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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2003

Chaotic images of Indonesia

HONOLULU -- Turmoil in Indonesia was underscored Tuesday when a terrorist bomb exploded in a hotel in Jakarta killing at least 14 people and wounding about 150 more. It has added to the already surging concern of American officials in Washington and at the U.S. Pacific Command's headquarters in Hawaii,...
MORE SPORTS
Aug 10, 2003

JABF turns down H.S. boxer's request

The Japan Amateur Boxing Federation (JABF) has rejected a request for a hearing at the Japanese court of arbitration (JSAA) lodged by a high school boxer over the JABF's revoking of his amateur license, JSAA sources said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 10, 2003

Pulling away the curtains from the 'Princes of the Yen'

PRINCES OF YEN: Central Bankers and the Transformation of the Economy, by Richard A. Werner. London: M.E. Sharpe, 2003, 362 pp., $27.95, (paper). Richard A. Werner has written a rare book. "The Princes of the Yen" is a scholarly, thoroughly researched treatise on economics that reads like a detective...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Aug 10, 2003

Akagi nurtures organic lifeform

Jazz pianist Kei Akagi clearly relishes the dual nature of the human mind. This is no surprise coming from someone who has divided his time between the United States and Japan, his college studies between philosophy and music, his musical training between classical and jazz, his jazz playing between...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

Waterways of Edo life

For centuries, the boastful citizens of Edo lorded it over country bumpkins by saying, "I'm an Edokko [native of Edo] 'cause I was cleaned with pipe water when I was born and I've grown up drinking pipe water ever since."
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 10, 2003

Arias enjoying life

Four years in Japan and George Arias says he is finally where he had always longed to be as a player -- at the very top.
COMMENTARY
Aug 10, 2003

U.S. hardly stoking fear of China threat

HONG KONG -- The Pentagon's latest report on the military power of the People's Republic of China has, predictably, angered Beijing. But a careful reading shows that the language used is by no means provocative.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 10, 2003

Making tracks across moor and marsh

In the autumn of 1865, two Victorian gentlemen set off on foot from the Yorkshire town of Settle. They walked north through moorland haunted by the lonely cry of rooks, struggled through marshes, scaled mountains, skirted lethal potholes, were lashed by shrieking winds and stinging rain and, for most...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

The ones who got there first

Four centuries before Tokugawa Ieyasu arrived at Edo, a fierce band of mounted warriors had already fortified the hill where Ieyasu would build his magnificent Edo Castle, and on which the Imperial Palace now stands.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

Treasures too much for one

For one man alone, the Tokugawa treasures were simply too much to handle.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

History of homegrown Japanese science finally adds up

Think Edo Period, and you think ukiyo-e, bonsai, yakimono and kabuki. Few think of science, or of the technological skill and spirit, which would later hatch Sony, Toyota and a core part of the country's national identity.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2003

Japanese nuclear arsenal looks unlikely

WASHINGTON -- Speculation is rife about whether North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons could drive Japan to develop a nuclear arsenal. Some opinion leaders have even suggested that America should exploit this prospect to scare China into resolving the North Korea nuclear crisis. However, the reality...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 10, 2003

Foreign visitors who found the old in a new Japan

THE GREAT WAVE: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japan, by Christopher Benfey. New York: Random House, 2003, 534 pp., with monochrome plates, $25,95 (paper). In the middle of the century before last, Japan was -- as the West termed it -- finally opened up. The mysterious...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

Lost pet? No sweat -- except in the tub

You may think you've got just about everything for your pet -- from brand-name waterproofs and jewelry to its weekly trips to a pet cafe and yoga classes. Now, though, there's a new out-of-this-world accessory for the pet owner with everything: the no-hiding-place collar.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 10, 2003

The spirit of corrupt regimes alive in Japan

It's no secret that Japan discourages asylum-seekers, though officials never admit to it openly. When asked what the government would do about the 10 North Korean refugees who entered the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok on July 31, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said that it would be better for them...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 10, 2003

Up-tempo hangout just down the hill

Azabu Juban is a short stroll down the hill from both the new Roppongi Hills complex and Roppongi crossing. But whereas the new Mori complex has given Roppongi a bump up in the sophistication stakes, it merely adds to what is already on offer in Azabu Juban, which has long been the neighborhood of choice...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 10, 2003

State of the rock nation, in 35-min. bites

Since they took place on successive weekends, it's difficult not to compare this year's editions of the Fuji Rock Festival and Summer Sonic, so let's do it. Fuji is bucolic where SS is urban. Fuji's vibe is communal and free-spirited, while the SS vibe is commercial and controlling. Fuji is populated...
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2003

Fraud probe dropped after Tanaka questioned

Public prosecutors questioned former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka in late July about allegations that she misused the government salary of her secretary before they decided not to indict her, investigative sources said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

EDO: City spirit of an era

Whether it's the floating world of ukiyo-e, the stately rites of sumo, the meticulous craft of netsuke, the minimalist art of Japanese gardens or the decorums of the samurai, what we today regard as the traditional values of Japan took shape in what's known as the Edo Period.
EDITORIALS
Aug 9, 2003

SDF must meet constitutional tenets

It has been 50 years since the Self-Defense Forces were created to protect the peace and independence of Japan and to deal with foreign acts of aggression. It is fitting, therefore, that the white paper on Japan's defense for this milestone year, released this week by the Defense Agency, takes up future...
COMMENTARY
Aug 9, 2003

Political world prepares for fall showdown

The first half of 2003 was volatile both internationally and domestically. Severe acute respiratory syndrome hit China, other Asian countries and Canada at the beginning of the year and spread around the world. Then, in the Middle East, war broke out when the United States and Britain invaded Iraq, overthrew...
COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM
Aug 9, 2003

War on terror requires a stronger UNSC

In a world where groups of thugs can take over failed states and modern technology enables small groups of fanatics to kill millions of people, more intervention by the international community in the sovereignty of individual nations will be necessary. Such intervention cannot be left to the United States...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2003

U.S. need not fear the ICC

NEW YORK -- In recent years regional courts have been set up in Europe and the Americas to deal with the most serious human rights abuses committed by governments. International "ad hoc" criminal tribunals have been set up to deal with atrocities and massive killings committed in the former Yugoslavia,...
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 9, 2003

Giants go to Goto for victory

Koji Goto pinch-hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to lift the Yomiuri Giants over the Yakult Swallows 6-5 at Tokyo Dome on Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2003

Tax increase, 'chuhai' take toll on beer sales

The nation's major breweries on Friday reported weak beer sales for the first half of the year, with the economic slump, tax hikes and diversifying consumer taste conspiring to sap demand.

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