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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 20, 2002

Lee 'Scratch' Perry: 'Jamaican e.t.'

Lee "Scratch" Perry has been stumbling along the very fine line between eccentricity and insanity for more than 30 years, and his latest album, "Jamaican e.t.," is one of his most mind-scrambling yet.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 20, 2002

Zazen and the art of playwriting

This month, the Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo is presenting two programs of kabuki plays and dance numbers starring such leading actors as Koshiro Matsumoto, Nizaemon Kataoka, Mitsugoro Bando and Sadanji Ichikawa, as well as the female-role specialists Tamasaburo Bando and Tokizo Nakamura.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 20, 2002

Francis Lockwood: 'Jimi's Colors'

Re-thinking Jimi Hendrix in terms of an acoustic jazz piano trio would seem to be a bit of a stretch. It comes as a surprise, then, that Francis Lockwood's new release, "Jimi's Colors" -- which does just that -- works so well. On listening, however, unexpected similarities reveal themselves.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Mar 20, 2002

Come back, come back wherever you were . . .

As part of its continuing effort to promote J-pop overseas, Sony last week released an album in the United States titled "Japan for Sale 2," which is a great all-around introduction to Japanese music.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Mar 20, 2002

VOCA roundup is a right royal letdown

It's been almost 100 years since Wassily Kandinsky began creating what are generally regarded as the first purely abstract paintings. The Russian's "compositions," as he termed them, freed him from representation and opened up a new world of expressive possibilities. These were fully explored in the...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 20, 2002

Kasey Chambers: 'Barricades & Brickwalls'

Home may be where the heart is, but sometimes the voice comes from somewhere else. Whether it's Mick Jagger's Mississippi drawl or Billy Joe Armstrong's cockney pretensions, pop singers adopt accents because that's the way they imagine one sings a particular style of music. It doesn't matter that Jagger...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Mar 20, 2002

Clay forms waiting to be unearthed

A lump of clay; what forms sleep undiscovered within? There are many ways potters can shape the "earth" they see, the most common is to throw it on a wheel or rokuro. Other ways include tebineri (hand-pinching), himo-zukuri (coil-building), tatara-zukuri (slab-building) or wari-gata (piece-molding)....
SUMO
Mar 19, 2002

Maru keeps on rollin'

OSAKA -- The Musashimaru express steamed past opponent No. 9 on Monday as the grand champion kept his unblemished record with a win over rank-and-filer Toki at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2002

Nation-building vs. military goals

Half a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, President George W. Bush's war on terrorism appears to be entering a more complex and difficult phase. U.S. troops have mounted a major ground offensive in Afghanistan, while a special forces team is helping fight Muslim militants...
COMMENTARY
Mar 19, 2002

Class struggle joins Marx in the dustbin

HONG KONG -- Last Wednesday, a top official declared that, as a result of the market economy, "people's jobs and status keep changing" in China today, and there are "differences and contradictions between communities, between industries and between regions." These remarks by Li Ruihuan, China's fourth-ranking...
COMMENTARY
Mar 19, 2002

Tough times await Musharraf

ISLAMABAD -- In reaching out to Japan last week in his maiden visit there, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf created the impression that he is genuinely trying to turn his country around. And during his recent visit to the United States, U.S. President George W. Bush hailed him as a visionary...
BUSINESS / TAKING STOCK
Mar 19, 2002

Rally not just down to technical factors

Having slumped to 9,420.85 on Feb. 6, the 225-issue Nikkei average has been hovering around 12,000 in recent days.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Seiko mulls reducing holdings in Epson unit

Seiko Corp. on Monday confirmed news reports that it is considering selling part of its equity stake in Seiko Epson Corp. by the end of this month.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Shimadzu to create DNA mapper with nanotechnology

OSAKA -- Precision-equipment maker Shimadzu Corp. said Monday it will begin developing a next-generation DNA-mapping device by using nanotechnology.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Electronics titans aim for LSIs

Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. announced Monday that they will set up a joint venture to integrate their semiconductor businesses relating to system LSIs, or large-scale integrated circuit chips.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Yoshinoya in cogeneration project

Tokyo Gas Co. said Monday it will conduct a cogeneration project with fast-food operator Yoshinoya D&C Co. at an outlet in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Capital outlays to fall nationwide

Private capital investment in all 10 regions of Japan will drop in fiscal 2002 from the previous year for the first time in four years, according to a survey released Monday by the governmental Development Bank of Japan.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Mar 19, 2002

Troussier leaves us scratching our heads

Question: When is an "open" training session not an "open" training session?
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

On the road in Sri Lanka

While security concerns deter many visitors, traveling in Sri Lanka can be very rewarding because there is so much on offer and few other tourists to crowd the experience. Flights from Japan arrive in the middle of the night, ensuring that one's first impression is not a traffic jam.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

State to offer banks deal on bad mortgages

The government plans to dispose of about 97 billion yen in unrecoverable home loans by asking private banks that guaranteed them to assume payment, a senior government official said Monday.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

UFJ hastens branch closures by six months

OSAKA -- UFJ Bank will accelerate the consolidation of 108 of its domestic branches by six months and complete the process by the end of next March 2003, President Masashi Teranishi said Monday.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Mar 19, 2002

South Korea puts faith in Dutchman Hiddink

Guus Hiddink, the Netherlands' 1998 World Cup team manager, has been hired by South Korea in an attempt to end its winless drought at the tournament and get through the first round for the first time in soccer's quadrennial tournament.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Penta-Ocean picks new president

Penta-Ocean Construction Co. said Monday it has appointed Senior Managing Director Hideaki Kato as its president, replacing Renpei Mizuno, who will become chairman.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Hiranuma, Yeo agree to bolster ASEAN ties

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma and his Singaporean counterpart, George Yeo, agreed Monday to enhance cooperation for establishing a broad economic partnership between Japan and Southeast Asia.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

A rendezvous with the master

During a recent interview at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Arthur C. Clarke displayed a youthful enthusiasm that belied his 84 years. Clad in a batik sarong and pastel shirt with a dolphin motif, the wheelchair-bound author of "2001: A Space Odyssey" was short of breath and complained that he was tired...
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Wal-Mart spells chaos for already shaken industry

The entry into Japan of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of the United States, the world's largest retailer, will throw the industry into chaos as it struggles for survival amid the deepening recession.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

On the road in Sri Lanka

While security concerns deter many visitors, traveling in Sri Lanka can be very rewarding because there is so much on offer and few other tourists to crowd the experience. Flights from Japan arrive in the middle of the night, ensuring that one's first impression is not a traffic jam.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

JAL-JAS merger may mean slot loss

Japan Airlines and Japan Air System may have to give up some of their arrival and departure slots at Haneda and other domestic airports to get their merger plan cleared under the Antimonopoly Law, a senior transport ministry official said Monday.

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan