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JAPAN
Feb 15, 2004

2002 World Cup target for al-Qaeda, leader says

A senior member of al-Qaeda has told U.S. security authorities that the terrorist network planned to carry out attacks against 2002 World Cup soccer matches in Japan, informed sources in Tokyo said Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2004

Abduction issue talks end with little progress

By KANAKO TAKAHARA
Japan Times
Features
Feb 15, 2004

Soaking up Sakura

Pass by the noisy pachinko parlor near BicCamera in Yokohama, turn the corner at the red paper lantern outside the yakitori shop and, tucked away down an alleyway, you'll find a villa-like little storefront labeled "Snack Sakura."
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2004

'Haru-ichiban' bring early spring

The year's first warm gales, indicating the arrival of spring, were felt in parts of Japan on Saturday, according to the Meteorological Agency.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 15, 2004

Harper pushing himself to a higher plane

Ben Harper just had a great week. First, the singer/songwriter and master of the acoustic slide guitar spoke with Andre 3000 of hip-hop heroes OutKast about going into the studio together. A few days later, guitar legend Ry Cooder called about collaborating. Then blues great Taj Mahal called with a similar...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 15, 2004

"Nandemo Kanteidan" on TV Tokyo and more

One of the most popular shows on television is the antique appraisal show "Nandemo Kanteidan," where people have items they own appraised by experts. On Monday, Feb. 16, TV Tokyo will broadcast a special two-hour edition of "Kanteidan" at 9 p.m.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 15, 2004

John Vanderslice: "Cellar Door"

Because he runs his own small analog recording studio in San Francisco, singer-songwriter John Vanderslice is better equipped to record his songs exactly the way he wants them to be recorded. His first three CDs were concept albums, and his latest, "Cellar Door," may very well be a concept album, too,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 15, 2004

The Rosenberg Trio: "Live in Samois"

Every summer, the peaceful French river town of Samois sur Seine is magically transformed into Djangoville in honor of Gypsy guitar wizard Django Reinhardt, who passed away there over 50 years ago. Sporadically since the late '60s and annually since the '80s, Samois has hosted a festival dedicated to...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2004

Building safety fines leap 200-fold

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has decided to sharply increase penalties for building owners who ignore correction orders from local authorities and fail to ensure the safety of their buildings, ministry sources said Saturday. The ministry plans to raise the maximum fine 200-fold,...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2004

Two killed in Tokyo apartment fire

A fire broke out in a 14-story apartment building in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward early Saturday, killing two women and injuring 13 other residents, police and fire fighters said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2004

Museum marks Bikini blast anniversary

Early on March 1, 1954, the United States exploded a hydrogen bomb, code-named Bravo, on the Pacific Ocean's Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 15, 2004

Shades of sunakku

Ask 10 Japanese to tell you exactly what a sunakku (snack) is and you'll likely get 10 different answers.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 15, 2004

Laughs and tears in life at Lily's

Lil is a woman who knows a thing or two about survival.
Features
Feb 15, 2004

Lap up a taste of the good times

"I'm going to be in tears before the end of all this. I just know it," says Heidy, fluttering her mascara-clad eyes.
Events
Feb 15, 2004

KANSAI: Who & What

Imperial Hotel brings Swiss wines to Osaka: The Imperial Hotel Osaka is holding a Swiss wine fair through Feb. 29 at its Kita Ward building.
COMMENTARY
Feb 15, 2004

Japan jumping headfirst into the future

The Japanese "get no respect, no respect at all." That trademark line from American comic Rodney Dangerfield certainly applies to the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Last August when I interviewed Koizumi in his official Tokyo residence, I asked him point-blank if Japanese troops really...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 15, 2004

Don't tease the Russian bear

MOSCOW -- In this election year for both Russia and the United States, a major conflict is under way in Russo-American relations: the debate over the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Created to contain the Soviet Union during the Cold War, NATO had to redesign itself following the...
Japan Times
Features
Feb 15, 2004

Shelters from the storm

Japan's small 'snack' bars may be a mystery to most, but to their loyal and mainly male customers they are cozy havens where they can unwind with friends and share life's ups and downs with a mama-san who's always there for them
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 15, 2004

Asian Sherlocks pursue exotic crimes

THE FENG SHUI DETECTIVE, by Nury Vittachi. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004, 280 pp., $23.95 (cloth). THE LAST KASHMIRI ROSE, by Barbara Cleverly. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003, 314 pp., $6.99 (paper). The "feng shui detective," an elderly Singaporean named C.F. Wong, doesn't wear a trench coat or pack...
COMMENTARY
Feb 15, 2004

Afghanistan risks becoming narco-state

ISLAMABAD -- The United Nations' office on drugs and crime has warned recently that Afghanistan risks becoming a narco-state, dependent largely on the flow of illegal drugs. The production and shipment of narcotics in an otherwise shattered and bankrupt economy not only add to the aggravation within...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 15, 2004

The politics of sex: How a government stays on top

COLONIZING SEX: Sexology and Social Control in Modern Japan, by Sabine Fruhstuck. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003, 217 pp., 15 illustrations, $50.00 (cloth), $19.95 (paper). Philosopher Michael Foucault has written that sexuality is the most useful tool in any power relationship. It is...

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