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LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 15, 2001

A new watering hole for the downtown set

When John Coyle, Ivy Neo and Gary Hier first teamed up to create What the Dickens!, the massively popular English pub in Ebisu, neither they -- the publicans -- nor us -- their patrons -- could have guessed what would come from such humble beginnings.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 15, 2001

Wine comes alive through expert guidance

The next time you shop for wine, consider turning it into a leisurely expedition to Le Vin Vivant. Start in the store's cool, gold-painted cafe with a tasting of five recommended wines. The selection changes every other week and costs 1,800 yen (single glasses are 300 yen). If you are feeling peckish,...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 15, 2001

Hunting for justice in the Tokyo war tribunal

JUDGMENT AT TOKYO: The Japanese War Crimes Trials, by Tim Maga. University Press of Kentucky, 2001, 200 pp., $25 (cloth). Fifty-six years since Japan's surrender, World War II's legacy continues to make headlines: Compensation sought by sex slaves; Controversy rages over history textbooks; Prime minister's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 15, 2001

Comic ambassadors

A rather naive man decides to nip off to Hokkaido to enjoy the Sapporo Snow Festival without booking a place to stay. Wandering the snowy streets, he eventually comes across a solution to his problem -- a love hotel.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2001

Heading off the MD disaster

BRUSSELS -- The argument for missile defense is based on a series of misunderstandings and exaggerations. The claimed threat is neither real nor credible. Yet U.S. President George W. Bush is using it to underpin the United States' deployment of MD in the interests of the arms industry and to the detriment...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 15, 2001

For those about to tapa . . .

In Spain tapas are much more than just food, they're a way of life. There's even a verb -- to "tapa," as it were -- to describe the act of progressing from one tapas bar to another until the wee hours, balancing your intake of alcohol with a succession of light snacks -- always standing up, of course....
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 15, 2001

It takes two to tangle

Hong Kong pop idol Faye Wong already has quite a few fans in Japan, but she's sure to add more on a weekly basis thanks to her costarring role in the summer comedy series "Usokoi (False Love)" (Fuji TV, Tuesday, 10 p.m.). Wong plays a young Chinese woman appropriately named Faye, who is studying to be...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 15, 2001

Ghosts and goblins

SPIRITS OF ANOTHER SORT: The Plays of Izumi Kyoka, by M. Cody Poulton. Center for Japanese Studies, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2001, 348 pp., b/w photos, xvi. $60. Izumi Kyoka (1873-1938) was much admired by Tanizaki, with whom he shared an esteem for Edo culture, by Mishima, who cherished...
COMMUNITY
Jul 15, 2001

So much to learn, so little time . . .

To learn a new skill, try the following schools and classes. (Unless otherwise specified, all organizations have information in English on their Web sites but accept telephone inquiries only in Japanese.)
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2001

Vipassana spirituality a refreshing breeze

BANGKOK -- There was recently a cultural event in Bangkok that deserves to be singled out. It was a special Dhamma talk given by the foremost Vipassana meditation teacher of our times, Satya Narayan Goenka, to a select audience presided over by Princess Galyani, the sister of the King of Thailand.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 14, 2001

Red Army daughter seeks to set record straight

"My parents named me after the month of a certain political action," explains May Shigenobu. "But in Japanese I am known as Mei, which means 'life.' " The specific political operation to which she is referring? The bombing by Japanese leftwing radicals of Lod Airport in Tel Aviv on May 30, 1972.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 14, 2001

Hawks extend run

Noriyoshi Omichi of Daiei doubled home a tie-breaking run in a two-run fourth inning as the Hawks extended their unbeaten run to eight games with a 3-1 win over the Nippon Ham Fighters at the Fukuoka Dome on Friday night.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 14, 2001

Patrick Carey

Patrick Carey thinks he may be the only non-Japanese to have walked the entire distance of the Old Tokaido, from Tokyo to Kyoto, and to have written about it.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2001

Turning talk of free trade into policy

LONDON — Japan's trade sanctions joust with China is small beer in world terms — or even in the context of the overall commerce between the two nations. But it sounds a warning bell — all the more so since it is just one of a series of challenges to free and open trade that could throw into doubt...
COMMENTARY
Jul 14, 2001

Now it's North Korea's turn

It was with some trepidation that Koreans on both sides of the demilitarized zone watched the Bush administration come to power, given the more "hardline" position many Congressional Republicans had taken over the years regarding North Korea. However, the outcome of the administration's finally completed...
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2001

The U.N. fails to get smart

The United Nations Security Council failed last week in its attempt to impose "smart sanctions" against Iraq. Fourteen of the 15 Security Council members agreed on a new scheme to monitor imports to Iraq. Unfortunately, the holdout was Russia, and Moscow used its threat of a veto to torpedo the new program....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 14, 2001

All set ot sail -- and then the wind blew

On July 1, the sea opened in an annual event called "umibiraki" (opening of the sea). My island celebrates umibiraki with the annual Shiraishi Yacht Race. This year, I and a couple of friends decided to enter the race. Since we all had limited sailing skills, we thought this would be a lot of fun. Our...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2001

Indonesian human-rights law wide open to manipulation by military and its allies

When a law clearing the way for ad hoc courts to try human-rights violations was passed in Indonesia last November, some saw it as a sign that high-ranking military officers would finally be punished for the many abuses committed by the nation's armed forces.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2001

Injustice across borders?

The arrest and transfer of former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic to the international tribunal at The Hague is but the latest of several dramatic twists and turns in the last few years in the search for universal justice. Just as the indictment issued against him during the NATO war in Kosovo was...
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 2001

A bandwagon election begins

Japanese voters will pass a verdict on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reforms in the July 29 Upper House election, campaigning for which officially started on Thursday. The poll comes at a critical moment for Japan's beleaguered economy, which is still struggling to recover from a decade-long...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 13, 2001

Eto smashes 300th HR as Giants romp

Akira Eto belted a three-run dinger and Yoshinobu Takahashi homered for the third straight night as the Yomiuri Giants avoided a three-game sweep with a 13-1 trouncing of the Yakult Swallows at the Tokyo Dome on Thursday.
SOCCER / J. League
Jul 13, 2001

Arsenal, Gamba reach deal on Inamoto

OSAKA -- Gamba Osaka midfielder Junichi Inamoto is set to join Arsenal after his club said Thursday that a basic agreement on a multi-year contract has been reached with the English Premier League giant.
SPORTS / TALK OF THE TIMES
Jul 13, 2001

Wakanohana takes a run at his NFL dream

Masaru Hanada, better known as former yokozuna Wakanohana, surprised many when he declared his challenge to play for a National Football League team during a TV program in May.
COMMUNITY / THE PARENT TRIP
Jul 13, 2001

Whatever can go wrong . . .

Writers of how-to articles about traveling with kids usually talk about Baby's ears popping in airplanes and keeping little Junior and Sis amused on long drives so they don't refight the Macedonian War in the back seat. Older kids, these writers seem to assume, can take care of themselves, when they...
EDITORIALS
Jul 12, 2001

Evaluating Japan's defense needs

This year's defense white paper, released last week, specifically calls for both quantitative and qualitative improvement in SDF capabilities, including weapons replacement and modernization under the midterm defense-buildup program. More significantly, it points to a need to enact contingency legislation...
COMMENTARY
Jul 12, 2001

Facing up to the harsh truth

LONDON -- The long shadow of recession is now stretching from America over Europe, bringing disappointment and unease to Europe's policymakers and business communities.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2001

Is the world prepared to deal with the global economic downturn?

Economic policymakers must stand ready to take timely and decisive actions when incoming information suggests that the economy is most likely to significantly deviate from the targeted course for a sustained period. And in the uncertain world in which we live, they have to deal with both upside and downside...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 12, 2001

Oh, Nagashima fill out All-Star series rosters

Seibu Lions star Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Iriki brothers earned their places in the upcoming All-Star series Wednesday as the managers' picks rounded out the 32-man rosters for the Central and Pacific Leagues.
MORE SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 12, 2001

New dawn for Mukai and his merry men

In 1999, the year of the last Rugby World Cup, Japan won the Pacific Rim Championship, recording a 37-34 victory over Samoa along the way. At the time many thought the victory marked the re-birth of Japanese rugby, and there was talk of Japan reaching the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Sadly, that was...
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Jul 12, 2001

Foreign plants are right at home in Japan

I have always been interested in the natural origins of plants. Where does a particular plant come from? How and when did it come to this country? Geographic botany investigates the distribution of plants around the world.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear