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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 29, 2003

History lost and found

THE DIARY OF KOSA PAN, introduction and annotation by Dirk van der Cruysse, translation of diary by Visudh Bysyaklu, translation of introduction and footnotes by Michael Smithies. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2002, 88 pp., $12.95 (paper). In the early summer of 1686, the Siamese Embassy arrived in France...
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2003

China a laggard in preemptive reforms

HONG KONG -- When China sacked its health minister and the mayor of Beijing on Easter Sunday for their mishandling of the SARS crisis, many political analysts predicted that severe acute respiratory syndrome would have the same effect on China that the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 had on the Soviet...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jun 29, 2003

Catching the Paris underground

Call us weird, but we've always wanted to explore the sewers of Paris. Perhaps the urge was sparked by Victor Hugo's ghastly descriptions of the fetid underworld in "Les Miserables." Or maybe the image of the "Phantom of the Opera" was responsible: a masked maniac poling about in a gondola in his own...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 29, 2003

A rare chance to crank it up

The booking policies of club owners have long had an influence on music. Generally speaking, this influence has not exactly been a nurturing one as those with a financial stake in a venue prefer safe bets to adventurous outings. As such, musicians, especially young ones, wanting to test new ideas have...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2003

AIG seeks 'organic' growth in insurance industry

The tortoise, and not the hare, is more comfortable in the climate of Japan's life insurance sector.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 26, 2003

Hard-core S&M sex . . . on the web

In 1996 Cosmopolitan magazine ran a humorous piece about men who had died during sex. One of the most famous cases is that of the former French President Felix Faure.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jun 26, 2003

"Follow Me Down," "Frank and the Chamber of Fear"

"Follow Me Down," Julie Hearn, Oxford University Publishing; July 2003; 224 pp. Strange things are happening in the basement of an old house in East London -- and not for the first time. The floor has parted, forming a kind of channel, and faces from the past are floating in it in an endless stream....
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Jun 26, 2003

Everyone's a tour guide in ward civic pride drive

OSAKA -- On every fourth Sunday, Osaka's Hirano Ward turns out to put its best historical foot forward and demonstrate its community pride.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2003

Bankruptcy protection shifts burden to cosigner

Print shop owner Yoichi Iwasaki let out a deep sigh of relief when he filed for court protection from creditors in April 2002, but little did he realize that was not the end of his troubles.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2003

Bankruptcy protection shifts burden to cosigner

Print shop owner Yoichi Iwasaki let out a deep sigh of relief when he filed for court protection from creditors in April 2002, but little did he realize that was not the end of his troubles.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2003

Bankruptcy protection shifts burden to cosigner

Print shop owner Yoichi Iwasaki let out a deep sigh of relief when he filed for court protection from creditors in April 2002, but little did he realize that was not the end of his troubles.
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2003

Tax system for an aging society

With Japanese society aging rapidly, what kind of tax reform is needed to cover soaring social security costs? The government's tax panel answer is that taxpayers must assume a greater burden. In a report presented to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last week, the Tax Commission called for raising personal-income...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2003

Let Sri Lankan premier deal with Tigers

MADRAS, India -- The Sri Lankan peace process is under serious threat. Fifteen months after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government began negotiations, differences between the two have snowballed into an ugly confrontation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2003

A lifelong need for university reforms

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The chorus of university critics in general keeps increasing, both in numbers and intensity. In a way, the debate is natural -- as every institution seems to need adjustment in this cataclysmic era of globalization -- as well as beneficial for correcting eventual shortcomings...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 22, 2003

Singing the praises of soy

The telephone rang, and food-culture historian Hisao Nagayama, an advocate of the Japanese soy bean diet, excused himself from the interview and left his seat to take the call.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jun 22, 2003

Complacency-bustin' beats

Despite the slowly growing hype around DJ Klock, he arrives at for the interview, not with a label rep, but with his wife, Yuki. At the office of his small record company, Clockwise, he even answers the phone.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 22, 2003

Getting a taste for tofu at its silken best

If natto is a challenge to the average taste bud, tofu is a breeze -- so bland, some might say, that if humans lived on tofu alone they would long ago have dispensed with taste buds altogether.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 21, 2003

Despite winning NBA title, Spurs likely to make run at Kidd

NEW YORK -- Don't know what you were thinking, but when the Nets were peeling in layers during the fourth quarter on Sunday -- when the Spurs reeled off 19 straight points and their opponents lost their composure and suffered from severe iron proficiency due to chaotic choreography -- but it seemed to...
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2003

Iraq remains a dangerous place

When the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein collapsed more than two months ago, many thought that peace would return to Iraq in short order. That was wishful thinking. Much of the country is still a combat zone, with U.S. troops fighting Hussein loyalists, Islamic militants and other opponents. This is hampering...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jun 20, 2003

Solstice Music Festival off the calendar; Shared honors for 2002; new releases

It's like watching the lights go out at the stadium. You know, that low metallic "Klung!" "Klung!" "Klung!" as the off switches are hit in succession.

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