search

 
 
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 31, 2002

Opening Day win for Buffs

Kintetsu Buffaloes cleanup hitter Norihiro Nakamura swung the big bat, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, and newly acquired slugger Nigel Wilson slammed a solo homer as the defending Pacific League champions beat the Orix BlueWave 6-3 in their season-opener at the Osaka Dome on Saturday.
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

Keigo: A lexicon of control

Whether you're Japanese or not, chances are you have conflicting feelings about Japan's formal respect-language, keigo. On the one hand, it is one of the most difficult aspects of the language to truly master. On the other, many feel that it somehow contains and expresses a truly Japanese essence. Then...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Mar 31, 2002

Sake with a raw bite

With the sakura in bloom -- in some places, anyway -- this is one of the best times for experiencing Japan's wonderful knack for tying just about everything in to the seasons. Clothing, food, drink, design; all seem to resonate with the sakura this time of the year. The sake world's seasonal equivalent...
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

Speaking in tongues with many a twist

A long time ago, in a university far, far away, I began studying Japanese with a text that our well-meaning instructors told us was standard Japanese, the kind of Japanese that could be used anywhere in Japan.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 31, 2002

Secretarial problems claim 'woman of integrity'

Kiyomi Tsujimoto's departure from the House of Representatives last week was caused by the misappropriation of money that the state paid to one of her secretaries as a salary. However, as with so many elected officials before her, the Osaka native's main mistake, at least in the eyes of the media, was...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

In the beginning was . . . confusion

In the autumn of 1549, a holy man and his companion began wandering the Satsuma domain of southern Kyushu, preaching the glory of the Sun Buddha Dainichi. The man, who called himself a so (monk), was reported to come from the "Land of Buddha" and exhorted any who would listen to follow Buppo (the Law...
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Mar 31, 2002

Fancy a bowl of baby eels?

Personal preference, when it comes to taste and flavor, depends as much on conditioning and experience as on the actual taste buds. The same little sensors on different people's tongues may have a violent or favorable reaction to a given food item depending on the individual's personal history with it....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 31, 2002

Abandon the search for meaning

A not-so-funny thing happened to the Australian band Gerling on the way to Japan last fall. Having presented a buzz-worthy performance at last summer's Fuji Rock Festival, the trio was completely psyched for a Japan tour set for November. Then, America was attacked. But while a lot of bands subsequently...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 31, 2002

Manuel: Iberian inspirations

Portuguese cuisine -- much like Belgian fashion and Canadian rock music -- has an identity problem. Overlooked and underrated by the world at large, it inevitably suffers by comparison with the better-known output of its far larger neighbor, Spain.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 31, 2002

These are a few of our favorite things

THINGS JAPANESE, by Nicholas Bornoff, with photos by Michael Freeman. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions, Ltd. 2002. 144 pp., profusely illustrated with full-color plates, $24.95 (paper) In 1890, Tokyo University professor Basil Hall Chamberlain codified an entire generation's view of Japan in his "Things...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

How to teach the teachers to teach?

To Doreen Simmons, who for more than 20 of her 28 years in Japan has been an editor in the International Affairs Department of the Diet, the idea of Japan adopting English as its second official language sounds "totally unrealistic."
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

Let's enjoy new-look Nihongo

"I work at a big soft company. I was in office love with my boss. But I decided to make an image change of myself. Then I found a handsome guy who has a very nice open car. He said a charming girl must not be a high miss. I will goal in with him."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 31, 2002

A hundred reasons, but one will do

By the time you read this, the last blossom may have already fallen from the deep banks of cherry trees that line the Meguro River as it sweeps through the back streets of Naka-Meguro. If not, then you are in luck. And you should put down your newspaper -- right now -- and head over to Cento Cose, a...
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

War of the words

Ah, Nihongo. Of all foreign languages, this is the one that keeps you on your toes. An Occidental beginner might suspect that the Japanese did it on purpose -- sowed their language with mines and pitfalls to thwart non-native penetration. To 16th-century European missionaries, Japanese was the devil's...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 31, 2002

Everything you need to know: Shin-chan's still in kindergarten

One cultural export that Japan does very well is animation, as evidenced by the fact that the Japanese word anime describes its own special category overseas. But while old reruns of "Astro Boy" are still shown in the West, "Crayon Shin-chan" probably never will be.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 31, 2002

China's free-enterprise apostle

MODEL REBELS: The Rise and Fall of China's Richest Village, by Bruce Gilley. University of California, 2001, 219 pp., $45.00 (cloth)/$15.95 (paper) It could have been a Forbes cover story: In 1978, a destitute Chinese village doomed to crop failure siphons off state irrigation funds to buy a crude steel...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 31, 2002

The human face of migration to Japan

FOREIGN MIGRANTS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN, by Hiroshi Komai, translated by Jens Wilkinson. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2001, 230 pp., AU$44.95 (paper) The Japanese economy has been in all but permanent recession for more than a decade. Yet, the number of foreign migrants has not diminished. What seemed...
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2002

Industrial production rises 1.3%

Japan's industrial production rose a seasonally adjusted 1.3 percent in February, the government reported Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2002

UFJ Holdings anticipates net loss of 1.2 trillion yen

UFJ Holdings Inc. said Friday that it expects to post a consolidated net loss of 1.2 trillion yen for the 2001 business year, which ends this month, up from the loss of 600 billion yen forecast in November.
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2002

Matsushita kin to help debt-ridden developer

OSAKA -- The family of the late Konosuke Matsushita, founder of the Matsushita group, has decided to extend financial help to Matsushita Investment & Development Inc., a debt-ridden real-estate developer, industry sources said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Mar 30, 2002

Japan's faulty north bearing

Former senior Liberal Democratic Party politician Muneo Suzuki is in disgrace for alleged improper dealings. But Foreign Ministry efforts to blacken his name further by selectively revealing details of his attempts to change the ministry's hardline Northern Territories policy go too far.
COMMENTARY
Mar 30, 2002

Power to the EU's people

LONDON -- Yet another disappointing European summit, this time in Barcelona, has left more and more people asking whether this is the right way to proceed with the European project. Is the existing European model the right one? The goal is supposed to be for a liberalized Europe to catch up with the...
COMMENTARY
Mar 30, 2002

Official foreign aid leaves needy wanting

LAHORE, Pakistan -- One of Lahore's small Christian communities sits on army land, and thus constitutes an illegal occupation in the government's view. Most homes have one room, the latrines are makeshift, and families are lucky to survive on $20 a month.
COMMUNITY
Mar 30, 2002

Making music less than a job, more than a hobby

Donna Burke and Bill Benfield deserve to be sitting pretty. Just married (Dec. 28, in Australia), they live in a large apartment in Tokyo's Azabu-juban with three cats, and a flock of sparrows lined up on the balcony waiting to be fed every morning.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 30, 2002

Verdy offers free tickets

Tokyo Verdy 1969 will invite 5 couples from The Japan Times readers -- a total of 10 people -- to its J. League Division One game against Vissel Kobe slated for April 13 (3 p.m. kickoff) at Tokyo Stadium. Those who are interested, write your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, age in a...
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2002

Habits hinder car parts imports: METI

A number of practices considered to be customary by domestic car users hinder imports of replacement auto parts, according to a trade ministry report.
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2002

Narita runway to increase slots 27%

The opening of a new second runway at Narita airport on April 18 will increase the number of slots available for airlines to 3,211 from 2,523 per week, marking a 27 percent surge over the previous summer season, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 30, 2002

Reading the tea leaves in Myanmar

The venerable science of Kremlinology is flourishing in Myanmar. The country's ruling elite is a clubby and secretive group, and the exercise of power and influence is shrouded in mystery; reliable information is hard to come by. No wonder then that the last few weeks have been busy ones for Myanmar...

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