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JAPAN
Feb 22, 2004

Kanagawa cow likely to have BSE

A dairy cow from Kanagawa Prefecture is highly likely to have been infected with mad cow disease, officials said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 22, 2004

A second generation apart

INVISIBLE GARDENS, by Julie Shigekuni. St. Martin's Press, 2003, $23.95 (cloth). Lily Soto Quinn is starting to have an affair. At the first sexual encounter, she ponders the significance of her lover's body: "Part of him so clearly missing. A gap between his kneecap and the ground, filled with nothing...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 22, 2004

An ambassador's wild tale of the wilderness

A SIAMESE EMBASSY LOST IN AFRICA 1686: The Odyssey of Ok-Khun Chamnan, translated and edited by Michael Smithies. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2000, 115 pp., $15 (paper). In the spring of 1686, a Portuguese vessel was shipwrecked off Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. Though several on the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2004

Society expels doctor for in vitro genetic tests

The board of directors of the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology decided Saturday to expel the head of a Kobe maternity clinic that conducted genetic analysis of eggs fertilized through in vitro fertilization without the society's consent.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 22, 2004

Drumming skills aside, Brecker earns respect

Studio musicians and fusion bands -- especially successful ones -- get the least respect from jazz purists. Saxophonist Michael Brecker is in both categories. His 30 some years of studio recordings with practically everyone (Average White Band, Parliament, Paul Simon, Dire Straits, Aerosmith) would seem...
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2004

Water, water everywhere

Water is not what it once was, a synonym for simplicity and transparency. We used to bathe in it unthinkingly, admire it in our scenic views, drink it straight from the well or tap, and generally take it for granted. It soothed us by its very plainness: "Meditation and water are wedded forever," said...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 22, 2004

TV Asahi's quiz show "Sekai Tsukai Dense-tsu" and more

The Asahi TV quiz show "Sekai Tsukai Dense- tsu Unmei no Da-da-da-dan (World's Exciting Legends) -- on Tuesday at 8 p.m. -- explores the lives of historical figures whose reputations have a tragic dimension. This week, the subject is a woman who caused tragedy for everyone else: Catherine de Medici....
CULTURE / Music
Feb 22, 2004

Greg Howe: Extraction

Guitar whizzes are common in the world of jazz fusion. They offer a quick, high-energy musical fix for guitar freaks, but their showy licks, screaming melodic climaxes and speed for speed's sake all tend to feel routine by the second listen.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 22, 2004

Legends keep it visceral and current

Colin Newman of the English punk band Wire uses the words "interesting" and "energy" a lot when he talks about music. "Interesting" can often be a backhanded compliment, but Newman uses it literally because he tends to approach pop as an intellectual endeavor.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 22, 2004

A first step to understanding the homeless

The mayor of Kawasaki, Takao Abe, is currently under attack from a group of city residents who don't want a planned homeless shelter put in their neighborhood. Last month, Abe rejected the residents' request for a meeting to hear his explanation of why a disused chemical factory in the Tsutsumine district...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 22, 2004

Burnside Project

Over the past decade, the term "indie pop" has come to be associated with a certain sound and rhythm built around strummed guitars minus effects, artless vocals and songs that are personal without being revealing. This sound was born in living rooms and developed in small clubs, not recording studios,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 22, 2004

The Great White Yonder: Japan's 'Siberia'

Once upon a time, there was a chilly little town by the sea. It had ice and snow to spare, but not a single winter resort facility. Its fading downtown managed to be both antiquated and charmless. Fishing, once the lifeblood of the town, had seen its best days, and for every new inhabitant, more than...
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2004

Shinsei Bank's impressive revival

Thursday's listing of Shinsei Bank on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is good news. It is proof of how a failed and nationalized bank can reinvent itself as a going concern through efficient and innovative private management. The downside is that it took trillions of yen in taxpayer money to revive the bank,...
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2004

Extradition bid for Fujimori falls on deaf ears here

Japan and Peru remained divided Friday over Lima's request that former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori be extradited, making no headway in a diplomatic dispute that has lingered for nearly a year.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2004

Interferon can represses SARS in apes

Japanese and Dutch researchers have used sustained interferon alpha to successfully repress the symptoms and growth of severe acute respiratory syndrome in SARS-infected monkeys.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2004

Schools told not to force staff to play anthem

A bar association in Tokyo has urged principals at two public elementary schools in the city of Kunitachi, western Tokyo, not to force music teachers to play the national anthem at school ceremonies.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2004

Researchers' technologies increasingly being used by ventures

University researchers are gradually leaving their ivory towers to cooperate with businesspeople and utilize the technology they have developed.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2004

Diet dean Yamanaka, LDP's sales tax champion, dies at 82

Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight Sadanori Yamanaka, who influenced the nation's tax policies in the 1980s as a champion for the consumption tax, died Friday at Juntendo University Hospital in Tokyo. He was 82.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 21, 2004

Aburaya to miss Biwa Marathon

Shigeru Aburaya, who placed fifth in the men's marathon at the past two World Athletics Championships, has decided not to compete in the upcoming Lake Biwa Marathon next month. Aburaya was not on the list, including 11 national and eight overseas invitees, released Thursday by the organizers of the...
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2004

Graying population turns to music for color

Musical instrument companies that offer music classes are turning their attention to Japan's growing elderly market.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past