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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 25, 2004

Where time stands still

Once upon a time, if you stood in the Saiwai-cho area of Kawagoe in western Saitama Prefecture, you would have seen all around you people in kimono moving between rows of old merchants' houses with upswept, tiled roofs, kura warehouses with double-shuttered windows, and alleys twisting between black-painted...
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2004

Teachers to sue Tokyo over anthem

More than 200 teachers who work at schools run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Saturday they are going to sue the Tokyo education board.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 25, 2004

Happy Ko-Edo exile

Midori Fujii calls herself a "cityscape exile."
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2004

Ties that bound Seoul's foreign minister

SEOUL -- Foreign Minister Yoon Young Kwan's resignation Jan. 15 grabbed headlines in Seoul with South Korean-American relations at the heart of it. Although his successor and career diplomat, Ban Ki Moon, has promised to clean house, this won't be easy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2004

Wise choice for the judgment of Hussein

Last May U.S. President George W. Bush declared the Iraq war over, although the resistance movement showed no signs of abating. Even the arrest of former President Saddam Hussein in December has brought no fundamental change in the situation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 25, 2004

Tony Malaby: "Adobe"

While the bluntness of the rare sax-bass-drum unit inspired innovators like Ornette Coleman or Henry Threadgill to their best work, the format often caused listeners to squirm through extended bass or drum solos, even if they were patient with a single melodic voice. Saxophonist Tony Malaby leaps over...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 25, 2004

To give proves easier said than done

JAPAN'S "CULTURE OF GIVING" AND NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS, by Akira Matsubara and Hiroko Todoroki, translated by Richard Forrest. Tokyo: Coalition for Legislation to Support Citizen's Organizations, 2003, 45 pp., free (paper). Japan's transformation is proceeding quietly, slipping beneath media radar screens...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 25, 2004

Japan's culture dictates: Thou shalt eat meat

On Jan. 15, the animal rights organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, announced that CBS had refused to accept a 30-second TV spot from the group for the network's Feb. 1 Super Bowl broadcast. CBS explained that its policy is not to accept "advocacy advertisements." PETA, which would...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 25, 2004

Surprise guests inspire unholy thoughts

MOSCOW -- It started with a rectangular jellyfish floating toward the lower right-hand corner of my computer screen. The jellyfish carried a logo, Kodak Easy Share, and was of a nauseating white-yellow-red design. The jellyfish had been there for quite a while, distracting me from students' papers and...
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2004

The envoy and the artwork

A spark from the Middle East conflict ignited a bonfire in Stockholm last week. The incident -- and the sharply divided reactions to it -- illustrated once again the intractability of the parties involved in the conflict and the near impossibility of imagining a resolution. In the face of such emotion,...
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Murderer's death penalty upheld

The Tokyo High Court on Friday upheld the death penalty for a former Chinese graduate student in Ibaraki Prefecture who murdered a Chinese woman and her husband after she spurned his advances.
SUMO
Jan 24, 2004

One more win for Asashoryu

Grand champion Asashoryu defeated ozeki Kaio on the 13th day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, but will have to wait to wrap up his fifth Emperor's Cup courtesy of Kotomitsuki's win over Wakanosato.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Yahoo clients' credit card info stolen

Softbank Corp. said Friday that someone had stolen personal information on 242 subscribers to its Yahoo BB asymmetrical digital subscriber line high-speed Internet access service. The information includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and credit card numbers, Softbank said.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

SDP to woo voters with new platform

The Social Democratic Party will establish a new platform aimed at demonstrating its policies and its significance to the public, executive party members said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Ruling bloc, DPJ to push sanctions bill

The ruling coalition and the main opposition party agreed Friday to push legislation through the Diet early next month that will enable Japan to impose economic sanctions on North Korea on its own.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

China relays Pyongyang overture

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has told a senior Chinese official that there are "positive movements" in the relationship between Pyongyang and Tokyo.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 24, 2004

All will be decided on Top League's final day

It's often said you shouldn't leave things to the last minute, but the Japan Rugby Football Union will be delighted that its new competition, the Top League, has gone right down to the wire.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Mercury plunges across archipelago, paralyzing traffic, trains, airplanes

Cold air over Japan brought subzero temperatures to many parts of the archipelago Friday morning, as blizzards paralyzed traffic in northern regions and areas on the Sea of Japan coast.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Rokkasho in dark, or wary, about ITER

OSAKA -- Just weeks before a decision is made on whether Japan or France gets to host the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project, Japanese officials are conducting a last-ditch international campaign to secure support.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 24, 2004

Ai-chan to take part in Japan Top 12

Japanese teenage prodigy Ai Fukuhara will compete at the Japan Top 12 table tennis tournament for her fourth consecutive year, the Japan Table Tennis Association said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2004

27.65 billion yen in '02 wages unpaid

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday that a record 27.65 billion yen in unpaid wages was reported in 2002.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2004

EBank logs first monthly black ink

The online bank eBank Corp. said Friday it posted a pretax profit of 19 million yen in December, its first black ink on a monthly basis since it started operating in July 2001.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jan 24, 2004

2003 -- Year of the Compilation

It began in Japan with a nasty flu spawned in an overflowing crowd at the countdown party. Right off the bat, 2003 had all the makings of a year that would never get off the ground.

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