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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 25, 2001

Failed chemistry experiments in the media lab

Two weeks ago, a friend faxed me an article from the weekly news magazine Aera about a new advertising trend called "collaboration CF," which is the selling of two different companies' products in one TV commercial. I had already read about collaborations two days earlier in advertising critic Yukichi...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

What she's doing in Japan: a novel with heart

ASH, by Holly Thompson. Stone Bridge Press, 2001, 292 pp., $16.95 (paper) Don't read "Ash" if you're a jaded expatriate pining for a ticket home. Don't give a copy to an idealistic friend considering the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. Above all, don't lend it to Japanese acquaintances keen to discover...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

Book Bites

TOKYO CONFIDENTIAL: Titillating Tales From Japan's Wild Weeklies, edited by Mark Schreiber. The East Publications, 2001, 257 pp., 1,400 yen (paper) Grown men in diapers? Couples going all the way in the back seats of Tokyo taxi cabs? Mothers stalking their daughters? Companies that rent out wedding guests?...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

A spark that ignited social change

ORGANIZING THE SPONTANEOUS: Citizen Protest in Postwar Japan, by Wesley Sasaki-Uemura. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001, 293 pp., $27.95 (paper) The events accompanying the revision of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in 1960 aroused strong emotions among those involved, making it difficult for...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 25, 2001

Japan's designers show they're going places

Sitting under the glare of the runway lights for three weeks of fashion shows, watching model after model sashaying up and down the catwalk, isn't such a bad way to spend time. It's kind of like traveling.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Nov 25, 2001

Where the twains meet and swing

Certain musical phrases, combinations of notes, chord changes and rhythms appear consistently in the folk music of Hungary, Turkey and China.
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2001

BTM to close 50 outlets, lay off staff

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi plans to close around 50 of its 310 outlets nationwide -- some 15 percent of the total -- and lay off 3,500 staff by the end of March 2005 to cut costs, bank sources said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 2001

Find the mad-cow infection route

The specter of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) continues to haunt the nation despite official assurances of safety. On Wednesday another cow tested positive at a meat inspection center in Hokkaido, even as the source of infection in the first case, confirmed in September in Chiba Prefecture,...
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Obituary: John Nason

John Nason, an American educator who as a college president helped release more than 3,000 Japanese-American students interned during World War II, died Nov. 16 in Kennett Square, Pa., a newspaper reported Thursday. He was 96.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

149 artisans, tech wizards get awards

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has announced the names of 149 people to be given awards as contemporary artisans and technicians for their excellence in traditional handicrafts and industrial technology.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Is safety net failing kids in legal trouble?

A 19-year-old who fled the Kurihama Juvenile Training School last year was literally running out of options.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Chogin investigation deepens

A former head of the failed Chogin Tokyo credit union, already under arrest on obstruction charges, is now suspected of embezzling 1 billion yen from the company, sources close to the case said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2001

German lessons for Korea

SEOUL -- Koreans have come to cherish Germany's experiences, as many see this country's unification saga as an important, if not the most important, point of reference. Korea's unification will probably be more difficult and complex than Germany's unification in October 1990. Koreans have one major advantage,...
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2001

Nonfinancial firms suffer steep falls in profit for first half

Nonfinancial companies listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange incurred huge profit falls in the first half of the 2001 business year, reflecting the deepening information technology slump, according to a private research institute.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Nov 24, 2001

U.S. civil liberties a needless war casualty

WASHINGTON -- Support for U.S. President George W. Bush and his handling of the war effort remains high, and the military success will help maintain this support level. Bush is testing his popular support regularly here at home as he pushes to implement his conservative legislative agenda, which is meeting...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

South Korean author protests mayor's 'sangokujin' remark

When Shinjuku Ward Mayor Takashi Onoda referred to "sangokujin" in a speech on Nov. 13, Shin Sugok could not believe it.
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2001

Kokusai Securities plans merger

Kokusai Securities Co. plans to merge with two other medium-size brokerages affiliated with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in 2002 to form Japan's fourth-largest brokerage, sources close to the deal said Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 24, 2001

Giants decide to offload Martinez

The Yomiuri Giants will not offer slugger Domingo Martinez a contract for next season, officials of the Central League club revealed late Thursday.
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2001

U.S. reportedly to urge Asia steel cuts

The U.S. will send officials to Japan, South Korea and China in the next two weeks to urge a cutback in steel production, the Financial Times reported Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Japan signs convention on Net crime

Japan signed a treaty Friday aimed at eradicating Internet-related crimes at an international conference on cybercrime in Budapest, government officials said.
COMMUNITY
Nov 24, 2001

Macchinesti: the accidental Ferrari of coffee shops

After the Japanese "kissaten," where coffee was coffee and not a lot more, came Doutor. Then came that all-conquering import, Starbucks, and a stream of similar lifestyle-focused camp followers of both American and Japanese descent. Now, suddenly, we have Macchinesti.
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2001

BOJ urges banks to clarify outlooks

Banks should promptly clarify their business outlooks for the financial market to help them pull out of their bad-loan straits, a senior Bank of Japan official said during a recent interview with Kyodo News.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Debate over female on throne muted as nation awaits baby

As Japan awaits the long-anticipated birth of a child to the Crown Prince and Princess, debate over revising the law to allow women to assume the Imperial throne remains somewhat subdued.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 24, 2001

Injured Yawara-chan to skip meet

Reigning Olympic and world champion Ryoko Tamura will pull out of next month's international women's judo meet in Fukuoka after failing to fully recover from a knee injury picked up earlier this year, informed sources said Friday.

Longform

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