many in the governing liberal democratic_party is a revision of the constitution to allow japan to field a full fledged army for the first time since its defeat in 1945 . ''there are two purposes behind this exercise , '' said atsuo nakamura , an opposition member of parliament . ''ishihara wants to change the constitution , and turn japan into a big military country again . the other purpose is that japan is in very bad economic condition , and politicians like this are trying to blame people of other nationalities for our troubles . ''that is a very classic way of dealing with problems , just like hitler did . the japanese people are very nationalistic , and he wants to awaken this feeling to become more popular . '' the earthquake drill 's link to questions of constitutional reform , nationalism and xenophobia is the doing of mr . ishihara , who has made a career of right wing causes , from planting japanese flags on tiny islands disputed between japan and china to worshiping at shrines associated with war_criminals . in april , mr . ishihara set a divisive tone for the exercise while addressing members of the army . ''third country nationals and foreigners who have entered japan illegally have perpetrated heinous crimes , '' he said . ''in the event of a major earthquake , riots could break out , and there is a limit to the police 's ability to cope with such a situation alone . i want you to carry out your mission , not only to deal with natural_disasters , but also to maintain law and order . '' mr . ishihara has since apologized to tokyo 's foreign residents for his remarks , after having been reminded that as many as 7 , 000 koreans were killed by mobs of japanese troops and civilians during the turmoil of the 1923 earthquake after rumors spread that they were committing sabotage or had even caused the natural_disaster . his aides have since tried to focus the debate on the need to use the rarely activated army to assist in disaster relief . but his office continues to make xenophobic statements . ''generally speaking the koreans have made a good adjustment to this country , but we still have many illegal chinese who are penetrating this country illegally and are carrying out terrible crimes , '' atsuyuki sassa , a security adviser to mr . ishihara , said yesterday . ''there are iranians , and others . we have many new problems as a result of this . and what mr . ishihara was saying is that we must maintain peace and order in the case of a disaster . '' and yesterday , mr . ishihara himself dismissed critics of the drill as ''left_wing idiots . '' several associations of foreign residents in japan have responded warily to the drill , seeing it as the latest sign of mounting hostility toward other asians in japan . ''the right wing in japan has always been very hostile to koreans and chinese , '' said so chungo on , director of chosensoren , an association of residents of korean descent . ''these kinds of people feel that the past history of the military in japan is glorious . all we can do is hope that this drill is not aimed at us . more than 55 years has passed since the war ended , and the old ways of thinking should have changed by now as we enter the century of internationalization . the governor himself should be a leader . '' in shirahige nishi , an area of grassy plots and collapsing hovels chosen for the drills , kudo chisato , a lifelong resident , peered out from her shingled home , one of the few sturdy buildings remaining in the area . she declared the drills great entertainment as the first helicopters began appearing and firemen began extinguishing imaginary blazes with their hoses . but asked if such a show of force was needed to rein in lawless foreigners , she scoffed . ''i 'm not worried at all , '' she said , before referring to the 1923 quake , with its mob killings . ''what happened before was 80 years ago . the japanese are gentle now , and it is unlikely that foreigners would pose a threat either . ''	has a location of japan
araya and keiko tadashi wiped away tears as the bulldozer plowed through the debris that had been their home for 30 years . each time the bulldozer picked up a chunk of rubble and carried it away , the tadashis would approach the remaining pile , looking for anything they might salvage . " i would at least like to find a change of clothes , " mr . tadashi said . " i 'm borrowing the clothes i 'm wearing now . " the tadashis had rushed from their home in their pajamas as soon as they felt the huge earthquake on monday_night . barely a minute after they had clambered up a small hill , their house , indeed their entire neighborhood , was demolished by a ferocious tsunami . now , like hundreds of others on this usually serene island off the coast of northern japan , the tadashis are beginning to think about how to rebuild their homes , and their lives . " i have to start from zero , " said mr . tadashi , who was once a fisherman but now works for a construction company . " i do n't know when i can rebuild my home . if i were young i could do it , but i 'm 50 . life will be tough . " worst quake since 1960 by tonight , 122 deaths had been reported and 85 people were still missing . the earthquake , which measured 7.8 on the richter_scale , was the most deadly to hit japan since 1960 , when an earthquake off chile spawned a tsunami that killed 142 people in japan . officials on okushiri say at least 88 deaths occurred on this 55 square_mile island , which has a population of 4 , 700 . the island lies west of hokkaido , japan 's northernmost main island , and south of the epicenter of the quake , which was beneath the sea of japan . the television images hardly prepare one for seeing the destruction up close . visitors are immediately greeted by the remnants of a huge landslide , directly in front of the ferry terminal , which buried a two story hotel with more than 30 people inside . a 100 yard wide swath of the hillside appears to have fallen . big crows pick eagerly through the tangled heaps of smashed furniture and crushed cars in search of food . the aonae district in the south , where the tadashis lived , looks like a bomb flattened it . for a stretch of nearly a mile near the shore , several hundred houses have been completely demolished . only two concrete buildings are standing . the red tile roof of a buddhist_temple lies near the shore . the rest of the temple was destroyed and the roof was carried several hundred yards by the waves . hundreds of homes burned by fires caused by gas explosions still smell of smoke . ten years ago , aonae was hit by a smaller wave from another earthquake . after that , a sea wall about 15 feet high was built . but monday 's tsunami appears to have been twice as high . as if to mock the sea wall , monday 's waves carried a huge barge with a crane on top of it over the wall and deposited it inside . today , about six large excavators and bulldozers sifted through the debris , searching for bodies . " more than 40 people are still missing in this district , " said maj . shinji takagi of the army . standing atop the sea wall , soldiers hauled in the body of a man , clad only in a green bathing_suit , from the ocean as television cameras recorded the event . in all , 18 bodies were found today . okushiri officials say that some corpses will be sent to the mainland for cremation because the island cannot handle so many . inching toward recovery with victims not yet found and most funerals yet to be held , people here say it is still too early to contemplate the future . " the island is still overcome by panic , " toru gambaru , the town 's manager of general affairs , said at town hall . " honestly speaking , we are still in a thick mist about where to go and what to do . " still , there are at least the preliminary signs of rebuilding . koji toyoshima , an official of a fishermen 's cooperative , arrived today from hokkaido to re establish business . the cooperative 's office in aonae had been destroyed and three employees killed . major roads have already been repaired . electricity has been restored to the center of town . while most stores remain closed , a few groceries have opened . water service , however , is still not available in most places , so bottled_water is being distributed . today , ferry_service to hokkaido resumed , limited to only one run . the government plans to build temporary houses for the homeless , hundreds of whom are staying in school gymnasiums and other shelters . news reports said victims' relatives might receive up to 45 , 000 from the government as condolence money . some people have insurance , but it is unclear how much that will help them . the island 's main businesses , fishing and tourism , will suffer major blows . and many people are thinking their future might be better elsewhere . " i hear some people are going to leave this island , but i 'm not , " said kazuhiro fukase , of aonae , who lost not only his home but all the equipment for his marine engine repair business . mr . fukase said he could not imagine living anywhere else . but when he thought about rebuilding , he had one recommendation " i guess in the future , this town will move to a little bit higher ground . "	has a location of japan
the most powerful earthquake in five years struck western japan today , injuring more than 100 people , damaging many buildings and disrupting electricity and train service to the region . the epicenter of the quake , with a magnitude of 7 . 3 , was in western tottori prefecture , 360 miles west of here . in sakaiminato , the closest city to the epicenter , at least six houses were destroyed in the 10 second quake at 1 30 p.m . ''i 've never experienced such a strong quake in my life , '' a woman in a nearby town , yonago , told the ntv television_network . ''i run a beauty_parlor , and i grabbed a customer and held onto her . and we both crouched to the floor . '' live_television coverage from the nhk network showed workers in its newsroom in matsue clutching their desks as the quake threw things to the floor . a hanging lamp was swinging violently as people appeared to run for cover . japan is in one of the most seismically active areas in the world , where several tectonic plates are coming together , causing frequent earthquakes and tremors . public safety experts took comfort that there were no reports of casualties or catastrophic damage to major office buildings . some commentators attributed the lack of casualties to the quake 's being centered on relatively sparsely inhabited countryside . at least 10 landslides were reported in mountains around the quake zone . the quake did cause at least one tunnel to collapse and cut off road and rail access to many areas . two nuclear_power_plants in the region were reportedly unaffected . they had been shut for maintenance . many people reacted nervously to the news after a summer of unusually intense seismic_activity , including earthquakes and volcanic eruptions . reflecting the nervousness , japanese stock markets swiftly declined . the most recent devastating quake in japan was in kobe , the port city southwest of tokyo , where a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in 1995 killed 6 , 425 people and destroyed 250 , 000 houses .	has a location of japan
alex_rodriguez 's honeymoon with the yankees lasted nine sluggish innings in a country 6 , 800 miles away from his new baseball address in the bronx . it took one game against the tampa_bay_devil_rays before he learned how certain things evolve in george_steinbrenner 's demanding world . only with the yankees could an 8 3 loss in a faraway season opener lead to questions about the immediate future . after rodriguez was asked if he had ever been on a team for which the second game of a 162 game grind was a must victory , he pressed his nose with his fingers , began to smile and stayed silent . stop teasing , rodriguez 's body_language said . but the reporters , who know that steinbrenner is maniacal about losses of any shape and size , especially to a team from tampa , where steinbrenner lives , did not let rodriguez escape without responding . ''it 's a first , '' rodriguez said . there will be hundreds of firsts in rodriguez 's career with the yankees , hundreds of times when rodriguez 's actions will prompt steinbrenner to congratulate himself for approving his acquisition from the texas_rangers . but rodriguez 's debut , a game that he compared to a sideshow , was mostly memorable because the yankees were abysmal . nothing rodriguez did , with two strikeouts , a double and some slick fielding , was nearly as memorable . ''it was 5 a.m . and hopefully not too many people were watching it , '' said rodriguez , maybe trying to overlook that turtleneck wearing owner whose alarm clock probably activates his personal feed from the yes network . mike_mussina , who spent the days before the 17 hour journey to japan complaining about how the long trip could adversely_affect the yankees , continued moaning by his locker before the game , then was probably dreaming about home after failing to protect leads of 2 0 and 3 2 . mussina was gone by the sixth inning , the yankees gone with him . he seemed to prove the notion that if you talk enough about being uncomfortable , you will end up feeling that way . that is what happened with mussina . he disliked the idea of pitching a major_league game here because it disrupted his routine he expected the adventure to be a misadventure and it was . ''we looked flat , '' said reggie_jackson , the yankees' special adviser . ''but how do you look good when you give up 15 hits ? you do n't look good . you do n't pitch good , you do n't look good . '' jackson agreed that steinbrenner could react harshly after sending his team to another part of the world and seeing it falter against tampa_bay , although steinbrenner took a stab at profundity after tuesday 's loss and issued a statement that evoked tommy tune instead of joe_torre . still , these are the lowly devil_rays of manager lou_piniella , a former yankees player and manager , and of don zimmer , a devil_rays adviser who was a longtime bench coach with the yankees . zimmer has repeatedly accused steinbrenner of mistreating him and of hastening his exit from the bronx . and unlike rodriguez , jackson did not suppress a smile when he was asked if wednesday 's game was a contest the yankees needed to win . ''yeah , it is , '' jackson said . ''you lose that and we 'll go straight to new york . '' jackson knows that the yankees are scheduled to return to tampa after wednesday 's game to play two more exhibition games this weekend before resuming the regular season next tuesday , in tampa , against the same devil_rays . ''if we lose tomorrow , we wo n't be in a 747 going home , '' jackson said . ''it will be b o , the baltimore ohio railroad . '' jackson 's comments were made as a joke , but the point about how steinbrenner handles losing was earnest . steinbrenner 's crew is being branded as the 183 million all stars , a team clearly expected to win a world_series title . so the pressure begins . ''you hear people say , 'this year , they better win , ' '' general_manager brian_cashman said . ''i know george thinks that every year . '' he added , ''i do n't think the pressure can get higher . '' it is true there is no greater pressure in baseball than being expected to win a championship . but when the team with the highest payroll adds the player with the largest contract in history , the intensity grows . ''i do n't think there 's a 'we better not lose mentality , ' '' cashman said . 'i think we recognize that we 're good enough to win . '' a few hours before the first pitch of the season , a shipment of 100 plush blue towels arrived in the visiting clubhouse from the new otani hotel . the yankees were apparently unhappy with the flimsy towels they had been provided , so they ordered out . shampoo and conditioner were not included . on an unusual opening day , the desire for different towels sounded like something out of the steinbrenner handbook . a lot was different for the yankees , but the season 's mandate remained consistent . they better not lose . not with rodriguez . not this year . baseball analysis	has a location of japan
the icebreaker garinko ii cast off one recent morning with an apology . the loudspeaker told the four tourists aboard the ship , large enough for 195 passengers , what they had already deduced . regrettably , the drift_ice that drew them here , which usually descends on japan 's northern face this time of the year , was nowhere in sight a result , experts say , of warming waters in the sea of okhotsk . inside the control room , the captain , shigeru yamai , was making a beeline for a thin patch of ice in a corner of the harbor . it was hardly drift_ice . still , as the icebreaker 's two powerful drills tore through the pitifully thin ice , perhaps the muted sound did give the tourists , in the captain 's words , ''just a feel'' of the real thing . ''it would n't do if all they saw on this trip was the sea 's blue water , '' he said , steering the garinko ii toward just that . ''it 's an abnormal year , '' said the captain , who has navigated through the drift_ice for 21 years . ''we 've gotten so little ice . '' indeed , there was so little this winter of the majestic , often latticeshaped ice that normally drifts down the sea of okhotsk onto the northern coast of hokkaido that the tourist association here is already talking of the post drift_ice era . in its thinness , in its short duration and in every other measure , this winter 's drift_ice was considered the poorest in almost two decades . next year , of course , the ice may be thicker and longer lasting . but some experts say global_warming is changing the temperature of the sea of okhotsk and shrinking the size of the drift_ice the same way it is melting greenland 's glaciers . masaaki aota , director of the okhotsk sea_ice museum of hokkaido here , said records from the nearby city of abashiri showed that the average temperature had risen 1.5 degrees_fahrenheit over the last century and that the amount of drift_ice had shrunk by 40 percent . ''it 's clear that the force of the drift_ice has become weaker and the average air temperature has become higher , '' mr . aota said . he said he believed that the most likely cause was global_warming , though he added that there was no conclusive evidence . ''i do n't think this is a problem particular to this place , '' he said . the sea of okhotsk is the southernmost body of water where drift_ice can be seen in the northern hemisphere , a phenomenon tied to its twolayer water system . in early december the seawater in the northern sea of okhotsk reaches the freezing point as siberian winds chill the air . at the same time , the amur river in russia flows into the sea , glossing the surface with fresh_water , which freezes more easily than saltwater . temperatures have long been cold enough to freeze the sea 's southernmost edge , along the hokkaido coast , for the first three months of each year . archaeologists believe that in ancient times the ice allowed asians from the mainland known as the okhotsk people and related to the inuit in north_america to migrate to hokkaido . here in mombetsu , a traditional fishing town with a smattering of stores catering to russians engaging in the crab trade , the drift_ice has usually appeared in mid january and stayed strong until mid march , often lingering until may . the drift_ice made the sea impassable to all ships but icebreakers for an average of 40 days . this year , the sea remained locked for only 10 days . takatoshi hatakeyama , 71 , a retired fisherman , remembered that when he was a boy the drift_ice invaded the coast every winter . children played atop the mounds of ice that piled up on the shore . ''we 'd put a board on the ice and walk on it , '' mr . hatakeyama said . ''when spring came we 'd see hairy crabs showing their red shells on the sand here and there . we 'd fill them into the bamboo baskets we carried on our backs . i 'd collect them and go home before going to school . '' he remembers being stuck in the drift_ice when he worked on a fishing trawler as an adult . ''we 'd be caught in the drift_ice , but it was all right , '' he said . ''if there was a storm and we 'd go into the drift_ice it 'd be quiet , in the evening or in the daytime . we 'd hear the sound of the drift_ice . it has different kinds of cries , like 'giri giri . ' we call it the cry of the drift_ice . when the air comes in , it cries 'gu gu gu . ' it changes according to the situation . '' for fishermen especially before it was widely known that the drift_ice acted as a lid and contributed to the growth of algae and plankton underneath , to the benefit of fish the drift_ice was considered an enemy . it landlocked fishermen in the winter and forced them to find other jobs during those months . or it forced large trawlers to break through the ice and seek open waters away from the sea of okhotsk . ''the sea would be entirely frozen , '' said kazuo nawata , 69 , another retired fisherman . ''you could n't move forward , but you 'd have to move forward . so you 'd go back , then strike forward , go back , then forward . '' it is only in the last 25 years that drift_ice became a tourist_attraction , said masayoshi hatanaka , president of the mombetsu city tourist association . mr . hatanaka is now emphasizing the importance of finding another tourist_attraction in mombetsu 's post drift_ice era . tourists were drawn to the severe beauty of the frozen sea , and scientists like mr . aota wrote essays on the poetry of the drift_ice . ''when the drift_ice is pressing against the shore , '' mr . aota said , ''it cries like a cow . when it gets severely cold it goes 'biri . ' it 's a metallic sound . if you combine them , you could make a symphony . '' the drift_ice drew tourists like mitsuhiro nakamura , 35 , one of the four aboard the garinko ii the other morning . mr . nakamura came every year from tokyo to see the ice on his birthday . ''i 'll probably come again next year , '' mr . nakamura told captain yamai inside the control room . as he prepared to dock the garinko ii , the captain said , ''if you come again next year and see me , please say hello . i might not be here , though . '' mombetsu journal	has a location of japan
japanese insurance_companies have learned to protect themselves against massive losses from earthquakes and will bear very little of the burden of rebuilding the area devastated by the earthquake near kobe . instead , japanese homeowners and companies have been left to bear the brunt of property damages from the earthquake themselves , or to rely on help from the government . even so , analysts expect that the latest earthquake will result in higher premiums for individuals and businesses around the world . " the californian who was looking to buy a home and was already finding it hard to get coverage is likely to find it even harder as a result of the japanese earthquake , " said sean mooney , chief economist for the insurance information institute . after last year 's earthquake in northridge , calif . , where insured losses are now estimated at more than 10 billion and still rising , most insurers in the state stopped accepting new customers and have applied with state regulators to double the price of earthquake insurance . allstate , the second largest insurer in the state , yesterday raised its own estimated loss to 1 . 5 billion . american insurers , with a few exceptions like the american international group , do not have enough business in japan to face significant losses from the earthquake there . but they do rely on other companies , called reinsurance companies , to sell policies that cover very large losses from catastrophes like earthquakes . such disasters have become much more frequent in the past several years , and each new event pushes reinsurers to raise their prices or cut back on the amount of coverage they sell . insurance_companies that deal directly with individuals or businesses must then either pass on those changes to their customers or accept greater risk of loss . although japanese are avid buyers of insurance , spending far more per person on life_insurance than americans , they have been forced by their geological circumstances to accept the risk of earthquakes . harold talbot , a managing director in charge of japanese business at guy carpenter company , a reinsurance broker , noted that the frequency of earthquakes in many highly developed parts of japan means that there is not enough insurance capacity in the world to fully insure japanese households and industry . guy carpenter is a subsidiary of the marsh mclennan companies , the world 's largest insurance_broker . to limit their risk of loss from earthquakes , takeshi sanuki , manager of the new york office of taisei fire marine , noted that companies follow " very tough underwriting standards , " meaning that they simply decline to sell insurance for buildings they think are especially vulnerable to earthquakes . another defense is to charge very high prices . although the japanese government is the major backer for an insurance_industry pool to share losses of up to 18 billion in homeowners insurance , earthquake insurance is not widespread in japan . in 1990 , the latest year for which data was available , fewer than 8 percent of japanese homes had earthquake insurance . because there is no government safety net for earthquake insurance policies for businesses , japanese insurers carefully limit the amount they will sell . in the risky tokyo area , earthquake policies are limited to only 15 percent of the amount of fire insurance . in the district that includes kobe , earthquake coverage is limited to 30 percent of fire insurance . quake in japan paying for it	has a location of japan
japan broke two postwar taboos on friday as the upper_house of parliament approved laws that would officially bring patriotism back into the classroom and upgrade the status of its defense agency . the new education law revises the country 's 1947 fundamental law of education , which had been drafted during the american occupation to prevent a revival of prewar nationalism and avoid encouraging patriotism . the new law stresses ''love of country , '' ''public spirit'' and ''tradition'' while handing greater control over schools to politicians . the upper_house , controlled by prime_minister shinzo_abe 's liberal democratic_party , also passed laws turning the country 's defense agency into a full fledged ministry and defining overseas missions as a main duty . the lower_house had already enacted the bills . the laws were passed in keeping with mr . abe 's drive to instill pride of country among japanese and claim a larger role for japan in the world . but to critics , especially of the education law , the moves take japan further from its postwar pacifist ideals while harking back to vaguely_defined , prewar japanese values . the bills were enacted despite a motion of no confidence by opposition_parties against mr . abe 's administration , two days after a government report revealed that the government had routinely staged town meetings since 2001 to manipulate public opinion . the government had paid people to ask questions and make statements supportive of its policies , including the revision of the education law . the meetings took place under mr . abe 's predecessor , junichiro_koizumi . but mr . abe had organized them as chief_cabinet_secretary , and he had championed rewriting the education law as a pillar of his conservative agenda , which also includes revising the pacifist constitution . japanese conservatives had long contended that the 1947 education law put too much emphasis individual rights over the public good , with negative results ranging from the erosion of communities to the rise in juvenile crime . across the country , conservative politicians have been leading efforts to bring patriotism into the classroom . tokyo 's nationalist governor , shintaro_ishihara , has punished hundreds of teachers for failing to force their students to sing the national_anthem and stand before the national flag during school ceremonies . other school_districts have started grading students on their patriotism . ''based on the spirit of the education law , we will drive to revive our education to build a respectful , beautiful nation , '' mr . abe said in a statement . mr . abe 's approval_ratings have fallen sharply because he has backpedaled on mr . koizumi 's political and economic changes . the new laws related to the defense agency continue to solidify the role of the self_defense forces , which are still exclusively defensive and governed by strict rules of engagement . conservatives have sought to upgrade the agency 's status almost since it was created in 1954 , but an aversion to the military remained strong until recently . the change to ministry status is largely symbolic . but it will now allow the defense ministry to submit legislation to parliament and make budget requests directly . ''we will have to deal with other countries as not just an agency , but as a ministry that can discuss policy and the country 's security , '' fumio kyuma , the defense agency director , who will become defense minister next month , told the japanese news_media . government officials have indicated that they want to expand the self_defense forces' role further by pressing for a permanent law that would allow them to be deployed overseas and to exercise the right to collective self_defense .	has a location of japan
the officials who run the game of baseball in japan made it clear this week that an american owned company would find it very difficult to do in this country what the nintendo company wants to do in the united_states acquire a major_league_baseball team . the reason , they say , is that japanese fans regard baseball as a part of the national culture no less than some americans do . " i believe japanese fans would not approve a foreign company owning a professional_baseball team , " ichiro yoshikuni , commissioner of baseball in japan , said in an interview this week . " japanese_baseball is for japanese , and japanese fans would try to exclude the possibility of foreign country involvement . " rules adopted by the baseball owners here in 1971 limit foreign investment in japanese teams to 49 percent at most . yoshikuni said this rule could be waived by the owners , and he suggested there may even be loopholes . but he said in an interview wednesday that such a step was unlikely . yoshikuni 's statement was similar to the response american baseball officials and owners have had to the proposal by nintendo , the electronic games company , to buy a controlling interest in the seattle_mariners . shortly after the nintendo bid was announced last month in seattle , fay_vincent , the american baseball_commissioner , issued a statement saying it was unlikely that baseball owners would approve the proposal , since baseball had a policy against investment from outside north_america . coming at a time of considerable tension between the united_states and japan over trade issues , vincent 's statement has generated much debate in both countries . much of the commentary here about nintendo 's bid for the seattle team has been favorable . a spokesman for the foreign ministry said he thought the japanese bid should be seen in the context of philanthropic activities by japanese companies operating in the united_states . sports newspapers and other journals also seem to be cheering on nintendo . in an editorial entitled " cheers to the mariners ! " the mainichi newspaper , a major daily , said japanese should be pleased by the " voices in many parts of the u.s . that welcome japan 's capital and factories . " but japanese also acknowledge that when it comes to their own sport , they regard baseball as a home grown product with its customs and traditions that should be protected from foreign influence . japanese teams are barred , for instance , from having more than two foreign players at any one time . and these players invariably encounter a love hate relationship among fans who are pleased when they do well but subject them to scorn when they fail to perform or adapt to japanese customs . difficulty for american players some writers have noted that although many rules seem to be the same , the sport is entirely different here . introduced in 1873 , it spread first in universities and went professional in the 1930 's . today it is the most popular team sport in japan , with fierce pennant races dominating the news each year . japanese_baseball emphasizes grueling workouts , fanatical team spirit , an almost martial discipline and elaborate customs of saving face , making it difficult for many american players to adjust . but another big difference between the sports in the two countries relates to ownership . all japanese teams are owned by large corporations , usually highly visible companies that own newspapers , railroads , department_stores and other retail operations . they own the teams for publicity rather than profitability . yoshikuni said that of the 12 major_league_baseball teams in the central and pacific leagues , only a third are profitable , a third break even and a third are in the red . he said he doubted that an american company would be interested in making a purchase because of the low profitability . team do n't 'belong to citizens' " japanese_baseball does n't belong to the citizens the way it does in the united_states , " said robert_whiting , author of books about the sport in japan . " the nippon_ham_fighters do n't belong to tokyo , where they happen to play , " he added . " they are there to sell nippon ham . usually , the company does n't care about losing money as long as its name is on the sports news every night . it 's free advertising . " for this reason , he said , any american company interested in purchasing a japanese team would probably have to be one with a high visibility in japan already , eager to gain more publicity . an exception in american ownership for example , a spokesman for mcdonald 's co . ( japan ) ltd . , which operates the hamburger chain as a franchise , and is owned half by japanese and half by the american parent corporation , said that a financially troubled team approached the company about 10 years ago about a possible purchase . he said mcdonald 's was not interested . yoshikuni said that a team could be owned by mcdonald 's , i.b.m. , coca_cola or any other american company that was licensed to operate as a japanese company , as long as more than 49 percent of the individual shares were not owned by a foreigner . other sports fans agreed that an american company 's name attached to a japanese team would not pose a problem . " a lot of kids think mcdonald 's or coca_cola are japanese brands anyway , so they could easily accept it , " said uhei ohba , staff editor of the hochi shimbun , a popular sports newspaper . korean owned team there actually is a japanese team that is already owned by a foreign company , although the actual percentage of which individual owns the team , and the identities of their nationality , is murky . that team is the lotte marines , who play in a new stadium in chiba prefecture east of tokyo , owned by the lotte corp . , owner of department_stores , hotels and confectionaries . the president of lotte is takeo shibemitsu , a korean national operating in korea under the name of kyok ho shin . lotte is often identified by japanese as a korean company because many of its operations are in korea . a spokesman for the marines said the team was 78 percent owned by lotte corp . , but declined to give out details about the level of personal ownership of shigemitsu . a spokesman for yoshikuni , the baseball_commissioner , also said it was not known how much of the team was personally owned by shigemitsu . but ohba , the editor at the hochi shimbun , contradicted yoshikuni , saying it was indeed known at the baseball organization that shigemitsu did not own more than 49 percent of the lotte team , and therefore his presence as a foreigner was acceptable to other owners . as it happens , yoshikuni said vincent told him two years ago privately that one day the japanese might try to buy an american baseball_team . " he jokingly said it was inevitable , " yoshikuni recalled . " i told him it was just not conceivable . he turned out to be right . " baseball	has a location of japan
the proposed purchase of the seattle_mariners by the nintendo company of japan is disconcerting to a majority of americans , according to the latest new york times_cbs_news_poll . there is " something about " japanese companies buying north_american major_league_baseball teams that " bothers " 57 percent of the 1 , 673 adults nationwide who were interviewed by telephone . eight percent said they thought it was all right for japanese companies to buy major_league teams and 34 percent said it did n't matter to them . the survey was conducted from feb . 26 to march 1 and has a margin of sampling_error of plus or minus 3 percentage_points . real_estate ownership troubling although a majority are bothered by the thought of japanese ownership of baseball teams , even more people are bothered by japanese ownership of office buildings and real_estate in the united_states . the times and cbs_news surveyed americans with a similar question in june 1990 , several months after the tokyo based mitsubishi estate company bought a controlling interest in the rockefeller group , the management company that owns part of rockefeller_center in manhattan . at that time , almost three quarters ( 72 percent ) said they were bothered by japanese companies buying office buildings and land in the united_states , only 14 percent said it did n't matter , and almost as many ( 13 percent ) said it was all right . northwest least upset while the question of japanese ownership of major_league teams has centered on the seattle_mariners , respondents polled in that part of the country were the least upset . half the people interviewed in the west said they were bothered . respondents in the northeast and midwest were the most troubled , with 61 percent reporting that something about japanese ownership in baseball bothered them . fifty five percent of southerners said they were bothered . respondents with negative views of the economy were more concerned with the possibility of japanese owned major_league teams than those with a more favorable opinion of the state of the economy . baseball	has a location of japan
with a hefty offer of 13 , 125 , 000 , the seattle_mariners beat out the mets and two other teams for the rights to the latest foreign phenomenon , ichiro_suzuki , an outfielder who has won seven successive batting championships in japan 's pacific_league . if he is signed by the mariners by the 9 p.m . dec . 9 deadline , suzuki will join his good friend , reliever kazuhiro_sasaki , on the seattle roster . no details were disclosed about the other bidders or bids , but one baseball official said the mariners' figure dwarfed the one the mets had submitted . the other bidders were believed to be the los_angeles_dodgers and the anaheim angels . the yankees , who have signed more than their share of foreign free agents , passed on the bidding for the 27 year old suzuki because they did not see the talent others saw . thus far , all the japanese players who have played in the major_leagues have been pitchers , so suzuki would be the first position player . more than four teams had been interested in pursuing suzuki under the relatively untested posting system , which allows a japanese player to join a major_league team when he is not a free_agent . but some might have decided not to bid after speaking with his agent , tony attanasio . ''i talked to 10 teams , '' attanasio said by telephone from san_diego . ''i might have dissuaded some by telling them , 'if you do n't have a strong japanese influence in your community , do n't bid because it 's not going to work . ' '' new york , attanasio said , fit the desired picture , noting that the reliever , sasaki , ''has good friends there who wined and dined him . '' but if suzuki is to experience that new york hospitality , it will be on road trips . only one team could gain rights for the 30 day negotiating period , and the mets fell short . ''i 'm not surprised that we did n't get the winning bid , '' steve_phillips , the mets' general_manager , said . ''i anticipated there were going to be some teams that extended beyond us . most teams expected seattle would be aggressive . '' asked what he thought of the mariners' bid , phillips said ''every team has to make a decision for their own organization . i do n't think any judgment can be made on the package until the player is signed and we see what that deal looks like as well . right now , the number does n't mean anything until it 's defined by the player 's contract . '' deciding how much to bid was probably the most difficult part of the procedure . attanasio said one general_manager told him he was confused about how to go about it if he wanted to submit a bid . ''you decide on what you view the total package to be , '' phillips said . ''then you chisel out what part you think you pay the team up front . '' that method was basically how the mariners did it , pat gillick , their general_manager , said . although gillick said pursuing suzuki was a baseball decision and not an ethnic one , the mariners have a large japanese presence . their owner , hiroshi yamauchi , is japanese he is the chairman of nintendo in japan . howard lincoln , the mariners' chairman and chief_executive_officer , is the retired chairman of nintendo of america inc . the mariners have also played host to a japanese team at their spring_training site in peoria , ariz . suzuki , in fact , was there last year . a year ago , they signed sasaki , a japanese free_agent , who became their closer . he finished third in the american_league in saves with 37 and attracted fans from the city 's large japanese community . the mariners were unveiled as the winner of the rights to suzuki after his team , the orix blue wave , announced that it had accepted the bid . had orix rejected it , suzuki would have had to remain in japan for another year before becoming a free_agent . ''he can do everything except hit with power , '' gillick said . ''in the united_states i think he 'll be a contact type hitter . he 's a very , very good defensive outfielder . he 's got an above average throwing arm , and he 's an above average defensive player and an above average runner . '' gillick added ''there 's always a risk with any player you sign , be it an amateur , a professional free_agent or a free_agent coming from another professional league . our people felt that he 's worth the risk . '' the mariners , gillick said , plan to make suzuki their right fielder and have him bat first or second in the lineup . they have to sign him first , of course . attanasio has compared suzuki to kenny_lofton of the cleveland indians and said that he should get lofton money , 8 million a year , in a contract of more than three years . asked about that figure , gillick said ''we 've got a budget that we have to operate within and we 're going to operate within that budget . if he fits into the budget , it will work . if he does n't , then it wo n't work . but we do have budgetary restraints . '' gillick was quick to say that the signing of suzuki would not prevent the mariners from attempting to re sign alex_rodriguez , now a celebrated free_agent . ''this is a separate issue than a rod , '' gillick said , using rodriguez 's nickname . ''we 're still very committed to bringing a rod back to seattle . a rod has told us he wants a winning situation . if we 're able to sign this player , that 's just going to ensure our ability to compete in 2001 . '' attanasio said he expected the mariners to tell him that they are paying orix so much that they have to spend less than they otherwise would on suzuki 's contract . on the other hand , the agent said , ''knowing ichiro , he may be so honored with the japanese owner and everything , there may be more pressure to sign than there would have been , say , with the dodgers . '' baseball	has a location of japan
lead a new particle accelerator , causing electrons and positrons to collide at energies higher than those of any other such accelerator , is restoring japan 's prewar position near the front rank of experimental physics . a new particle accelerator , causing electrons and positrons to collide at energies higher than those of any other such accelerator , is restoring japan 's prewar position near the front rank of experimental physics . scientists at kek , japan 's national laboratory for high energy physics , are using the new machine , the tristan , in an effort to create elemental particles of matter . a more powerful electron positron collider ( the positron is the positively charged twin of the electron , whose electric charge is negative ) at stanford_university in palo_alto , calif . , has run into serious difficulties but may begin producing results next summer . until then , tristan , a descendant of the atom smasher , is breaking new ground . the device is a part of japan 's increasing emphasis on basic_research its operators hope it will continue to be productive long after more powerful machines come on line . searching for top quark probably the most hoped for achievement would be creation of the elusive top quark , one of the hypothetical basic particles from which other subatomic particles are believed to be formed . to date five quarks , including those assumed to be building blocks of the protons and neutrons in all atomic nuclei , have been observed . they occur in three families , the least massive being the two quark types of which protons and neutrons are made . in addition to another two in the intermediate mass range , one member of the most massive pair , the bottom quark , has been observed , but not the other , the top quark . the more massive quarks combine to form short lived particles normally observed only when produced in high energy collisions . if all efforts to produce the top quark fail , it will mean that there may be something very wrong with current theories for the nature of matter , according to dr . satoshi ozaki , director of the tristan project here . not in everyday world particles like the heavier quarks do not occur in the everyday world . they can only be created , and very briefly , in the fireball produced by very high energy collisions of subatomic particles . the most energetic collisions are those between such massive particles as protons and their mirror image twins , antiprotons . these are produced in the tevatron of the fermi national accelerator laboratory in batavia , ill . their collisions generate an enormously complex spray of atomic fragments , making it difficult to tell whether a top quark lies hidden in the debris . electron positron collisions , like those in tristan , avoid this problem by using particles that , so far as is known , have no internal structure and no mass . they are dimensionless points . because they are of opposite charge , radio waves that accelerate electrons in one direction push positrons in the opposite one . the machine here can therefore simultaneously boost both kinds of particles in opposite directions in the two mile ring in which they are accelerated . the counter rotating electrons and positrons collide head on in four experiment areas uniformly spaced around the ring . because the design differs from that at stanford , tristan has avoided the difficulties that have beset the california project . warped tennis racket shape the stanford machine is shaped like a warped tennis racket , its elongated handle being a straight two mile accelerator . after acceleration in the handle the electrons and positrons circle the head of the racket in opposite directions , colliding on the far side . this part of the machine was built to follow local contours , generating slopes as great as 10 degrees in the assumption that the onverging beams could be guided magnetically up and down the slopes and made to collide head on . because the beams are far smaller than a human hair ( less than five millionths of a meter wide ) this has proved far more difficult than expected , according to dr , burton richter , director of the project , who was here recently for a conference . the two tristan beams are fatter ( 20 to 50 microns high and 150 microns wide ) and ride the same magnetic ''pipe'' instead of two converging ones . tristan is now boosting the beams to 26 billion electron volts , or giga electron volts ( gev ) . this fall the energy should increase to 28 gev and by next summer added superconducting magnets are expected to raise the energy to between 30 and 33 gev . the stanford machine is designed to produce 47 gev . at cern , the european research center near geneva , the large electron positron ( lep ) collider , due for completion in 1989 , should at first produce 50 gev in each beam , raising that to 100 gev by 1992 . with tristan and other machines the japanese are seeking to reestablish themselves in the forefront of physics . although they have received only limited recognition in the west , japanese physicists were once among the most prominent in the world . earlier research recalled japanese scientists note that in 1902 hantaro nagaoka proposed that the atom consists of a massive nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons . this was a decade before ernest rutherford and niels bohr made a similar proposal and were able to explain , in terms of quantum mechanics , why the electrons did not fall into the nucleus . hideki yukawa won a nobel_prize for his work in the 1930 's predicting a new class of subatomic particles , the mesons . shin ichiro tomonago was similarly honored for his role during the 1940 's in devising the theory of quantum electrodynamics . but after world_war_ii , the allies dumped japan 's atom smashing accelerators into tokyo and osaka bays lest they be used for nuclear_weapons research . the original , bold plan for tristan was to include three accelerators in its circular tunnel . in addition to the electron positron collider there were to be two accelerators using superconducting magnets . budgetary considerations intrude one was to collide protons with antiprotons . the other would hit protons with electrons . the last two schemes were dropped for budgetary reasons , particularly after it was learned that more powerful machines of this sort were to be built at fermilab and in west_germany . as it is , tristan has cost about 700 million . dr . ozaki , formerly a group leader at brookhaven national laboratory on long_island , said in an interview there were ''naive reasons'' to suspect that the top quark may have a mass about three times that of the bottom quark , whose mass expressed in terms of its energy equivalent is nine gev . ''with tristan , '' he said , ''we are looking at the mass range of 25 to 33 gev . '' about 400 collisions have been analyzed and none so far have shown clear evidence of the top quark . tests with the proton antiproton machine at cern have also failed to find it in that mass range , he added . some theorists believe it may be more massive than 100 gev , which could only be produced when lep reaches full power . the advantage of colliding beam machines is that the energies of both beams contribute to the fireball created by a collision . furthermore , if a particle of matter , such as an electron or proton , collides with one of antimatter , such as a positron or antiproton , the particles are themselves converted into energy . correction_october 18 , 1987 , sunday , late city final edition	has a location of japan
enduring near freezing_temperatures , thousands of residents of northern japan camped outdoors sunday_night , unnerved by a day of aftershocks from the nation 's deadliest earthquake in nearly a decade , a violent jolt that killed 23 people , injured 2 , 100 and left seven missing . the weekend 's earthquakes came as japan was cleaning up from last week 's typhoon , the most lethal storm in two decades , which killed 80 people . on sunday , military helicopters flew over a landscape of crumpled highways and collapsed houses , ferrying survivors from mountain villages cut off by saturday night 's earthquake , which had a magnitude of 6.8 . in one section of ojiya , the epicenter , helicopter pilots were drawn to an ''sos'' message drawn on a road , where quake survivors had been cut off by landslides . ''our lifeline has been cut , '' toshiro hosoya , 57 , a high_school teacher in ojiya , later told reuters . ''there is no toilet , gas or electricity and it was cold last night . i 'm not terrified . but the aftershocks keep coming , so i have a strange feeling of unease . '' monday morning at dawn a tremor registering a magnitude of 5.6 shook northern japan , knocking down a house in niigata and sending vibrations all the way to tokyo . yoshitaka murata , japan 's disaster management minister , flew over the mountainous section of niigata prefecture , about 125 miles north of tokyo , and told reporters , ''i saw tremendous landslides in the mountains from a helicopter . '' largely confined to niigata , the quake caused 52 landslides , damaged or cut roads in 211 places , and damaged or destroyed 1 , 206 commercial or public buildings and at least 2 , 583 homes , according to japan 's national_police_agency . on the ground in ojiya , land under a rail line had caved in , forming a crater like hole and leaving train tracks dangling in the air . television footage showed overturned cars scattered around a 33 foot crater carved from a shattered highway . the city , a textile center of 40 , 000 , had the region 's highest death toll , losing nine residents , including three children who died when their house collapsed . in addition , more than 120 residents needed medical treatment for injuries . the quake , the first of a rolling series of seven during a two hour period saturday evening , cut power to about one million people and caused the government to remove about 67 , 000 to shelters . piped gas , a major source of fires after past earthquakes , was cut to more than 50 , 000 households in niigata prefecture . with authorities warning that another major earthquake could happen within the next week , many people spurned shelters , sleeping in their cars or camping on mattresses in open areas , relying on blankets , bonfires or portable oil heaters . the shocks derailed most of a shinkansen bullet_train , the first derailing of a high_speed_train since the bullet_train system was inaugurated in 1964 . there were no injuries among the 150 passengers , even though the train was traveling 125 miles an hour at the time of the quake . because the train was close to the epicenter , an automatic early warning system did not work , masaki ogata , managing director of jr east , the rail line , told reporters . because of landslides , damaged concrete structures and undulating track , authorities have closed an 80 mile section of the line from tokyo to niigata . to reduce niigata 's isolation , japan 's two major airlines , japan_airlines and all nippon airways , on sunday started temporary service from tokyo to the city , which is on the sea of japan . parts of three expressways were closed because of crumbled overpasses , a collapsed highway tunnel and cave ins on many secondary roads . further hampering communications , the quake damaged 80 cellphone towers . ''there were four to five jolts so strong we could n't keep standing without grabbing something like a desk , '' toshio kasuga , an official in takayanagi , told kyodo_news . ''i saw some landslides on a hillside on my way to the office . '' one young man from mitsuke told nhk television , ''i ran outside , and when i looked at buildings , they were shaking like pudding . '' on sunday , prime_minister_junichiro_koizumi said the quake ' 'must be beyond our imagination in terms of fear and damage . '' he said he would take extra budgetary measures in response to the quakes . japan is one of the world 's most seismically active areas . memories are still vivid of the kobe earthquake , which killed 6 , 433 people and injured 43 , 700 in january 1995 . that quake had a magnitude of 7.3 .	has a location of japan
in the end , bill clinton and al_gore could not walk away . they faced unpleasant political options as talks in kyoto , japan , wound done , and as more than 150 nations neared agreement on a treaty to cut the emissions that lead to global_warming . under the agreement that emerged , which the administration plans to sign , the united_states will have to take more drastic steps than the white_house had hoped to cut greenhouse emissions . heavy_industry , from cars to coal to steel to electricity , has already joined with organized_labor to fight the proposal . but walking away from the treaty as mr . gore said he was willing to do last week would have enraged the environmentalists who are key constituents for him and mr . clinton . it would have isolated the united_states which just refused to sign a treaty banning land_mines as the leading emitter of greenhouse gasses and the only industrial nation unwilling to address the problem jointly . and it would have been contrary , their aides said , to a belief shared by the president and vice_president that global_warming presents grave dangers . but now the administration has a larger fight on its hands , a fight that will help define not only budget negotiations next year but the 1998 congressional elections and even the next presidential race . even before the treaty was worked out , democratic allies of the administration were warning the white_house not to seek approval in the senate . ''what we have here is not ratifiable in the senate in my judgment , '' senator john_kerry , democrat of massachusetts , said in a telephone news conference from kyoto . before the kyoto meeting began , the senate voted 95 to 0 to pass a resolution that the united_states would not agree to a treaty that did not provide a role in cutting emissions for developing nations . that became a negotiating goal for the administration . in kyoto , senator chuck_hagel , republican of nebraska , said flatly , ''there is no way , if the president signs this , that the vote in the united_states_senate will even be close . we will kill this bill . '' the treaty emerging in kyoto tonight ( thursday morning , kyoto time ) includes a new program sought by the administration to funnel capital and environmentally friendly technology to developing nations . but white_house aides said that , while they considered the provision a victory , it was not strong enough to win ratification . the white_house is also planning to propose tax incentives to encourage cuts in greenhouse gas emission as part of its budget proposal next year , but that , too , will be subject to congessional approval . two officials said that , judging by the early criticism , the public would get a positive impression of the administration 's actions . ''we figured that we would probably be criticized by both industry and environmental groups , '' one of them said , ''which has the effect of saying , 'well , they must have ended up in a place that 's pretty sensible . ' '' indeed , in kyoto , one industry coalition went as far as to issue a statement denouncing the agreement hours before the deal was final . and the world wildlife fund attacked the plan , saying that the outcome was ''a flawed agreement that will allow major polluters to continue emitting greenhouse gasses through loopholes . '' but fred krupp , executive director of the environmental defense fund , said ''there 's still much more work to be done to assure that the protocol 's targets are met'' but ''vice_president gore should be commended for coming to japan and opening the doors to an agreement . '' in recent polls the public has expressed solid support for action on global_warming . two weeks ago , in a poll taken by the new york times , 65 percent said that the united_states should take steps now to cut its own emissions ' 'regardless of what other countries do . '' only 17 percent agreed that cutting emissions ''will cost too much money and hurt the u.s . economy . '' four years ago , mr . clinton promised to reduce united_states emissions to their 1990 levels by the year 2000 . but such emissions are now more than 10 percent above 1990 levels and rising . mr . clinton rarely mentioned the issue until early this summer , when , in anticipation of the kyoto meeting , he began warning of the dangers of global_warming . but , even as he began addressing the subject again , mr . clinton has repeatedly said that the united_states can meet what amount to rigorous emissions targets with little or no economic pain . ''i am convinced that we can demonstrate to the american people that we can substantially reduce our greenhouse_gas_emissions and fulfill our global environmental responsibilities as well as our responsibilities to our own people without giving up economic_growth , '' mr . clinton said in an interview with the new york times last thursday . ''but it will require a very disciplined , organized , coordinated effort to do it . ''	has a location of japan
japan 's troubled space_program suffered another major setback friday when the engine that is supposed to power its next generation of rockets exploded during a test , killing an engineer and raising more questions about the future of the country 's space efforts . japanese officials said the 23 year old engineer , arihiro kanaya , was the first person to die in japan 's 22 year old unmanned space_program . but it was the latest of a string of accidents involving the engine , the first to be built by japan without the help of the united_states . a series of previous explosions and fires has already delayed the launching of the new rocket system , called the h ii , by at least a year . currently , the first launch is scheduled for early 1993 . japan has expected the h ii to become its most important launching vehicle for propelling into orbit space communications satellites , scientific_experiments , and a even small unmanned space_shuttle . the miniature shuttle , which is now being designed , would ferry parts to the american developed space_station and then return to earth automatically . a source of pride the h ii has also been a source of considerable nationalistic pride . many in japanese industry want to wean the country from its dependence on the united_states for access to space , especially for heavy payloads . but for all of its high tech prowess in automobiles and electronics , japan has little experience building engines , either for jet aircraft or for rockets . while the united_states , china and the soviet_union all developed their rocket technology by building intercontinental ballistic_missiles , japan 's ban against offensive weapons , imposed at the end of world_war_ii , has meant that it has virtually no military rocket technology . it has been dependent almost entirely on technology licensed from american makers , including technology for its current , far less capable fleet of h 1 rockets . the h i , however , does not have the lift ability to satisfy japan 's new ambitions in space , including the launching of large communications and broadcast satellites . so japan 's national space development agency commisioned some of the country 's biggest industrial powers to design and build the h ii , in hopes that it would compete with europe 's arianespace and private launching services offered by the chinese , the soviets and the americans . at the core of the rocket is the le 7 , designed to have roughly the power of one of the main engines on the american space_shuttle . but from the beginning , japan 's program has been plagued with troubles . no one could make the complex turbopump on the liquid fuel engine work properly twice it blew up in static tests at the japanese space agency 's launching site on tanegashima island . when those problems were solved , a series of new ones cropped up , prompting embarrassing and costly delays . meanwhile , two critical television broadcasting satellites were destroyed in ill fated launchings aboard american and french rockets . mitsubishi under pressure under pressure to to fix the program quickly , mitsubishi heavy industries , japan 's largest aircraft and arms maker , has been running extensive tests on the engine . one of them began about 1 a.m . on friday at mitsubishi 's installation near nagoya , the center of japan 's aerospace industry . according to press accounts and a statement released by the space agency , the explosion occurred during a test of how well components of the engine can withstand high pressure . key elements of the engine were placed in a specially reinforced testing room . but before the engine was subjected to stresses equivalent to the kind it would face under launching conditions , it exploded . the force was so great that it blew out an 8 inch thick door to the testing chamber . the door landed on mr . kanaya , who died instantly . a pipe in the engine was found to have an elliptical crack a foot long and three feet across . officials of the space agency could not be reached today , the first day of a buddhist holiday that closes most japanese businesses for a week .	has a location of japan
with president_clinton having accepted the dominant view among scientists that global_warming is a serious matter , the increasingly urgent debate over what to do about it has largely shifted to the question of how restricting emissions of heat trapping greenhouse_gases like carbon_dioxide may affect the nation 's economy . and there , perplexity reigns . the future severity of climate_change is uncertain enough , and its future physical impact on particular countries and regions is more so . the uncertainty multiplies yet again when people try to calculate the costs and benefits of taking action to reduce greenhouse emissions . ''there 's a lot more uncertainty about the economics than about the climate , '' said dale w . jorgenson , an economist at harvard_university who specializes in environmental questions . carbon_dioxide is produced by the burning of fossil_fuels like coal , oil and natural_gas , which are the energy foundation of the modern economy . some players in the debate , notably industries that produce fossil_fuels or use lots of them , argue that serious economic damage would result if use of the fuels were significantly cut . others , like environmentalists and advocates of alternatives to fossil_fuel energy , say the economy as a whole would gain because it would use energy more efficiently . in between is a range of estimates , typically based on uncertain assumptions about how various aspects of the economy would respond to cuts in the use of fossil_fuel and how strategies for cutting emissions would actually work . all of this will be under the spotlight in washington today at a daylong conference on climate_change sponsored by the white_house . mr . clinton , who plans to take part in the meeting , supports legally_binding international action to cut emissions , but not at the price of harming the united_states economy . he is under intensifying pressure to come up with a specific proposal for reducing emissions . the united_states proposal is generally seen as critical to efforts by the nations of the world to negotiate cuts at a meeting in kyoto , japan , in december . it is widely expected that mr . clinton 's proposal will be announced later this month , either just before or at a pre kyoto negotiating session that begins on oct . 20 in bonn . but as the moment of truth approaches , even some leading members of the clinton_administration have all but thrown up their hands over the difficulty of obtaining clear answers to some crucial economic questions . janet l . yellen , the chairwoman of the president 's council_of_economic_advisers , told congress in july that it was futile to try to develop a set of economic models that can ''give us a definitive answer as to the economic impacts of a given climate_change policy . '' computerized models are the main analytical tool economists use . ''if anybody tells you that he or she has the definitive answer as to the costs and benefits of particular climate_change policies , '' dr . yellen said , ''i would suggest that you raise your collective eyebrows . '' can anything useful be said that might aid the search for a solution creating the least economic strain ? there is general agreement that reductions of emissions would come at some cost to the economy and that the size of the cost depends largely on the size of the cuts and how rapidly they are carried out . energy costs would very likely rise , at least for a time , and some industry sectors , it is generally agreed , could be hit hard if they were not able to adapt quickly enough . chief among these is perhaps the coal industry coal burning emits the most carbon_dioxide per unit of energy , and the nation 's utilities depend heavily on it . but many economists also say there are a number of ways to cut the costs substantially , through policy measures . one is by imposing a tax on fuels in proportion to their carbon content . the revenues from the tax would be used to reduce other federal taxes , thus pumping money back into the economy . many economists see a carbon tax as the most economically efficient way to reduce emissions . but any sort of energy tax is likely to face deadly opposition in the republican_congress . so attention is focusing on another possible cost reducing mechanism emissions trading . in this arrangement , the government sets an overall cap on emissions and issues permits to companies to emit carbon_dioxide within that limit . companies that find it more difficult and expensive to limit emissions could buy permits from those that find it easier and cheaper . the price of the permits is set in an open market . proponents of this plan , now in use for industrial sulfur_dioxide emissions , say it cuts overall costs significantly . but many economists argue that unless the permits are initially auctioned by the government and the proceeds used to reduce other taxes , much of the cost cutting benefit to the economy would be lost . the united_states also favors extending the cap and permit idea to the international arena . richer countries , which emit lots of carbon and would find cuts relatively expensive , could pay poorer ones , partly in technological assistance , to reduce some of theirs . proponents of this idea say that since it would be cheaper to make cuts in developing_countries , the cost both to the united_states and the global economy would be lower . a third way to reduce costs , some economists say , is to allow some flexibility in the timing of reductions . they argue , for instance , that forcing industries to replace their physical plants with more energy efficient ones before their natural economic life is over would be very expensive . a fourth cost cutting idea , cited by environmentalists and advocates of alternative energy sources like solar and wind energy , is for government to aggressively promote the adoption of more fuel efficient technologies . these are myriad , and range from small things like devices making it unnecessary for television sets to use power when they are off , to large things like automobiles that deliver 60 or 70 miles a gallon to ways of burning coal more efficiently . a recent study by five of the government 's national laboratories concluded that vigorous promotion of such technologies could reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2010 while saving enough energy to at least offset the cost of putting the technologies in place . it was the latest in a long line of studies that have come to similar conclusions some have found , in fact , that the energy savings from new technologies would increase gross_domestic_product , which is the total of all goods and services produced , by 1 or 2 percent a year over the long run . other economists , principally those who model the economy 's overall operations , dispute this optimistic assessment , while acknowledging that some gains are possible through new technology . ''virtually all analysts believe that there 's some low hanging fruit out there , '' said richard richels , an economist at the electric power research institute , a research organization in palo_alto , calif . , that is supported by the power industry . the disagreement , mr . richels said , is over how much technological fruit can be easily picked . a recent study by robert repetto and duncan austin of the world resources institute , an independent research group in washington , found that such ''bottom up'' assessments as the five laboratory study , which try to add up the expected impact on the economy from a wealth of new technologies , probably overstate the potential energy savings . but the world resources institute also found that some conventional ''top down'' models , which analyze the economy 's overall performance , tend to overstate the costs . typically , the top down models say reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2010 would trim gross_domestic_product by 1 or 2 percent , with some predicting much greater losses . mr . repetto and mr . austin examined 162 estimates from 16 models and found that 80 percent of their differences could be explained by what they assumed about economic uncertainties . for example , the prediction turns out more optimistically if one assumes that the economy responds relatively easily to changes in policy , that noncarbon fuels are readily available and easily adopted and that damages from air_pollution and climate_change are averted as a result . opposite assumptions produce more pessimism . predictions that a carbon tax or a cap and trade policy would seriously harm the economy are unrealistic , the two researchers wrote , because ''they stem from worst case modeling assumptions . '' assessing the damages of climate_change , and therefore the benefits of averting it , is perhaps the chanciest task of all , and relatively few economists have tried it . one who has , william d . nordhaus of yale_university , says his best guess is that benefits to the overall market_economy of the united_states may just about balance costs over the next century . but that guess , mr . nordhaus said , comes ''with big uncertainties . '' the most important uncertainties , said mr . jorgenson of harvard , have to do with how much economic_growth will take place in future decades even in the absence of any climate problem . unlike some industry leaders , who argue that the uncertainties warrant doing nothing about emissions , mr . jorgenson says they are an argument for taking preventive action in the interest of future generations . but he also says he believes that the cost of reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2010 would be too high and advocates a more modest policy . but if the policy is too modest , say many involved in the pre kyoto international talks , it risks losing credibility with developing_countries , which have refused to undertake binding reductions until the richer nations show that they are serious . what 's more , the administration and the senate , whose ratification would be required on any kyoto agreement , have refused any deal that does not in some way include the poorer countries . then there are the europeans , who have proposed cutting emissions 15 percent below 1990 levels and are increasingly at odds with the united_states over the issue . however things turn out , flesh and blood political realities are likely to overshadow uncertain science and economics in the diplomatic endgame at kyoto . warming world this article is one of a series that have appeared since aug . 12 on the science , politics and economics of climate_change with the approach of an international meeting in kyoto , japan , in december to discuss limits on greenhouse_gases .	has a location of japan
remember a couple of years ago when americans believed that japanese business could do no wrong ? neither does anybody else , apparently . the newly formed legions of japan bashers can look for more ammunition in a recent study on internet usage . according to a survey by andersen_consulting , only 71 percent of japanese executives have access to the internet , the lowest level among senior management in nine of the world 's leading economies . american executives led the field , with 99 percent having access to the internet , followed by executives from canada ( 98 percent ) , france ( 91 percent ) and britain ( 91 percent ) . only 13 percent of japanese executives were reported as ''comfortable'' or ''familiar'' with the internet , compared with 46 percent of american executives , although the japanese were much more likely to use e mail ( 69 percent ) than their counterparts in germany ( 55 percent ) . bruce headlam news watch	has a location of japan
a powerful earthquake struck northern japan today , injuring at least 78 people , starting fires and damaging buildings throughout the region . the earthquake , reported to have a magnitude of 7 . 0 , caused no fatalities , but frightened many , and disrupted services in a broad swath of northern japan . the tohoku electric power company said an 825 , 000 kilowatt nuclear_reactor , its onagawa no . 3 unit , which is situated near the epicenter in northern japan , automatically shut down . of those hurt , 49 were injured in landslides . the temblor , which was the strongest earthquake to hit japan in two years , was powerful enough to be strongly felt 280 miles away , in tokyo , where tall buildings were shaken for several minutes , street lamps swayed and elevators in some buildings ceased operating when the seismic_activity began , at 6 24 p.m . the prime minister of norway , kjell magne bondevik , who was on a state_visit to japan , was evacuated from his tokyo hotel room . ''first i ran out in the corridor without my shoes , but then i decided it was best to put them on , '' mr . bondevik told norwegian television . in northern japan , about 35 , 000 homes temporarily lost power , but electricity was quickly restored for most customers . rail service throughout the region was also temporarily suspended , and amid the panic , telephone networks were briefly overwhelmed . experts said the earthquake 's power was muted by the location of its epicenter , which was not only 20 miles offshore miyagi prefecture , on the northeastern pacific coast , but 40 miles beneath the earth 's surface . the depth of the seismic_activity also eliminated the risk of tsunamis , or huge sea waves . ''we assume that the earthquake occurred due to the sliding down of the pacific plate , '' noritake nishibe , head of the meteorological agency 's earthquake monitoring section , told reporters . japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world , and scientists attribute much of the activity to movements of two tectonic places the pacific plate and the philippines plate which are vast pieces of the earth 's crust . japan 's last major earthquake was in kobe in 1995 . that tremor , which measured 7 . 2 , killed more than 6 , 000 people .	has a location of japan
lead ralph bryant , formerly of the los_angeles_dodgers , hit a two run homer in the eighth inning today to lead the kintetsu_buffaloes to a 5 3 japanese_baseball victory over the fukuoka daiei hawks . the homer was bryant 's 19th of the season . ralph bryant , formerly of the los_angeles_dodgers , hit a two run homer in the eighth inning today to lead the kintetsu_buffaloes to a 5 3 japanese_baseball victory over the fukuoka daiei hawks . the homer was bryant 's 19th of the season .	has a location of japan
with so much data traveling these days via light , carried in glass fibers , instead of electricity , one goal of semiconductor research has been to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly . such a chip may one day lead to smaller , faster semiconductors and perhaps even to all silicon lasers . but silicon is by nature highly reluctant to emit light . so semiconductor manufacturers have been making do with an add on to the chip a separate light emitting diode , like one made of gallium arsenide , that is controlled by the chip . that means a complicated setup in which one material creates the light and another controls it . now , in the latest in a series of attempts to devise a light emitter that is compatible with current silicon based technology , a group of british scientists has built an all silicon l.e.d . using standard semiconductor production techniques . their all silicon l.e.d . operates at room temperature . dr . kevin homewood and his colleagues at the university of surrey report in the march 8 issue of the science journal nature that they have developed a prototype of an all silicon l.e.d . the device converts electricity to light with an efficiency that the inventors say approaches that of some conventional devices made from other semiconductors . ''this is a major advance toward getting better light emission out of silicon , '' said dr . david a . b . miller , a stanford_university professor who is an expert in optoelectronics . ''it 's a genuinely new way of approaching the problem . '' the new method meshes well with current semiconductor fabrication techniques , the researchers said . ''the greatest advantage is that only minor modifications in the manufacturing process are needed , '' said dr . yunosuke makita , a principal researcher at the electrotechnical laboratory in tsukuba , japan . dr . makita specializes in semiconductor research related to silicon based optoelectronics . dr . vincent h . crespi , a physicist at pennsylvania_state_university who specializes in the electronic structure of materials , said , ''the method is compatible with the techniques people have been using to make silicon chips , and that 's very important . '' it appears that no major processing steps or unusual physical configurations of silicon are required with the new technique . ''it 's a complicated process putting 10 million transistors onto a chip and making them work , '' dr . crespi said . ''engineers do n't want you to put anything funny into the process in a billion dollar fabrication plant . '' dr . homewood and his group have been trying to coax light out of silicon for about nine years . ''this was a sort of 'friday afternoon' experiment , '' dr . homewood said , undertaken after many other routes had failed . ''a lot of other people must be kicking themselves that they did n't try it . '' in the experiment , the group first bombarded the silicon with boron . boron implantation is a standard technique used in making integrated_circuits with silicon . when the boron is fired at the silicon , it plows through the silicon atoms and pushes them out of their normal lattice structure . ''that deformation is usually controlled by subsequent heat , '' dr . homewood said . this time , though , he tried applying less heat than usual , warming the silicon to only a bit more than 1 , 800 degrees_fahrenheit . when he did that , the silicon atoms formed into tiny rings , each about 80 to 100 nanometers in diameter ( about 500 silicon atoms wide ) . when a voltage is applied to silicon , charges flow through the crystal . when a voltage was applied at room temperature to the crystal produced by dr . homewood 's group , charges were prevented from moving by these rings , which are called dislocation loops . with the positive and negative charges held back by the barriers created by the loops , so they had no place to go , the silicon began emitting radiation that is , it began to glow brightly . ''basically we are confining the electrons , stopping them from wandering or going awol , '' dr . homewood explained . that confinement produced the room temperature luminescence . ''part of the reason this is such a promising technique is that it 's so simple , '' dr . crespi said . ''they perturbed the silicon itself , put in these dislocation loops , and forced the electrons to emit light . '' while the method is promising , researchers said , it is still a prototype and needs much improvement . ''the efficiency will need to be 10 times what it is to be competitive , '' dr . crespi said . ''but first devices always have to be tweaked to improve them , and this one has a reasonable promise of being successful . the payoff would be huge . '' the glow produced by dr . homewood 's method is in the near infrared part of the spectrum , slightly shorter than the wavelengths used in fiber optic communication . the emission wavelength is about 1 , 100 nanometers . ''that 's the different thing about this method , the wavelength of emission , '' said dr . philippe fauchet , a professor and the chairman of electrical and computer engineering at the university of rochester , who in 1996 published in nature the first paper demonstrating the integration of porous silicon light emitting diodes and silicon microelectronic circuits . ''their result is the best at this particular wavelength of emission , but the efficiency is far , far from being good enough for industry . unless that is improved , it remains a research topic , not something practical for industry . '' l.e.d . 's do not glow brightly enough for the long distances needed for optical telecommunications . they are useful , however , for the optical interconnections between and within chips and may make it possible to build a new generation of much smaller chips . the all silicon l.e.d . may be the forerunner to a silicon laser , a goal that dr . homewood said he and his group were pursuing . to produce a laser , the light would have to be collected and amplified , then emitted as a coherent beam . what's next	has a location of japan
lead a chart on thursday explaining how the magnitude of earthquakes is measured and an article yesterday about a japanese fund for victims of the california earthquake gave incorrect dates for the great kanto earthquake in central japan . it occurred in 1923 . a chart on thursday explaining how the magnitude of earthquakes is measured and an article yesterday about a japanese fund for victims of the california earthquake gave incorrect dates for the great kanto earthquake in central japan . it occurred in 1923 .	has a location of japan
figure_skating pairs , short_program yelena_berezhnaya and anton_sikharulidze , the european_champions , are expected to battle their russian compatriots oksana_kazakova and artur_dmitriev for the gold . the short_program counts one third of the score , with tuesday 's free program the remaining two thirds . freestyle_skiing men's and women's moguls , elimination skiers attack a bumpy course that features two jumps , trying to make the final cut of 16 for the medal round tuesday . jean_luc brossard of canada , the defending olympic champion , and ann battele of the united_states are among the favorites . ice_hockey women sweden vs . finland canada vs . japan china vs . the united_states debut as a medal sport . the six team field plays a round_robin , with the top two facing off for the gold_medal on feb . 17 . canada plays the united_states on saturday in their final round_robin match . luge men's singles , first and second runs how close are the top two rivals in this sled event , where competitors race feet first while lying on their backs ? try 13 one thousandths of a second , the margin of george hackl 's victory over markus prock in the 1994 lillehammer games . hackl , a german , and prock of austria will be at it again , this time on the 90 million spiral course in izuna kogan . the final runs will be held on monday , with the gold going to the lowest aggregate time . speed_skating men's 5 , 000 meters norway 's triple gold winner johann olav koss is gone to the broadcast booth , opening the door for rintje ritsma , a big dutch skater who could win several medals in the distance events . ritsma has criticized the ice at the m wave oval in nagano because of cracks . not so , said takashi taskano , the technical director at m wave , who added , i want as many world records as possible . records are more than possible with the new clap skates that favor the gliding strokes of power skaters . the xviii winter_games	has a location of japan
this crumpled city struggled to get back to work today , as supply laden helicopters crisscrossed the gray skies to avoid horrific traffic_jams , businessmen pedaled to work on bikes and the city began its first garbage pickup since last week 's huge earthquake . water is now running to 41 percent of households , and electricity has been restored to nearly every home that remains habitable . but in one of kobe 's largest districts it will take far longer for life to return to normal , if ever . nagata ward , a gritty industrial center just west of downtown , suffered among the worst damage and worst fires , which means that kobe 's largest minority_group , koreans , absorbed a disproportionate share of the disaster . there are about 700 , 000 ethnic koreans in japan , with many living in the region around kobe and osaka . about half of kobe 's 20 , 000 korean residents lived in nagata , now a pitiful neighborhood in which at least 90 koreans died when vast sections were first leveled and then burned . the overall death toll rose today to 5 , 060 . what accentuated the blow is the fact that the industry the koreans dominated and which employed a majority of breadwinners in nagata shoe production was nearly destroyed . the suffering of the koreans in kobe was just one indication of how the earthquake is likely to leave this port city permanently scarred . although all of the talk here now is of rebuilding , several koreans admitted that the shoe industry is not likely to be built to its pre quake level , and may wither to a fraction of its previous size . the scale of the disaster in nagata ward fell hard on another minority , a group known as the burakumin . the burakumin were japan 's official outcasts for more than a century , given jobs that were considered unclean , like butchering and leather work . the hereditary designation was officially abolished a century ago , but the burakumin , who are ethnic japanese , are still subject to ruthless discrimination and generally live in tight_knit communities . many of kobe 's burakumin were clustered in nagata ward , and many relied on the small shoe workshops for jobs . " there were probably a thousand shoe workshops in this area before , " said dazoburo higashi , a factory owner , who chatted on a cracked and broken back street corner in nagata late this afternoon . " probably 10 survived . " choi young sung , an official of the korean residents union here , explained that the industry had begun with a few workshops making rubber soled shoes after world_war_ii . over time the workshops , and the subcontractors they relied on , multiplied in nagata . these factories , which often employ just a dozen or so people , expanded by focusing on higher quality shoes made of synthetic materials . nagata was producing 80 percent of the " chemical shoes , " as they are known , made in japan before the quake . but even before the quake struck last tuesday , the industry was facing difficulties . countries with low wages , like china , were slowly taking over mass_production of shoes . and the soaring value of the yen against the dollar made it all but impossible to export the synthetic shoes produced here they were too expensive . " even before this happened , a lot of us were thinking about what we would do in the future , because of how badly the strong yen was hurting us , " said mr . higashi , whose own small operation focused on women 's pumps and army boots . takeshi tsuji , the head of kobe 's economic_development bureau , said there was talk that the synthetic shoe factory owners might use the quake as an opportunity to change products or businesses . " some owners had insurance , but it wo n't be much , " said mr . choi . " this was an earthquake , and that is usually not covered . that industry is almost completely wiped out . " mr . higashi fought off the cold as the sun set by tossing pieces of broken houses into a metal drum where a fire roared . he laughed amiably with a few friends , but they all agreed that it was unclear what would drive nagata ward 's reconstruction . " people are talking about all kinds of things , " mr . higashi said . " some have said they will move their workshops to osaka , because there is a better infrastructure there . " the problem is it may take one or two years to rebuild , and cost 500 , 000 for each workshop , " he added . " who can wait that long ? that 's why we do n't know what we will do . " quake in japan in kobe	has a location of japan
the space_shuttle_endeavour today began an orbital chase of a large japanese satellite that it is to capture and bring back to earth as the highlight of an ambitious nine day mission . the endeavour and its crew of six astronauts began the hunt before dawn when the shuttle lifted off from kennedy_space_center at 4 41 a.m . the launching was delayed for 20 minutes while technicians sorted out ground communication problems . it was 10 years ago this month , on jan . 28 , 1986 , in 36 degree cold , that the space shuttle challenger exploded after liftoff , killing all seven crew members . it was later determined that seals on the booster_rockets had been affected by the cold . the temperature today , 44 degrees , was the coldest since that launching . the endeavour is to close in on the japanese satellite , a_7 , 000 pound , reusable experiment platform called the space flyer unit , on saturday . a japanese astronaut on board the shuttle , koichi wakata , is to use the endeavour 's 50 foot robot arm to snare the satellite and secure it in the shuttle 's cargo bay . the satellite , launched last march aboard a japanese space agency h 2 rocket , was designed to be retrieved by an american shuttle . japan will pay the national_aeronautics_and_space_administration about 50 million for recovering the satellite , which contains 11 scientific payloads , including crystal growth furnaces and an infrared telescope . also on board , in an experiment to see how weightlessness affects spawning , are two red bellied newts , now dead , and their fertilized eggs . the endeavour was launched during one of the coldest spells of weather to hit florida since 1989 . since last weekend , ground crews had used several heating systems to keep the orbiter and its rockets warm . launchings in cold_weather concern nasa officials because low temperatures were a factor in the challenger explosion . investigators found that the cold stiffened o ring seals in the booster_rockets , allowing hot gases to escape and ignite the large external fuel tank . as a result , nasa adopted new weather rules for launchings and added heaters to protect shuttle components . during the current mission , the endeavour 's crew is also to release and retrieve a nasa satellite that will orbit more than 100 miles from the shuttle for two days while doing experiments on atmospheric contamination of spacecraft and using the global positioning system to control orbital craft . that system , which uses satellite information sent to special receivers to pinpoint locations on earth , has never been used to determine the position and velocity of craft in orbit . the other highlights of the mission are two 6 1 2 hour space walks to be conducted by three astronauts to test spacesuit components and practice construction techniques . the flight is the third in a series of six missions through 1997 to which nasa has added spacewalks so that more astronauts have experience working outside their spacecraft before construction begins on the international_space_station . astronauts from the united_states , russia and other nations will have to carry out 650 hours of space walk work to complete the space_station . construction is scheduled to begin late next year and to take five years . also scheduled for the mission are three dozen medical , biotechnology and engineering experiments . the endeavour is scheduled to land at the kennedy_space_center on jan . 20 .	has a location of japan
the space_shuttle_endeavour 's astronauts captured a four ton japanese science satellite today but only after trouble with the satellite 's two solar_panels prompted ground_controllers to jettison them . commander brian duffy gingerly steered endeavour toward the satellite , and a japanese astronaut , koichi wakata , performed the delicate task of grabbing his nation 's spacecraft with the shuttle 's 50 foot robot arm . the retrieval , 90 minutes late because of the solar panel trouble , came as the two spacecraft flew nearly 300 miles above the earth . earlier , as the astronauts chased their quarry , controllers in japan beamed up remote commands telling the 32 foot long solar panel arrays to fold like an accordion . the arrays retracted , but they failed to latch into place . mission managers in japan and houston worked for an hour to solve the problem while the battery power needed to keep the satellite and its science instruments running was drained . after several failures to latch the panels , the japanese officials decided to jettison the arrays . it was an option they had considered before the flight to insure the satellite 's safe return to the earth . the satellite and shuttle flew in formation a little more than 200 feet apart when one of the problem panels separated and drifted slowly away into the blackness of space . about 10 minutes later , the second panel was released . the reusable science probe , launched from japan in march , is carrying a variety of experiments conducted in the past 10 months . one experiment contains fertilized newt eggs and two dead japanese red bellied newts . a heater was turned off after the adult newts spawned in orbit , causing the creatures to freeze to death . once they are brought back to earth , the eggs will be studied as a possible protein source for humans on long space flights . scientists are also interested to see how the eggs developed in the absence of gravity . among the satellite instruments are an infrared telescope , furnaces for manufacturing ultrapure semiconductor crystals and a sensor used to monitor atomic particles . on sunday , the shuttle is to release an american science satellite for two days of free flying research involving four experiments . on monday and wednesday , three of the six astronauts are to practice working outside the spacecraft . the shuttle is scheduled to land at the kennedy_space_center in florida on saturday .	has a location of japan
during this long summer of unrelenting heat waves , young and old alike across the japanese archipelago have found distraction in an unlikely drama about baseball . the drama revolves around the future of the financially endangered kintetsu_buffaloes here in western japan 's largest city . but it has also become a drama about many things at this particular point in japan 's history , including the clash between the old and new , collusive business practices , the role of sports in society and the neglected voices of the ordinary japanese . as expected , there is a good guy and a bad guy . wanting to save the buffaloes is a 31 year old self made multimillionaire who dropped out of japan 's top university to build his own internet company , a complete outsider who wears t shirts at news conferences and wheels around town in his silver blue ferrari . wanting to kill the buffaloes is a 78 year old insider , who over the decades navigated the shadowy corridors of politics and media to seize control of japan 's , and the world 's , largest newspaper and , ultimately , japanese_baseball . emperor and emperor slayer , the two share the very un japanese habit of tossing verbal grenades at each other , making no attempt to hide their mutual contempt . it all began in june with the announcement of a merger of the buffaloes and a kobe team called orix bluewave . japanese_baseball teams , long considered publicity arms for their parent companies , are not necessarily expected to make money . but the parent companies themselves began struggling during the long economic slump . and the teams' losses have grown especially heavy with the increasing popularity of a new soccer league and the fading allure of baseball . japan 's two league , 12 team system is controlled by the 12 ''owners , '' with no voice given to the commissioner , players or , least of all , the fans . many owners are in reality salarymen who rose inside their companies and who , with no particular background in sports or baseball , ended up heading the baseball division . standing first among equals was the chairman of the owners' committee , tsuneo watanabe , the owner of the yomiuri_giants , the tokyo team around which all of japanese_baseball revolves . to increase each share of a shrinking pie , mr . watanabe was long known to be the strongest proponent of reducing the sport to one league of 10 , or perhaps 8 , teams . fans , who would lose their teams , and players , who would lose their jobs , were unhappy . but what could they do against the likes of mr . watanabe , also chairman of the yomiuri media group ? enter takafumi horie , the 31 year old chief executive of livedoor , which offers internet related services and generated revenues of 100 million last year . he proposed buying the buffaloes , taking its stock public and letting fans and employees own shares . he would tie the team 's identity to its hometown , not its company . little known outside his industry , mr . horie became famous overnight and a darling of buffaloes fans . there was one problem , though . the buffaloes' owners said they were n't interested in selling . it took mr . watanabe to explain why . " you ca n't enter without the approval of the owners' committee , '' mr . watanabe said . ''we ca n't let some unknown person in , someone even i do n't know . in professional_baseball , each team has its traditions , and you ca n't buy a team so easily just because you have money . '' mr . horie was equally generous in his contempt , repeatedly describing the team owners as ''the club of old men . '' in an interview inside his office in tokyo , mr . horie , asked why the team owners were refusing to talk with him , answered , ''pride , maybe , from old age . '' ''those salarymen chief executives do n't have many personal assets compared to business owners who started their own business , and so they 're rather greedy and cling to power , '' he said . ''they 're smug in their little world and , lacking fresh blood , they can only think about shrinking the industry . '' asked about mr . watanabe , who declined to be interviewed , mr . horie said ''i ca n't regard him highly as either a company president or manager . he is a symbol of old japan . '' masayuki tamaki , a sports critic , said neither mr . watanabe nor the other owners had attempted any real reforms to revitalize baseball . ''the baseball teams' presidents are people who are dispatched to the teams from their parent companies for two , three years , '' mr . tamaki said . ''what they do is spend their time getting autographs to present them as gifts to bar girls . '' masaru kaneko , a professor of economics at keio_university , said the baseball brouhaha symbolized a larger problem in japan 's business world the older generation in charge , bankrupt of ideas and unwilling to accept them from the younger generation , engaging in mergers simply to project the image of reform . ''mergers are happening everywhere banks , trading companies , local_governments , public highway corporations , '' he said . ''while mergers are occurring in the name of reform , they are actually just cutting the number of participants and lack any substantive reforms . '' while the fans and players rooted for mr . horie , there was the resigned belief here that unless something drastic happened , the team owners led by mr . watanabe would endorse the merger at their next meeting in september . then another act unfolded in summer 's baseball drama . announcing that his team scouts had improperly given 20 , 000 to a prospective player , mr . watanabe resigned abruptly from the team and the owners' committee . suspicions arose immediately . why would he step down over a minor violation ? was the resignation simply a ploy for mr . watanabe to bail out ? after all , he will remain the chairman of the yomiuri media group and a subordinate will become the owner of the baseball_team . mr . watanabe , it seemed to many , was stepping into a role that may be new to him but is old to japan that of shadow shogun . then it was mr . horie 's turn . evidently frustrated that the buffaloes' owners would not sell him the team , he announced he would create a new one . both men , in this new chapter of this unfinished drama about the old and new japan , were true to type . letter from asia	has a location of japan
as japanese and american scientists basked in the glow of their monumental discovery of neutrino mass , announced here on friday , a financial cloud that could hamper future research hung over the 120 member team today . through the team 's leader , dr . yoji totsuka , the scientists appealed for the japanese government 's reconsideration of major cuts in financing for the kamioka neutrino observatory , where the discovery of neutrino mass was made . many of the 300 physicists attending an international neutrino meeting here predicted privately that the discovery could eventually be rewarded with one or more nobel_prizes . but the government has been unsympathetic , dr . totsuka said in an interview . faced with severe budget problems , he said , the government has reduced the kamioka group 's spending by 15 percent and threatens another 15 percent cut next year . ''this may mean shutting down the detector for up to six months , which would have devastating effects on our research , '' dr . totsuka said . the experiment announced on friday demonstrated that neutrinos , created by the impact of cosmic rays on the earth 's upper atmosphere , ''oscillate , '' or change from one type to another as they reach the ground and pass through the earth . with this discovery , the observatory demonstrated beyond reasonable_doubt that neutrinos have mass . that will require revision of the generally accepted theory of the structure of matter , which is made of quarks , leptons and force carrying particles . depending on how large the still unmeasured mass of neutrinos may be , they could prove to be a significant proportion of the mass of the universe , perhaps accounting for some of the ' 'dark matter'' that has not been seen directly but exerts large gravitational effects . an american member of the kamioka research collaboration , dr . james stone of boston_university , said its big underground neutrino detector , super_kamiokande , was investigating a range of major physics problems other than the search for neutrino oscillations on earth . one project explores the possibility that protons building blocks of matter may decay . super_kamiokande , essentially a water tank the size of a_10 story building deep under western japan 's mountains near here , is also looking for an explanation of the deficit in neutrinos detected from the sun , a problem not solved by friday 's announcement . the detector also continuously looks for bursts of neutrinos coming from supernova explosions and peculiar explosions called ''gamma_ray bursters , '' which may be the most violent events in the universe . in 1987 , the nearest supernova in 400 years exploded in a nearby galaxy , and at almost the same moment that the supernova appeared as a dot of light visible from the southern hemisphere , a neutrino detector in ohio and the kamioka observatory in japan picked up a strong neutrino pulse . the achievement marked the debut of neutrino astronomy . dr . james w . cronin of the university of chicago , one of the nobel_laureates at the neutrino conference here , called the cuts in financing for the kamioka observatory alarming and said he would join in an appeal to the japanese government . another nobel prize winner here , dr . sheldon l . glashow of harvard_university , said support for physics research was endangered in many countries . ''sweden is threatening to withdraw from cern for financial reasons , '' he said , ''and that could have a ripple effect reducing the financial commitment of other european_nations to the coalition . '' cern , the acronym for europe 's high energy physics consortium , is building what will be the world 's most powerful accelerator , the large hadron collider , in a circular tunnel near geneva . congress canceled an even larger accelerator that had been under construction in texas , but , with american scientists still hoping to work at the cutting edge of particle research , the united_states has become a partner in building the european collider . major reductions in support of cern by european_nations could delay the new accelerator and other large programs , including those designed to explore the question of neutrino oscillations and mass . one such experiment would direct an intense beam of neutrinos from one of the cern accelerators near geneva through the ground about 450 miles to a neutrino detector inside a vehicular tunnel under the gran sasso mountain in northern_italy . the idea is to see whether any neutrinos change type during their long trip through the earth 's crust . ''sometimes the accidents of politics and economics help science , '' said dr . barry c . barish of the california_institute_of_technology , who uses a detector in the gran sasso tunnel . ''the tunnel was built because local politicians persuaded the government to appropriate a large sum for infrastructure , and there was a problem finding something to spend it on . the tunnel proved to be a boon for physicists who needed the mountain above it to shield their experiments from unwanted cosmic rays . '' american members of the super_kamiokande team said they planned to send a letter to the japanese government pleading for steady support of the observatory . ''american scientists greatly benefited from the japanese government 's generosity , '' dr . stone said . ''japan paid for most of the 100 million construction cost of super_kamiokande , and the united_states put up less than 10 percent , and yet american physicists make up half the research force . we hope the japanese government will allow uninterrupted operation of this great scientific instrument . ''	has a location of japan
camping is one thing , but akemi honda has been living in a tent for more than nine months , and the view out front is not of a majestic mountain vista but a muddy playground surrounded by buildings . mrs . honda and her family were among the 300 , 000 refugees who lost their homes in the great earthquake that shattered the port city of kobe in january , killing 6 , 055 people . in most respects , kobe has made a stunning recovery , and it is possible in some areas to look around without seeing any signs of the quake . yet while the refugee centers have closed and the port has reopened , mrs . honda and hundreds of others are still stuck in lean_to tents . " the government is n't helping us any more , and the volunteer workers have all gone home , " said mrs . honda , 50 , sitting in the " kitchen " area of her lean_to . rain pattered on the awning overhead and dripped through in places , while her 29 year old son lay snoozing on the floor . mrs . honda said her apartment building is scheduled to be refurbished and made habitable by the end of the year , so she hopes to go home soon . another family that lives with a pet dog in the same school , in a room that they commandeered and that no one has dared evict them from , has also found a new home , so the refugee population in the school will drop to just three families . compared with the initial devastation after the earthquake , the progress seems almost miraculous . rail and subway service has been restored , the harbor is steadily regaining its capacity , and most of the rubble has been carted away . to be sure , a leaning house occasionally topples over onto a road or a teetering shop collapses onto a sidewalk . but kobe residents blithely walk around the obstruction . the earthquake is estimated to have caused 10 billion in damage , and it will be almost a decade before kobe is entirely rebuilt . but officials assert that the city will then be better than ever , partly because planners have taken advantage of the catastrophe to widen roads a bit and add tiny green spaces . one tent resident , a middle_aged woman who would identify herself only as mrs . arimoto , offered a less enthusiastic assessment . she is still living with her family " tell them to go away , " her husband kept saying grumpily in a tiny blue tent in a schoolyard , and the living conditions seem to have taken a toll . " everything is a nuisance , " mrs . arimoto said grimly , but she added that she had no plans to leave . the authorities have offered her a temporary home , but it is an hour away . " we ca n't live there , " she insisted . " how could we get to work ? " the government has built more than 25 , 000 temporary huts for homeless families , but hundreds of people remain in tents or school buildings because they complain that the temporary homes are inadequate . although free , they are tiny an entire house is smaller than an average american living room and many are in remote areas . the city put some huts in public parks and on tennis courts , but now the only spots left are in remote areas an hour or more away from central kobe . public transportation often costs 15 for a round trip , and so families like the arimotos stay in tents in the hope that the authorities will offer something better . some spaces are opening up , in a morbid way , because death rates are high in the temporary homes . many of the occupants are elderly people who remain disoriented from the quake , and the local newspapers are full of reports of such people dying or even committing_suicide . one of the lucky ones is takeshi nakane , 60 , a trading company employee who has lived in a tent on a strip of grass since the earthquake . he scraped together enough cash to put a down payment on a 165 , 000 prefabricated house that is going up on the site of his former home . " we want to move in as soon as possible , probably in december , " mr . nakane said , beaming . " it 's already getting very cold at night here in the tent . "	has a location of japan
a few hours after arriving in japan , jets quarterback chad pennington ventured out for sushi with buccaneers center john wade , a former teammate of his at marshall . ''i was the guinea pig , '' pennington said . ''i had to taste everything before he 'd eat it . the whole time i was wondering , 'am i doing this right ? ''' the n.f.l . 's ambassadors to japan stepped into oz today with a bilingual news conference and tentative attempts by some to get out of the hotel and see the city before the american bowl_game between the jets and tampa_bay on saturday at the tokyo_dome . all the familiar signs of professional sports are here , as if transplanted directly from an american city in autumn autograph hounds albeit very polite ones in the hotel lobby and coaches who give cryptic answers when asked about game plans . but some things seemed to be lost in the translation . when the hotel elevator doors opened , all 317 pounds of the jets rookie defensive_tackle dewayne robertson stepped inside , in full uniform , causing a japanese family of four to cease talking and back farther into the elevator . robertson and others less adventurous than pennington wound up eating in a nearby mcdonald 's . saturday 's game is intended to promote the league throughout japan , but there clearly are still a few cultural chasms that have yet to be traversed . tampa_bay coach jon gruden unleashed his japanese ( ''domo arigato , '' meaning ''thank you'' ) during the news conference , and he joked that shinzo yamada , the japanese player who will join the bucs for the game , had saved the day because he was able to lead kicker martin gramatica to the restrooms at narita_airport . the story drew laughs from the english speaking reporters and , after it was translated , total silence from the japanese reporters . bucs defensive lineman warren sapp , one of the best known n.f.l . stars , was addressed by an american reporter based in japan as mr . wapp . and though everyone was astounded at how clean tokyo is , cuisine seemed to divide the players . as he had promised before leaving new york , jets center kevin mawae ate at the sizzler in the team hotel . ( ''go where you know , '' he said . ) but he said he hoped to ride an enormous roller_coaster that sat directly outside the hotel doors . ''we 've had no experience with the culture other than the language_barrier at the hotel , '' mawae said . pennington , however , not only ate sushi , but also agreed when a local television reporter asked if he would videotape an encouraging word for a japanese flag football team . at least both teams knew what they were doing for a few hours today as they practiced for the game ( 5 a.m . saturday , eastern time ) . practices took place in the tokyo_dome outfield , which sported a 50 yard grid . as soon as the jets finished , the grid was erased so a baseball game could be played there tonight . the jets practiced as full speed as they could under the conditions . later , jets coach herman edwards asked if the tampa_bay defense , which he once helped coach , could take it easy on the jets after the starters leave the game . edwards said that he wanted yoshi imoto , the japanese receiver who will play with the jets in this game only , to catch a pass . that should n't be a problem . none of the starters on either team are expected to play more than a few series saturday . that will give quarterback chris simms , the bucs' third round draft choice , the opportunity to play much of the second half . simms said today that he is passionate about getting the chance to prove the rest of the league wrong for passing on him in the draft . but first he was going shopping with a teammate , receiver keyshawn johnson , to find a pair of dress shoes for a jacket required reception . ''i get to hang with the blond bombshell he 'll be like beckham in a couple of minutes , '' said johnson , invoking the soccer megastar david_beckham , who is an icon in japan . the n.f.l . would love for its stars to achieve beckham like status here , but , as sapp can attest , they are not yet close . gruden responded to a question about the possibility of using trick plays in the game by saying ''a lot of plays are still in the laboratory . and they are n't ready for consumption yet . '' the n.f.l . must hope that in its 11th try , the american bowl in tokyo will move the league beyond that . extra points bucs linebacker derrick brooks , the defensive player of the year last season , did not make the trip because his mother , who lives in florida , is ill . pro_football	has a location of japan
already harshly_criticized for confusion in its earthquake relief effort in kobe , the government is now suffering the embarrassment of reports that japan 's largest organized_crime group is running a big operation to provide food and supplies to quake victims . for the fourth straight day , the yamaguchi gumi , a feared group of gangsters based in kobe , handed out food , water and diapers today to people in its devastated neighborhood . in japan , organized_crime groups operate largely in the open , and the operation , which is said to be more efficient than the government 's , has been a source of pride for the gangsters . toshio masaki , who described himself as the secretary to the crime family 's oyabun , or top boss , said in a telephone interview that the group was handing out 8 , 000 meals a day from a parking_lot next to its headquarters . the food includes bread , powdered milk , mineral_water and fresh eggs . he said the group was using motor scooters , boats and even a helicopter to move precious goods into and around the city , which has been nearly paralyzed by the quake damage and dangerously clogged roadways . in the difficult years after world_war_ii , the yakuza , as gangsters are known here , developed a reputation as street toughs with hearts , men who plied illegal trades but lent a hand to weaker neighbors . the police admit that they , too , relied on the yakuza to check random street violence and to control left_wing groups . in recent years the group has been engaged in increasingly violent activities , including killing bankers to whom it was indebted and engaging in deadly turf wars with rival groups . the police have said that extortion and fraudulent stock trading and real_estate deals have brought the group billions of dollars and vastly increased its power . for two years , the police have pushed a high profile campaign to break the group 's influence . that is why some have charged that the yamaguchi gumi , which the police say has 22 , 000 members , has used the relief operation as a self serving effort to burnish its reputation . mr . masaki rejected the charge . " the yakuza have a sense of chivalry , of public spiritedness , " he insisted . " we are available , and we have the ability to do this . i 'm satisfied that we are doing a good service . " newspapers have been filled with complaints about disorganization in government relief efforts . the prime_minister acknowledged on friday that the government 's response to the quake had been tardy . several commentators have pointed out that even though kobe is a major port , the authorities have apparently made little use of boats to avoid the clogged roadways . some ambassadors here have also complained privately that their governments' offers of assistance were ignored for days before the japanese responded . mr . masaki also criticized the government , saying that officials had been too concerned about protecting their reputations to help the quake victims . " even a government employee who came by today for some milk for his year old son was surprised by how many supplies we had in our parking_lot , " he said . mr . masaki said the yamaguchi gumi 's operation , which involves handouts of food to all comers twice a day , at 11 a.m . and 5 p.m. , would be expanded to a second site . " we 'll keep this up until the government can handle it , " he added . quake in japan gangsters	has a location of japan
six years ago , as the major_league playoffs dominated the attention of american baseball fans , bobby_valentine was asked about the potential impact of a player from japan . valentine , then managing the mets , said he believed the player was already one of the five best in the world . that player was ichiro_suzuki , who quickly proved valentine right by winning the american_league most valuable player award for seattle the next season . now , as the manager of the chiba_lotte_marines in japan , valentine has a more intimate knowledge of japanese talent . if his instincts are the same , then daisuke_matsuzaka will be the next big star in the majors . ''this guy is the real deal , '' valentine said last week in an e mail message . ''he has the ability to be one of the top starters in m.l.b . '' matsuzaka , a 26 year old right hander , was the most valuable player of the world_baseball_classic in march . his team , the seibu lions , gave him permission last week to pursue a career in the majors , and the yankees are among the teams expected to show strong interest . japanese players need nine seasons before becoming eligible for free_agency , but matsuzaka will be using the loophole suzuki and others have used . the lions will post him for blind bids by major_league teams . the team that bids the highest will get exclusive negotiating rights with matsuzaka for 30 days . if there is no deal within that window , the team 's buy in is returned and matsuzaka continues to play in japan . teams can begin bidding around nov . 1 . ''you 're trying to assess how much interest there really is in the player , '' said san_diego_padres general_manager kevin towers , speaking of the bidding process . ''it depends on how much you want the player . if you want him , you do n't want to make a lowball bid . but also , if there 's not a lot of interest , you do n't want to overpay . '' after the 2003 season , towers made a successful bid of 300 , 000 for the rights to reliever akinori otsuka . the matsuzaka bid should dwarf that figure . valentine predicted it would cost a team more than 20 million for the right to negotiate with matsuzaka . ( the mariners' winning bid for suzuki was 13 . 125 million . ) then the team must negotiate a contract with matsuzaka , who has leverage because he can return to japan and put off free_agency until next season , when all teams can talk with him . matsuzaka , who will surely command a high salary , is expected to name scott_boras as his agent soon . boras visited japan this summer to see matsuzaka . not surprisingly , he called him an ace who can dominate with his fastball . ''he can pitch upstairs in the strike_zone at 95 96 miles an hour , '' boras said . ''he 's in his mid 20 's , and he 's a strong , disciplined athlete . he certainly has no . 1 potential , no question . '' one scout who has seen matsuzaka extensively said his skills went beyond talent . the scout , who asked not to be identified , said matsuzaka had the competitive drive to battle out of jams . ''it 's not only his stuff his ability to pitch is even more impressive , '' the scout said . ''he 's a bulldog . '' the scout said that while matsuzaka could throw 95 miles an hour , his fastball was usually around 92 93 valentine described the fastball as ''a little above average . '' but matsuzaka 's command is excellent , his slider called a ''gyroball'' in japan is sharp , and valentine called his changeup devastating . matsuzaka will be on display again in the first week of november , when a contingent of major_leaguers , including carlos beltr n , jos_reyes and david wright of the mets and mike myers of the yankees , will play an exhibition series in japan . it will be still more work for a pitcher who was used heavily this season , perhaps because the lions expected to let him go . matsuzaka went 17 5 with a 2 . 13 earned_run_average and exceeded 120 pitches in 12 of his 25 regular season starts . in his final start , a shutout in the playoffs , he threw 137 pitches and had 13 strikeouts . as polished as matsuzaka is , valentine said , ''he lost a little this year . '' ''it was probably because of the w.b.c . , '' he said . ''he did have a few small injuries for the first time in his life . '' fans in japan are used to improbable feats from matsuzaka . he rose to fame in 1998 , when he led his high_school team to a national championship with a remarkable three days of work . on the first day , he threw 250 pitches over 17 innings . the next day , he played the outfield and recorded a save . the third day , he clinched the title with a nine inning no_hitter . by the next season , matsuzaka had joined the lions . according to time asia , the lions allowed him to attend that year 's braves yankees world_series at yankee_stadium while the other players were in training camp . the magazine called him the biggest draw in japan 's pacific_league . ''i 've never seen anything like it , '' reggie jefferson , an american then playing in japan , told the magazine . ''he 's like a rock star . '' matsuzaka went on to compete in two olympics for japan , and he is 108 60 in eight years with the lions . few seem to doubt that his skills will translate to the majors . while hideki_irabu and kaz matsui have been disappointments , most japanese stars tend to play as well or better than expected . that group includes tadahito iguchi , hideki_matsui , hideo_nomo and takashi saito , among others . ''for every one of them that 's struggled , you have stories like saito and otsuka , guys that probably were n't expected to do as well as they have , but have performed even better than what their clubs hoped , '' towers said . ''i do n't know how risky it really is anymore . most of those guys have come over and improved our game . '' the secret is out , and the price is going up . baseball	has a location of japan
computer researchers have fashioned infinitesimally tiny electronic switches using conventional chipmaking equipment , demonstrating that the semiconductor_industry will be able to continue shrinking its basic building blocks at a torrid pace at least until the end of this decade . at a technical conference being held this weekend in kyoto , japan , a scientist for the intel_corporation reported that the company had successfully made a handful of silicon transistors no more than 70 to 80 atoms wide and 3 atoms thick . they are capable of switching on and off 1.5 trillion times a second , making them the world 's fastest silicon transistor . although the lilliputian switches do not represent the smallest experimental transistors yet invented , they are being hailed by the industry as a watershed because they were made using standard commercial techniques and the same materials used in today 's microprocessors and memory chips . the achievement indicates that researchers have once again found a way around technical barriers that might have slowed or stopped the phenomenal four decade march that has led to the speed and power of today 's computers . ''this is a very good piece of technical work , '' said hon sum philip wong , an i.b.m . research scientist who presented a similar paper in japan this weekend focusing on related technical problems in building transistors three generations in the future . although semiconductor engineers can now predict with great accuracy the amount of computing power that the transistor advance will bring with it by 2007 , computer scientists cautioned that speculating about labor saving applications or dazzling technological consequences can be more risky . while the semiconductor manufacturing process underlying the modern microchip continues to improve steadily , specific new applications are frequently unpredictable . some of the most prominent advances of recent years for example the electronic wristwatch , the personal computer and the internet all largely came as surprises to experts . the research will make make possible computer processor chips with as many as one billion transistors and 20 gigahertz speeds . that is more than 23 times the number of transistors used in intel 's current state of the art pentium 4 microprocessor , which has 42 million transistors and is capable of executing 1.7 billion instructions a second . it will also make possible a generation of fingernail sized memory chips that can each store four billion bits of data more than 333 copies of ''moby dick . '' industry researchers said that shrinking the transistor size was a technical tour de force . ''it proves that intel is a technical heavyweight , '' said g . dan hutcheson , president of vlsi research , a semiconductor_industry research firm based in san_jose , calif . ''what intel does so well is take a technology that is not meant to be extendable and pushing it past its limits , making computing incredibly cost effective . '' moreover , the new chips will consume less than one volt of electricity perhaps less than half of today 's intel microprocessors making it likely that within half a decade the world 's fastest processors will be portable and perhaps even hand held . significantly , in an era when vast farms of internet and world_wide_web servers are being blamed for a share of the nation 's electrical power crunch , the intel scientists reported that the power consumption of each new generation of chips is shrinking more quickly than the computer power is increasing . indeed , the dwindling power requirement of the intel transistors represents one of the fortunate paradoxes of silicon based computing these transistors are able to switch on and off more than three times faster than today 's microprocessors while consuming only slightly more than half as much electricity . the intel technical paper , which was presented this weekend at the silicon nano electronics workshop in japan , comes as good news for an industry that in the last two years has been experiencing self doubt about the longevity of its guiding_principle , known as moore 's law . first noted by the intel pioneer and cofounder gordon e . moore in 1965 , the rule has held that the number of transistors that can be etched on a single chip of silicon doubles on average every 18 months . but engineers and physicists note there is nothing technically or physically inevitable in the continued shrinking of the fundamental size of electronic circuitry . indeed , as long ago as 1993 , dr . moore himself publicly voiced his doubts about the permanence of the progression that received his name . in a speech given in silicon_valley that year , he suggested that a process known as 0 . 25 micron might be the point at which the industry ran into fundamental physical limits . a micron is a millionth of a meter . nevertheless , chip_makers blew past the 0 . 25 micron size two generations of chips ago roughly four years and now use exotic optical techniques to manufacture the most advanced processors and memory chips , which are based on transistors with 0 . 13 micron technology . now intel scientists are saying that they can see their way at least three more generations into the future , to transistors with a 0 . 045 micron technology less than one fifth the size limit that dr . moore speculated about . ''everyone who predicts the end of moore 's law has always been wrong , '' said gerald marcyk , intel 's director of components research technology manufacturing group in hillsboro , ore . the new results are a dramatic contrast to a pessimistic article written by another intel researcher two years ago in the journal science . the intel scientist , paul a . packan , wrote that it was not clear whether the most common type of silicon transistor could be scaled down beyond the 0 . 13 micron generation of chips that began to appear last year , because semiconductor engineers had not found ways around basic physical limits . now that those potential physical limits have been surmounted , the researchers acknowledged they are in a realm where the switches are so small that arcane physical effects such as the quantum behavior of electrons become a factor , making chip building as much an art as a science . the intel scientists performed some ''heroic efforts'' to make a handful of transistors work , dr . marcyk said , adding that the specific methods used were intel manufacturing trade secrets . one of the principal challenges in creating these kinds of switches is that their smallest dimensions are much smaller than the wavelengths of light generated by the machines that etch patterns on silicon wafers . in conventional lithography , a mask is used with transparent areas and opaque areas , like a photographic negative . however , the light passing through the transparent areas bends slightly , leaving a slightly blurry image . as circuits shrink below the width of a lightwave , this becomes a profound problem . however , engineers have found a way to turn that manufacturing defect into a remarkably precise tool through a process called ''phase shifting , '' which makes use of interfering patterns of light to create ultrafine circuit lines . the semiconductor_industry 's technical road map has generally forecast that integrated_circuits will stay on their doubling path until 2014 . but doubters have continued to emerge , suggesting either that there will be insurmountable technical obstacles or that at some point the cost of each new generation of semiconductor factory will soar astronomically . the intel researchers said they had been faced with another challenge besides building ever tinier chips . dr . marcyk said that each time he presented his results to andrew s . grove , intel 's chairman and co founder , dr . grove insisted , ''i want you to show me the limit . '' ''i have to tell him , 'andy , i have n't found the limit yet , ' '' he said .	has a location of japan
the former world figure_skating champion midiro ito has applied for reinstatement that would make her eligible for future world_championships and the 1998 winter_olympics in her native japan . however , the biggest surprise on the list released yesterday by the international skating union was the omission of last year 's olympic gold medalist , oksana baiul of ukraine . ineligible skaters had until april 1 to apply , via their national federations , for reinstatement . during last month 's world_championships at birmingham , england , the i.s.u . tried to entice many of the sport 's big names to return by introducing prize money for all its competitions starting next season . ( ap ) sports people figure_skating	has a location of japan
we all know about george 's obsessions . he is often fixated with the mysterious gunslinger on the big horse who will ride into town and make everything all right . sometimes george does persuade the big guy to materialize , the way he did with reggie and catfish . sometimes the big guy spurns him , the way greg maddux and roger_clemens did . sometimes they are shooting blanks by the time they arrive in george 's corral . but he never stops trying . right now george is totally absorbed with a pitcher from japan named hideki_irabu , who may , in turn , be obsessed with pitching for the yankees . george is perfectly willing to spend the msg network 's television money and adidas' money and some talent to get irabu from san_diego , and he has no qualms about plunging his team into turmoil just before the season ( george would call it ''creative tension'' ) . while the yankees were rained out of a game in grambling , la . , yesterday , steinbrenner was in florida , perhaps even working on the irabu deal , which must be clarified in the next several days . normally , i would be skeptical about bringing in a pitcher from a foreign league , but i cannot help remembering last year , when the yankees won the world_series , and steinbrenner did not mess it up by making bad trades or shooting off his mouth , as he has done a few times in the past . is it possible george is on a psychic hot streak that leapt from 1996 right into 1997 ? last year he did not panic into sending mariano_rivera away in a trade . last year he was willing to upgrade the yankees by trading ruben sierra for the very expensive cecil_fielder . also last year , he forced his ''baseball people'' to bring in doc gooden and darryl_strawberry , using his intuition that these two guys had something left . he was also willing to live off somebody else 's magic in their case , the aura of the mets of the 1980 's . doc and darryl made huge contributions to the world championship . doc pitched well until his body ran out of gas and darryl played well at times , including in the field . just as important , they and david_cone , of course , took the heat off the newer , younger , more modest yankees . they knew how to act in a pennant race . steinbrenner 's tropism to sadder but wiser older guys helped pay off in rings for everybody . the boss hears that the burly 28 year old irabu can bust fastballs with the top 10 percent of major_league starters . george must also like irabu 's ultimatum that he will play for the yankees or nobody . the padres made their own little joke by saying they would accept derek_jeter as payment for the rights to irabu . everybody knows jeter is a classic yankee with the 1950 's stamped all over his body and his mind . now the padres seemed willing to take ricky ledee as payment for irabu , if steinbrenner dares give him up . ricky ledee surely looks like a player . he filled up most of the television screen during the yankees' first exhibition broadcast . ledee is the best chiseled yankee prospect since ruben rivera . since hensley meulens . since fred mcgriff . since willie mcgee . since roger repoz . since mickey_mantle . you see my point . it 's a gamble . while chasing irabu , the yankees are also considering a long contract for cecil_fielder , who has been nothing but duplicitous since helping to win the series . i say the yankees could live without fielder . he 's already ticked off the manager and the players . money is no big deal right now because steinbrenner arranged that 90 million , 10 year deal with adidas that his lawyers say is legal . and i would not count on major_league_baseball being able to get its act together to challenge george 's lawyers . the part i really like is phil knight of nike saying that baseball had blown it big time by allowing steinbrenner to make that deal . is knight not the same man who cooked up a similar deal with jerry jones of the dallas_cowboys ? this phil knight is now criticizing baseball and adidas and steinbrenner ? the man has chutzpah . he should worry about his sweatshops in asia producing goods that make michael_jordan and jerry rice and tiger woods even richer . it 's a bad time to be telling the boss what to do . the man won a world_series on instinct . what if he 's right about irabu ? sports of the times	has a location of japan
the white_house , beginning the arduous task of selling an accord to reduce emissions of climate altering gases , said today that it would not submit the proposed treaty for senate ratification until developing_countries agree to participate in the global environmental effort . but developing_countries at the global climate change conference that just ended in kyoto , japan , said they would not act until they see the rich countries succeed in cutting their own emissions . and many members of the senate are already saying it has no chance of passage . the accord is dependent on senate approval . at the insistence of china and other developing_countries , the kyoto conference imposed no requirements on newly industrialized_countries and created only limited mechanisms for their inclusion in global efforts to curb so called greenhouse_gases . the developing_countries delayed a compromise that would have allowed the united_states and other major polluters to buy or trade emission credits from countries whose emissions are within acceptable levels , and therefore avoid making significant cuts in emissions in a compressed time period . with senators denouncing the accord as not tough enough on developing_countries , the stage was set for a yearlong political fight with the clinton_administration , which has embraced the outlines of the deal . the developing_countries' objections provide mr . clinton with additional time to muster his arguments in favor of the treaty and an opportunity to portray himself as a defender of the united_states' interests . for the next year an election year he is in the risk free position of being able to make a strong pro environmental political pitch while not having to face a damaging vote in the senate . president_clinton defended the agreement as ''environmentally strong and economically sound , '' even as administration officials were admitting that its flaws made it unacceptable to the senate . mr . clinton is likely to either win credit for tackling a difficult problem or pay a huge political cost for misjudging the public 's appetite for sacrifice , even if doled out in small portions over many years . the outcome of the debate and the political impact on mr . clinton and vice_president gore are yet to be seen . but it is certain that congress and the american people will be subjected to millions of dollars worth of lobbying and advertising in the next months by powerful coalitions that support and oppose the proposed treaty . already , both sides are making sweeping claims about the dangers of global_warming and the high cost of proposed solutions . among the president 's most difficult jobs will be to help the public decipher those assertions and bring pressure on congress to take action on a matter over which there is still wide disagreement . ''the game is afoot , '' a senior white_house aide said today . in an appearance at a coast_guard station in miami , the president acknowledged that he faced the difficult political and diplomatic job of persuading the american people and leaders of developing_countries that the threat of global_warming is real and requires immediate action . ''there 's still a lot of challenges ahead , '' mr . clinton said . even if the countries that agreed to the targets set in kyoto begin taking steps to reduce so called greenhouse_gases that mainstream scientists believe are warming the earth 's atmosphere , concentrations of these emissions will continue to rise for many years . mr . clinton and others say that a potential catastrophe in the next century will be averted only by concerted global action beginning now to cut emissions . officials in washington said the administration would not put the treaty before the senate before 1999 at the earliest , after a meeting in buenos_aires late next year aimed at persuading developing_countries to accept the kyoto agreement 's limitations on emissions of greenhouse_gases . that timetable would also postpone some of the ratification debate beyond the 1998 congressional midterm_elections . president_clinton has until march 1999 to decide whether to sign the proposed agreement . ''as we have said from the very beginning , we will not submit this for ratification until there 's meaningful participation by key developing nations , '' vice_president gore said at a washington news conference today . administration officials did not define ' 'meaningful participation , '' saying that it was a matter for months of bilateral and multilateral discussions . mr . gore added that the administration had ruled out tax increases to meet the obligations of the treaty . and he said that the administration would soon propose a 5 billion package of tax incentives and research grants to move the country onto a more energy efficient path . one senior white_house official , who insisted on anonymity , said it was possible that the treaty would not be ready for submission to the senate during the remainder of mr . clinton 's term in office . despite the administration 's go slow approach , domestic opponents of the accord continued to rail against its terms , saying that it meant colder homes , a shrinking economy and higher gasoline prices . the house speaker , newt_gingrich , said the united_states ' 'surrendered'' to pressure in kyoto and called the proposed treaty ''an outrage . '' he said the accord would cripple the american economy . ''early reports from those in attendance indicate that on 10 critical issues such as cuts in emissions , future developing_country commitments and new u.s . commitments , we sacrificed the future well being of the country based on environmental correctness and inconclusive science , '' mr . gingrich said . ''it is profoundly wrong that approximately 134 countries were allowed to vote on a treaty by which they will not be bound . '' ''mr . president , '' the speaker asked , ''is this putting america 's interests first ? '' senator james m . inhofe , republican of oil rich oklahoma , called the kyoto accord ''a political , economic and national_security fiasco'' that will never be ratified by the senate in any form . mr . inhofe , in a news release , said that the failure to secure binding commitments from developing_countries meant that the agreement fell far short of the standard set in a 95 to 0 senate vote earlier this year . among its flaws , he said , was the lack of an exemption for military vehicles and operations . ''they went to kyoto determined to get a treaty for its own sake , regardless of the content , '' mr . inhofe said . ''what they have come back with is scientifically dubious , economically disastrous and militarily stupid . yet i do n't doubt their determination to try to make it all politically saleable . '' indeed , that is the challenge facing the president and the vice_president as the debate over global_warming moves into a new phase that will likely keep the issue before the public well into the 2000 presidential campaign . mr . clinton insisted that the united_states can make a start toward reducing its emissions without disrupting the economy or reducing the country 's standard of living . ''i see already the papers are full of people saying , 'the sky is falling , the sky is falling , it 's a terrible thing , ' '' mr . clinton said . ''every time we 've tried to improve the american environment in the last 25 or 30 years , somebody has predicted that it would wreck the economy . and the air is cleaner , the water is cleaner , the food supply is safer , there are fewer toxic_waste dumps . and the last time i checked , we had the lowest unemployment rate in 24 years . ''so do n't believe the skeptics'' mr . clinton said . ''give us a chance to make the case . '' congressional committees are preparing now for hearings next year on the kyoto accord and the broader question of the severity of the peril of global_warming and how to address it . senator richard_lugar , republican of indiana , the chairman of the senate agriculture committee , said united_states negotiators failed in kyoto to achieve any of their major objectives and came home with a document that makes unacceptable demands on the domestic economy for questionable benefits . mr . lugar compared the climate negotiations with mr . clinton 's defeat on ''fast track'' trade negotiating authority , which the house last month rejected because a majority of democrats did not believe the president 's promises to insure environmental and labor protections in future trade agreements . ''the president needs to spend some time explaining to the american people the validity of his arguments on global_warming , '' mr . lugar said . ''he did n't make the case on fast track and he has n't even begun to make the case on climate_change . and now he has to explain how the u.s . negotiators botched it in kyoto . '' mr . gore , whose presidential ambitions will hinge in part on how the public perceives his role in the global_warming debate , appeared mindful of the political risks of the coming months and made an effort to move the issue out of the partisan arena . in a white_house news conference , the vice_president said ''in the coming days and months , it will be critical that we avoid looking at this effort through a narrow political lens . too much is at stake . we must focus instead on the longer_term future of our planet and our economy , and on the health and well being of our families and communities . ''this is not a democratic or a republican problem , nor is it a problem for any one nation alone , '' mr . gore continued . ''it is a problem for the entire world . the stakes are simply too high , environmentally , economically and morally , for us to allow the special interests to get in the way of the common interests of all mankind . '' the climate accord the overview	has a location of japan
in a declaration of independence from the united_states space_program , japan today launched its first large rocket built solely with its own technology . the h 2 rocket , with " nippon " painted on its side , blasted off at 7 20 a.m . from tanegashima , an island in southern japan . the powerful but complex first stage engine , which was dogged during its development by explosions , fires and faulty welds , appeared to perform flawlessly , although complete data for evaluation are not yet available . japan , which did not launch its first satellite until a year after the united_states landed on the moon , now boasts one of the world 's most modern and powerful launching vehicles , albeit one of the most expensive . 'world class level' " after 10 years of development , we see the launch has been safely completed , " takashi matsui , vice_president of the national space development agency of japan , said at a news conference at the agency 's headquarters here . " at last , we have reached world class level . " the 164 foot rocket is the first one made by japan that can lift large communications and earth observing satellites into orbit , and will be used to hoist an unmanned space_shuttle that might be completed by early in the next century . moreover , freed from restrictions that came from relying on the united_states for rocket technology , japan will be able to compete in the commercial satellite launching business . it will also be able to orbit its own military reconnaisance satellites , an idea it has begun considering again recently so that it does not have to rely_solely on the united_states for information on crises like the threat from north_korea 's nuclear program . with so much riding on the h 2 , japan could ill afford a failure today . an accident would have damaged the credibility of tokyo 's budding space_program for a long time . news coverage limited still , for all the nail biting by japan 's space authorities , the public hardly seemed excited . the morning news showed live coverage of the liftoff for only a few minutes , paying far more attention to a broiling political controversy over proposed tax changes . after a two day delay in the launching caused by bad_weather and another one day postponement because of a minor technical problem , this morning 's liftoff was delayed for 20 minutes because a fishing boat was under the rocket 's flight path . while this was treated with some humor , the fishermen of tanegashima are actually a big headache for the space_program . because launchings interfere with fishing , the space agency will effectively be limited to only two h 2 launchings a year . that is one of the factors that are raising the costs of the rocket and will make it extremely difficult for japan to compete in the commercial satellite launching business . within half an hour of liftoff , the h 2 released its cargo of two test spacecraft . landing in the pacific one of them , known as the orbital re entry experiment , or orex , is designed to test ceramic tiles and other items that will be used to prevent japan 's space_shuttle from burning up as it re enters the atmosphere . the orex , which resembles a small flying saucer , circled the earth once and then successfully splashed down into the pacific_ocean , surviving the heat of re entry . agency officials said they still must analyze how well the ceramic tiles performed . the other craft is a test satellite that will operate only for about 100 hours , basically to confirm that the h 2 is capable of putting a satellite into orbit . the vehicle evaluation payload , as it is called , entered into an elliptical " transfer " orbit that is used to move satellites from low earth orbit into geosynchronous orbit , 22 , 300 miles above the earth . a satellite in such an orbit remains in the same position relative to the earth . development of the h 2 , which cost about 2 . 4 billion , represents the culmination of years of effort by japan 's space agency to wean itself from reliance on the american technology used in previous generations of rockets . " if we have no vehicle , it is like a navy without ships , " said shigebumi saito , former high_commissioner of japan 's space activities commission . for the first stage of the rocket , japan decided to develop a staged combustion cycle engine using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as fuel . the technology , also used in the engines that launch the american space_shuttle , provides great lifting power but is extremely complex . the h 2 can deliver a_4 , 400 pound satellite into geosynchronous orbit , 22 , 300 miles above the equator , or a 22 , 000 pound payload into low earth orbit , about 155 miles from the surface .	has a location of japan
lead the latest campus of the city_university of new york sits on a mountaintop in japan . the branch opened this month in chiyoda , a suburb about 25 miles southwest of hiroshima . the latest campus of the city_university of new york sits on a mountaintop in japan . the branch opened this month in chiyoda , a suburb about 25 miles southwest of hiroshima . the 50 million campus on 37 acres is being built and paid for entirely by japanese investors . it will primarily serve japanese students , but its academic program was developed and will be administered by herbert h . lehman_college in the bronx , part of the city_university . ''they wanted an american style college in japan , one that emphasizes flexibility , creativity and problem_solving , '' rather than the more rigid , rote style learning favored by japanese educators , said emita b . hill , vice_president of institutional advancement at lehman . lehman_college is the latest of four american colleges to establish a branch campus in japan , joining temple_university of philadelphia , the university of nevada at reno and southern illinois university . the minnesota state university system is scheduled to open a campus in japan next month . something special to offer officials at city universityy say lehman has something special to offer the japanese a wealth of experience in teaching students for whom english is a second language . ''we admit a lot of students with very little english at lehman , '' said robert carling , an english professor and director of the bronx office of cuny lehman at hiroshima . ''there 's no other college i know that could go into japan this quickly and be so ready . '' negotiations for the campus began about a year and a half ago when a representative of japan 's association for cultural exchange , on behalf of a millionaire businessman , tatsuo tanaka , approached lehman_college officials about creating a japanese twin to the 37 acre bronx campus . after several months of discussions , mr . tanaka and city_university officals reached agreement , but construction started in chiyoda even before the agreement was approved by the city_university 's board of trustees in january . a six story academic building , three dormitories and athletic facilities are being built . mr . tanaka , who is president of the nihon anaen kizai company ltd . , a manufacturer of road construction signs , put up most of the money to build the campus , professor carling said . in return for its educational expertise , lehman will receive 3 . 5 million from mr . tanaka over the next six years . 'an extraordinary opportunity' in the first year , about half the 30 member faculty in chiyoda will be from lehman , and a few lehman_college students will be granted scholarships to study in japan for a semester . ''for poor , minority and working_class students this represents an extraordinary opportunity , '' professor hill said . cuny lehman at hiroshima enrolled 300 students for the spring semester that began in april a total enrollment of 1 , 200 japanese students is planned . the campus will follow the traditional japanese academic calendar , with the first semester ending about july 31 and the second semester beginning in mid september and concluding at the end of january . the japanese campus will offer the same core_curriculum as the bronx campus , including natural sciences , social_sciences , humanities , computer science and english as a second language . all classes will be in english . after the two year program , the japanese students will be eligible to complete their degrees at lehman or at another city_university campus . in japan , where about 30 percent of the high_school graduates go to college , as against about 50 percent in the united_states , the school may be an option for students excluded from the highly competitive japanese system , professor carling said . the japanese students will pay an entrance_fee of 1 , 113 , plus tuition of 1 , 621 a year and nearly 500 in examination and facility fees annually . room and board will be extra . education	has a location of japan
when the city of nagano in central japan was competing against salt_lake_city to win the right to be host for the 1998 winter_olympics , it made a rash campaign promise . " in order to achieve full participation from all over the world , following the guidance of the i.o.c. , we are prepared to bear the transportation , meals and lodging expenses of all the delegations , " the city pledged in its formal bid to the international_olympic_committee . that promise helped nagano beat salt_lake_city , the front runner , by a mere four votes . but nagano is running short of funds and now says it will not pay all expenses after all . japanese officials deny that they are breaking their promise , or that they beat salt_lake_city with bait and switch tactics . instead , they note that costs have soared , and they say they simply cannot afford to pay all the costs . " we never thought of breaking our promise , " said fumio watanabe , the deputy director general of the nagano olympic organizing_committee . " we are basically making our utmost efforts in a sincere attempt to keep our promise on this point and others . " watanabe and other officials declined to say what proportion of travel expenses nagano would pay on the ground that this issue is now being negotiated . but they said that they would probably pay expenses only up to a cap for each country 's delegation . so far , japan 's plan to back out of its pledge has not stirred up much of a fuss , but the issue remains a sensitive one . the nagano committee agreed to an interview on the issue only with great reluctance , and it said that it would disclose the proportion of expenses it would cover only after negotiations with the i.o.c . are finished in another month or so . in addition , salt_lake_city is not in a mood to complain because last year it won the right to be host for the 2002 winter_olympics . the i.o.c . has no formal policy on general payments for expenses , according to mike moran , director of public information for the united_states_olympic_committee . the first host city to offer to pay travel and lodging expenses to all competing nations was calgary , alberta , in a successful bid for the 1988 winter_games . since then , the practice has been used as a bargaining_chip in the bidding process . but the definition of expenses has never been clear , and it is left to the host organizing_committee to make the final determination . the shortage of funds is hampering plans for the nagano olympics in other ways . a new ice_hockey stadium was originally supposed to have 12 , 000 seats , but that has been cut back to 8 , 100 plus standing room for 2 , 000 people . more fundamentally , the whole idea of nagano 's having the olympics no longer seems as heartwarming to japan as it did in 1991 . the city planned its bid when the country 's economy appeared much stronger . the economy has been stagnating since then , and the rise of the yen means that television rights sold in dollars will bring in fewer yen than organizers had thought . watanabe and a foreign ministry spokesman , ken shimanouchi , argued that nagano was not necessarily reneging on a promise . they said that the phrasing " expenses of all the delegations " did not necessarily mean " expenses of all the members of all the delegations . " as a result , shimanouchi said , japan 's credibility would not be affected as it bids for other international competitions . japan is vying fiercely with south_korea for the right to be host for soccer 's world_cup in 2002 . one of the two countries will be chosen june 1 to be the first asian nation to be the site of the world_cup . olympics	has a location of japan
hiroshi izuni 's grocery_store is still a mess , with puddles of congealed honey on the floor where jars shattered after the devastating earthquake last month , and his appearance is as frenetic and chaotic as his shop 's . " i 've got to open , i 've got to , " mr . izuni mumbled , casting a vicious glance at a competitor 's grocery_store across the narrow street . " look at him he 's already open . i 'm behind ! " all of kobe is busy rebuilding after the jan . 17 earthquake , which killed 5 , 250 people and left 270 , 000 living in refugee shelters , but nowhere is the pace quite so hectic as in chinatown . its shops and food stands were among the first to reopen , and so now japanese come from all over the city to buy cheap open air dim sum and fried rice . throngs of japanese stroll up and down the main_street of chinatown , which was not heavily damaged in the earthquake , giving the area the atmosphere of a carnival as they nibble on oranges from the fruit stands and line up for hot pork buns on sale on the street . traditional_chinese_medicine is popular in japan , and so japanese suffering from the ubiquitous local cold and flu_viruses are stocking up on chinese pharmaceuticals made from toad skin great for sore throats . " this will be the center of kobe now , " said tadakazu shimazu , a 49 year old japanese fruit distributor who operates on the edge of chinatown . mr . shimazu 's ancestors started the business on that spot more than a century ago , and chinatown grew up around it in the early and middle part of this century . with more than 10 , 000 people , kobe 's chinatown is now the second biggest in japan , after yokohama 's . if the quake was a test of relations between japanese and chinese , then kobe passed with flying colors , for by all accounts people from both groups cooperated in cleaning up and reopening chinatown . this is not the way things used to be . after the last big japanese earthquake , in tokyo in 1923 , rumors spread that koreans and other foreigners were poisoning the few remaining sources of water . angry mobs of japanese then swept through the city , battering to death 700 ethnic chinese along with a greater number of ethnic koreans . there still are some tensions between japanese and the ethnic koreans and ethnic chinese in japan . many japanese are genial in conversation about other asians in general , but less tolerant if you ask if their son in law is korean . some 200 , 000 ethnic chinese live in japan , or roughly one third the number of ethnic koreans . while in china many chinese are passionately anti japanese , there is far less animus among the chinese population in japan . partly that is because most of the chinese here came from taiwan rather than the mainland . taiwan is perhaps the one place that was occupied by japan that still harbors a measure of good feelings about those years . in chinatown , japanese and chinese live and work side by side , and relations seem very cordial . " we 're all the same , " said hiroko isozaki , a 53 year old japanese fishmonger who supplies chinese restaurants . asked whether intermarriage was common , she stiffened . " well , marriage is different , " she said . " there 's not so much of that . " mrs . isozaki 's chinese neighbors echoed her sentiments . " relations with the japanese here are pretty good , " said wong yui sang , a 45 year old store manager who normally sells blankets and clothing but now is also doing a booming business peddling bowls of dumplings outside the shop door . " after all , these days we 're all earthquake victims together . " mr . wong spoke in fluent but accented mandarin that underscores the neighborhood 's confused identity . his parents came from fujian_province , along china 's southeastern coast , but he carries a hong_kong passport . and he is most comfortable speaking japanese . most people in chinatown speak japanese these days , although the dialects of taiwanese , cantonese and mandarin are also used . some of the chinese , like mr . izuni , the grocer racing to open his shop , have even acquired japanese names and passports , for convenience and also to try to assimilate . " our kids go to chinese school , but their chinese is pretty bad even worse than ours , " said shi liantang , a manager of gun ai cantonese restaurant in chinatown , speaking in rusty mandarin . " all they want to do is speak japanese . " the chinese living in kobe were not particularly hard hit by the quake in contrast to ethnic koreans , who suffered more than any other group . only about 50 chinese were killed , and most of chinatown is made up of modern brick buildings that suffered little damage . as a result , chinatown and many of its businesses were able to reopen quickly . restaurants were unable to open their kitchens , because they have no gas or water , but they set up grills on the street . the fragrance of pork buns wafted throughout the area and drew crowds . " in all of kobe , " said mr . shi , the restaurant manager , " this is now the no . 1 hot spot . "	has a location of japan
for a decade or so , anime a high quality , sci_fi japanese cartoon film has been a college phenomenon , with computer clubs spinning off or turning into japanimation fan clubs and increasingly net savvy students putting up web_sites and sharing still shots from videos . it 's a fair bet the collegiate visionaries are about to get a lot of company . buena vista home entertainment , the distribution arm of disney , recently acquired a library of japanimation created by a man often hailed as ''the walt_disney of japan , '' hiyao miyazaki . eight already completed miyazaki films will head into the home_video market , and one currently in production , ''minonoke hime ( monster princess ) , '' will get a theatrical release this summer . and once that happens , could films with a grittier take , like mamoru oshii 's ''ghost in the shell , '' be far behind ? disney 's move is a logical step because of the growing fandom heavily_populated by primarily college age americans , who grew up on japanimation in their saturday morning cartoons , like ''gigantor , '' ''speed racer'' and ''voltran . '' in the 80 's , students picked up bootleg , unsubtitled videos at comic_book conventions and hustled them back to the dorm for pop and pretzel parties . ''it 's a big nerd thing , '' said b.j . johnson , a recent graduate of the cleveland institute of art . ''i 'm not going to deny it . '' the first foreshadowing of popular success came with the founding in 1988 of streamline pictures , a california company that brought anime ( pronounced ah nih may ) films for theatrical release to college and art house theaters . in 1990 , it scored a hit with ''akira , '' now regarded as a classic of the genre . mr . johnson saw it at the cinematheque at the art institute because the director there , john ewing , was one of growing number of curators who started programming japanimation weekends . ''we seat 616 , '' mr . ewing said , ''and the second time we showed 'akira , ' we came as close as we ever have to selling out . '' blackboard the reel world	has a location of japan
in the latest setback for the japanese space_program , the space agency said today that it would abandon its troubled h 2 rocket project , the cornerstone of the program , after a series of costly failures . the decision will delay the launchings of almost all japanese satellites for about a year and follows the failed launching last month of the no . 8 h 2 rocket , which plunged into the pacific shortly after takeoff because of engine trouble . in developing the rocket , japan sought to free itself from the restrictions that came with relying on the united_states for rocket technology and to compete in the commercial satellite launching market . but the national space development agency said it would immediately halt production of the no . 7 h 2 rocket , which is 90 percent complete at a cost of 160 million . the no . 7 rocket , which despite its designation was the last in the h 2 series , had been scheduled for launching with a communications_satellite next year . the agency said it would focus on the next generation of rocket , h 2a , which the agency said would benefit from past mistakes . the agency has invested 4 . 14 billion in the h 2 program , which began in 1986 , including 2 . 7 billion for development and 180 million for each launching . an aerospace analyst , fujio nakano , said the decision to shift focus to the h 2a was a good idea . ''with the past h 2 launches , '' mr . nakano said , ''we have already accumulated much valuable information that can be used in designing the new rocket model . considering that this is an investment toward the next generation rocket technology , 16 billion_yen is a small loss . '' that total equals 160 million . the credibility of the space effort was severely_damaged on nov . 15 , when the no . 8 h 2 rocket , carrying a government satellite , plunged into the ocean after the first stage engine stopped firing . that was the second h 2 rocket failure in two years . the lost rocket and satellite were valued at 340 million . the agency has not determined the cause of the failure . ''while we are still investigating the accident , we decided , considering the cost involved , that we should cancel the no . 7 h 2 and apply the savings and what we learn from the investigation to insuring a successful launching of the h 2a , '' said a spokesman for the agency , yasukuki fukumuro . mr . fukumuro said the agency would save 30 million by devoting its efforts solely to developing the h 2a , which he said has a more advanced engine and more power than its predecessor . the agency had planned the initial h 2a launching for early next year . but its debut will be delayed for a year to conduct additional ground tests , the agency said . the postponement , along with the cancellation of the no . 7 h 2 , will push back the launching of almost every satellite for at least a year . the agency said it planned to launch the first and second h 2a rockets , which are scheduled to carry a european_space_agency communications_satellite and japanese_military satellite , in the summer and winter of 2001 . mr . fukumuro said if the initial h 2a launchings were successful , the agency hoped to transfer the technology to the private_sector to fulfill the long term goal of launching commercial satellites . to be competitive , the japanese plan to offer customers steep discounts on launchings and build a reputation for reliability . the highly competitive launching industry is dominated by three major players , boeing 's delta rockets and lockheed_martin 's atlas rockets , both from the united_states , and ariane rockets made by arianespace , the european consortium . russia and china have small parts of the market .	has a location of japan
lead when flaviano melo , the young governor of acre , holds up his favorite map , it shows a new highway stretching west from the amazon rain_forest , across the peruvian andes and down to the pacific coast . there it joins a giant arrow pointing to japan . when flaviano melo , the young governor of acre , holds up his favorite map , it shows a new highway stretching west from the amazon rain_forest , across the peruvian andes and down to the pacific coast . there it joins a giant arrow pointing to japan . when environmentalists look at the same map , they see a road that will accelerate deforestation of the rain_forest by providing a new and shorter supply route for the world 's largest consumer of tropical hardwood . the 500 mile highway , which would link existing road systems in western brazil and neighboring peru , is still only a plan . but mr . melo has already begun negotiating financing for the 300 million project with the japanese government . an invitation to tokyo if built , the new route would open up huge tracts of mostly undisturbed rain_forest now reachable only through the vast grid of rivers that drain this western corner of the amazon . ''that road fits us like a glove , '' said mr . melo , explaining that the people of this isolated and poor state are currently unable to market forest products like wood , resin , rubber and nuts . ''if japan wants wood , we have it , and we can also think of selling our products to the rest of the world . '' demand for hardwoods japan 's new interest in the western amazon , which prompted it to invite governor melo to tokyo in late 1987 , reflects its enormous demand for tropical hardwoods used mainly in construction . as supplies are rapidly dwindling in the forests of southeast_asia , timber tradesmen said , japan and other importers have begun looking more carefully at brazil 's extraordinary untapped forestry reserves . later this month in brasilia , japan is financing a seminar for traders and foresters to discuss the future development of the tropical timber industry in latin_america . the region currently supplies only 5 percent of the world 's trade in tropical timber , most of it from brazil . tokyo 's interest in the highway has rapidly become the latest topic in a growing international debate about the impact that migration , development and deforestation are having on the amazon basin . protests from environmentalists as news of the project has leaked out , it has triggered protests from environmental groups in the united_states , europe and japan , who clamor for the protection of south_america 's great equatorial rain_forest because it anchors fragile soil , holds at least half of the earth 's animal and plant species and plays a vital role in world climate . alarm over the road project is heightened by a new and belated awareness of the devastation that has followed construction of other highways into the amazon basin , above all the br 364 , which sweeps northwest from cuiaba . more than a million migrants have moved up this road through mato grosso and rondonia in the last decade , and settlers and loggers have razed the jungle along its 880 mile route . here in rio branco , the far western city at the end of the road , the debate over the forest has gained added drama because it was near here that two months ago a well known leader of rubber tappers , francisco mendes , was murdered , apparently by cattle ranchers who felt threatened by his campaign to keep the forest intact . now , once again , the controversy over the new highway is pitting the pressures of migration and development against the interests of conservation , showing the dilemmas that brazilian federal and state authorities face as they seek to design a long term policy for the amazon . placed a tax on logs governor melo of acre is not an enemy of the forest . when he first moved into office two years ago , he stopped what he now calls the ''indiscriminate and uncontrolled'' cutting of valuable trees by putting a 100 percent tax on logs . most of these were destined for the united_states . infuriated lumber barons here threatened to kidnap the governor before a local court revoked the legality of the decree . ''in acre we are forest people and we have an interest in protecting it , '' said mr . melo , speaking in his office in a stately white mansion , a memento of the time when this small river port was at the heart of brazil 's rubber boom a century ago . today , rubber tapping and nut collecting remain the state 's main economic activity and acre depends on the federal_government for 85 percent of its income . but acre needs roads , mr . melo insisted , noting that its forest products now travel 2 , 800 miles of meandering rivers to reach the mouth of the amazon and the atlantic_coast . fuel , staples and other products not transported by air arrive here along the same staggering route . a road to peru is an old dream of this region , mr . melo continued . even if acre is connected to brazil 's road system , lima will still be only 1 , 000 miles away compared with the 2 , 500 miles to sao paulo and santos , its atlantic port . mud track in jungle the controversial route to the west now exists as a mud track through the jungle . it crosses a dozen rivers and is passable only a few weeks a year , leaving more than half the state 's 400 , 000 people isolated . rubber tappers , nut collectors and fishermen along the way complain that middlemen pay a pittance for their products because of transportation difficulties . the japanese plan for the exit to the pacific means paving a 500 mile stretch from rio branco to pucallpa in peru at a cost of 300 million . the close to 500 mile stretch across the andes from pucallpa to lima , although in poor condition , already exists . acre 's neighbors , the states of rondonia and mato grosso , have also started pressing for the project . both have timber to sell from their remaining stretches of rain_forest and mato grosso , after clearing jungle , has become one of the brazil 's main producers of meat , soybeans and other grains . with an outlet to the pacific , mato grosso 's governor has said the state can cut costs and compete with american grain exports to japan . on a recent trip south of rio branco , the one paved road toward xapuri and then to bolivia , offered a view now so familiar in the amazon on both sides , huge tracts of rain_forest had been felled and burned . its only occupants were charred trees and wandering cattle herds . safeguarding the forest inevitably , environmentalists fear that similar destruction will happen along a peru road , above all one conceived to export timber . ''in many ways this may be brazil 's last opportunity to show they can do things right in the amazon by putting in the proper protection beforehand , '' said thomas lovejoy of the smithsonian institution who has just visited rio branco . ''if not , it could be a final turning point . if 40 percent of the amazon is deforested , the rest may unravel , '' he said . researchers estimate that between 15 and 20 percent of the amazon 's primary forest has been cleared in the last two decades . an official of the international tropical timber association , which has its headquarters in japan , said that greater demand for amazon timber was almost inevitable . ''even if world consumption remains stable , indonesia and malaysia should run out of commercial species in the next two decades , '' the official said . mr . melo insists that he will declare forest reserves along the road to prevent penetration and , if given the funds , he will safeguard indian and rubber tappers' land . wood will be extracted , he added , only through careful forest management . studies due in march studies of the road 's economic viability and environmental impact are due in march , but mr . melo believes a contract with the japanese government 's overseas economic_development corporation and the construction may still be some time off . ''we had rather build the road now , because in my administration we will put in protection , '' mr . melo said . ''we do n't care who pays for the road but the japanese are the only ones that have shown interest . '' the world_bank and the inter american development bank , which have been severely criticized for their financing of portions of the road into the western amazon that brought huge forest devastation further to the south , have not discussed the road to peru .	has a location of japan
the governor of tokyo has set off a swell of criticism in diplomatic circles and foreign communities here by saying that immigrants in japan , mainly people of korean and chinese descent , were quite likely to riot after a major earthquake . the governor , shintaro_ishihara , called on the military to be prepared to maintain order in such an uprising . much to the shock and dismay of many japanese and foreigners , mr . ishihara referred to immigrants as sangokujin , a derogatory term used here after the country had been defeated in world_war_ii , to tell korean and chinese residents to leave . ''atrocious crimes have been committed again and again by sangokujin and other foreigners , '' mr . ishihara said over the weekend at a ceremony of the ground self_defense force , the japanese equivalent of an army . ''we can expect them to riot in the event of a disastrous earthquake . '' ''sangokujin'' literally means people from third countries , and it was used , not as an insult , by the allied forces that occupied japan to refer to people who were not japanese or from the occupying forces . but the japanese gave the word a xenophobic twist , and it is rarely used today , except as a sharp insult . ''police have their limits , '' mr . ishihara said . ''i hope you will not only fight against disasters , but also maintain public security on such occasions . i hope you will show the japanese people and the tokyo people what the military is for in a state . '' the comments were particularly painful to many koreans who live here because they revived memories of the racial violence that flared after an earthquake struck tokyo and yokohama in 1923 , killing 97 , 000 people . korean residents were blamed for setting fires and looting , and several thousand ethnic koreans in those cities were massacred by japanese . ''these remarks bring the nightmare home to us of the groundless , hostile rumor of the 1923 earthquake by which many innocent comrades were victimized just because they were foreigners , '' the korean resident union in japan , which represents 600 , 000 south koreans , said in a statement . ''the comment is also something that has the potential to ruin friendships between many japanese and many foreign residents in japan who had hoped to create a society in which they can coexist . '' the political minister for the south_korean embassy in tokyo , chu kyu ho , said although mr . ishihara 's remarks were not too likely to sour the current good relations between the countries , he had damaged japan 's reputation internationally . ''i hope that the japanese people will disavow his remarks , because they are so inappropriate and so ridiculous , '' mr . chu said . ''but what really worries me is that many japanese do n't know their own history and may not even understand what 's behind this sort of remark . '' many korean residents are descendants of koreans who were forcibly brought here to work in japan 's colonization of the korean_peninsula in the early part of the 1900 's . choe kwan ik , deputy director of international affairs for the general association of korean residents in japan , which represents displaced north koreans in japan , said until japan apologized for its atrocities and made reparations , its officials would continue to make comments like mr . ishihara 's . south_korean and chinese have long expressed concern that mr . ishihara , who was elected last april , would use his position as leader of japan 's most populous region as a stage to promote his nationalist views . a spokesman for mr . ishihara said he was traveling today and would have no comment . the outspoken governor , who is best known for his book , ''the japan that can say no , '' has in the past called for japan to develop nuclear_weapons and dismissed the rape of nanking in 1937 , when japanese troops killed tens of thousands of chinese , as a lie . sociologists and political analysts noted that mr . ishihara commented as an undercurrent of intolerance for foreigners in japanese society is growing and when the country is suffering from a sharp decline in its economy and population , forcing it to rely increasingly on immigrants to get by .	has a location of japan
tamio arima sat in the chilly hall of an elementary_school and seemed overwhelmed , not by the debris of the buildings that had crumbled around him , but by the size of his losses . " all i can see in my future is darkness , " said mr . arima , a 47 year old businessman . " i 've lost everything , and i must support my wife and daughter . i ca n't imagine what i 'm going to do . i do n't even have my own place to sleep in now . " when the catastrophic earthquake struck tuesday morning , mr . arima rushed outside in his underclothes and comforted a tenant from the neighboring building , which he owned . a moment later he realized that his brother , who lived in the building , had been buried under mounds of debris after the second floor sank suddenly into the first floor . " he probably did n't even have time to cry out , " said mr . arima , as he sat in a crowded shelter near the heart of kobe with those he had left his wife , his daughter and two dogs . the body of mr . arima 's brother , 56 year old hideo , was nearby , in a classroom now called the " room of peaceful spirits . " the room , marked by a paper sign on the frosted glass door window , contains 23 coffins . in the vast gymnasium of tsuto elementary_school , where mr . arima and about 550 others sought refuge on tuesday evening , the young and the old left their shoes at the entryway and huddled together on futon mats . they said that while they had prepared for such a nightmare , they had never quite believed it would actually occur . " i 've been here 45 years and this is the first time i 've ever seen something as terrible as this , " said tsuneo suga , head of the local assembly , as he waited for more bodies to be brought in , the wooden coffins transforming a couple of dank classrooms into a morgue . the victims dealt with their pain in different ways . hisao kawasomeru brought his brandy bottle to the shelter , " to warm up inside , " he said , as he huddled in a blanket . some seemed to want to talk about their experiences , while others needed solitude . " get out of here , " the relative of one of the dead said gruffly as he stood watch outside the room of peaceful spirits . " go away ! " throughout kobe and the vicinity , roads have cracked in half , and traffic moves like one long centipede , inching up the small peaks and down the tiny valleys created by the shifts in the cement . officials halted delivery of natural_gas a major source of heat in this nearly freezing city , to limit fires . the smell of gas filled the air in pockets around the city but already large areas are in flames . the pillars of smoke fill the sky and can be seen from as far away as the neighboring city of osaka , japan 's third largest city , 20 miles away . while osaka was spared the raging fires and collapsed buildings of kobe , it too was shaken by the quake . " i woke up and peered into my kitchen , and my dishes were scattered all over the floor , " said masumitsu suzaki , a 54 year old osaka resident . " there was no place to stand . " while osaka still hummed with commerce , it also buzzed with words of horror and sadness over the calamity next door . a one mile segment of the four lane hanshin expressway , a main artery between osaka and kobe , collapsed , leaving a long stretch of cement slab keeled over on its edge . a dozen or so of its supporting pillars had been yanked out of the street below and lay prone like gigantic uprooted trees . the entire roadway looked like a toy set that a child had knocked over in a tantrum . along many narrow streets on the way to kobe , store fronts had caved in , houses had toppled over onto the sidewalks , and telephone poles had been knocked down . glass windows from store displays had shattered , adding glass fragments to broken roads . the display windows of a nissan automobile showroom had shattered , exposing half a dozen shiny cars , and signs written in square japanese characters ended up as broken blocks on the ground . there was no sign of any looting . the side of one eight story building had peeled off , so that it resembled an open doll house . the itami railroad station had buckled under the weight of two trains that had been parked on the second floor of the station when the quake occurred . all the stores underneath crumbled and several people died , according to a policeman . with the three main arteries leading into kobe shut down from collapse or debris , it was possible to reach kobe only on small side roads . these are now clogged with passenger cars filled with distraught relatives , all clamoring to get into kobe to check on their families . in kobe itself , the shock is universal . " my whole building was swinging , and i felt like i was on the rough seas , like i was on a moving ship , " said yuichi nishikawa , a 35 year old computer software_engineer who lives on the 21st floor of a 40 story building in the eastern part of kobe . " the g g g eeking sounds of the quake terrified me , and i saw cracks in the walls . " mr . nishikawa spent the entire day finding relatives he reached everyone except his wife 's parents and trying to pry open the sunken door of his parents' home . aside from their house , all but two homes on the block had collapsed . one american , david white , a businessman from cincinnati , was caught during the quake on the 15th floor of the kobe sheraton_hotel . he was in kobe to discuss business with proctor gamble , which has an office next door . " i bounced up and down and out of the bed , " he said . " i was terrified . " he and a couple of dozen guests from the hotel tried to leave kobe but failed to find taxis or buses to ferry them out of the area . train and bus service was halted in the area . masayoshi ogawa , 54 , took his first day off in 27 years , from his work as a manager at a steel company on the island of kyushu in western japan , to travel to the kobe area to help out his mother and relatives . mr . ogawa hardly expected that his journey would take him 14 hours , including a four hour wait for a cab at the osaka airport , and a hazardous drive down cracked roads and over quake split bridges . mr . ogawa had been able to reach some of his relatives and he knew that his mother was fine , but he worried about his aunt . local telephone lines were jammed , and electrical blackouts in the kobe area rendered many phones useless . a thin man who shivered in a light cotton jacket , mr . ogawa reached his relatives by telephone . in one case his cousin in germany was able to dial into kobe more successfully than he was , dialing within japan . when he reached kobe , he learned that his aunt 's two story wooden house had completely collapsed , taking with it her supply of coffee beans , which she sells out of a portion of her apartment she had converted into a store . but she had survived , relatives assured him . " until i see with my own eyes how she 's doing , " he said , " i 'll be worried . " how to help quake victims by the associated press the american_red_cross , p.o . box 37243 , washington , d.c. , 20013 . ( 800 ) 842 2200 . american jewish world service , 15 west 26th st . , 9th floor , new york , n.y . 10010 . ( 212 ) 683 1161 . americares , 161 cherry st . , new canaan , conn . 06840 . ( 800 ) 486 4357 . disaster relief fund of b'nai_b'rith , 1640 rhode_island ave . n.w. , washington , d.c. , 20036 . ( 202 ) 857 6582 . lutheran world relief , 390 park ave . south , new york , n.y. , 10016 . ( 800 ) 597 5972 . the presiding bishop 's fund for world relief episcopal_church , 815 second ave . , new york , n.y . 10017 . ( 212 ) 922 5144 . salvation_army , 615 slaters lane , alexandria , va . , 22313 . ( 703 ) 684 5500 . union of orthodox_jewish congregations of america . checks may be made out to " orthodox union , " 333 seventh ave . , new york , n.y. , 10001 ( 212 ) 563 4000 . world relief , p.o . box wrc , wheaton ill . , 60189 . ( 800 ) 535 5433 . quake in japan the scene	has a location of japan
the asian board game of go was the game of the samurai . among noble accomplishments for chinese gentlemen , go ranked with calligraphy , poetry and music . for centuries , go has been used as a tool to teach military_strategy . it is the game from which japanese businessmen draw metaphors . now go is on the internet , and the ancient game 's relatively sudden encounter with modernity has produced a microcosm of the tension that exists between virtual worlds and the real one . go players can now log onto a computer and play 24 hours a day . the advent of on line go has erased barriers of language and distance , while lifting the game from obscurity in the united_states . at the same time , the on line version of the game comes at the expense of many traditions surrounding its play . in this country , some local go clubs , the lifeblood of the go playing world , are suffering a decline in membership as more people play from their homes via computer . go originated in china sometime around 2300 b.c . and was later adopted by korea and japan . the game is played on a board divided into a grid by 19 horizontal and 19 vertical lines . black and white pieces called stones are placed on the intersections of the grid . the object is to win and defend territory by surrounding it with stones . go is an easy game to learn to play , but it is extremely difficult to master . ''i can teach you the rules in 20 minutes , but the strategy will take a lifetime , '' said david saunders , a lawyer in new york who is an avid player . go is often compared with chess , another game of skill and strategy , but go players are careful to distinguish between the two . they view chess as one big bloody skirmish , and go as an endlessly complex process of negotiating for territory . in china , japan and korea , go is a national pastime , and millions of people play . the united_states , by comparison , has relatively few players . the american go association has just 1 , 300 members . the largest and most popular virtual venue for playing go is the internet go server , or i.g.s. , ( at igs . joyjoy . net on the web ) where hundreds of people amateurs and professionals alike from around the world play some 4 , 500 games each day . now owned by nkb , a japanese communications company , i.g.s . was created in 1992 by two american go players , tim casey and mark okada . the i.g.s . server is in tokyo , and mr . casey and mr . okada do their administrative work from northern_california . as internet connections in asia have grown more reliable , the popularity of i.g.s . and other go servers has soared . usually at least 250 people are logged on to i.g.s . at any one time . at night in the united_states , as people in asia are starting their day , the server really comes to life , with as many as 700 players logged on at once . face to face games are surrounded by ritual . before a game in japan , the weaker player says , ''dozo o ne gai itashi masu'' ( ''please teach me'' ) , to the stronger player , accompanied by a slight bow . by comparison , i.g.s . has all the ambience and decorum of a singles bar . ''fast game , anyone ? '' flashes onto the computer screen in ' 'shout'' mode , for all to see . some non english speakers simply send a computer generated match request to another player . banter , some of it related to go and some of it not , is continuous . face to face games can last for hours . every game on i.g.s . is timed , and many people who play on the server say their games last about 45 minutes . at a local go club , when two professionals play , the handful of spectators are careful to remain quiet and discreet . if two well known professionals are playing on i.g.s. , there can be 500 people watching and typing their commentary , which is often very blunt , into a separate kibitzing channel . the players cannot see the comments . for all its intellectual rigor , go is also very tactile , and its esthetics are carefully prescribed . the board , often made of a japanese fir like wood called katsura , is a source of pride to its owner , as are the stones , made of slate and clamshell . before being played , each stone is held with practiced precision between the forefinger and middle finger , and it is placed on the board with an equally practiced , satisfying clap . all of that contributes to what players describe as the delight of the game . ''there 's a lot of pleasure in having that big whap as you put the stone down feel just right , '' said lloyd gowen , a longtime player who is president of the san_francisco go club . as cyberspace eliminates these dimensions of the game , however , it adds others . perhaps the biggest appeal of on line go is its convenience . ''you can play go in your shorts at 3 a.m. , if that 's your pleasure , '' said mr . saunders , who uses the screen name dsaun on i.g.s . mr . saunders is helping to start a scholarship for on line lessons for those who cannot afford professional go lessons . ''you can find people your level or stronger or watch people of professional strength 24 hours a day , '' he said . ''it 's a larger universe of players than any local go club has . '' as a result , more players opt to play from home rather than drive to their local go club . ''a lot of stronger players have stopped going to local clubs because it 's difficult for them to get a good game , '' said mr . okada , a strong player himself whose i.g.s . handle is simply tweet . ''a lot of them are playing on line because there 's a stronger variety of players to play with . '' phil straus , 47 , the former president of the american go association , discovered i.g.s . in 1993 . ''suddenly i was able to play people at any strength i wanted 24 hours a day , 7 days a week , '' he said . even with the arrival of a a new go club within walking distance of his house , mr . straus said , he prefers to play on i.g.s . ''it 's harder to get away than to find half an hour to play someone on i.g.s . , '' he said . he jian , a 26 year old player in hangzhou , in eastern china , said he still played a three hour face to face game with a friend every weekend but had grown addicted to playing on i.g.s . since he registered last july . he pays 30 a month for his internet connection , one fifth his monthly salary . paul celmer , 34 , a player who helped organize the go club in chapel_hill , n.c. , laments the trend away from face to face play . ''it has hurt the intangibles , the romance of the game , '' he said . further , mr . celmer said , local players no longer show up at area tournaments . mr . celmer recounted the lonely tale of yoshiteru suzuki , one of the strongest players in the area , who started a go club there last year . ''there have been times when i have been the only person at his club , '' mr . celmer said . ''here is a man willing to share his time and formidable skill , yet most do not want to be inconvenienced by the time it would take to drive to his club . this lack of interest would never have happened in the days before the internet , i assure you . suzuki 's time and skill would have been as precious as gold . '' at the same time , on line go is helping to attract players who might not otherwise be interested . susan weir , an avid go player and a strong proponent of the cognitive benefits of go playing , teaches the game to fourth and fifth graders in public schools in ann_arbor , mich . on the first friday of every month , ms . weir runs a ''cybercamp'' in which children from around the nation meet on i.g.s . to play each other . with the growing popularity of go among young people , ms . weir has started a weeklong summer go camp on the michigan shore , the first of its kind in the united_states . at the camp , only face to face games are played . on line playing has introduced to the go playing world a new set of troubles , which may be intrinsic to on line life but have stripped the game of much of its dignity . cheaters players who consult books or have someone sitting in for them are one problem . so called escapers people who vanish into cyberspace as soon as they start losing are another . to cope with the problem of escapers , the i.g.s . administrators imposed a new rule if an interrupted game is not completed within 30 days , the person who dropped out takes a loss . ''you see lots of shenanigans , '' mr . okada said . ''it 's no different from other corners of cyberspace but still out of character for the go playing world . '' whether on line or off , go playing is likely to remain human to human for many years to come . unlike chess , go has yet to succumb to the computational muscle that helped deep blue , a chess playing computer , beat the world 's best chess player in 1997 . an expert go playing computer program must be able not only to analyze moves but also to recognize complex patterns . piet hut , an astrophysicist at the institute for advanced study in princeton , n.j. , and a fan of the game , said it could be several decades before a computer could beat an expert human player at go . i.g.s . is n't for everyone . for one thing , internet connections are still expensive in some parts of asia , especially china , where 20 to 30 people often share one i.g.s . account . for elderly retirees in japan , who are among go 's most avid players and have no trouble finding an opponent , the internet is not just unwanted but unnecessary . for others , like philip w . anderson , a nobel_prize winning physicist at princeton_university , i.g.s . is simply a bad fit . dr . anderson has played go for 45 years and began playing on line four years ago . ''i find playing on the net very frustrating because i do n't visualize patterns well on the small screen , '' he said . ''and i think i play a couple of ranks below my true strength as judged by nonvirtual games . '' thomas hsiang , an engineering professor at the university of rochester who is one of the strongest amateur players in this country , said i.g.s . had improved his game , mostly because of the ease with which he can observe professionals' games and play against stronger players . but playing on the net , he said , has also encouraged some bad habits . ''internet games tend to be fast , '' dr . hsiang said . ''one major disadvantage is the tendency to play sloppily . '' earlier this year , dr . hsiang represented the united_states in the world amateur championship in tokyo . dr . hsiang held his own quite well in the first seven rounds , he said . winning his final game would have made him the third ranked amateur in the world . but while he was leading by a wide margin , he made a careless mistake and lost . ''this can be attributed to my net habit , '' dr . hsiang said . ''but , of course , if i had not been practicing on the net , i would probably have never gotten that far . '' players like dr . hsiang still show up at the big tournaments . at next year 's annual go congress , to be held in san_francisco in july , as many as 400 people are expected to attend . ''people still get a charge out of face to face contact , conversations and direct , over the board competition , '' mr . straus said . ''that says to me that people have a craving for physical community . '' finding a game lots of places to play or watch the internet go server , or i.g.s. , is the jones beach of virtual go parlors . it 's wall to wall players . at peak times , as many as 700 people can be logged on at once , some flexing their muscles , others just lounging around and taking in the scene . still , it is relatively easy to carve out a spot for yourself . you can take an on line lesson or watch one . you can observe a match between professional players or watch a replay of an old match . it is also very easy to find someone of your strength to play with . you can reach i.g.s . with the telnet command . ( windows 95 , 98 and nt machines have telnet software already installed , but macintosh computers do not . ) telnet software is also available on the web . a variety of windows telnet programs are listed at www . davecentral . com telnetclnt . html , and macintosh programs can be found at www . cstone . net rbraun mac telnet and www . macatawa . org mthomas telnet . html . to play the game with a realistic picture of a go board , download software from the i.g.s . web_site ( igs . joyjoy . net ) . then connect via telnet by typing in the host name igs . joyjoy . net 6969 . i.g.s . is free for all players outside japan . most players in japan must pay 20 a month , or 2 per game . if you 're looking for a less crowded spot than i.g.s . for your go match , there is yahoo 's gaming area , games . yahoo . com , which uses a java based applet for playing . go is also available at microsoft 's msn gaming zone , zone . msn . com . the yahoo and microsoft sites are not for serious go players . unlike i.g.s. , they have no rating system , and there are no official tournaments . that 's good for rank beginners , who might feel a bit intimidated by the i.g.s . crowd . there are also several i.g.s . lookalikes , accessible through telnet . one , called the no name go server , or n.n.g.s. , is available by telnetting to nngs . cosmic . org 9696 . it looks exactly like i.g.s. , but far fewer players go there .	has a location of japan
the yankees were pleased with their foray into japan last winter , when they signed outfielder hideki_matsui , and they may be poised to recruit more talent from there . the star infielder kazuo_matsui interests the yankees and will begin negotiating with major_league teams soon . in the meantime , the yankees have met with shingo takatsu , the career saves leader in japan . takatsu , a sidearming right hander who had 34 saves for the yakult swallows last season , met with general_manager brian_cashman at yankee_stadium on wednesday . takatsu , who turns 35 on tuesday , would be a low cost alternative to the other free_agent setup men who interest the yankees tom gordon , shigetoshi hasegawa and latroy hawkins . ''brian made it very clear that shingo is somebody he 's very interested in , '' takatsu 's agent , joe urbon , said . ''he certainly would n't be a closer i do n't think he expects to come over here and close for many clubs . but brian made it clear he would fit very well . the yankees are going to explore their options , shingo being one of them . '' urbon said that the yankees did not make an offer and that takatsu had a one year , 2 . 4 million offer to return to the swallows next season . although gordon , hasegawa and hawkins will probably command much more money , takatsu 's expectations are realistic , urbon said . ''his preference by far is to come over here , '' urbon said . ''he would take a discount to do it . '' takatsu , who returned to japan after the meeting , ran into manager joe_torre and hideki_matsui at yankee_stadium . urbon said matsui , who was working out , chatted with takatsu for about five minutes . takatsu has spent 13 seasons with the swallows and has 260 saves . he has saved at least 29 games in each of the past five seasons , with a high of 37 saves in 2001 . he had a 3 . 00 earned_run_average last season . takatsu is a ground ball pitcher , not a hard thrower like gordon or hawkins . but one major_league scout who has watched him said takatsu could make a successful transition . ''thirty four saves , no matter what league you 're playing in , is pretty good , '' the scout said . ''he 's a strike thrower , and he 's gotten big outs throughout his career with his sinker . his delivery is a little unorthodox , which might make a few hitters nervous because of the different angles and different style . '' urbon said he had spoken with 15 teams about takatsu . but kazuo_matsui will undoubtedly attract more interest . matsui , who is not related to hideki , is expected to start talking with teams next week and has said he will hire arn tellem as his agent . tellem represented three free agents the yankees have recently signed mike_mussina , jason giambi and hideki_matsui but that relationship will mean nothing if kazuo_matsui insists on playing shortstop . ''some people say miguel tejada is a better player than matsui , but they 've never seen matsui play , '' the scout said . tejada is a free_agent after seven seasons with oakland . ''tejada has more power , but i do n't think you 'll see any drop off defensively with matsui . he has such quickness and agility and athleticism , and he may even be a shade better than tejada , over all . '' the switch hitting matsui , 28 , is a . 309 career hitter who has stolen as many as 62 bases in a season . he is expected to draw more bidders than hideki_matsui , who never really considered any team besides the yankees . kazuo_matsui , who has a flashier personality than hideki_matsui , must also decide whether he wants to be the only japanese player on his team and whether he wants to play on the west_coast , where most japanese players have signed . the dodgers , the angels and the mariners are among the west_coast teams expected to pursue matsui , and while the yankees and the mets are interested , they have other issues to resolve . the yankees have derek_jeter at shortstop and would have to accommodate matsui at third base , replacing aaron boone , or at second base . alfonso_soriano would have to move to the outfield or be traded . the mets might have to ask their best young player , shortstop jos_reyes , to switch positions . matsui said at a tokyo news conference on monday that he might play another position if he were to lose a competition to start at shortstop . one official of a team interested in him took that to mean that matsui would not sign unless given a chance to play shortstop . matsui is one of the finer defensive shortstops in japan , and he will have several other adjustments no matter where he signs . ''if you can play shortstop , you can usually play everywhere , '' the scout said . ''but now you 're dealing with not only a new position , but a new league and a new culture . that 's a lot of things to overcome . '' inside pitch the free_agent outfielder gary_sheffield is intrigued by the idea of playing for the yankees , but the braves have made an offer to re sign him and sheffield has not ruled out a return to atlanta . ''gary has enjoyed atlanta , and atlanta is very much a possibility , '' said sheffield 's agent , rufus williams . sheffield saw the yankees' principal owner , george_steinbrenner , two weeks ago while having dinner with braves officials in tampa , fla . , but steinbrenner and sheffield have not met formally . . . . while it still seems as if andy_pettitte will sign with the yankees or the houston_astros , another team is in the mix . one baseball official said yesterday that the philadelphia_phillies had contacted pettitte 's agents . philadelphia , which is also pursuing the free_agent bartolo col n , nearly acquired pettitte in a trade in 1999 . baseball	has a location of japan
lead a strong earthquake rocked the tokyo region this morning , killing 2 people , injuring 10 and causing buildings to sway violently for several minutes , authorities said . a strong earthquake rocked the tokyo region this morning , killing 2 people , injuring 10 and causing buildings to sway violently for several minutes , authorities said . the quake measured a preliminary 6.6 on the richter_scale , the central meteorological agency said . the national earthquake information center in boulder , colo . , said the u.s . geological_survey gauged it at 6.1 . a quake registering 6 can cause severe damage , while a quake of 7 can cause widespread , heavy damage . telephone service was disrupted in some parts of tokyo and train service was halted briefly , but the national_police_agency said there were no immediate reports of widespread damage . the quake was strongest in chiba prefecture , just east of tokyo . a chiba police spokesman , susumu mochihara , said a 32 year old woman , mami awano , was killed when a statue fell on her . he said a stone wall also collapsed , killing another unidentified woman and seriously wounding a companion . a spokesman for the tokyo fire department , kimiya ishida , said at least nine people were hurt in central tokyo , most of them hit by falling objects . he said most of the injuries were minor . a resident of the city of kimitsu in chiba prefecture reported that an apartment building had collapsed , but there was no immediate confirmation or information about possible injuries .	has a location of japan
lead lou_gehrig 's consecutive game record in baseball , achieved from 1925 39 , was surpassed today when sachio kinugasa stepped onto the playing field for the 2 , 131st straight time . lou_gehrig 's consecutive game record in baseball , achieved from 1925 39 , was surpassed today when sachio kinugasa stepped onto the playing field for the 2 , 131st straight time . today 's game at hiroshima stadium was stopped at the end of the fifth inning and kinugasa , the toyo carp third baseman , came onto the field , his arms raised in triumph . music played and streamers were tossed out onto the field . spectators holding sheets of red paper formed the numbers 2131 across the stands . kinugasa 's teammates and the visiting chunichi_dragons presented him with bouquets . and after bowing to the spectators , an emotional kinugasa told them , ''i thank god for making it possible for me to play baseball . '' for kinugasa , the achievement is the high point of a 23 year career that , if nothing else , has been a triumph of endurance . he has suffered injuries , once playing with a broken shoulder blade . he has gone through batting slumps so severe that last year , when his batting_average dipped below . 200 , he was pulled from the starting lineup for the first time in 916 games . only a pinch hitting appearance kept his streak alive . and he has endured the taunts of hometown fans who last year heckled him with calls for retirement when he finished with a . 206 batting_average . ahead in homers , too though never quite the hitter that gehrig was kinugasa is japan 's career strikeout leader with 1 , 526 his career batting_average is . 271 , while gehrig 's was . 340 his home_run total of 495 is two more than gehrig hit . his 495th homer came today , the only hit kinugasa had in four times up . he 's batting . 255 . yet , in hiroshima , streetcars bear kinugasa 's picture . an english_language high_school textbook has been revised for next year to include a chapter titled ''kinugasa 's great record . '' it is only the second time a japanese_baseball player has been so honored . the first was sadaharu oh , whose 868 home_runs in japan are more than henry aaron 's 756 in the major_leagues . kinugasa also shares with oh the distinction of having brought to japan a triumph in the seemingly_endless comparisons made here between the american game and what , in japan , is always called ''japanese_baseball . '' japan has been playing baseball since the 1870 's legend has it that the game was introduced by a japanese engineer who came back from a visit to the united_states with a bat and three baseballs . barnstorming americans in the 1930 's babe_ruth among them routinely came to japan and throttled the local competition . 'real world_series' but since the end of world_war_ii there has been talk in japan of ''a real world_series , '' between the two nations' champions . although the japanese now win their share of games with visiting major_leaguers , there is still the prevailing belief here that for all its vast improvements , the japanese game is not the equal of the american . last fall an especially strong american all star team humiliated the japanese all stars . kinugasa 's record , however , is being lauded as vindication of the japanese model of the game one built on a premise that will ( the term most often heard here is ''fighting spirit'' ) can compensate for a lack of prowess . kinugasa is regarded as a man who embodies the right values . he displays a sort of modesty and self effacement that japan cherishes in its heroes . ''only in the number of games can i exceed gehrig , '' he said during a recent interview . ''but i have never thought of myself as surpassing him as a ballplayer . '' baseball	has a location of japan
curling joins snowboarding as a medal sport after being an exhibition at the 1924 , 1932 , 1988 and 1992 winter_games . the sport was invented in the 16th_century by scottish farmers who curled on frozen bogs using smooth stones found in channels . scottish immigrants imported the game to canada in 1759 and to the united_states in 1832 . since then , the sport has undergone two significant advancements the standardization of the curling stone and indoor , refrigerated ice . the setup the olympic tournament will consist of eight men 's teams and eight women 's teams . each team is composed of four members the captain is called the skip . a game consists of 10 ends , or innings . each granite stone , which has a handle and resembles a tea kettle , weighs 42 pounds . the ice surface is 146 feet long and 15 feet 7 1 2 inches wide . the scoring a_12 foot circle , called the house , is the scoring area . the center of the circle is called the tee . each end , or inning , the 4 members of each team curl 2 stones apiece , or 16 total stones . as in shuffleboard , one team tries to knock the other 's stones outside the scoring area . the team that leaves a stone closest to the tee receives a point . teams to watch sweden is the men 's world champions , and canada is the top women 's team . the united_states teams are medal candidates . jere longman nagano '98	has a location of japan
koichi ishikawa was a brilliant , dedicated student at a top high_school , passed japan 's toughest entrance_exam to study medicine at tokyo_university and was destined for a promising career . then he joined aum_shinrikyo , the religious sect suspected of staging the poison_gas attack on the subway system that killed a dozen people and injured 5 , 500 . now mr . ishikawa , 26 years old , is sitting in a jail_cell , a suspect in various crimes committed by aum . in cells nearby are his aum comrades , also graduates of japan 's equivalents of harvard , princeton and yale , trained scientists who proved that they had what it takes to get ahead . as japan struggles to assess what went wrong with these serious , smart young people , many scholars and commentators are pointing their fingers in an unusual direction the schools . japan may have one of the world 's most admired educational systems , but the critics say it teaches young people to memorize instead of to think . young people spend so much time hunched over desks , the critics say , that they fail to develop sufficient social_skills . many of them and they seem to be more common in japan resemble the stereotype of the computer nerd brilliant and driven , but utterly lost when in human company . inability to discern basic human values " it reflects a profound crisis in the educational system , " said alfons deeken , a longtime japanese speaking professor of philosophy at sophia university in tokyo . " many japanese students are absorbing ever greater amounts of information , but they do n't acquire the ability to make value judgments on basic human values like responsibility for human life or respect for freedom of the individual . " typically , japanese students attend school for about 240 days a year , one third longer than american students . in addition , many go to cram_schools or after school lessons almost as soon as they learn to read , and they test their way into classes from kindergarten to college . they are taking calculus when american students are struggling through geometry , and english about the same time that many americans are learning their rules of grammar . but while many japanese have studied english for nearly a decade by the time they reach college , very few can speak it . perhaps that is indicative of the system students are able to absorb rules and vocabulary but often cannot use what they have learned in the real world . no plan to develop mature personalities " these guys in the science division have no time to relax , " said yoichi masuzoe , a former politics professor at tokyo_university who taught some of the aum members but hardly remembers them . " they should have read more literature , like shakespeare . then they could have learned what human beings are . they lack an understanding of human nature . " takeshi sasaki , a professor of political_science at tokyo_university , was more pointed . " in this society , there is n't any organization which can train young talented people into mature personalities , " he said . " the deficiency in social relations in japan is a serious issue . social relations are more or less being destroyed by the examination centered life . " scholars , of course , do not blame japan 's educational system entirely for aum 's terrorism , and by many standards the system is a model one . many americans would love to have japanese style schools , which do an admirable job in teaching reading , writing and trigonometry . japanese students often have some of the highest average test scores in international comparisons . there is also no doubt that aum 's techniques in recruitment and mind control play a more direct role in roping in its members . but the complaint is that in turning out naive , vulnerable students , japan 's schools leave the students as open prey for a charismatic leader like aum 's guru , shoko asahara , a 40 year old yoga expert . college students are often searching for explanations to life that cannot be found in their textbooks . and mr . asahara , with his flowing pink robes , open arms and assertions that aum is the key to enlightenment , may appear as a fatherly savior to them . fumihiro joyu , the sect 's 32 year old spokesman and a graduate of waseda university , told an interviewer recently that he joined the sect because it gave him a purpose in life . " i wanted my life to be meaningful , " he said . " i did not want my life to be meaningless . " mr . asahara , who was arrested on tuesday in his hideout , had insisted on complete obedience from his disciples . but once they proved their loyalty , they were apparently given substantial freedoms , important jobs in the organization and prestigious titles . at least 11 of asahara 's top disciples effectively his cabinet members were educated in science and engineering at top universities , where experimental laboratory budgets are tiny and competition is fierce . some say that aum basically bought out these scientists . they were given enormous sums of money to pursue research projects , so long as the research advanced aum 's interests . bond with the guru , then blindly obey " it is a big jump to believe in the guru , " said akira asada , an economics professor at kyoto university . " but once they make the jump , they are simply given freedom and financial support to pursue maniacal projects . " of course , the motivations for joining the cult are easier to understand than those for committing mass_murder . but the very strong sense of identity with mr . asahara , and of loyalty to the sect rather than to society , may have helped cultivate a blind obedience . " i kept hesitating because i realized many people would die , " ikuo hayashi told the police in a jail house confession , according to the newspaper asahi . dr . hayashi , a cardiac surgeon and aum official , is said to have confessed to taking part in the subway attack . " again and again , i tried to stop what i was about to do , but i was unable to disobey the sect 's orders , " the asahi quoted dr . hayashi as saying . another example is hideo murai , who graduated from osaka_university . specializing in aerospace physics , mr . murai worked for kobe_steel doing research in aerospace technology before he became an aum member . he soon won the trust of mr . asahara and became the head of the sect 's " science and technology " department . in this position , he is believed to have been given an important challenge to help organize the sarin gas attack on the tokyo subway on march 20 . but mr . murai may have done or known too much . he once revealed that aum had assets worth 100 billion_yen , or nearly 1 . 2 billion . in april mr . murai was fatally stabbed by a member of an underworld gang . mr . murai 's disclosure remains one of the mysteries of aum . while aum demanded that its 10 , 000 japanese members donate all their possessions to the sect when they joined , it is still unclear how or why aum accumulated such large assets . it has led some scholars to suspect that mr . asahara was intent on building some sort of empire . mr . asahara 's motives are unclear , but some say he had both material and political ambitions and had set up a hierarchical structure to support those goals . " it was similar to the nazi_party and the stalinist system in that the same kind of mass hypnotism exists , " said hiroyoshi ishikawa , a professor of social psychology at seijo university . " the young people in the group have many frustrations and are discontent with society . in this situation , the group can easily become a big psychological apparatus , a psychological machine that substitutes their frustration with revolution . " partly blind , mr . asahara showed a desire to be a leader while attending a school for the blind . his eyesight was apparently stronger than that of the other children and he would often strike a deal with them he would lead them all to a restaurant in exchange for their paying for his meals . as a young man , mr . asahara appears to have been unusually ambitious or , as people now say , obsessed with power . he told a number of acquaintances , for example , that he wanted to be prime_minister . in 1990 mr . asahara ran for parliament and lost . giving up on the electoral system , he sought power in other ways . his organization was growing into a mini nation , a state within a state with cabinet members and various ministries from health and welfare to finance and self_defense . moreover , he had begun to amass a giant stockpile of tons of chemicals , some of which are suspected of being used to make sarin gas . meanwhile , he was telling his followers about an imminent world war iii , an armageddon that would strike the world but permit aum to survive . " asahara is a total materialist , " said yoshiya abe , a religion professor at kokugakuin university . " he 's interested in assuming assets and acquiring control . power and money . " some scholars say mr . asahara staged the gas attack on the subway as a way of waging war on the japanese government . but it is still far from clear exactly how the sarin gas attack fit into his overall grand designs . one theory is that having predicted armageddon , he wanted to make it come true . another is simply that he was obsessed by power , including the power to use toxic_chemicals and see their effects . a third theory has to do with reports that mr . asahara is in poor health , that he is dying of one ailment or another . thus mr . asahara , newly reminded of his own mortality , wanted to lead people not only in life but into death as well . the one person who could shed the most light on this is shoko asahara himself , but he is not saying much . he sits in his jail_cell , exchanging small talk with the police but insisting on his innocence and refusing to enter substantive interrogation . " how could a blind man like me commit such a crime ? " mr . asahara is said to have told the police soon after his arrest . " but i do n't think you will believe what i 'm saying . "	has a location of japan
the economy is on the mend in japan , but the turnaround has not included the country 's most famous company , sony . the electronics and entertainment giant is going through a difficult period . its marquee electronic products have been overtaken and undercut by low cost rivals like dell and samsung . sony 's movie studio has failed to repeat its record run in 2002 , and its music unit is trying to overcome hurdles to merge with bertelsmann 's bmg division . even sales of its once enormously_popular playstation 2 video game console are slowing . in october , sony 's chairman , nobuyuki idei , announced a broad three year plan to improve profits that involves cutting about 10 percent of the work force . that could mean more pain in 2004 , or the long awaited revival of japan 's best known brand . international business pending	has a location of japan
when the subject is macintosh , love often turns to obsession . such is the case for a small group of apple aficionados who have decided that the one true macintosh is the color_classic . as the last toaster size mac , the color_classic followed the same basic design first offered in 1984 and was the only model to offer a built in color display . unveiled in 1993 , the tiny all in one classic disappeared from store_shelves in 1994 , but it still makes millions of brief appearances each day the smiling icon that appears during every mac start up is a holdover from the classic . and for some traditionalists , the candy colored imac and the new g4 cube will never replace it . the design looks modern even today . but the web_site called lowendmac , which describes and posts rankings of older macintoshes for collectors and die_hard fans , designated the color_classic a ''road apple'' ( a technological dud ) because of its unbearably slow 16 megahertz processor and apple 's decision not to offer parts that let users upgrade their machines . that does not stop fans like the rev . stuart bell , who ministers to his parishioners in sussex , england , by day and finds unorthodox ways of keeping his color_classic up to date by night . he replaced the original circuit_board with a powermac board , which he then upgraded with a 275 megahertz g3 chip . ''the original mac design with the built in screen in a box weighing no more than 20 pounds is the definitive and the cutest macintosh of them all , '' mr . bell said . the imac , at 35 pounds , recaptures that concept in some ways , he said . but , he added , ''it 's hardly portable , and i do n't think anyone would call it cute . '' one reason the color_classic is still adored is the appeal of its case , which was designed by daniele deiuliis at apple in 1992 ( he later created the case for the powerbook 500 series ) . giving the original classic a twist , mr . deiuliis ( pronounced day you lease ) lengthened the front , accentuated the forehead above the screen and carved the floppy disk slot to resemble a drooping mouth , a combination that reminded many users of bart simpson . he made the side vents resemble gills , a look that suggested that the computer was breathing . the plastic around the display appears to stretch . a mirthful touch was the tiny round legs that resemble the feet of a baby elephant . a later apple design language , called espresso , used the visual cues that first appeared on the color_classic . ''when you see the form and detailing , '' mr . bell said , ''you know it is classic apple . it 's almost a living thing . '' the color_classic was a favorite among university students , who wanted a small machine that could handle word_processing . but the hottest market of all was in japan , where tight spaces made the color_classic 's small footprint especially desirable . in 1994 , apple discontinued the product in the united_states and offered the slightly faster color_classic ii in japan that model was discontinued the following year . by 1997 , hundreds of japanese users who had refused to trade in their beloved machines joined forces with the two man team of takashi imai , who writes for the japanese magazine macpower , and makoto akizuki , known together as takky . together they founded the club for creating the strongest color_classic , which functions as a clearinghouse for information on how to upgrade the color_classic using spare_parts taken from later machines . with nearly 300 members , the club has a web_site ( homepage2 . nifty . com kan chan ) that offers detailed instructions for upgrading the color_classic 's video output and installing a g3 motherboard , a new hard_drive , a second power supply ( for pci expansion ) , an on board cd_rom drive , stereo sound and more . currently , the strongest machine , owned by a club member known as mr . misutiku , has a 500 megahertz g3 chip , two power supplies , ethernet and a tv fm radio tuner with a remote_control . the first step is to find a discarded color_classic , which often sells on ebay for less than 100 . next , open the back of the machine , replace the motherboard with one from a discarded power macintosh 5000 or 6000 series machine ( as mr . bell did ) . enhance the color_classic 's resolution by cutting one wire and soldering a new wire on the video circuit_board ( that increases the scanning voltage from 60 to 84 volts , which increases the screen density from 560 by 384 pixels to 640 by 480 , which is needed for running photoshop or browsing the web ) . you now have one of the most sought after cult objects in the mac universe . a color_classic running at g3 speed can give the most confirmed imac user a case of techno envy , said siu chi tang , who finances his color_classic obsession by working as a linux distributor in montreal . the club site warns that tinkering with a color_classic can be dangerous ( the cathode ray tube can deliver a potentially lethal shock ) . many users prefer to order an already built unit from maxus computer in japan ( www . maxuscomputer . com ) , a macintosh upgrade specialist that can remove the 333 megahertz g3 motherboard and 4 gigabyte hard_drive from an imac and install it in a color_classic for 2 , 600 , more than twice the price of a new imac . ''the price is not really an issue , '' mr . tang said , ''because having a strong color_classic is like owning a hot rod car . it 's impractical , but it 's cool . there are a lot of people who will pay any price to have one . '' mr . tang displays his own jet black g3 conversion on his company 's web_site ( www . tangal . com ) , where he also shows a souped up apple iic and a machine that he considers his ultimate trophy a clear plastic color_classic , one of only three in existence , which apple engineers used for testing . asked to put a price on it , mr . tang paused , then said , ''i ca n't . '' patrick ng , an internet executive in hong_kong , has taken his obsession to more lyrical heights . a vice_president at pacificdotcom , mr . ng has documented his self diagnosed case of ''ccfs'' ( color_classic fixation syndrome ) on his amusing web_site , color_classic forever ( grus . hkstar . com patrickn colorclassic ) . the story began in october 1998 , when mr . ng saw a photo of the color_classic . he alerted a newsgroup to his quest for one and visited several shops until he found a dirty nonworking model . after giving it a scrub , mr . ng rhapsodized in a diary entry on his site ''i now see the uncompromising beauty and elegance of cc even more obviously , it simply shines . as this mystic discovery continues , my super ego seems to warn me the danger of the game , the emotional attachment to a physical object . '' on new year 's eve , while others were partying , mr . ng was otherwise occupied , as a later diary entry showed ''i embraced the dusted classic during the countdown . the rest of that night , perhaps i should say the rest of the millennium , i gradually slipped away and fell into a deep trance , everything went blurred except a single point of vision , i naturally put that point on the shining color_classic . '' he then decided that he wanted the machine to carry his child , ''to give her life , '' he wrote . as it turned out , mr . ng 's ''child'' is his siamese fighting fish , faust , who now swims in an aquarium installed in the color_classic 's chassis . cured of his obsession , mr . ng now keeps his macquarium in his office , which overlooks hong_kong . ''i receive e mails from all over the world asking about faust , '' he said . ''he 's doing fine . ''	has a location of japan
to a generation of japanese who created the world 's most disciplined work force from the chaotic ruins of world_war_ii , tsuyoshi mitsuzawa was the hero of an era , an ace amateur pitcher who parlayed an accurate arm into a career as a university coach , television commentator and successful businessman . but to members of a very different generation that often find themselves trapped in the system their parents built , mr . mitsuzawa was apparently a hero of a different kind a man who knew his way around the notoriously rigid university entrance_exam system . almost everything in a young japanese 's life hinges on getting into a big name school , and it is alleged that for a price the police say some parents paid in excess of 100 , 000 mr . mitsuzawa and mid level university officials could guarantee entry into meiji university , one of the country 's more prestigious private schools . this week , the former baseball star , who has denied any wrongdoing , became the latest to be arrested in a widening scandal . it has shaken whatever remaining faith young japanese retain in the system that offers them a single shot at access to the country 's best jobs , government posts and chances for the prestige credentials that japan covets . daily newspaper stories no one knows how far the meiji exam scandal will ripple . every day the japanese press has been disclosing new details of how corrupt university officials secretly hired bright undergraduates many from waseda university , an even more prestigious private_school to take entrance_exams on behalf of wealthy applicants with dubious qualifications . in the three months since this year 's entrance_exams ended , at least 20 cases of fraud have been discovered , including ones involving the sons of several company presidents and a famous television personality . there are suggestions that this has been going on for years , and not just at meiji university here in tokyo . it should surprise no one that corruption has spread to japan 's campuses . this country is accustomed to paying dearly for scarce resources , and as a baby_boom generation hits college age , parents are acutely_aware that seats at prominent universities rank among the scarcest . that is why , at 10 p.m . on any school night , subways are jammed with weary students returning home from " juku , " the famed cram_schools that take years to prepare students for a two day exam . still , people have come to expect a sort of mechanical fairness from " exam hell , " the period in which many japanese face more sheer pressure than at any other time in their lives . in a country that prides itself , often falsely , on its egalitarianism , entrance_exams are supposed to be a great leveler . recommendations from teachers , family name and political influence count for little . another recent scandal indeed , the meiji exam scandal is only the latest . three months ago the police in hyogo prefecture in central japan arrested the principal and a teacher in the region 's oldest high_school , charging that they altered the entrance_exams of 15 students to assure that they would get in . the school has some prominent alumni who are powerful in the area , and leaders of the alumni association reportedly demanded " special handling " of a select group of children . but the temptation to meddle with the system is particularly intense at the university level , because as any college age student here will readily admit , getting into the right school is far , far more important than getting out with honors . " it is the reverse of america , " said hiroyuki takase , 19 years old , as he and thousands of other students emerged a few months ago from the most withering of all the entrance_exams , the test to get into the state run university of tokyo . " you have to prepare yourself for exactly what the exam requires , " said the haggard looking student . " but once you are in , you are not expected to work very hard . " so far , the taint of scandal has not come to the university of tokyo , the pinnacle of japan 's education system . but because it has such influence here as virtually the sole gateway to the top positions in the country 's powerful bureaucracy there are charges that todai , as the university is usually called , is responsible for much of the pressure that has led students and their parents to such desperate tactics . there has been a rising chorus from critics who say that too little attention has been paid to assuring that the admissions process finds the students who are truly japan 's best . at the same time , todai has come under nearly incessant attack in the japanese media for allowing its laboratories and classrooms to deteriorate , reinforcing the perception that the todai name is more important than the education it imparts . " as the entrance_exam becomes a big social issue , people blame todai for the whole thing , " said akira takeda , the assistant dean of the university , in a recent interview . " they say that we are responsible for the pressure , in the high_schools , the junior high_schools , even the kindergartens . i do n't think that is true . " 2 tracks at todai in an experiment , todai is now trying two different exams its normal test , which requires students to prove their proficiency in everything from english to advanced calculus , and a new exam for students who excel in one or two areas . ninety percent of the entering class is chosen from the first exam 10 percent , a few hundred students , are now let in from the second . the results have been mixed , and there are heated arguments within the faculty over whether the new system threatens to ruin the university 's good name . meanwhile the pressures seem unlikely to lessen until late in this decade , when the university age population in japan will drop by nearly a quarter . until then , a quarter million " ronin " will still roam japan 's streets . the phrase , a reference to the masterless samurai who wandered the countryside in ancient times , is used to describe students who have graduated from high_school but failed to pass the university exam . they spend a year , sometimes more , grinding away in preparation for a second chance , with their parents often too embarrassed to mention them in public . " it is an awful time at home , " a senior government official said recently , describing the pressure his ronin son is under . and what if he does n't make it ? " i guess , " the official said , " we 'll send him to america . "	has a location of japan
japanese scientists yesterday cut by half their estimate of the depth of the quake that shook the kobe region , helping explain why the temblor was so violent and deadly . they also discovered long ruptures at the surface produced when rock formations deep in the earth suddenly broke apart along a fault line , a clue buttressing the idea that the quake was quite shallow . the preliminary estimate on tuesday was that the quake 's focus lay at a depth of 20 kilometers , or 12 . 4 miles . but the japanese scientists , working with an array of data from instruments that measure various kinds of shock_waves , yesterday revised their estimate to 10 kilometers , or 6.2 miles . " that 's significant , " said dr . waverly j . person , director of national earthquake information center , in golden , colo . " when you get shallow earthquakes , it 's very intense . " the surface effects of shallow quakes are more violent than deep ones because their energy is coupled more directly to such surface structures as roads and buildings . earthquakes can occur throughout the earth 's crust and upper mantle , and have been measured down to depths of many hundreds of miles . the northridge earthquake that hit los_angeles a year ago was fairly shallow at 18 kilometers , or about 11 miles . but scientists never found any surface cracks . by contrast , the kobe quake produced large ruptures at the surface , according to reports from the geological_survey of japan and university scientists at the disaster scene . the fault that broke is known as nojima and runs along the northwestern coast of awaji shima , the island that was the epicenter of the quake . the island is located in japan 's inland sea near kobe and osaka . dr . takashi nakata of hiroshima university and his colleagues are reported to have found sideways displacements at the surface along the nojima fault of 1.2 meters , or nearly 4 feet . at another area the displacement is said to be 1.5 meters , or nearly 5 feet . by comparison , the great san_francisco_earthquake of 1906 caused a surface displacement in spots of about 9 feet . that quake had a magnitude of 8 . 3 , while the kobe one is estimated at 7.2 by japanese scientists and 6.8 by american researchers . dr . nakata of hiroshima university traced the rupture of the nojima fault almost continuously at the surface of awaji island for at least 9 kilometers , or 5.6 miles , according to a report from the geological_survey of japan . the rupture might be longer still , since the surveying work had yet to be completed . such ruptures , american scientists say , help explain why the kobe quake was so devastating . " they tell us that it was shallow , very shallow , " said dr . person of national earthquake information center , which is an arm of the united states geological survey . " when you have a shallow earthquake , the shaking is very intense . " quake in japan the geology	has a location of japan
a series of powerful earthquakes jolted northern japan in quick succession saturday evening , killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 900 , according to a preliminary tally by kyodo_news . television images from niigata prefecture showed groups of residents huddling under blankets as they prepared to spend the night in the safety of open squares . nearby , fires burned in blacked out neighborhoods , glass littered sidewalks from shattered shop windows and cars eased slowly over one highway section buckled by one of the seven quakes . the most powerful registered 6.8 in magnitude , one of the strongest in recent decades , according to japan meteorological agency . the vertical and horizontal shocks caused houses to collapse and derailed a shinkansen bullet_train for the first time . about 42 , 000 residents were evacuated throughout the prefecture . the strong temblors were also felt in tokyo , where prime_minister_junichiro_koizumi was giving a speech to open the tokyo international film festival . the prime_minister did not skip a beat and there was no panic . of the more than 16 people killed , four were children , including three who died when their house collapsed in ojiya , close to the epicenter . two men died when concrete walls collapsed on them . a total of 120 people were injured in ojiya , 84 in tokamachi , about 300 in nagaoka , about 50 in kashiwazaki and more than 160 in other towns and villages as of early sunday morning , according to a kyodo_news tally based on police , government and hospital reports . blackouts affected about one million people . piped gas , a source of major fires after past earthquakes , was cut to more than 40 , 000 households in niigata prefecture . parts of three expressways were closed , and many side roads suffered cave ins . although a bullet_train partially derailed in niigata , there were no injuries among the 150 passengers . it was the first time the train had been derailed since services began in 1964 , according to the transport ministry . through the chilly night , emergency workers searched through collapsed houses , searching for at least four people believed to have been in their homes at dinner time . the first quake hit at 5 56 p.m. , with its focus 12 miles below ground in the chuetsu region in niigata prefecture . during the next two hours , residents were affected by six more quakes . japan is one of the world 's most seismically active areas , recording about 20 percent of the world 's earthquakes of magnitude six or greater . memories are still vivid of the kobe earthquake , which killed more than 6 , 400 people in 1995 . that quake measured 7.2 . the earthquakes came as japan has been cleaning up from last week 's typhoon , the deadliest in two decades , which killed 80 people .	has a location of japan
shotaro kamegai is naturally busy on weekday mornings , but life in the afternoons has grown unusually hectic as well . every monday and thursday he went to a special program to develop his powers of thinking . on tuesdays he took karate to learn traditional japanese discipline . and on wednesdays he had classes in art and gymnastics to enhance creativity and agility . it would be a grueling pace for anyone , but shotaro is a 5 year old kindergarten student . still , the effort has paid off . after more than a year of these cram_schools , shotaro passed his entrance_exam for the first grade in one of japan 's most competitive elementary schools . so now he has returned to cram_school to start another class for children entering elementary_school how to write poems and compositions . cram_schools have been a hotly_debated facet of japanese education for years , but experts say the problem is getting much worse the burden is spreading to younger and younger children . in fact , half the parents in one major survey said they had had their preschoolers tutored to gain an edge in an increasingly competitive society . " this frenzy over early age education is not a happy thing , " said keiko takahashi , professor of developmental psychology at sacred heart university here . " i 'm sure parents themselves are wondering if it 's worth putting a toddler with diapers into cram_school . " shotaro 's busy schedule and that of his 3 year old brother , daijiro who also began cram_school last year underscore the challenges of being a child in japan . at about age 3 , children in some families here begin a string of cram_schools and exams that will play a crucial role in determining whether they retire from first_rate jobs 60 years later . these days , to be a tiny tot in many japanese families is not to play leisurely on swings and seesaws , but to spend hours at desks in classrooms memorizing stories , learning homonyms , making calendars , putting colored chips in sequences , taking achievement tests and walking on balance beams all before a child is 4 . while the phenomenon of competing to get into preschool , and competing once there , may not be entirely alien to , say , a new yorker with young children , it is carried to greater lengths in japan . more than ever before , the " examination hell , " as many japanese describe the education system , is beginning with the rush by 2 and 3 year olds to get into a good cram_school to pass entrance tests for the best kindergartens . japan 's most famous elementary_school may be yochisha , which last fall had 1 , 302 applicants for 132 slots in the first grade , a fraction of the 19 , 000 first grade spots in elite elementary schools across the country . shotaro made it into yochisha , meaning that he and the 131 other pupils will have a free pass through affiliated schools all the way up to keio_university , one of the nation 's best institutions . but his best buddy , yutaro , a lively , friendly boy , did not get in and will have to go to public_school . the two 5 year olds play with each other at kindergarten and then their mothers , who are close friends , take their sons to many of the same private classes in the afternoon . " many of the kids from his kindergarten are going to the keio school , and naturally he does n't understand why he ca n't go too , " said the boy 's mother , mariko inakazu , 31 , as her son played with shotaro in a nearby playground . " i explained to him that he has to go to school near us and since he knows kids in the neighborhood , he 'll have friends . but he also has his pride , of course . " many parents are deeply troubled by the shiken jigoku , or examination hell . but if they try to spare their sons and daughters the ordeal of cram_school and exams , they may be sentencing them to second_rate futures . good schools make a difference everywhere in the world . but the advantage of a good school is hugely magnified in japan . the best jobs go almost exclusively to those who have just graduated from prestigious universities , and companies and ministries almost never hire midcareer professionals . but to get into a first_rate university , one should go to a top high_school , and to enter a prominent high_school , one should study at a good elementary_school a worry of many parents of japan 's 1.3 million first graders to be . a result is that the salary and prestige that a japanese executive has in his 60 's may have less to do with his job_performance in his 40 's or 50 's and more to do with whether he went to cram_school and was a good test taker as a_4 or 5 year old . that 's why satomi hosono takes her 1 year old daughter , reina , to a cram_school each day . " i want to do the best i can as a parent to give my daughter good opportunities , " mrs . hosono said . it has worked , in that her elder daughter , 3 year old shino , began her lessons a year ago and can bellow out her name and age like a soldier on roll call . she recently passed an entrance_exam for prekindergarten . cram_schools for 3 and 4 year olds are not so oppressive as the name might suggest , and parents say their children often enjoy the classes and the friendships they make . " these cram_schools are very clever at appealing to kids , " said professor takahashi at sacred_heart . successful cram_schools , or jukus , which range from national chains to small classes in an apartment , may charge more than 9 , 000 a year for essentially two and a half hours of instruction each week . often exclusive , they sometimes have no listings in the phone book . application is by recommendation only , and gaining admission is extremely difficult . on a recent day in the classroom of shingakai educational institute , a nationwide juku chain , 10 children between ages 2 and 3 sat at their little desks as a teacher explained the assignment . they were asked to deliver a certain fruit or vegetable to a stuffed toy rabbit , a bear or a squirrel sitting on a chair , and then hop , shuffle or scurry back to their desks in the manner of that animal . it was a past exam question . but for 3 year old kodai enomoto , who comes four times a week , the task seemed tedious , and he stretched his arms across his desk as other children hopped about . " i was sleepy , " kodai explained after class , although he perked up when the class moved on to calisthenics . at keiokai educational institute , another juku , the first part of the 90 minute class was devoted to improving results on i.q . tests . six 3 and 4 year olds sat at their desks and strung beads . the children followed the teacher 's instructions first , string as many colored beads as possible within two minutes second , string only six beads or ten beads third , string colored beads without letting two beads of the same color touch . then , the teacher pinned pictures of fruits on the blackboard , arranging them in a line . which fruit is in the middle ? which is second from the left ? second from the right ? then the fruits were rearranged vertically and the exercise was repeated . sure enough , entrance_exams for kindergarten have included similar skill testing tasks how many blocks are in this drawing ? what is the name of these yellow leaves ? what was in the box we just showed you ? many first grade entrance_exams also include a 15 minute written part , where test takers have to identify relationships and shapes and perform other exercises . while most experts say stimulus for young children is generally good , they warn that cram_schools could end up smothering a child 's ability to think independently . " from a broad perspective , there 's no positive effect from cram_schools and exams , " said toshiyuki shiomi , a professor of education at tokyo_university . " it would be better both for the life of the child and for japanese society if we did n't have to have them . " but that does not prevent mothers from going crazy with concern about packing their children 's schedules with different classes . mrs . inakazu , yutaro 's mother , for instance , applied two years ago for a gym class for her 3 year old daughter , asako . the girl has just begun the class , in which she learns how to jump rope , bounce balls a hundred times , run backward and in circles and jump onto a mat . not all exams have a physical test , but some parents believe that gym classes teach discipline . japan 's educational system produces students who perform far better on international examinations than americans , and japanese students are indisputably among the best in the world in solving mathematical equations . yet the system is also criticized , here and abroad , for depriving children of the joy of youth and for turning out mechanical thinkers and " trained seals . " the nation 's best and brightest often take jobs in government or prominent corporations where they might speak three languages , solve differential equations and play the violin , but have no compassion . " preparation for entrance_exams makes students turn everyone into rivals , so they come to find pleasure in another 's failure , " said toshihiro yoshida , headmaster at keio 's yochisha . " what is most important for human society is not nurtured in japan . " now , despite the increasing pressure on preschoolers , japan 's educational system is struggling to reshape itself , starting with the youngest pupils . parents and educators alike say they want to nurture more individuality and independent thinking . " until recently , the education was very uniform , producing children like manufactured_goods , " said michiro iida , a teacher at shingakai . " now , they 're putting more emphasis on creativity , trying to turn out kids like in america . "	has a location of japan
a total of 317 horses were nominated for the triple_crown races , 37 fewer than last year . ten came from britain and , for the first time , two were nominated from japan . " the drop in nominations , " said edward seigenfeld , executive director of triple_crown productions , " reflects the recent decline in the foal crop in north_america . but the list includes all the runners from last year 's breeders' cup juvenile as well as all the top 3 year olds in the country . " six horses are fillies , led by the d . wayne lukas star serena 's song , who probably wo n't run in the kentucky_derby . among trainers , lukas and bill mott led the list with nine horses each . dermot weld of england nominated six . among owners , william condren , william farish , bob and beverly lewis and allen paulson nominated six horses each . last year 's derby was won by go for gin , owned by condren and cornacchia and trained by nick zito . the preakness and belmont_stakes were both won by lukas 's tabasco cat . horse racing	has a location of japan
the earthquake that ripped through western japan today has paralyzed one of the nation 's commercial hubs , leaving rubble and smoke and panic . it caused colossal damage to japan 's roads , railways and communications and knocked out of commission a port that accounts for 12 percent of the nation 's exports . the quake was the worst in an urban_area of japan in 70 years , ever since the great tokyo earthquake of 1923 , and it struck in a crucial economic zone that includes the business center of osaka , japan 's third largest city , as well as kobe , the sixth largest . for all the sophistication of japanese telecommunications , for all the earthquake preparedness that is drilled into people since they are school children , both kobe and osaka were unreachable by telephone from tokyo throughout today . despite the devastation , experts said today that the in some ways the earthquake could give a boost to an economy struggling to recover from a long recession . it is not the kind of a boost that any country would hope for , but economists and other experts said that the capital spending to rebuild the port city of kobe may give a stimulus to japan 's economy , the world 's largest after america 's . kobe , a major industrial center , was today isolated from the rest of the country , with roads and rail and ferry_service all disrupted . even the tokyo office of kobe municipal government said it had been unable to communicate with people there . the steel mills of kobe were closed today , and so was the osaka stock_exchange . many factories in kobe were also closed , either to assess the physical damage or to wait until roads improved so that employees could come to work again . japanese television quoted the construction minister , koken nosaka , as saying that it would take two or three years to rebuild kobe . officials in the economic_planning agency , a government_agency attached to the prime_minister 's office , said they were preparing a report on the economic consequences of the earthquake , but that it was too soon to know what they would be . one of the most serious consequences appears to be that shipping in and out of kobe will be impossible until repairs have been made on the docks and on loading facilities . " the port in kobe has been badly_damaged , and we do n't know when it will be ready again , " said yukiko isomura , of mitsui osk , a shipping company . miss isomura said that mitsui had rerouted two ships to pusan , south_korea , because other ports in japan were full or inappropriate for the cargoes . several companies based in the osaka area said , however , that they could find other routes to transport exports and imports , and that their facilities had not been seriously damaged . matsushita , which makes electronic products under the panasonic and other brand names , said it had a five year old factory in kobe that turns out personal_computers and other products . the factory was not seriously damaged but was closed for the day because electricity had been cut off . the head office of matsushita , in osaka , had some broken windows but no major damage . at sanyo electric company , the electronics conglomerate , which is also headquartered in osaka , the only damage was to a factory on owajishima , the island at the epicenter of the quake . even that factory , which makes rechargable batteries and other products , was being brought back on line . " so far it 's been fairly minor , " said david lee , a sanyo spokesman . while the overall tokyo stock_market fell slightly today , the stocks of construction companies rose in anticipation of the profits to be made from rebuilding kobe . companies that make glass or cement , or that are involved in road building , also saw gains . the other immediate beneficiaries of the disaster were the " konbini , " as convenience_stores are known here , for those in the earthquake region immediately sold out of all their food . " the damage was huge , and it 'll have a major impact on the japanese economy , " said masaru_takagi , chief economist of fuji research institute in tokyo . " but it wo n't affect the recovery phase . japan 's economy will continue to recover . " robert alan feldman , a managing director in the tokyo office of salomon_brothers , the investment_bank , said that in some ways the reconstruction of northridge following the earthquake there a year ago had helped the southern californian economy , and he suggested the same would happen in japan . " there definitely is going to be a stimulus , " he said . " ironically , this will probably help the economic_recovery , although that does n't mean that the country is better off . " mr . feldman and others , while emphasizing that it is much too early to tell with any precision , said that the total repair bill could end up in the range of 10 billion to 20 billion . robert j . geller , an american earthquake expert who teaches at tokyo_university , said that many of the estimated 9 , 700 buildings that collapsed in the earthquake were older ones that in any case should have been replaced . " obviously you 'd like to rebuild in less catastrophic ways , and there 'll be a loss because these facilities are out of commission , " professor geller said . but he noted that tremendous damage could spur growth instead of retard it . in the united_states , representatives of japanese companies with manufacturing operations in the osaka kobe area spent much of tuesday trying to get through to the home_office . those who did said that physical damage to plants was negligible , and that most employees survived unscathed . " we understand there has been no facility damage , " said nancy levene , a spokeswoman for the sharp electronic corporation , the american subsidiary of the sharp corporation , which is based in osaka . she added that only 20 percent of the company 's employees were able to get to work at sharp 's headquarters , where machines like copiers , calculators and faxes are manufactured . at the matsushita electric corporation of america , which manufactures panasonic , techniques and quasar electronic equipment , jim reilly , a company spokesman , said the company 's factories " did not suffer major damage . " toshiba , which employs about 2 , 000 workers in two plants , one a joint_venture with the international_business_machines corporation , said in the united_states that no damage was reported at either plant . the plants are located in himeji , a town outside osaka . quake in japan the cost correction january 19 , 1995 , thursday an article yesterday surveying the economic disruption caused by the earthquake in japan misspelled a brand name of matsushita , an electronics company that reported little disruption . the brand is technics , not techniques .	has a location of japan
lead a major earthquake registering 7.1 on the richter_scale struck off honshu island early_today , japanese officials said . three coastal villages were ordered evacuated for fear of tidal_waves . a major earthquake registering 7.1 on the richter_scale struck off honshu island early_today , japanese officials said . three coastal villages were ordered evacuated for fear of tidal_waves . there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the quake , which struck at 3 26 a.m . it was centered about 60 miles off the coast and at a depth of 20 miles , the central meteorological agency in tokyo said . after the quake , officials closed the major expressway through the affected region for inspection and overnight trains were stopped to check the condition of the rails . the agency warned of a tsunami , or seismic tidal_wave , hitting coastal towns on northeastern honshu and the northernmost main island of hokkaido . the agency said sea levels two hours after the quake had risen nearly three feet in the region . officials ordered the evacuation of the villages of taro , sanriku and ozutsu , about 300 miles northeast of tokyo on honshu 's eastern coast . the agency said the quake had a magnitude of 7.1 on the richter_scale , the same as the oct . 17 earthquake that devastated the san_francisco_bay_area .	has a location of japan
when an earthquake toppled entire neighborhoods here in january , the most striking and impressive thing for many americans was the almost complete lack of looting . these days , the looting has arrived on a huge scale , but in a very orderly and japanese way . there are no hoodlums smashing windows , but criminal_gangs known as yakuza are muscling their way into the demolition and construction business knocking down damaged buildings , putting up new ones and hauling their profits to the banks . the reconstruction of kobe may cost well over 120 billion , making the earthquake the most expensive natural_disaster in human history . japanese police and journalists who follow the yakuza full time estimate that the gangs pocket at least 2 or 3 percent of all construction spending in japan , and in this case its percentage could be higher . the biggest yakuza gang , the yamaguchi gumi , has its national headquarters in kobe , where it is already active in the construction industry , and it knows the turf well . experts say that the yakuza could therefore earn billions of dollars from the rebuilding work . thus one of the biggest beneficiaries of the kobe earthquake , which killed 5 , 500 people and put the country 's busiest port out of commission , could end up being yoshinori watanabe , the godfather of the yakuza . mr . watanabe , 54 , is said to be positioning his gang to rake in a hefty share of the construction spending . mr . watanabe 's own home and headquarters , a closely guarded fortress occupying a full city_block in a posh residential neighborhood , apparently was unaffected by the earthquake . one of his office buildings in another part of kobe was burned to the ground , but by and large he emerged unscathed but not particularly talkative . " there is no one here who can talk to you , " said a bodyguard whose shaved head gleamed in the afternoon sun as he shooed away a reporter who dropped by the headquarters . the bodyguard , who emerged from behind a steel door guarded with video cameras and floodlights , wore a blue suit with a white shirt , and he bowed not quite low enough to be polite as he explained that no one would be back that afternoon . or that evening . or the next day . or , perhaps , ever . then , as the bodyguard asked , then advised , and finally ordered the visitor to leave , a mercedes with tinted_windows hurtled down the street , and another bodyguard opened a steel garage door to admit it . as the mercedes entered , a private parking_lot with about a dozen luxury cars could be seen inside the compound . at the other end of kobe , in the leaning homes and rubble of nagata ward , one of the poorest areas of the city , the director of a demolition company watched proudly as one of his shovel cars tore apart a collapsed house to prepare the site for a new home . the man said his company owned six shovel cars and many dump_trucks , and he seemed to know a bit about the yakuza . " there are lots around , because they control plenty of demolition and construction companies , " he said , adding , " of course , i 'm not one of them . " his hand , though , suggested otherwise a fingertip had been sliced off . that usually means that someone is a yakuza , because gangsters show their remorse when they have done something wrong by cutting off a finger at the last joint . the man said that demolition work is not so profitable in itself , because the city of kobe set limits on how much can be charged for a truckload of rubble . " but unless you do these jobs , you ca n't get the construction jobs coming up next , building roads or working as subcontractors on building projects , " he explained . that is what the police worry about most these days . " they 'll do demolition jobs until around the end of the year , and they 'll make some money , but not a huge amount , " said akifumi hyakumoto , a police superintendent in kobe . " but when they start building highways , ports and buildings , so much more money will be involved . we think the yakuza will go after the big money then . " the police say they have their hands tied , however , because much of the yakuza construction work is legal . to be sure , the yakuza may cut corners like threatening rival companies so that they do not offer lower bids but the construction business is both lucrative for the yakuza and much less risky than smuggling guns or narcotics . the yamaguchi gumi has about 23 , 000 members around japan , controlling the sex trade , gambling , protection rackets and narcotics . they insist that they adhere to a high moral code of protecting the weak , and for that reason they tend to kill only rival gang members and do not normally attack ordinary citizens . japan traditionally tolerated the yakuza 's existence as an organization , while imprisoning members who became too bold or violent . this may have been in part because the authorities figured that criminals will always be around , so one might as well leave them in organizations that control them . in the last few years , however , the police have used new laws to mount an offensive against the yakuza . in addition , the gangs were hurt by the economic slowdown that has pinched japan for several years . in a concession to the financial difficulties of some of his aides , mr . watanabe last year reportedly reduced the honorarium that he expects from each of a select group of lieutenants to about 8 , 000 a month from 10 , 000 . in all , mr . watanabe gets about 1 million a month in such gifts from his aides , the police say . the police say that the earthquake came at a perfect time for mr . watanabe . he has been trying for years to reorient the yamaguchi gumi toward business areas that are not blatantly illegal , and the yakuza have a longtime presence in the construction and demolition industry . in addition to running their own companies , the gangsters are said to disrupt construction sites of other companies unless they receive substantial " greetings fees . " the gangs also sometimes supply day laborers for construction sites , in exchange for a fee . as part of the yamaguchi gumi 's effort to improve its public image , mr . watanabe ordered his aides in january to hand out free food and water to those made homeless by the earthquake . the police believe that the yakuza bullied businesses into giving them the food free or at a discount . " right after the earthquake , the yakuza came here and set up a stand to serve noodles for free , and i was kind of impressed , " said one woman who was made homeless in the quake . " but then afterward , they asked for a written testimonial saying how great they were , so they could take it to city hall and get more construction business . " now , according to that woman and several of her neighbors , the yakuza are quietly going around and buying up land at fire sale prices . with many families now short of money , some property in nagata ward is selling for just one third of its price before the earthquake . for those who do n't want to sell , yakuza loan_sharks are offering cash but the security is the land that people own . neighbors said that one mobster is offering loans from his spectacular three floor colonial style home , evidently well built , for it is surrounded by the rubble of more fragile homes that collapsed . " it 's too frightening to take money from them , " said one middle_aged woman who lived nearby , as she spoke in a hushed voice on her doorstep . " there was a doctor living over there who guaranteed his brother 's loan from the yakuza , " she said . " then the interest mounted very quickly , and they could n't pay back the debt . so the doctor lost his clinic . " the yakuza found other ways to get money as well . seventeen members were arrested for applying for emergency relief funds for which they were ineligible . one gangster received funds eight times before being arrested . " the earthquake ripped apart society , " said one japanese journalist . " it created cracks so deep that you can see things that are normally hidden , like the way the yakuza operate . "	has a location of japan
the earthquake that hit japan yesterday was both unusual and ordinary , geologists said . it was unusual in that the devastated area in southwestern japan has been seismologically quiet of late . if a big earthquake was going to strike anywhere , the geologists said , they expected it in the northeast part of the archipelago , which has been shaken by a series of big temblors in the last two years . the quake near kobe was ordinary in that it was part of the age old process in which oceanic plates grind past one another near japan to produce earthquakes , volcanoes and the huge waves known as tsunamis . japan 's geophysical fate is tied to the movement of these plates just off its shores they riddle the region with dangerous faults and form enormous , deep cracks on the ocean floor that are millions of years old . scientists say the tensions slowly building near such zones every so often will produce quakes near heavily_populated areas . japan , they say , is simply fated to suffer such disasters periodically . " more than anything , it 's a matter of bad luck whether you get an earthquake " in a particular region of japan , said dr . stuart k . koyanagi , a geophysicist at the national earthquake information center in golden , colo . " it 's just a question of what part of the earth is going to hit its cycle for releasing all that pent up energy . " the kobe quake was not particularly large by world or historical standards , dr . koyanagi added . the japanese meteorological agency estimated its magnitude at 7.2 on the richter_scale , while the united states geological survey , which operates the earthquake information center , put the magnitude at 6.8 . around the globe , dr . koyanagi said , quakes in the 6 to 6.9 range occur about 150 times a year , or roughly one every two days on average . twelve to 24 quakes in the 7 to 7.9 range occur each year , while there is only about one a year in the 8 to 8.9 range . the richter_scale is a logarithmic measure of ground motion , so a one point increase on the scale represents a tenfold increase in the magnitude of violent shaking . though moderate by global standards , the quake that hit japan was devastating because it occurred near a large urban center and was relatively shallow , dr . koyanagi said . its epicenter was estimated to be about 12 miles deep . similarly , shallowness was a factor in the destructiveness of the loma prieta quake , which hit the san_francisco area in october 1989 and was estimated at 7.1 on the richter_scale . forty one people were killed in their cars when an elevated_highway collapsed , and the quake was estimated to have caused 6 billion in property damage . " if you have a high 6 earthquake in any populated area , it 's hard to avoid major damage , " said dr . koyanagi . " people talk about the big one in california being an 8 , but think of what happens if a_7 occurs in the middle of two or three million people . there 's still a lot of work to do in terms of making structures more resistant to earthquakes . " the kobe earthquake has so far produced no sharp aftershocks , geologists say . it also made no tsunamis , or giant waves . the reason , scientists say , is that its epicenter was under awaji shima island and surrounded by shallow water . tsunamis are produced when a major fault under the deep ocean floor gives way , stirring powerful waves that radiate out from the epicenter until they reach a shoreline , where their height sometimes soars and they can do tremendous damage . dr . koyanagi said the most surprising thing about the kobe quake was its location . geologists would have predicted devastation farther up the coast or out to sea , where a number of large quakes have occurred recently . on jan . 7 , a quake registering 6.9 on the richter_scale shook northern and eastern japan , injuring more than 30 people . on dec . 28 , a 7.5 earthquake rocked the northern honshu mainland and parts of hokkaido , killing 2 people and injuring more than 270 . and on july 12 , a 7.8 quake struck okushiri island off southwestern hokkaido , producing big tsunamis , killing more than 200 people and injuring 300 . japanese geologists have warned that seismic_activity has been rising in the northern area of honshu and southeastern parts of hokkaido , and have issued alerts for the central regions of japan around tokyo , which lies about 275 miles northeast of the epicenter near kobe . but for the kobe region , dr . koyanagi said , " this is the first occurrence of quake of this size in quite a while . " quake in japan the geology	has a location of japan
to get a sense of where president_clinton ended up after a year long white_house struggle to shape his global_warming plan , consider who quit after it was announced . it was timothy e . wirth , the undersecretary of state for global environmental affairs , one of the greenest of the president 's advisers and nominally the top official directly in charge of negotiations toward a new climate treaty . mr . wirth advocated an aggressive plan for significant cutbacks in the nation 's emissions of greenhouse gases one that could have had significant costs for the economy . bit by bit , that plan was scaled back as mr . clinton listened , and listened again , to the warnings of senior economic advisers like deputy treasury_secretary lawrence h . summers and the chairwoman of the council_of_economic_advisers , janet l . yellen . mr . wirth 's decision to leave his post after the kyoto talks to head a foundation created by the billionaire ted_turner to support the united_nations followed a long , meandering and occasionally intense debate inside the white_house that reflected many of the conflicts that bedevil climate_change policy . the conflicts went beyond the traditional clash of green eyeshades and green armbands , to encompass opposing views on technology 's potential and on ways of making predictions about unpredictable systems . the debate also pitted the old bill clinton , whose instinct would have been to side with mr . wirth 's call for sweeping government action , against a new bill clinton , chastened by his health_care failure and acutely_aware of the domestic impact of foreign_policy . and it was shadowed by two futures for mr . clinton , by a desire to shape his legacy , and for vice_president al_gore , by the need to balance his strong environmental views against the coalition building that leads up to a presidential run . five years ago , president george_bush joined other leaders of developed nations in pledging at the rio environmental summit to reduce emissions of greenhouse_gases to 1990 levels by the year 2000 . two years ago , when it was already clear that the u.s . and some other countries would miss that voluntary target , mr . clinton agreed to join an effort to come up with a binding treaty for reductions at kyoto . in the struggle that followed , president_clinton 's economic advisers stopped him from promising deep , quick cuts in emissions of greenhouse_gases , but they argue that they did not win this debate they say they merely acted as a counterweight to mr . wirth , katie mcginty , the white_house environmental adviser , and environmental groups . the president , his economic team notes , did not agree to delay cutbacks in emissions for as long as the economists had initially suggested . ''the spin is that we won , '' one senior economic adviser to mr . clinton said recently . ''the reality was a little more muddled . we agreed there needed to be goals , even aggressive goals . but there also needed to be escape hatches , in case the economic effects turned out to be a lot more damaging than we thought . '' mr . clinton pledged that the united_states would cut emissions to 1990 levels in the next 10 to 15 years . the turnabout in emissions will be encouraged at first with tax incentives and research subsidies for conservation and clean energy production . in later years , a cap will be placed on greenhouse emissions , coupled with a system to give credits for emissions reductions that companies can save and sell . it is a system in which the government will set a mandatory goal but leave the mechanism to the market instead of turning to a government fiat . if the administration 's approach delivers the promised reductions , emissions between 2008 and 2012 will be about a third lower than current trends would predict . but nobody knows how much that will cost . ''there is no credible , widely accepted economic analysis that currently exists in the united_states , or in most other countries , that can answer very basic cost and benefit questions , '' said eileen b . claussen , a former senior aide to mr . wirth who had played an instrumental role in the talks but left the administration a few months ago . it was n't for lack of trying . the administration struggled for two years to come up with a credible analysis of the economic effects of moving away from fossil_fuels , but the uncertainties over things like what the united_states economy will look like a decade from now , what technological_advances in emissions controls will be made and how willing consumers and manufacturers will be to respond to economic incentives proved overwhelming . ms . yellen essentially declared the effort to come up with reliable numbers a failure last summer . that opened the door to something of a policy making free for all that lasted well into the fall and has left many members of congress wary , ms . claussen said . there was never any serious debate inside the administration about the science of the issue the white_house has decided that the climate problem is real and serious . after all , the leading environmentalist of them all is mr . gore , and he long ago won over president_clinton on the need to do something about the threat of climate_change . but as one of mr . clinton 's top aides noted during the debate ''al has discovered it 's a lot easier to write a book about the subject than to grapple with the economic costs . but he 's getting the hang of it . '' in the end , mr . gore was highly receptive to the economic arguments , especially when the chorus of warnings included american business groups , whose support he will need when running for president . the real debate within the administration pitted the pure economists against the technologists , the people who deal with the gross_domestic_product against those who specialize in british thermal units . the economists were deeply worried that any policy intended to drive down the use of fossil_fuels especially a policy like the one the administration favors , to put a cap on emissions of carbon_dioxide and to let a market in emission permits dictate the price of fossil_fuels would , in effect , amount to a system of energy rationing and energy taxes . in their rear view mirrors , these advisers saw the economic disruptions of the oil shocks of the 1970 's . but the technologists argued that the new policy would stimulate the appearance and rapid adoption of exciting new technologies that would make it possible to conserve energy and to produce more of it without fossil_fuels . in their rear view mirrors , they saw the efficiency gains and higher productivity that resulted from putting the nation on an energy diet in the 1970 's and the 1980 's . both groups have economic models that prove their arguments . but no model is particularly well suited to predict what will happen to energy prices under the clinton_administration 's plan . that is because the plan calls for using inherently unpredictable free_markets , rather than rigid regulations , to control emissions of carbon_dioxide and other greenhouse_gases . the administration wants to put a fixed overall cap on the total emissions of greenhouse_gases by industries . then it would issue individual companies permits that would allow them to release a certain amount of the gases . limiting the supply of something increasingly in demand generally has the effect of driving up its price . but the administration hopes that the permits , which would be traded on a free_market , will limit the price pressures on energy and encourage innovation instead . for instance , a company that found a cheap way to control carbon_dioxide_emissions could sell its extra permits to a company with high control costs . both companies would benefit economically from the transaction , and the market in permits would stimulate the invention and adoption of the cheapest possible control technologies . the administration hopes to extend the permit system worldwide , allowing poorer countries with low emissions to raise money by selling part of their right to emit greenhouse_gases to developed countries that have plenty of cash but have bumped into their pollution limits . selling this at kyoto , where developing nations are demanding deeper , faster cuts , is shaping up as a daunting_task . but mr . clinton has tried to build his second term on proposals to marry government goals and market mechanisms , and has always prided himself on his deal making abilities . this time , it may be the deal of the next century . global_warming	has a location of japan
lead a strong but brief earthquake rocked central tokyo today , sending skyscrapers swaying and snarling rail transportation at the beginning of o bon , an annual holiday . though the earthquake measured 5.3 on the richter_scale , enough to do moderate damage , no injuries or damage beyond broken glass were reported . a strong but brief earthquake rocked central tokyo today , sending skyscrapers swaying and snarling rail transportation at the beginning of o bon , an annual holiday . though the earthquake measured 5.3 on the richter_scale , enough to do moderate damage , no injuries or damage beyond broken glass were reported .	has a location of japan
once every few weeks this city is shaken by a tremor so powerful that it becomes topic a of conversation in the gleaming high rises that tower above tokyo and aboard the packed subways that course underground . and then , just as swiftly , conversations shift back to japan 's economic performance , the latest political_scandal or , these days , japan 's baseball championship_series . such serenity is in large part attributable to government assurances that every practical earthquake safety precaution has already been taken in tokyo , and to japanese familiarity with geological disaster on a huge scale . no one seems to blink at minimum and oddly precise estimates of 6 , 717 people killed and more than 300 , 000 structures destroyed , mostly by fire , if the big one hits . ''all of tokyo 's large buildings are able to withstand a magnitude 7.2 earthquake , '' said kenji suzuki , the city 's chief of disaster prevention planning , whose offices in the 48 story twin tower tokyo government headquarters contain a disaster response command center that resembles a high tech war room . ''since scientists tell us that we are unlikely to experience anything bigger than this in the foreseeable future , we are satisfied . '' but after a summer of unusually intense seismic_activity across japan and , earlier this month , the strongest tremor since the devastating 1995 earthquake in kobe , seismologists , building experts and the news_media are pondering whether this city of 12 million people is now considered safe or , indeed , ever can be . the kobe earthquake had a force of 7.2 on the richter_scale , now seldom used . it struck directly under the city , and killed about 6 , 000 people . at the tokyo fire department , which would be the lead rescue agency in an earthquake , officials are , like mr . suzuki , focused on a quake of the magnitude of that of kobe . ''a bigger earthquake will probably not happen for another 100 or 200 years , '' said seiichi ohsawa , a fire department quake preparedness specialist . ''on the other hand , a quake like kobe 's can be expected to recur fairly often . '' but many experts say that tokyo and its immediate surroundings , atop one of the world 's most complex and menacing patchworks of seismic faults , could suffer a far more powerful earthquake at any time . in 1923 , an earthquake known as the great kanto earthquake hit the tokyo area , leaving an estimated 140 , 000 people dead . it measured 7.9 on the old richter_scale . by all accounts , building materials and techniques , as well as safety and rescue procedures , have improved immensely in the last 70 years . but the location of what experts view as the most dangerous faults in the tokyo region offshore in the tokai region , a semirural zone to the southwest means that many of them warn that tokyo may be preparing for the wrong disaster , and should ponder instead how to combat a 27 foot tsunami , or giant wave , that would reach the tokyo waterfront within three to four minutes , before any safety precautions could be taken . one danger that appears to have been given little consideration in official disaster estimates is ' 'soil liquefaction , '' whereby intense vibrations release underground water , instantly turning what had once appeared to be solid land into oozing , perilous mud . tokyo is in particular danger because much of this city is low lying tokyo_bay landfill and other ' 'reclaimed'' land . a 1987 computer model made by the institute of civil engineers , which is cited in the book ''sixty seconds that will change the world the coming tokyo earthquake , '' suggested that 98 square miles , or about 12 percent of the city 's land , will liquefy in the event of a major earthquake . megumi mizoue , a leading earthquake expert at the national meteorological agency , scoffed at official casualty estimates from a big quake , noting first that ''what is happening in the tokai area is awful and gives us reason for great worry'' and second that tokyo has many shopping centers and subways deep underground . ''it is said that the shock is reduced by a third or more underground , '' he said . ''but power and air come from the surface , and we can anticipate lots of casualties simply from panic . '' at the obayashi corporation , one of tokyo 's biggest building companies , officials said they were concerned that the city 's building safety standards , steadily more stringent since kobe , were still not up to snuff . as they spoke , workers outside their shimmering headquarters in the shinagawa district were completing work on the foundation of a companion tower in a pit that reached bedrock , deep underground , to reduce the danger of soil liquefaction . other methods for insuring the stability of tall buildings , they said , included the placement of huge tanks holding 150 tons or more of water on the roof . the swaying of the water , architects said , counters the swaying of the building in an earthquake . architects have also begun to use latticework girders , some with hydraulic shock absorbers , as a brace , or ecoskeleton , for tall buildings . even in the case of a kobe style quake beneath tokyo , the devastation experts say they expect seems difficult to square with official damage and casualty estimates . mr . ohsawa of the fire department , for instance , conceded that ''we would be overwhelmed . '' ''we could n't possibly handle all of the fires , '' he said . relief officials rely on public awareness and preparedness to keep the toll , and subsequent chaos , to a minimum . approximately one million people take part in earthquake drills in tokyo every year . ''in kobe they did n't expect an earthquake , but in tokyo everyone expects one , '' mr . ohsawa said . ''we hope that participation in drills will make a difference . '' but in kamata , a tokyo neighborhood of low buildings and narrow streets that according to the municipal government falls into the highest earthquake risk category , few pedestrians or shopkeepers interviewed recently were aware of any particular danger in the area . few , too , had ever taken part in earthquake drills or given much thought about what to do in an emergency . ''hey ! not here ! '' shrieked noriko sanpei , 21 , a student who was leaving a multistoried college building with several friends . ''we 've never been told anything by the city or by anyone . if we had to evacuate , i would n't know where to go . ''	has a location of japan
kobe began trying to restore normalcywith a few stores open and food and water supplies improving . but rain was predicted , causing concern for residents who are still sleeping outdoors . page 4 .	has a location of japan
to prowl the wealthy neighborhoods here in the beverly_hills of japan , where 5 million ranch style homes peek from behind stone walls , is to see that it was not just luck that determined who lived and who died in the devastating earthquake last week . money also played a role . while nature was democratic , in that the tremblor rattled rich neighborhoods as well as poor ones , its consequences were not . frequently , it was the poorer people 's homes that collapsed and buried them in rubble . some wealthy people were among the 5 , 063 dead counted so far , of course , but disproportionately it was the poor and elderly who lost their homes , jobs and lives . this week , many poor families are arranging funerals and many rich ones are arranging vacations . the earthquake zone includes some of the wealthiest parts of japan , and this city is famous as a playground of the rich . nestled on the edge of the port city of kobe , ashiya was the setting for the novel " the makioka sisters , " junichiro tanizaki 's portrayal of the life of a rich family in the 1930 's . if the makioka sisters were around today , they probably would have come through the earthquake all right , just as the honda family did . dr . minoru honda and his wife , yoriko , live in a spectacular two story wooden house with a huge garden and duck pond . by and large , the damage to the house is manageable a shattered beam that they have already found someone to fix , a broken sauna , a toppled bookshelf and an overturned aquarium that left seven tropical fish gasping in a puddle on the hardwood floor . dr . honda , an amiable surgeon who rushed to a hospital after the quake and worked for two days without sleeping to treat the injured , further remedied things today by going out and buying a motorcycle to get around the terrible traffic_jams . " those things are useless now , " he said , pointing to his porsche carrera and mercedes_benz cars . mrs . honda served coffee in her dining_room , offering it in german cups and saucers to replace the french ones that had shattered , and noted that some wealthy people had died in the quake . she told of a friend , a businessman who had been killed in his home along with his 25 year old son , when their roof caved in on them . " but after the quake , it 's different for rich people , " she added . " the rich have relatives with extra rooms , so they have somewhere to go if they need to . and if they 've got money , they can buy anything they need . " at the time of the earthquake , we had lots of food in the refrigerator , and lots of toilet_paper , so we were n't in such a bad way , " mrs . honda added . " in our houses , we have extra things , so we 're o.k. " wealthy families like the hondas seem full of compassion for their less fortunate neighbors in the shelters , and there seems to be relatively little resentment among the homeless that so many rich people came through unscathed . the chasm between rich and poor in japan is narrower than in many societies , and 80 percent of japanese identify themselves as members of the middle_class . yet income gaps exist , and they are reflected in the homes people live in . while buildings of all kinds collapsed , by far the greatest number were old traditional japanese wooden houses with heavy tile roofs . everywhere in the quake zone , it is common to see a pile of rafters that is all that remains of a traditional wooden house , while a modern concrete building stands intact next door . high rises were scarcely affected , while two story wooden homes many of which have now compressed into one story houses were perhaps at greatest risk . poor people , and especially , the elderly , were most likely to live in these old wooden houses . the wealthy were more likely to have built newer homes and to spend more money on better quality construction . the affluent also tended to have larger rooms and often slept on beds poorer people slept on futons on the floor of tiny rooms , so that a falling wardrobe was almost sure to hit them . there has been no study comparing incomes with mortality_rates in the earthquake , but the yomiuri shimbun , a japanese daily , did examine the ages of the victims . it found that more than half were over the age of 60 , presumably because they were in more fragile health and also because they often lived in old wooden homes . in shelters for victims of the quake , the homeless often speak in working_class japanese and seem overwhelmingly less educated and less affluent than the population at_large . while wealthy people were sometimes forced to stay in shelters for the first night or two , they have since fled to osaka or other cities to stay in hotels or with friends and relatives . " the rich have good houses , but we 're ordinary people , " explained setsuko kawahigashi , a 54 year old snack shop owner living in a shelter in ashiya . " lots of the rich folks had second houses , so they moved into those . and some of the rich have already bought new apartments . i heard of somebody who bought a new apartment on the day after the earthquake . they 've already moved in , and they 've got running water there and everything . " mrs . kawahigashi said she has some savings and a pension , but not enough money to rebuild her home a 50 year old wooden house or her small shop , which was also badly_damaged . she is also unsure what furniture she can recover from her house , which collapsed around her and buried her for two and a half hours . although she finally burrowed through a wall and escaped , mrs . kawahigashi is worried about her maltese terrier , who is now trapped inside the house . every day mrs . kawahigash goes to the wreck of her house and throws food inside for her dog , but it has been two days since she heard it bark or make any other sound . a few minutes' drive by mercedes_benz from mrs . kawahigashi 's collapsed house , tomiko kubo is straightening up the mess in her hilltop mansion . a friendly 77 year old woman wearing a mink coat against the chill , she has made some headway . " we lost some very nice porcelain , beautiful antiques , " mrs . kubo said . " but everybody 's fine , and that 's the important thing . it 's very different for those down there what a tragedy . " her 23 year old grandson , gohsuke kubo , explained the difference . " this house is built on rock , while down there the houses are old cheap wooden buildings constructed right after world_war_ii . " still , the entire neighborhood is putting up with the inconvenience of no running water or gas supply , so most residents in the multimillion_dollar homes have fled to osaka or other places . " among our close friends , none were killed or injured , " mr . kubo said . " but nobody lives around here now . it 's like a ghost_town . "	has a location of japan
by any standard , su dake , a 26 year old chinese student , should feel satisfaction with his six years spent in japan . he expects to graduate from college in april and hopes to enter a master 's program in business management . by working hard , and sleeping only a few hours each night , he has paid his college fees and won scholarships from his employer . individual japanese have been kind to him , like his boss , who called mr . su 's landlord when the faucets in his apartment froze . still , he said he had never felt particularly welcome in japan . like other foreign students interviewed recently , mr . su said he had not made any japanese friends here and planned to return to china after earning his master 's degree . ''it 's a sad fact to be unable to become friends with the people here , '' mr . su said after delivering newspapers on a recent morning . ''living in japan is like staying in a hotel forever , never in a home . i 'm always waiting to go home . '' to many asian students , japan is merely a place to get a degree and earn some money before returning home , often with the opposite impression japan had hoped for . neither side is pleased . as one newspaper , nihon_keizai , put it , if foreign students ''tell everyone how they hate this country once they go home , we should ask to what purpose we are hosting them to begin with . '' japan attained a two decade old goal recently by playing host to more than 100 , 000 foreign students at once . but the fulfillment of the goal , announced with fanfare in 1983 when japan saw itself as a beacon for asia , has gone largely unreported . the students , mostly from asia , were to acquire japanese knowledge , learn the culture and help mend japan 's relations with a continent that has not forgotten the country 's imperial past . instead , news of crimes committed by foreign students has grabbed headlines and shaped their image . even in this city in western japan , which is close to the asian continent and has traditionally had many asian students and residents , the killing of a family of four by a chinese student has changed attitudes . in a sharp reversal of recent policy , the government has now tightened visa requirements for foreign students , citing their involvement in illegal activities . when the full effect of the strict rules is felt a few years from now , the number of foreign students will probably dip below the once cherished goal . to prevent such a decline would require either a loosening of visa requirements by the justice ministry or fundamental changes in education ministry procedures for how japan deals with foreign students . neither seems likely . norifumi ushio , director of the office of international student education policy , said the budget for foreign students was insufficient but politically impossible to increase . ''there is now a mood in society that says , 'why should we support foreign students ? ' '' he said . the place occupied by foreign students touches on the question of what kind of society japan should be will it forge closer ties with asia , the better to draw workers for its own shrinking and aging population ? or would japan prefer to accept economic decline rather than bring in more asians ? for a century and a half , japan has focused on the west , first playing catch up and then competing on equal terms . it did not want to be associated with an asia it considered backward . he zhi , a 26 year old chinese student , is enrolled in a master 's program at kyushu university here , and owns an internet cafe popular among foreign students . he has no regrets about his eight years here . ''i have feelings toward japan , '' mr . he said . ''compared with talking to someone from britain , it is easier for me to talk to the japanese . i can speak the language , and i know the culture . after eight years , i feel i could not have had a good student life without japanese help . i feel a sense of obligation . '' still , he has mixed feelings . ''the japanese envy western developed nations and the united_states because they view them as superior and therefore respect them , '' he said , speaking fluent japanese . ''but the japanese share an attitude that it is not necessary to respect asians . '' in 1983 , there were 10 , 000 foreign students in japan . the number rose steadily over the years , especially after immigration rules were relaxed in the early 1990 's . then , in the past five years , the number shot up because of the growing wealth of chinese and their desire to study abroad . asians now account for 90 percent of foreign students chinese make up 65 percent of the total . a common problem for the asian students is japan 's high living costs . many work more than the legally permitted number of hours . according to the police , students account for one of every four foreigners arrested on criminal_charges . most of the charges are for things like theft and shoplifting the involvement of a chinese student in the killings here of a couple and their two children , found weighed down at the bottom of a river last year , was an exception . there are problems on the japanese side , too . many colleges , suffering from a declining japanese student population , accept foreigners with little regard to their long term financial wherewithal . the problem of students working illegally attests to japan 's need for cheap labor , even as it has been unwilling to reform immigration laws . kunikazu sasaki , chief of inspection for foreign students at the justice ministry , said immigration officers would now examine the ability of a prospective student 's family to pay educational expenses . colleges where students overstay their visas will also be scrutinized , he said . organizations supporting foreign students call for simple governmental changes . fumio takano , the leader of such an organization in tokyo , said japan 's rental system requiring a guarantor , among other assurances made it onerous for foreign students to find apartments . mr . takano said he acted as a rent guarantor for 200 foreign students . huang tian shu , 33 , a chinese student who has been in japan five years , said she was rejected 10 times before finding a 180 square_foot apartment . at midnight , while ms . huang was moving her things , she said the police stopped her , apparently because they suspected she was a thief , and took her to the local station for interrogation until the next morning . ''i felt discriminated against , '' she said . katsuya tanaka , an official at the national_police_agency , said the law made no distinction between japanese and foreigners . but ms . huang said it was not only the police who looked askance at foreign students . she works as a supervisor of a dormitory for foreign students , and , she said , ''japanese neighbors look at us as if they 're asking , 'why are you foreigners here ? ' '' ''i want to go back to china , '' she said . ''it 's too hard in japan . i ca n't see a future here . ''	has a location of japan
a front page article on saturday about the world 's fastest computer , built in a japanese laboratory to analyze climate_change , misspelled the name of the director of the national center for atmospheric research in boulder , colo . , who said researchers planned to convert united_states weather modeling codes to work with the new computer . he is dr . tim killeen , not kalleen .	has a location of japan
lead not long after cecil_fielder joined the detroit_tigers in spring_training , george ( sparky ) anderson asked how the 6 foot 3 inch , 230 pound first baseman preferred to pronounce his first name . ''just call me cess , '' he told the manager . that 's cess , as in success . with a major_league leading 16 home_runs , a . 324 average and 37 runs batted in , cess fielder is the success story of this baseball season . not long after cecil_fielder joined the detroit_tigers in spring_training , george ( sparky ) anderson asked how the 6 foot 3 inch , 230 pound first baseman preferred to pronounce his first name . ''just call me cess , '' he told the manager . that 's cess , as in success . with a major_league leading 16 home_runs , a . 324 average and 37 runs batted in , cess fielder is the success story of this baseball season . before the toronto_blue_jays sold him to hanshin of the japanese league following the 1988 season , he was available to any of the other 25 major_league teams for 1 waivers . but after he hit 38 homers in japan last year , the tigers signed him to a two year , 3 million contract . ''most players who go to japan are in the last years of their careers , '' said bill lajoie , the detroit general_manager . ''he 's the first guy to go there at a young age . '' now 26 years old , fielder used japan to retool his home_run swing and his confidence . as a platoon first baseman and designated_hitter , he had batted . 135 over the last two months of the 1988 season for the blue_jays , including an 0 for 26 slump . but the hanshin club offered him 1 . 05 million , quite a boost from his 125 , 000 salary with the blue_jays . ''the year in japan made all the difference , '' fielder was saying now from his detroit home . ''it was the first time since 1985 that i played every day and hit against right handed pitching . '' in addition to crashing 38 homers in japan in only 384 times at bat , fielder also discovered an escape clause in his hanshin contract . when his agent , bob gilhooley , sounded out a few major_league teams , the tigers and the boston_red_sox , who had lost nick esasky to free_agency , displayed the most interest . but the tigers offered the most money . and now fielder has a chance to hit the most home_runs for the tigers in one season since hank greenberg threatened babe_ruth 's record with 58 in 1938 . ''cess is strong , very strong , '' sparky anderson said . ''if he makes contact and gets the ball in flight , it 's gone . '' after last night 's game , an 11 6 victory over the kansas_city_royals , fielder 's home_run ratio would produce 65 over a 162 game season . not that he has even begun to think about roger_maris 's record of 61 homers in 1961 that surpassed babe_ruth 's total of 60 that had endured since the 1927 season . ''all the talk about roger_maris , babe_ruth and me is farfetched , '' he said . ''i just want to stay consistent and make solid contact . '' but it 's reasonable to think about fielder 's chances of joining greenberg , rocky colavito , norm cash and darrell evans as the only tigers ever to hit 40 or more homers in a season . greenberg hit 58 , 44 , and 40 twice . colavito hit 45 and cash hit 41 , both in 1961 . evans hit 40 in 1985 . ''how he handles the dry spells will be important , '' anderson said . ''the dry spells catch all of 'em . when you 're hitting home_runs like he is , it becomes too big a burden . '' the burden was too big for kevin mitchell last season . at the all star break , the san_francisco_giants' outfielder had 31 homers but finished with 47 . quite a year , but in major_league history only nine batters have hit 50 or more homers in a season . ruth did it four times . jimmie foxx , ralph kiner , mickey_mantle and willie_mays each did it twice . maris , hack wilson , george foster and johnny mize each did it once . ''cess hits the ball high and his best power is to right center , '' anderson said . ''in our ball park , from the first of june on , you get a drift , a breeze , blowing to right center . '' fielder likes to say , ''i just hit 'em , i do n't know how far they go . '' but he remembers a little league home_run he hit as a youngster growing up in west covina , calif . , a los_angeles suburb . ''it went into somebody 's backyard about 150 feet beyond the 200 foot mark on the center_field fence , '' he said . ''i think i was eight or nine years old . that 's when i first knew i could hit the ball farther than other kids . '' with his heavy hipped physique that fits his teddy_bear personality , fielder has had a tendency to put on weight . ''i 'm just built that way , '' he said . ''my whole family on my mother 's side is big . i 've got an uncle who 's 6 6 and 270 . but playing every day has helped . not sitting around , i can control my weight a lot easier . '' as a platoon first baseman with the blue_jays in 1987 , he hit 14 homers in only 175 times at bat . when he slumped in 1988 , he went to japan with the consent of every other major_league team that could have obtained him for 1 waivers . ''i 'd like to see cess have a big year , '' sparky anderson said , ''just to prove that none of us in this game are very smart . '' but the tigers were smart enough to give cecil_fielder another chance in the big leagues . and he 's making the most of it . sports of the times	has a location of japan
a conference that is supposed to cap more than two years of negotiations on what to do about global_warming opened here today amid widespread concern that too many hard issues remained to allow the completion of an effective agreement before the talks end in nine days . ''this negotiation has n't matured it 's like new wine , and i do n't know if we can ferment it in time , '' said melinda kimble , a senior state_department official who is leading the united_states delegation until the higher level ministerial phase of the talks begins next monday . today , however , ms . kimble hinted at some flexibility in the american position on setting targets for reduction of gases that trap heat in the atmosphere . after more than two years of bargaining , delegates from more than 150 countries are meeting for their final session in the high tech kyoto international conference hall , set among lovely hills , gardens and ponds in this ancient capital and repository of traditional japanese culture . surrounded by thousands of lobbyists and journalists from around the world , the negotiators are trying to agree not just on the amount by which emissions of greenhouse_gases like carbon_dioxide should be cut over the next 10 to 20 years , and on what schedule , but also on how to share the burden , what gases to include and how to structure the immensely complex task . the job has turned out to be more complicated and difficult than was envisioned in march 1995 , when parties to the 1992 rio treaty on climate_change decided that stronger action was needed , say many who are involved . in 1995 , it was seen simply as a matter of deciding on a reduction target and a timetable for the industrialized_countries . now it has broadened to include the highly contentious role of developing nations , as well as a number of elaborate mechanisms by which the reductions might be carried out . as a result , many experts say , there is a distinct_possibility that the talks will not be concluded here , at least not fully , and will have to be extended much as were negotiations on setting up the world_trade_organization a task that took more than a decade . but not everyone is pessimistic , and ms . kimble today sent a signal that prompted michael zammit cutajar , the maltese executive secretary of the united_nations climate secretariat , to declare that ''the negotiation is on its way . '' ms . kimble said at the opening session of the conference of parties to the 1992 rio climate treaty , under which the talks are being held , that the united_states would no longer insist on a flat_rate , one size fits all reduction target for all countries . instead , she said , the americans were ''prepared to consider the possibility of limited , carefully bounded differentiation'' of targets among industrialized_countries . different targets for different countries , tailored to their economic and social profiles , have emerged as a possible way to get around the impasse among rich countries over what targets and timetables for reductions they should adopt . the european_union , japan and russia have all proposed variations on the theme of differentiation , but the united_states had until today declined to join in what could ultimately be the key to an agreement on one of the talks' two central issues . on the other central issue how soon developing_countries should be bound by specific reductions targets and timetables ms . kimble said they need not take the same form as those of rich nations . rather , she suggested , the poorer countries might voluntarily , or as a result of future negotiations , adopt emission growth targets . the clinton_administration has said it will sign no agreement that does not include all countries , and ms . kimble 's statement was the clearest indication so far of what sort of participation by developing_countries might be acceptable to the united_states . but the developing_countries have insisted all along , and reiterated today , that consideration of specific commitments for themselves is out of the question until the richer nations demonstrate that they are actually reducing emissions . the rationale is that since the rich countries got wealthy by burning the coal and oil that emit carbon_dioxide and are the biggest emitters of the gas , they should lead the way . the united_states insists that the developing_countries should take on additional commitments , beyond a very general injunction to take steps to reduce emissions required by the 1992 treaty , because their emissions will outstrip those of the rich countries early in the next century . scientists advising the negotiators say that if emissions are not reduced , the average global surface temperature will rise by 2 to 6 degrees_fahrenheit over the next century . this , say the scientists , would cause sea levels to rise , many coastal zones and small island countries to be inundated , climatic zones to shift , rainstorms to become heavier , floods and droughts to become worse , heat waves to become more lethal and some natural ecosystems to disappear . any agreement in kyoto on reductions would be considered a first step , since none of the proposals now on the table for industrialized_countries' emission reductions would stop overall greenhouse_gas concentrations from continuing to accumulate in the atmosphere they would merely reduce the rate a bit . one of the most stringent reduction proposals on the table , advanced by the european_union , would limit overall emissions of carbon_dioxide , methane and nitrous_oxide to 7.5 percent below 1990 levels by 2005 and 15 percent by 2010 . the united_states has proposed that levels be stabilized at 1990 levels in the period 2008 through 2112 . the administration says that would trim emissions by 30 percent from what they would be in the absence of any action . the american proposal diverges from all others under consideration in that it applies to a larger ''basket'' of six greenhouse_gases that also includes hydrofluorocarbons , perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexachloride . the administration argues that this is an environmentally friendlier course , but a harder one that would not allow the europeans to achieve their proposed goals . ''i do not see a major difference between the u.s . and the e.u . , '' said hiroshi ohki of japan , who today was elected president of the conference of parties to the 1992 treaty that are meeting here . he said he believed that the industrialized_countries could come to an accommodation . in addition to the developing_country issue , a number of time consuming and intricate technical problems must also be dealt with . among these are the question of how to structure an emission trading system that the united_states says would cut the cost of reduction which greenhouse_gases to include in a reduction regime the degree to which forests ( which absorb carbon_dioxide ) should be considered in giving credit for reductions , and how differentiated targets could be devised and applied . if time runs out , say some representatives of environmental groups , extending the talks would be better than producing a flawed agreement that pleases no one and that might not be ratified by key countries like the united_states just for the sake of having an accord . mr . zammit cutajar remained optimistic . ''we have a lot of time , '' he said , ''10 whole days and nights . ''	has a location of japan