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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jan 3, 2003

A dark day for ducks

A Niigata sake brewery that would prefer to remain anonymous in this context, asked me to sit on a committee for an environmental trust they had just set up. They do brew the most excellent sake, so I happily agreed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 3, 2003

Chic eats for the months ahead

It's prognostication time again and, just like Janus (after whom this month is, after all, named), the Food File likes to look ahead by surveying all that lies behind.
COMMENTARY
Jan 1, 2003

Pols are but small cogs in the machine

LONDON -- My God, the shame of it. Prime Minister Tony Blair is a poodle, yapping obediently when U.S. President George W. Bush snaps his fingers. This bitter vein of comedy runs through the thin political culture we have at the moment. But perhaps, muse the bitter critics, this British subservience...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2003

Trials of Khmer Rouge must serve true justice

WASHINGTON -- The New Year may finally see the start of trials for Khmer Rouge leaders responsible for the deaths of nearly 2 million Cambodians in the 1970s, if the Cambodian government seizes the opportunity. But it's also possible that the United Nations could be dragged into a flawed process to set...
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2003

Recruiters adapt to a changing job scene

Are the days of the job-offering "recruiter" numbered? In Japan, recruiters are young employees who help their companies woo recent graduates from their alma maters. But the long-standing practice -- criticized for favoring students from a small circle of select universities -- is giving way to more...
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2003

Nippon Yusen collared over huge tax dodge

Nippon Yusen K.K., Japan's biggest shipping company, failed to declare about 5.8 billion yen in taxable income in the five years through 1999, sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2003

Koizumi reiterates his determination

The government is determined to push structural reforms forward on various policy fronts in 2003 to achieve a long-desired economic recovery, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in a New Year's Day statement.
BUSINESS
Jan 1, 2003

Dollar expected to fall against yen in first half

For Japanese looking to travel to the United States this year, the best exchange rates for the yen are likely to last until around June -- that is, if market predictions prove to be correct.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2003

Parties prepare for snap election

Although no date has been set for the next general election for the House of Representatives, the ruling and opposition parties have already decided to field a total of 811 candidates, believing it will be held this year.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 1, 2003

2002: The sound of a year

Chickens Coming Home to Roost Award Last fall, Dr. Dre was sued by an Indian composer who said the producer used a sample of the composer's music in Truth Hurts' hit single "Addictive" without permission and without giving credit. The composer accused Dre of "cultural imperialism" and "perpetuating...
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2003

New university to join bioscience race

KYOTO -- Although the government is aware that bio-related businesses are important for revitalizing the economy, this field has yet to develop in Japan at the level seen in other countries.
EDITORIALS
Jan 1, 2003

Tumultuous politics await

A big question hangs over Japanese politics in 2003: Will a snap general election be held? The key to the question is held by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has the prerogative of dissolving the Lower House. Mr. Koizumi, who is also president of the Liberal Democratic Party, faces a party presidential...
CULTURE / Music
Jan 1, 2003

In with the new

Diva dilemma The three big names in Top 40 R & B released albums this past month, but Whitney Houston's "Just Whitney . . . ," Mariah Carey's "Charmbracelet" and Toni Braxton's "More Than a Woman" are musically mediocre and generally embarrassing.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2003

Quest for disputed islands snarled by Suzuki scandals

Japan's efforts to get back the four Russian-held islands off northeast Hokkaido suffered an apparent setback last year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 1, 2003

Okuda offers economic solution: substantially raise sales tax

Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), thinks he has a cure for the sick economy, but consumers aren't likely to enjoy his bitter medicine.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 1, 2003

Heard, but not scene

Only a few years ago, Japanese music was the hype. At South by Southwest, the tony annual music confab, consecutive years saw Cornelius, Number Girl and Ex-Girl wow audiences. Rolling Stone ran a feature on upcoming Japanese bands like The Zoobombs, Takako Minekawa and Buffalo Daughter that heralded...
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2003

Man undergoes heart transplant

A male patient successfully underwent a heart transplant at Tokyo Women's Medical University hospital, hospital officials said Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 1, 2003

Humanoid robots: companions or just costly toys?

In the 1950s, Astro Boy drew on his 100,000 horsepower and hip-mounted machineguns to fight evil-doers. Despite his supposed April 7, 2003, birthday, however, the creation of robots the likes of Astro will probably remain a superhero pipe dream forever.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 1, 2003

Too young to fall in love?

2002 was an eventful year, to say the least, for superstar singer/songwriter Utada Hikaru. In March, she signed a international recording deal (as an English-language artist -- she remains signed to Toshiba-EMI as a Japanese-language artist) with Island Def Jam.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 1, 2003

So you thought '02 was good? Well, there's Mori to come

It looks, at first glance, like a refreshing case of "out with the old, and in with the new": In late 2002 the Tokyo art community bade a teary goodbye to its Mecca, when the falling-down old Sagacho building, home for years to some of Japan's most progressive gallery spaces, finally closed its doors...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 1, 2003

Ackerman and tpt bend theater's rules

Whether a person becomes a theatergoer often depends on a crucial encounter with this dramatic art form -- and a play that just opened at the Benisan Pit in Tokyo's Sumida Ward is indubitably the stuff that makes theatergoers.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 1, 2003

Mash it up, tear it up

The battle over music copyrights continued to rage this year. To combat the song pirates, the record industry unveiled copy-proof CDs and AudioGalaxy, one of the biggest music file-sharing networks in the post-Napster era, was shut down. It was a heavy blow, but MP3 hounds just regrouped and shared elsewhere....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 1, 2003

These things take time

Jazz fans have long taken scratches, hisses, poor miking and wobbly mixing as signs of hidden truths and authenticity in recordings of their legends. In 2002, though, they had to deal with a little cleanliness. Last year's releases of freshly remastered classics showed off extended sonic depth and range,...
MORE SPORTS
Dec 31, 2002

'Sappu' phenomenon captures imagination of Japanese public

A beast will send chills down the spine of the bravest of men.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight