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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 17, 2001

Some like it steamed

Many Japanese who grew up in the 1950s still recall roba no panya, horse-drawn bakery wagons selling mushi-pan (steamed bread). Popularized by Kyoto-based bread manufacturer Vitamin Pan Rensa-ten Honbu in the latter part of the decade, by around 1960 the company boasted 160 roba no panya across the country,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 17, 2001

Fukuoka's 'Asian' flavor

FUKUOKA -- B day Fukuoka shows a sleek, modern face to the world, but when the sun goes down its complexion changes to something more timeless and intriguing as nearly 200 wooden yatai (food stalls) are towed into its downtown area.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 17, 2001

A global village round the corner

We are besieged by arms reaching around, between and over us, all simultaneously trying to flip the pages of the single menu to their own outlet's selection and telling us, in variously accented Japanese, just how good this or that particular dish is.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 17, 2001

Bolick steers Marines over Hawks

Chiba Lotte designated hitter Frank Bolick cracked a go-ahead two-run double in the eighth inning as the Marines beat the Daiei Hawks 5-3 at Chiba Marine Stadium on Saturday, extending their winning streak against the defending Pacific League champion to five.
SOCCER / J. League
Jun 17, 2001

Jubilo extends lead at top of J. League

Jubilo Iwata moved a step closer to clinching the J. League's first-stage title on Saturday as veteran Japan striker Masashi Nakayama headed home the winner to give his side a 1-0 victory at Kashiwa Reysol.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 17, 2001

China no threat to Asia just yet

CHINA AND THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY: Great Power or Struggling Developing State? by Solomon M. Karmel. MacMillan, 2000, 229 pp., 35 UK pounds (cloth). China is a revisionist state. It wants to challenge the existing international order -- or at least the way things work in Asia. The country's history,...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 17, 2001

Sounds of a poet who writes to live, and lives to write

COLLECTED POEMS OF SHUNTARO TANIKAWA, CD-ROM. Iwanami Shoten Publishers, Tokyo, 2000, 19,000 yen. It's been a recent trend in the music industry to come out with boxed sets commemorating the work of some of our most celebrated musicians, from John Coltrane to the Beatles. That such a trend has spread...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 17, 2001

Take me out to the big league

As U.S. President George W. Bush makes the rounds in Europe, taking flak and talking trash, it seems like a good opportunity to address what his father would refer to as the "cultural hegemony thing." South Korea and France deal with it by subsidizing their movie industries. China screens everything...
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jun 17, 2001

Jazz from the tap, running hot and cool

Great jazz, in styles ranging from traditional swing to eclectic free jazz, can be heard nightly in Tokyo. Two of the most popular and listenable acts are the cool-jazz guitarist Sadanori Nakamure and the hard-bop group Alto Nakayoshi Koyoshi. Though both play styles of jazz that originated in the '50s,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 17, 2001

The bright side of bamboo

BAMBOO IN JAPAN, by Nancy Moore Bess, with Bibi Wein. Tokyo and New York: Kodansha International, 2001, 224 pp., 160 color prints and duo-tone photographs, 5,800 yen. Bamboo, the ancient, ubiquitous grass, is everywhere in Japan. Of the over 1,500 species worldwide, nearly half are found here. It...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2001

Cultural workshop to consider IT in Kyoto

Four European cultural centers in Kyoto will present an annual workshop between 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on June 30 at the Goethe-Institut Kansai's Kyoto center in the city's Sakyo Ward.
COMMUNITY
Jun 17, 2001

From rice to riches

A small light bulb lit up above the head of Susumu Takeuchi when he was barely 24. And last year, his modest little business idea brought in 400 million yen.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 17, 2001

Ms. Popularity unleashes charm while her poodle mows the grass

"Look at it this way," one of my mother's cornier friends blabbed to her when she learned of my engagement, "You're not losing a son, you're gaining a daughter."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 17, 2001

Gourmet meals on wheels

Chris Takahashi spent years making dishes for some of the world's most fussy eaters -- New Yorkers. On returning to his home country a few years ago after 27 years away, instead of trying to slot into some kind of salaried position in a society where he felt completely lost, he decided to do what he...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jun 17, 2001

Visit new worlds on the wine list

A good wine list should not inspire anxiety. But unless you exist on an expense account, an encyclopedia-thick volume of precious trophy wines is daunting. It is also inadequate. A wine menu should invite exploration, with quality wines at a variety of price points.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2001

Government to revise 2001 growth downward to 0.5%

The government's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy plans to effectively revise downward Japan's fiscal 2001 economic growth target to a real 0.5 percent from the current 1.7 percent, government sources said Saturday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 17, 2001

When commuter hell takes on a whole new meaning

Several weeks ago, JR's Saikyo Line started to reserve at least one car on its nightly commuter runs for women. The move followed a precedent set last year by the Keio Line, whose new service, according to reports, is very popular.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 17, 2001

Flying postpunk first class

Time is the nemesis of originality. The greater the number of artists who explore a particular discipline over time, the less likely it is that one of them will come up with something fresh.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jun 17, 2001

A master at going with the flow

Kiyoshi Maejima was 14 when he first picked up a guitar. Soon he was playing hooky from his judo class to sneak off and practice the jazz riffs that his big brother had shown him. A few years later, he was heading up to Tokyo from Shizuoka to attend music school.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 17, 2001

On a mission from Korea

Kimchi is not just a daily food for Koreans, it's a potent symbol of national identity. Hence the outcry when the news broke of Japanese companies marketing ersatz versions not made according to the traditional process. This was sacrilege on the same order of trying to pass off carbonated grape juice...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 17, 2001

A la cart

Masaru Tanaka's yatai has been open for business at the same roadside spot in central Tokyo almost every evening for the past 40 years or more.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 17, 2001

Saikabo: On a mission from Korea

Kimchi is not just a daily food for Koreans, it's a potent symbol of national identity. Hence the outcry when the news broke of Japanese companies marketing ersatz versions not made according to the traditional process. This was sacrilege on the same order of trying to pass off carbonated grape juice...
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jun 17, 2001

Savoring rewards of slow food

In addition to just eating a plump one with a bowl of hot rice to improve digestion and settle your stomach, there are four basic condiment staples made with dried salt-preserved Japanese apricots (umeboshi). If you were ahead of the game and pickled your umeboshi this time last year, now is the time...
EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2001

One year after Pyongyang

On Friday, the two Koreas marked a bittersweet anniversary: It has been one year since the historic summit between the leaders of the two countries. Koreans rejoiced as South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and North Korea leader Kim Jong Il toasted each other in Pyongyang and promised to end a half century...
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2001

Privatization law on three JR firms gets Diet approval

The Diet passed a bill Friday to revise the Japan Railway law to fully privatize three JR group railroads operating in Honshu.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2001

Daiwa unit downgrades growth in GDP for 2001

A think tank affiliated with Daiwa Bank has revised its estimate of the growth in Japan's gross domestic product in fiscal 2001, which began in April, to 0.2 percent from its March prediction of 0.9 percent. Daiwa Research Institute Inc. blamed the downward revision mainly on a slowdown in both exports...
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2001

Impasse may have been final straw

OSAKA — Mamoru Takuma, who was arrested in the June 8 massacre of eight schoolchildren, was involved in a court battle with his former wife in which he had recently dropped his demand for reconciliation and instead sought money from her, investigative sources said Friday.

Longform

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