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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Aug 21, 2003

"Toad Heaven," "Ada Lovelace"

"Toad Heaven," Morris Gleitzman, Puffin Books; 2002; 192 pp. Humans are always complaining about how unfair life is. Limpy is a cane toad, but he thinks it's unfair, too. For starters, no one likes him (except his family). Female cane toads don't think he's much of a looker. (Cane toads are ugly enough,...
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2003

Yasukuni issue must be resolved

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine continue to cast a shadow over Japan's relations with its Asian neighbors. In particular, China and South Korea remain critical of a Japanese head of government paying an official visit to the shrine, which is dedicated to millions of Japan's...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Aug 21, 2003

California's political circus comes to town

WASHINGTON -- California Gov. Gray Davis will need more than a little luck to carry the day in the gubernatorial recall election now set for Oct. 7. As the campaign starts, he needs to gain ground quickly and mightily to remain in office. The voters are prepared to vote to oust him by margins ranging...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Aug 21, 2003

Tracking down the old Tokaido

The old itinerant monk in "Oi," the 1830s woodblock print by Hasegawa Settan shown here, is admiring a gushing spring on a forested hillside. Apparently impressed by the joyous flow of water, he is speaking to a local temple apprentice who is pointing away to the right, possibly to another spring nearby....
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2003

Victor wins clutch of Europe prizes

Victor Co. of Japan Ltd. said Wednesday it has won top prizes in three divisions in the 2003-2004 European Imaging and Sound Association awards.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Aug 21, 2003

Home sweet home for Japan

With the Japanese media and public on his back, Zico called up the majority of his overseas stars for this seemingly meaningless friendly against Nigeria. In short, Zico desperately needed a win to give him some breathing space.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2003

Lawson's bank outlet opens new frontier

Lawson Inc. on Wednesday became the first convenience store chain to open an outlet in a bank when it launched a store in a Tokyo branch of Hokuriku Bank, a Toyama-based regional.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2003

Calpis inks Taiwan drinks deal

Lactic drinks maker Calpis Co. said Wednesday it has signed a business alliance with Uni-President Enterprises Corp. of Taiwan.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 21, 2003

Thrills on the hills

It happened again. Underfoot was the crunching tephra of Akan Fuji, black tinged with orange; it stretched away on either side of me, an arid, seemingly sterile environment. I'd zigzagged my way almost to the skyline and the distant view was opening up. Behind me to the north lay the cone and constantly...
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 21, 2003

Mars attacks

As the day draws near when Mars makes its closest encounter with Earth for 60,000 years, Japan's astronomical observatories are launching "Mars Week" on Aug. 22 in an effort to get "more than 100 million people" across the country to go outside and see for themselves Earth's planetary neighbor.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2003

Chemical weapons as much a threat as nuclear proliferation

OSAKA -- Chemical and biological weapons falling into the hands of individuals or small bands of terrorists is as much a threat as nuclear weapons being developed by rogue states, delegates at U.N. disarmament talks warned Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 20, 2003

Libya accepts responsibility

Libya's decision to accept responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, is a victory for the families of the 270 victims who had demanded accountability from the government of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. It is a diplomatic triumph for the United...
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2003

IC card use expected to grow quickly

More than 66 million integrated circuit cards are expected to be in circulation in Japan by the end of this fiscal year, up 91 percent from a year earlier, Yano Research Institute said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2003

Seoul should join interdiction group

WASHINGTON -- This fall much attention will be focused on the start of six-party multilateral talks in Beijing to stop North Korea's nuclear-weapons program. These talks, should they take place as committed to by Pyongyang last week, are a welcome development. For the first time in more than a decade,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 20, 2003

Stars for a day: kabuki initiates in the limelight

For a glimpse of the future of kabuki, make your way this month not to the Kabukiza (where contemporary drama superstar Hideki Noda is reigning supreme, see article below) but to the National Theater, Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 20, 2003

Joe Lovano Notet: "On This Day"

As leader, improviser and arranger, Joe Lovano brings together bop, post-bop and free jazz into a three-dimensional form that swings hard. Whether his tenor sax sandpapers a hard bop line or squeals like a bird on speed, he leans on the past while looking to the future. After hearing his most recent...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2003

Leisure sites expand hours to lift revenue

Zoos open at night. A Ferris wheel still running past midnight.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 20, 2003

Fat Cat Records Compilation: "Branches and Routes"

The high profile of Sigur Ros and Mum (playing in Tokyo next month) make the Fat Cat label look like a haven for atmospheric Icelandic bands. But the label has made its name not so much for a sound, but for intriguing sounds. That, more than anything, is why its new compilation, "Branches and Routes,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 20, 2003

Noda gives Kabukiza a 'Mouse' that roars

A modern legend is back at the 114-year-old Kabukiza this summer in the diminutive form of Hideki Noda, one of the titans of Japanese contemporary theater.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 20, 2003

Pretty Girls Make Graves: "The New Romance,"

'I heard a record and it opened my eyes," goes the pivotal line in "Speakers Push the Air," the opening song on "Good Health," last year's debut album by the Seattle quintet Pretty Girls Make Graves. The record's passionate immediacy opened a lot of people's eyes to the possibility that punk still had...
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2003

Ryohin Keikaku to recall dessert

Retailer Ryohin Keikaku Co. will recall its coconut mousse frozen dessert on limited sale at its stores in Yurakucho, Tokyo, and Namba, Osaka, after finding an additive that is not approved under the food sanitation law.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 20, 2003

Hawks looking good for one last pennant under Daiei banner

Hanshin. Hanshin. Hanshin. That's all we've been hearing during most of the 2003 Japan pro baseball season.
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2003

Travel agencies to cash in on China visa waiver

Major travel agencies are coming up with package tours designed to take advantage of China's decision to remove visa requirements for short-term visits by Japanese starting Sept. 1, industry officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2003

Crude steel output up again in July

Domestic crude steel production rose 3.1 percent in July from a year earlier to 9,255,000 tons, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 20, 2003

Joe Gibbs Production

Soul Jazz Records has issued a couple dozen outstanding compilations of unusual music ranging from New York punk-funk and Philadelphia soul-jazz to Yoruba music and Haitian voodoo drumming. Particularly great are their releases of both vintage and modern Jamaican music, of which "Joe Gibbs Productions"...
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 20, 2003

Petagine cracks pair as Giants drop 'Stars

Roberto Petagine went 3-for-3 and belted his 21st and 22nd home runs as the Yomiuri Giants defeated the Yokohama BayStars 5-1 at Tokyo Dome on Tuesday night.
COMMENTARY
Aug 20, 2003

Washington must live by the limits of its responsibility

WASHINGTON -- American troops have arrived in Liberia after Liberian President Charles Taylor fled into exile. Whether these peacekeepers, and the larger African contingents to come, will bring peace in the three-sided civil war is yet uncertain. What is certain, however, is that reconstructing Liberia...

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo