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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 26, 2003

Hidden truths of the Hermit Kingdom

PYONGYANG: The Hidden History of the North Korean Capital, by Chris Springer, photos by Eckart Dege. Budapest: Entente Bt., 2003, 158 pp., $29.95 (paper). Although the capital of the new Hermit Kingdom is not a popular tourist destination, we now have this interesting detailed guide to the socialist...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 26, 2003

Fostering the will for a better way

MYSORE -- On the outskirts of historic Mysore -- city seat of maharajas until Indian independence in 1947 -- is a settlement called Kuduremala. A community of just 800 people, its name is testament to the former rulers of Mysore -- which occupies about a third of present-day Karnataka State -- who took...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 25, 2003

Recipe for a leaner, keener Pentagon

HONOLULU -- In a leaked memo that caused a stir in Washington and throughout the far-flung American military forces last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld asked: "Is the DoD [Department of Defense] changing fast enough to meet the new 21st Century security environment?"
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Oct 24, 2003

Where time flows slowly

Some places really do have the image thing sorted out. Mention of the name Kurashiki generally conjures up a warm picture of traditional Japan, a town where life trundles along at a gentler pace than elsewhere. What tends not to be conjured up is that Kurashiki is a city of 450,000 people living right...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2003

Koizumi fails to evict LDP elder

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi tried Thursday to persuade two octogenarian former prime ministers to retire from politics because of their age, effecting a quiet exit in the case of Kiichi Miyazawa but running up against a brick wall in the shape of Yasuhiro Nakasone.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2003

Secrecy robs space feat of its glory

HONG KONG -- For those who have labored long and hard to keep China's space program alive and moving forward, it must have been a wonderful moment when, on Oct. 15, the complicated machinery of initiating space travel performed flawlessly, and China scored a first.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 24, 2003

A chill double-bill in the heart of Shibuya

When Matt Nieman and Greg Natali were kids growing up in Philadelphia, neither one of them could have imagined that they would end up living and running nightclubs in Tokyo.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDEN PATHS
Oct 23, 2003

A garden of poetry in the city's heart

Long ago, Japanese aristocrats used to debate about which was the finest season, spring or autumn. Generally, poetic souls favored autumn, which -- with its crying insects, fragile flowers and falling leaves -- epitomized the fleeting nature of life.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2003

Tension mounts as GSDF kept in dark over Iraq

Frustration is mounting within the Ground Self-Defense Force, with personnel still in the dark -- at least officially -- over the timing, location and purpose of their expected mission to Iraq before the end of the year.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2003

Scandal-hit Suzuki pulls out of election

Scandal-tainted lawmaker Muneo Suzuki said Saturday that he will not run in the upcoming general election due to health reasons.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 19, 2003

Out of the ordinary

SELECTED POEMS 1976-2001, by Peter Robinson. Manchester, Britain: Carcanet, 2003, 139 pp., £8.95 (paper). NO VISION WILL TELL: 100 Selected Poems 1992-2002, by Scott Watson. Sendai, Japan: Bookgirl Press, 2002, 123 pp., 1,500 yen (paper). Both of the poets reviewed here, one British and the other American,...
COMMUNITY
Oct 19, 2003

Labor pains

On a recent Saturday, some 80 delegates from the National Union of General Workers, Tokyo South, trudged through cold rain to gather at a conference hall near Mount Fuji for their annual meeting. Greetings were kept brief and to the point. After all, with the sour economy putting such pressure on unions,...
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2003

Juki Net passes U.S. hacker test

Experts at a U.S. computer security firm were unable to hack into Japan's online resident registry system in an experiment conducted to test the system's vulnerability to cyber attacks, the home affairs ministry said Friday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Oct 17, 2003

Animals without borders in transfrontier parks

It was snowing in Berlin that day in November 1884, but the conference delegates around the horseshoe-shape table in Prince Bismarck's house on the Wilhelmstrasse had little thought for the local weather. Africa had their full attention.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2003

Japan praises China's spaceflight

Government officials, astronomers and other interested parties in Japan welcomed China's success in putting a manned spacecraft into orbit Wednesday, though some fretted over its military and diplomatic implications.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2003

Plastic surgery makeovers luring the insecure

Risa Arato never liked her hooded eyes -- even her friends said she had a perpetually stony gaze. And she hated the way her sunglasses slipped down her nose. But the clincher was meeting her estranged father for the first time since childhood and being told she hadn't turned out very cute.
EDITORIALS
Oct 13, 2003

To text or not to text

You knew it had to come. When it was reported last week that a British rehabilitation clinic had begun treating patients for an uncontrollable addiction to text messaging, it certainly sounded like a sign of the times. Or something. It was hard to be sure of the precise significance of the announcement...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2003

Teaching people how to manage change

WASHINGTON -- Ours is a world in transition. The current global debate centers on the state of knowledge that led to the Iraq war. Neglected is the much more important discussion of the knowledge needed to bringing peace and prosperity to the world. The education sector can play a major role in teaching...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 11, 2003

Peter Miller

Peter Miller's becoming an original photogravure print artist was, he says, a gradual development. "It didn't come to me in a flash. I taught myself through trial and error, mostly error," he said. "There is no limit to it, and I am still learning. I etch and print the plates myself, as the entire process...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 10, 2003

English football's problems make mockery of 'beautiful game'

LONDON -- Had the Turkish Football Federation hatched a plan to severely disrupt England's preparations for Saturday's decisive Euro 2004 qualifying tie they could not have done a better -- or worse, depending on your viewpoint -- job than the visitors have done themselves.
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2003

American dream, or nightmare?

Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger, bodybuilder and movie star, is the new governor of California. Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, replaced Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, after 54.9 percent of voters Tuesday said "yes" to recalling the incumbent and 48.2 percent picked the Terminator to lead the historically...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Oct 9, 2003

Incoming rookies James, Anthony already make an impression on Artest

NEW YORK -- Infamous for his demonic defense and alarming genuineness, Ron Artest recently evaluated the NBA's two newest compulsive scorers after confronting the incoming rookies in Magic Johnson's summer all-star game.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2003

Charming the IMF in Dubai

HONG KONG -- James Wolfensohn, the president of the World Bank, made the most powerful speech of his career at the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund in Dubai last month. It was full of sharp sound bites driving toward a vital central theme that Wolfensohn enunciated...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 7, 2003

Do you think the foreign population in a major contributor to the rising crime rate?

Arisa Yokoyama Real Estate, 28
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 7, 2003

Time to come clean on foreign crime wave

For those who read and watch the Japanese press, these are scary times. Foreign crime is allegedly on the rise, members of the new Koizumi Cabinet are making clear policy statements against it, and the National Police Agency is ready for a new push.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami