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COMMUNITY
Jun 30, 2002

Sagae folk enjoying the fruits of their labor

Japan may be famously crazy about cherry blossoms, but the sakuranbo of Sagae City, Yamagata Prefecture, don't attract attention until long after their white flowers have fallen off. Sakuranbo are fruit cherries, and Sagae and neighboring Higashine cultivate more of them than anywhere else in the country....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2002

Beers all round!

Vast quantities of it have been consumed during the World Cup, but thousands of liters more will be drunk as the heat and humidity of summer kick in. Nothing beats a cold beer on a hot summer day.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2002

Ramen reborn as noodles nouveaux

Could ramen, Japan's answer to the greasy spoon, go gourmet? It started out simple -- this dish of Chinese-style noodles in soup was conjured up by cooks in Yokohama's Chinatown in the 1920s. Its present association with drab 24-hour diners and poor nutrition gives it a low rank in the food hierarchy:...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2002

I brewed it my way

In 1994, within months of microbreweries being legalized in Japan, two began operation, followed by around 50 the next year. Although the general public took little notice back then, this regulatory rejig was to reshape my life.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 30, 2002

Even a sultan would approve

No matter their relative prowess on the soccer field, there can be no disputing which of the nations that reached the semifinal of the World Cup would deserve to be champions, were the title decided on culinary merit alone. With all respect to the gastronomy of Germany, Brazil and South Korea, none can...
EDITORIALS
Jun 29, 2002

Economic policy for East Asia

The future of Japan's economy is tied to that of East Asia. China, the "factory of the world," is rising rapidly while newly industrialized countries such as South Korea and Taiwan are catching up with Japan. The challenge for this nation is to define and secure its place in this region of vast economic...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 29, 2002

UEFA president calls for European fixture change

YOKOHAMA -- UEFA president and a FIFA vice president Lennart Johansson on Thursday suggested that European soccer's governing body consider the rescheduling of club competitions in Europe in order to prevent European-based players from entering the World Cup in a physically tired state and to give them...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2002

Soccer teams show the power of reform

The drama of the World Cup has implications for politics in Japan and South Korea. To be sure, soccer and politics are two different games, one a competition for skill and physical stamina and the other a struggle for power and interests. Nevertheless, we can draw lessons from the performances of the...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 29, 2002

Oceania assured of one spot at future World Cup finals

YOKOHAMA -- Oceania will be awarded one spot at the 2006 World Cup, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Friday at a press conference following a FIFA executive committee meeting held earlier in the day.
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2002

The challenge that awaits Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD -- Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, is clearly eager to claim that his newly installed government rests on a stable foundation.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Foundation to handle fund to fight Hansen's disease bias

A national council of former Hansen's disease patients living at sanitariums offered 5 million yen Friday to the Nippon Foundation to be used as a trust fund to fight social prejudice and bias against the disease worldwide.
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2002

A dangerous new doctrine

LONDON -- "I will not wait on events while dangers gather." Thus speaks U.S. President George W. Bush -- and in doing so appears to state, in plain and simple language, a revolutionary new doctrine that upends five decades of thinking about global security.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2002

Taisei Fire rehab plan entails claim payout reductions

Taisei Fire & Marine Insurance Co., which failed last year, will reduce some insurance claim payouts to corporate clients by 25.8 percent, according to a rehabilitation plan submitted Friday to the Tokyo District Court.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Tsuruhashi, home of 'exotic' Korea in Osaka

OSAKA — You can always tell when your train reaches Tsuruhashi Station. Unlike the other, mostly nondescript, stops on the JR Osaka Loop Line, the district has an atmosphere, flavor and aroma that makes it one of the city's most interesting neighborhoods.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Colleges sued over tuition fees scam

OSAKA — Fifty-six individuals who took entrance exams for institutes of higher learning filed lawsuits Friday with three district courts in the Kansai region against 22 private universities and 6 vocational colleges.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2002

Spending by wage-earning households fell 0.4% in May

Spending by wage-earning households fell an inflation-adjusted 0.4 percent in May from a year earlier, down for the first time in two months, the government said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Court recognizes 1932 massacre, rejects redress

The Tokyo District Court turned down a lawsuit Friday filed by three survivors of a 1932 massacre by Imperial Japanese Army troops in Liaoning Province, China.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2002

Tokyo price index dips for 33rd month

The key gauge of consumer prices in Tokyo fell 1 percent in June from a year earlier for a record 33rd consecutive month of decline, mainly due to sharp falls in prices of recreational and educational goods, including computers, the government said Friday in a preliminary report.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 29, 2002

'Mochi nage' -- organized food fights

Now that the World Cup is nearly over, those of us in Japan turn our attention to other matters, such as food fights. Japan must be the only country where throwing food is not only acceptable but encouraged. Whole neighborhoods gather to throw food at each other in a tradition called "mochi nage," or...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 29, 2002

Cheering on Special Olympics, seeking volunteers

It is confusing to discover that Kayako Hosokawa has three offices in a building in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki. Two are neighbors -- "so convenient," she observes, nipping to and fro. The other is on the fifth floor, below. It is even more confusing to learn she has a fourth office, in Kumamoto, close to the...
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Cup cohosts' ties thaw, at least on individual level

OSAKA — When the excitement over the World Cup finals subsides, many may wonder whether cohosting the event actually helped improve relations between Japan and South Korea.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 29, 2002

Reiko Itami

"In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, young men of well-to-do families in Great Britain set out after university graduation to travel around Europe. They observed language differences and absorbed foreign cultures to complete the final stage of their education. This socio-educational institution, known...
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Fixer sentenced to seven years for fraud

Real estate developer Heo Young Joong, a known fixer with ties to politicians and the underworld, was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for bilking a Tokyo-based petroleum goods seller out of about 18 billion yen in 1996.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Two doctors held over malpractice in heart surgery

Two doctors at Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital were arrested Friday for alleged negligence and destruction of evidence in connection with a March 2001 heart operation that resulted in the death of a 12-year-old girl.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Sunken mystery ship's arms up the ante

The powerful weapons found aboard the mystery ship that sank in the East China Sea in December after a shootout with the Japan Coast Guard suggest that the authorities charged with policing and defending the nation's waters face a new challenge.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 29, 2002

BayStars hand Tigers eighth straight loss

Yokohama hammered out three homers and Chris Holt struck out seven over seven steady innings Friday as the BayStars sent the Hanshin Tigers to their eighth loss in a row with a 7-4 win at the Osaka Dome.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Growing minority blurs borders of Chinatowns

In 1919, 15-year-old Zeng Yaoquan from Guang Dong Province, southern China, arrived at Yokohama port to work as a servant at a trading house that imported rice and other crops from China, run by one of his relatives.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan