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Hiroko Kimura
For Hiroko Kimura's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 9, 2003
In with le new!
It's Beaujolais Nouveau time again, and Japan -- despite its piffling per capita consumption of just three bottles of wine a year -- will suddenly become a nation of tipplers and quaffers (if not connoisseurs) of this fresh-from-the-vine red wine from France.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 9, 2003
Wine trade in gear for party of the year
Just 10 days to go, and the scramble to cash in on Japan's biggest-ever demand for France's youngest wine is heating up.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 24, 2003
Is anyone out there looking?
In streets and parks, at schools, airports or shopping centers, you won't go far in Japan these days without encountering artworks in some shape or form, from monumental sculptures to decorative tiles underfoot -- or even simply children's drawings on display.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 27, 2003
Brands vie for your thirst
"Advertising," as it's often defined, "is the creation of wants."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 27, 2003
Bottlers ride a 'purity' wave
Japanese people have for generations believed that whatever the times have in store, life's essentials such as water and safety would always be theirs for free.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 13, 2003
Opportunity knocks for women in Japan's climate of change
With the days of the Asian Tigers long gone, and Japan Inc. now more of a pussy cat gone belly up, the talk is no longer about the world's second-biggest economy taking over the world, but about the profound structural changes that will be necessary just to keep it afloat.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 15, 2003
Shades of good sense
Parasols are peculiar things. Meaning "to ward off the sun" in Latin-based languages, these lightweight umbrellas were long ago the height of coquettish fashion in Europe. Until recently though, in Japan they were the preserve of its distinctly uncoquettish obasan.

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