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EDITORIALS
Sep 29, 2002

Bracing for the fall

For a week now, we have officially been experiencing autumn. The nights are longer than the days, extending their dark dominion by two and a half minutes every 24 hours. The air is turning cooler. Leaves and grasses are showing hints of yellow. We've even found ourselves reaching for a sweater occasionally,...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2002

Exactly when does old age really begin?

"Put simply, we are having fewer children and living longer," says Michelle Gunn, an Australian journalist and social-affairs writer. Our time is undeniably the age of longevity.
COMMENTARY
Sep 29, 2002

Signs the EU is coming of age

PARIS -- The most striking fact to emerge from the recent Germany elections is that for the first time a majority of voters in a EU member-state has been motivated by foreign-policy concerns. In the past, the country's worsening economic situation and high unemployment rate would have cost Chancellor...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Sep 29, 2002

How to gain flavors and influence yeasts

When looking at what makes sake special, one thing that comes up often is koji mold. It is the heart of the sake-making process -- no beverage in the world uses koji in its production the way that sake does. Of all factors involved in sake brewing, the addition of koji exerts the most influence on the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2002

Ken Hirai: Soul to soul

We've seen Ken Hirai do it time and time again: mesmerize audiences with his silky tenor voice and those sexily svelte good looks -- kneading the air up on stage as if to squeeze from it any drop of passion that his music has somehow failed to discharge.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 29, 2002

BayStars' Holt handcuffs Tigers

Chris Holt threw a one-hitter and also scored a run to lead the Yokohama BayStars to a 2-0 victory Saturday afternoon over the Hanshin Tigers.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 29, 2002

30 years of China relations aired out

Thirty years ago, the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka normalized relations with the People's Republic of China. Historically, the relationship between Japan and China has often been compared to that between Rome and Greece, since much of Japan's culture (writing system, Buddhism, handicrafts, etc.)...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 29, 2002

Ex-Japan player Tuidraki dies

Patiliai Tuidraki, a former Fijian and Japanese rugby international, has died of cardiac failure in Fiji, Japanese rugby officials said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 29, 2002

Modernism goes East

MODERNISM IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST AND JAPAN: 1918-1928, edited by Toshiharu Omuka, Kyoji Takizawa, Yoshiko Tachibana and Tsutomu Mizusawa. The Tokyo Shimbun, 2002, 254 pp., trilingual (Japanese/English/Russian), profusely illustrated, 2,500 yen (paper) In the autumn of 1920, two Russian artists arrived...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2002

Morning Musume: It's a family affair

The all-girl super-idol group Morning Musume has been astonishingly popular since it was formed in 1997. But it isn't because of their singing or dancing, their songs or their looks. What keeps them constantly in the limelight is a carefully crafted and well-oiled mechanism.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2002

Music of the J-people

Japanese pop music is crap. So say many of my friends, especially the non-Japanese ones. They reach that conclusion after noticing that the charts are full of chipmunk-voiced idols who are long on looks and short on talent -- and whose shelf lives are only slightly longer than sushi.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 29, 2002

When mourning makes straight talk taboo

The shock that accompanied the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, quickly turned into a mood of national mourning that continues to hang over the United States a year later. As a form of social behavior, mourning comes with its own protocol, and in this particular case attempts to place the attacks...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Sep 29, 2002

Father, son mix it up in Yokohama

Yokohama was once the undisputed headquarters for foreigners in the Kanto region. Its wide accommodating port facilities were the destination for postwar U.S. fleets arriving to establish their presence in Japan. And, as with any port town, many bars and restaurants sprang up to cater to the ebb and...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2002

Scouting out the Next Big Thing

At this very moment, thousands of young musicians throughout Japan are busy pursuing the same elusive goal: pop stardom. Some are driven by the need to express their artistic vision; others by the perks of stardom; and still more of them by the simple desire to support themselves by playing the music...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 29, 2002

How is marine Miyakejima now?

In early July 2000, Miyakejima Island's 7,000-year-old volcano roared back to life. Continual eruptions led to the entire population being evacuated over the next two months as emissions of very fine, extremely heavy ash were replaced by lethal gases gushing daily from a new 400-meter-deep crater. What...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2002

Speculation rife as CPC Congress nears

The Communist Party of China's leadership-succession process remains shrouded in secrecy, but six broad scenarios have been identified by China-watchers as likely to unfold in the next six months as that process is completed at the 16th Party Congress starting Nov. 8, and then at the National Peoples'...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 29, 2002

As bistros go, this one is parfait

It's the post-holiday syndrome, the back-at-work midweek slump. You feel like eating out, but you don't want to get dressed up. You need to avoid straining the credit card. And you're certainly not in the mood for elaborate delicacies or rare vintages by candlelight.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2002

Photos, information released on latest group of war orphans

The government released on Friday photographs of and information about six newly recognized war-displaced Japanese left behind in China in the closing days of World War II.
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2002

Kenwood eyes radical debt-for-equity swap by year's end

Tokyo-based Kenwood Co. said Friday it will conduct a 25 billion yen debt-for-equity swap to drag itself out of negative net worth.
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2002

August household spending down 0.3%

Spending by wage-earners' households in August fell a preliminary 0.3 percent in real terms from the previous year for the first dip in three months, the government said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2002

Itami airport operations may be scaled down

Transport minister Chikage Ogi called Friday for a review of the operations of Osaka International Airport with a view to reducing flight slots and stripping it of its current designation as an international airport.
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2002

Sony set to absorb Aiwa in December

Sony Corp. will absorb struggling group firm Aiwa Co. on Dec. 1, the two companies said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2002

Civil servants face 2.03% wage cut

The government said Friday it will fully carry out a 2.03 percent monthly wage cut for national government employees this fiscal year, as recommended by the National Personnel Authority.
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2002

August unemployment rate unchanged at 5.4%

Japan's seasonally adjusted jobless rate in August was 5.4 percent, the same as in May, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Friday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2002

Brother Industries to establish printer unit in Shenzhen

Brother Industries Ltd., a major maker of sewing machines and computerized documentation machines, said Friday its Hong Kong subsidiary will form a new arm in Shenzhen, China, to manufacture ink-jet printers for use in digital hybrid machines combined with facsimile machines.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2002

Nuclear safety chief hit for leaking whistle-blower's identity

Industry minister Takeo Hiranuma on Friday reprimanded the chief of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and five other officials after the agency admitted it leaked to Tokyo Electric Power Co. the identity of a Tepco-related worker who blew the whistle on the company's coverups of nuclear plant...

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