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CULTURE / Art
Jun 12, 2002

Where the art action is

The Opera City show -- the plastic foods, the videos and the Web site -- are, as Rirkrit Tiravanija puts it, "an appetizer" to the community-oriented projects the artist is doing in Sumida Ward.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2002

Lower taxes by March possible, Fukuda states

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda sounded a hopeful note Tuesday that tax cuts could be introduced by the end of March.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2002

Mitsubishi elevator firm given sabotage warning

The Fair Trade Commission on Tuesday warned Mitsubishi Electric Building Techno-Service Co. to stop sabotaging its competitors.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2002

Koizumi to pursue basic food safety law

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he will seek enactment of a new basic food safety law next year in a bid to erase widespread public distrust stemming from the government's failure to keep mad cow disease out of Japan.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2002

Sakai women to get redress over sick building syndrome

OSAKA — The Labor Standards Inspection Office in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, has decided to pay labor accident compensation to four female employees of a preschool who suffered from sick building syndrome, labor officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2002

Prosecutors grill Togo on funds scandal in Europe

Japanese prosecutors in Europe have repeatedly quizzed former elite diplomat Kazuhiko Togo over a breach of trust case involving two Foreign Ministry officials now under arrest and a government-funded committee on aid to Russia, investigative sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2002

Hiranuma to urge happy ending to steel tariffs drama

Trade minister Takeo Hiranuma said Tuesday he plans to urge U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick during telephone talks this week to strive to avert Japan's planned retaliatory action against a range of steel import tariffs imposed by Washington.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 12, 2002

From the hands of masters down the ages

The most impressive of the numerous art exhibitions taking place this summer to celebrate South Korea and Japan's co-hosting of the World Cup soccer finals opened on Tuesday at Ueno's Tokyo National Museum. "The Dynastic Heritage of Korea," running June 11 to July 28, is the largest exhibition ever held...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 12, 2002

Zazen and the roundabout road to enlightenment

In his classic book "Zen in the Art of Archery," Eugen Herrigel makes it clear that trying too hard to hit a target is a sure way to miss it. One wonders whether, conversely, the easiest way to achieve one's aim is to take a roundabout route to it. That would certainly seem to be the case with the art...
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2002

Only half of 35,000 child-abuse cases probed

There were an estimated 35,000 cases of child abuse nationwide in fiscal 2000, but only about 18,000 were probed by child welfare consultation centers, according to a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry report released Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2002

Rainy season under way in Honshu and Shikoku

The rainy season began Tuesday in Honshu and Shikoku following its start in Kyushu on Monday, the Meteorological Agency said.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2002

Builders launch recycling venture

Construction firms Kajima Corp., Taisei Corp. and Shimizu Corp. said Tuesday they have formed a joint venture to develop and sell recycled building materials.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2002

New softener bolsters UV protection

OSAKA — Times have changed from the days when young girls were eager to get a dark tan and be called "ganguro," or "black-faced."
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2002

GM in Tokyo parts-buying venture

General Motors Corp. and its three Japanese affiliates have jointly launched a parts-buying team in Tokyo to help cut costs, GM said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2002

Chinese teenager to remain in Japan

OSAKA — The Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau decided Tuesday to allow the teenage son of a family of illegal Chinese immigrants to stay in the country for one more month, officials said.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 12, 2002

Buffs give Marines Tuff time

Tuffy Rhodes belted his 22nd homer of the season in the first inning Tuesday and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes racked up nine wins in a row for the first time in eight years with a 5-3 victory over the Chiba Lotte Marines.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 12, 2002

Kona Records: 'Deep Funk Africa'

With a title like "Deep Funk Africa," this CD compilation had better deliver. And deliver it does -- 14 steaming slabs of rough-hewn funk from Ghana, Mobutu's Zaire, Sierra Leone and beyond.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 12, 2002

Corey Harris: 'Downhome Sophisticate'

At one time, rural folks were thought to possess different priorities from people who lived in cities, a contrast that was made clear by the fact that "country music" was only played and listened to by people who actually lived in the country. These days, you're as rural as you want to be, whether you...
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2002

Corporate tax plan draws fire

LDP lawmakers concerned with industrial and small business matters unanimously agreed Tuesday to oppose a government plan to introduce a new corporate tax based on criteria other than profits, LDP officials said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jun 12, 2002

Message in a pop song

You've probably noticed a big mascara-lined eye staring out at you from billboards all over town lately. The eye in question belongs to Lisa, former vocalist with hip-hop/R&B trio m-flo, and the billboard is plugging her new single, "Babylon no Kiseki (Miracle of Babylon)," which was released on May...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jun 12, 2002

Two for one at the Tokyo Opera City Gallery

Tokyo's Opera City Art Gallery has taken a novel approach with its summer show: Instead of the usual one-man or themed group exhibition, it is running a couple of concurrent but totally unrelated one-man shows at its Shinjuku exhibition space.
COMMENTARY
Jun 11, 2002

Optimist has lost his bearings

The government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi continues to face greater difficulties than perhaps ever before. I previously criticized his Cabinet as beset with troubles, both at home and abroad, as a result of scandals involving lawmaker Muneo Suzuki, former Liberal Democratic Party secretary general...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2002

Who's winning the 'coca war'?

LA PAZ, Bolivia — On a hot December afternoon last year, 150 farmers in Chimore, a town in the Chapare region of central Bolivia, unloaded bananas and pineapples onto the Santa Cruz-Cochabamba highway. There was no market in sight and even if there was, the goods were not for sale. Rather, they were...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2002

Flaws in Japan's nuclear-arms debate

The ongoing debate in Japan on nuclear arms lacks sophistication. On May 31, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said if the international situation were to change, public opinion might favor a nuclear-armed Japan. He was commenting on the government's long-standing three nonnuclear principles of not...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2002

A cup of green tea in the jungle

OKINAWA, Bolivia — Shiko Asato is glued to the TV set as NHK news shows the highlights from a recent sumo tournament. His wife Shizuko sets out cups of green tea, a plate of manju bean-paste buns and a couple of cans of nicely chilled Japanese beer. It has, after all, been a scorcher in the jungle....
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2002

Hiranuma adds green points for review before Aichi expo

Industry minister Takeo Hiranuma released his comments Monday on a draft environmental assessment by the organizer of the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi Prefecture, in which he calls for further review on several points.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 11, 2002

Niigata, OSG move into S. League

Niigata Albirex and OSG Phoenix will join the top-tier Japanese men's basketball league for the 2002-03 season, replacing the Isuzu Giga Cats and the Bosch Blue Winds, the Japan Basketball League (JBL) said Monday.

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