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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2002

International community must pressure Sharon

AL-BIREH, West Bank -- The first Palestinian refugee camps were a product of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. When Israel militarily occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in 1967, a second wave of Palestinian refugees was created. Today, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2002

Bush-league diplomacy mars Asian tour

They have taken the Stars and Strips down in Tiananmen Square. Meanwhile, in the Great Hall of the People, U.S. President George W. Bush's visit is almost forgotten as the last meeting of China's National People's Congress before the 16th Party Congress in November has begun.
COMMENTARY
Mar 11, 2002

Keeping politicians on leash

In a report published March 4, the Foreign Ministry acknowledged that Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Muneo Suzuki exerted exceptional influence over ministry affairs. The report, based on an in-house probe and released by Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, confirmed allegations that Suzuki intervened...
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2002

Airline consolidation taking off

BANGKOK -- The lingering impact of Sept. 11 is prompting airline companies to "integrate deeper and quicker" into the safety of alliances, and these groups will form the basis of future competition in the industry, a top airline executive said in a recent interview with Japan Times.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 11, 2002

Sluggish Jubilo goes top

Jubilo Iwata overcame a sluggish performance to rally over shorthanded Tokyo Verdy 1969 3-2, thanks to Toshiya Fujita's 85th-minute penalty on Sunday at Tokyo Stadium.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Mar 11, 2002

Business schools buck international trend

Seventh in a series
EDITORIALS
Mar 10, 2002

Filling the void in Manhattan

While he was in Washington last weekend to pick up this year's gold medal from the American Institute of Architects, Mr. Tadao Ando jumped into the debate about what should replace New York's World Trade Center towers. According to the celebrated Japanese architect, this is not a moment for celebrity...
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 10, 2002

S-Pulse hand Antlers second straight loss

Brazilian striker Baron sent Kashima Antlers to their second straight defeat with a powerful header deep into extra-time Saturday as Shimizu S-Pulse beat last season's champion 1-0 away in the J. League first division.
COMMENTARY
Mar 10, 2002

Modern delusions of equality

LONDON -- Ask a total stranger about his or her sex life and, though he may be taken aback, he is likely to take it in stride. For what's so secret about sex? Ask a total stranger about his or her income, and she is likely to biff you for your impudence. Money is all secrets and lies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2002

Halos, signposts show Korean impasse

HONG KONG -- Flower shows, snowdrifts and clouds over Mount Paektu may help explain the continued absence of peace on the Korean Peninsula.
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2002

Salsa in the city

NEW YORK CITY -- For anyone serious about salsa, New York is the place to be. At around $200 a month for unlimited group sessions, lessons in the city are relatively cheap; instructors are often world-class dancers; and, most importantly, students can immerse themselves in a rich Latin scene.
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2002

How I got my freak on

1 for the money 2 for the Lie 3 for my peoples in the struggle gettin' by 4 Lu, Spig Nice and Freaky Tai Music makes me high
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2002

One nation under a hip-hop groove

Downtown West Shinjuku. The company workers have all gone home, leaving the streets quiet except for the sound of traffic.
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2002

The state of trance

Trance: It has seeped deep into this city's ambience. Aside from the clubs, where you'll likely find four or five trance events every weekend, and the massive summertime outdoor festivals, it's always in the air, and unmistakable. Wander into any Roppongi watering hole or strip club; pop into any funky...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 10, 2002

Caught between two parallel worlds: growing up under the Raj

OUT OF INDIA: A Raj Childhood, by Michael Foss. London: Michael O'Mara Books, 2001, 181 pp., xC820 (cloth) The Raj began in 1818 when the Rajput states of central and northern India and much else of the country came under British "protection," an occupation that ended only in 1948. Many accounts exist...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 10, 2002

'Genji': the long and the shorter of it

The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Royall Tyler. Viking, 2001, 1,174 pp., $60 (cloth) In the February 2002 issue of the monthly journal Eureka, Fusae Kawazoe gives a rundown of translations of Murasaki Shikibu's "The Tale of Genji" -- not only into foreign languages, but into modern...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 10, 2002

Bartender, can you make that a double?

I was once asked to invent a list of bars with brief descriptions as part of an April Fool's joke for a magazine. In fact, one of the bars I included did (and still does) exist. But it was one I had not been able to review, because the master refuses publicity in order to maintain exclusivity. So I gave...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2002

The Domino effect

Friday nights are not as popular as Saturday nights for trance parties in Tokyo. Yet by 11:45 p.m. one Friday last month -- a full hour before most regulars would think it's cool to show up -- Cube326 was filling fast.
SUMO
Mar 10, 2002

Two Ozeki aiming to boost promotion hopes in Osaka

The Haru Basho gets under way in Osaka today, with ozeki Tochiazuma and Chiyotaikai aiming for yokozuna promotion, while sekiwake Kotomitsuki sets his sights on ozeki.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 10, 2002

A picture-perfect millennium tribute

THE TALE OF GENJI: Scenes From the World's First Novel, by Murasaki Shikibu. Illustrated by Masayuki Miyata, translated by H. Mack Horton. Kodansha International, 2001, 240 pp., 3500 yen (paper) "The Tale of Genji," renowned as the world's first great novel, is now nearly 1,000 years old. The intervening...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Mar 10, 2002

A few blooming good wines

The month of March moves us toward spring and the brilliant profusion of cherry trees in bloom. During the gray, damp days on the late edge of winter, we daydream of hanami parties. In Tokyo, we'll play a guitar on a blanket in Inokashira Park, eat sushi rolls under the tunnel of blossoms in Aoyama Cemetery,...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 10, 2002

All you can eat and then some

L ately, there has been a lot of news about a certain Japanese politician who profited personally from his interest in Russia. Tonight, on Nippon TV's newsmagazine "Document '02" (12:25 a.m.), we get to see the opposite: Russians who profit from their interest in Japan.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 10, 2002

Can common sense penetrate the food market?

You don't have to be paranoid to conclude that the recent series of food-labeling scandals represents the tip of the iceberg. With the Japanese market continually opening itself wider to food imports, and the government still unable or unwilling to untangle the tight, complicated interrelationships that...
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Mar 10, 2002

Say it loud, big band and proud

On any given night, one full 16-piece jazz orchestra is sure to be playing somewhere in Tokyo. Considering the generally small stages, lack of practice rooms, band members' tight schedules and competition from small combos, it is amazing that big bands regularly pack Tokyo's jazz clubs. But they do....
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2002

Swing your (same sex) partner round and round

The shouts of the caller are heard continuously over the country and western music on the sound system. His words, like magic, control the movements of the dancers on the floor. The dancers are arranged in groups of four couples -- leads and their partners, just as in all square-dancing groups. But in...

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