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April 28, 2024
 

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Fred Varcoe
For Fred Varcoe's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
May 2, 2000
Stop this madness!
I'm currently reading Ichiro Ozawa's "Blueprint for a New Japan," his manifesto for giving the government and politicians of this country the kick up the backside they badly need.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Apr 13, 2000
10 questions for the man from Slovakia
One of the pluses of hanging around the press box at soccer matches is never knowing who you're going to bump into. It might be a manager or player, a wife, a girlfriend, a TV star, an old friend, anybody really. More often than not you see a strange face and people whisper, "Who's that?" or "Isn't that so-and-so?"
MORE SPORTS
Mar 30, 2000
Japan Under-23 side outkicks Kiwis 4-0
Buy your lottery tickets now and get Sanfrecce Hiroshima manager Eddie Thompson to select your numbers.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 23, 2000
Troussier: Will he stay or will he go?
It wasn't the greatest 0-0 draw in the world but last Wednesday's game in Kobe meant more to Japan and Japanese soccer fans than such exercises in futility as the nine-goal win over Brunei in the Asian Cup qualifiers last month.
SOCCER / World cup
Mar 16, 2000
Japan sparkles in draw
KOBE -- He couldn't bring back the goals that Japan's senior soccer team has struggled to score in the past few years, but in Wednesday night's 0-0 draw with China, manager Philippe Troussier did bring back some credibility to the much maligned "A" team; he also brought back some excitement; and he even brought back Kazu.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 9, 2000
FIFA's unified calendar needs flexibility
The problem for people who come up with good ideas is that these pearls of wisdom are often put into practice by people with no idea.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Feb 24, 2000
JFA flash: Don't follow us, we're lost too
Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing! Boing! Yes, today we're playing ping-pong with Frenchmen.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 12, 2000
The life and times of a sumo giant
Continuing The Japan Times' exclusive interview with yokozuna Akebono, 30, in which he talks about his life and relationships in sumo.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 11, 2000
Akebono, in his own words
Akebono is one of the biggest sports stars in Japan, both literally and figuratively. The 30-year-old followed in the footsteps of his oyakata (stablemaster) Azumazeki (ex-sekiwake Takamiyama) and former ozeki Konishiki in making the transition from the backwaters of Hawaii to the rarified heights of one of the world's most recognizable, yet inscrutable, sports.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 9, 2000
English food -- beyond shepherd's pie
People did some funny things during the bubble economy. An insurance firm paid $80 million for an incredibly ugly painting by van Gogh; other companies paid equally stupid sums for New York's Rockefeller Center and California's Pebble Beach golf course; Louis Vuitton's vastly overpriced handbags became de rigueur among young Japanese women with more money than taste; and Verdy Kawasaki paid a useless soccer player named Tsuyoshi Kitazawa 70 million yen a year.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 13, 2000
Things that make you go PING
If I asked my mother how I could get more out of my golf clubs, she would probably reply: "Buy bigger ones so you can hit the ball easier" or "Ooh! Those orange ones look nice."
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 3, 2000
Grampus Eight hoists Emperor's Cup
Nagoya Grampus Eight walked off with what was probably the world's first soccer title of the millennium after downing Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2-0 in the final of the Emperor's Cup at Tokyo's National Stadium on a beautiful, sunny New Year's Day.
CULTURE / Music
May 15, 1999
Korean rocker carries on the family business
Go to Korea and you feel like everyone's got a chip on their shoulder. It's like everyone wants to pick a fight with you. On this occasion, someone did.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Air China to buy 100 locally made C919 jets in $11 billion deal
A Comac C919 during an aerial display at the Singapore Airshow at Changi Exhibition Centre in Singapore in February
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Top U.S. and China diplomats talk tough amid warnings of new ‘downward spiral’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday
Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

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