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Taiga Uranaka

JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM

Jun 23, 2002

Scale model maker strives to keep high-tech rivals at bay

SHIZUOKA — Shunsaku Tamiya's great passion is trying to coax today's high-tech savvy kids into embracing the low-tech world of scale models.

BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS

Jun 19, 2002

Japan train stations no longer a sea of black hair

Although not as flashy as the red and golden heads of the Japanese squad in the World Cup, ordinary citizens are sporting brighter hair colors these days, boosting domestic sales of hair dyes.

Japan Times

JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS

Jun 15, 2002

Famed sculptor's mannequins wear evolution of Western haute fashion

The Sugino Costume Museum is ensconced among campus buildings in a quiet residential area in Tokyo's Meguro district frequented by college boys in the days before World War II who were curious to glimpse female dressmaking students in stylish Western clothes.

Japan Times

JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM

May 26, 2002

Soccer coach for the intellectually challenged lets 'em play

After being made head coach of the national soccer team last August, Hiroshi Ohashi's first order was for the grown-ups to get off the pitch.

Japan Times

JAPAN

May 10, 2002

Condom makers jazz up contraception

The country's 60 billion yen condom industry has taken the offensive lately in a withering market, promoting a batch of new products designed to woo youths who are increasingly sexually active but reluctant to use protection.

JAPAN

May 10, 2002

Experts struggle to boost prophylactics among teens

Alarmed by the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and a record number of abortions among teenagers, educators and health experts are desperately searching for ways to increase condom use.

Japan Times

JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS

May 4, 2002

Shibuya museum links tobacco, salt past and present in curious harmony

To the uninitiated, the combination of tobacco and salt in a museum is a curious one.

Japan Times

JAPAN

May 1, 2002

Tracking systems try to tackle food safety

Shoppers are now being invited to check with their own eyes that what something is labeled is what they actually eat.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Apr 11, 2002

Vested-interest policymakers irked over report that pulls few punches

Lawmakers within the ruling coalition were left aghast by a scathing report submitted last week by a panel investigating the government's handling of mad cow disease.

JAPAN

Feb 8, 2002

Are cell phones becoming too disruptive?

Masahito Tagami spent some 900,000 yen on a relay antenna system when he opened an "izakaya" restaurant in the basement of a building in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, last April, so that customers could use their mobile phones.

JAPAN

Jan 27, 2002

Playwright offers art to lift Japan out of crisis

In these gloomy times, it seems everyone in Japan is chanting the mantra of structural reform, yet progress is excruciatingly slow. The greatest obstacle is not the political old guard nor the foot-dragging banks. Instead, the main problem is lack of art, according to playwright Oriza Hirata.

JAPAN

Jan 6, 2002

Architect blames Japan cityscapes on obsession with wealth

Japan's cities have been criticized for lacking the harmony and consistence felt in other countries, especially in Europe. But that's not a result of poor city planning; the disarray of structures in Tokyo and Osaka simply mirror the country's postwar obsession with material wealth, according to architect...

COMMUNITY

Dec 6, 2001

Theme park operator laughs in face of yakuza, Mickey Mouse

While yakuza gangs and Mickey Mouse may be intimidating for her colleagues, Hatsue Takai merely brushes them aside.

JAPAN

Dec 1, 2001

Net poses major changes for news media

Does the advent of the Internet society spell the end of the news media as we know it? Will a new breed of reporters, represented by anonymous authors in online chat rooms, oust professional journalists from the public arena?

JAPAN

Nov 17, 2001

Ward floats shopping bag tax

In the first local government tax of its kind in Japan, Tokyo's Suginami Ward is pushing a plan to impose a 5 yen levy on each plastic bag handed out at shops and supermarkets.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 14, 2001

Patients, professionals slam health insurance reform

The winter after an unusually hot summer is especially risky for the elderly, whose vulnerable immune systems have been taxed by intense heat.

JAPAN

Oct 6, 2001

Farmers angry at ministry foot-dragging

NODA, Chiba Pref. -- It is worse than the market collapse during the economic slump triggered by the 1973 oil crisis, when beef prices plunged by two-thirds.

JAPAN

Oct 2, 2001

Disclosure law struggling to live up to its name

A landmark information disclosure law has failed to live up to its promise of increasing the transparency of the nation's scandal-tinged bureaucracy, citizens' groups claim.

SOCCER / World cup

Sep 24, 2001

Pictograms counted on to bridge language gaps

As the country prepares to host the 2002 Soccer World Cup, a growing number of local authorities and transportation operators are employing visually oriented communication means called pictograms on streets and at public facilities.

JAPAN

Sep 20, 2001

Miyake islanders visit evacuated homes

MIYAKE ISLAND -- More than 300 people returned to their homes here Tuesday for the first time since being forced to evacuate a year ago due to worsening volcanic activity.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.

What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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