Search - things-to-do

 
 
BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT
Aug 6, 2002

Reducing icebergs to snowballs:How to avoid sinking the ship

"Ever had all your dreams come true, only to find yourself in the middle of a nightmare?" asked a wry acquaintance recently. In his case, he hand followed through on a lifelong dream starting his own advertising boutique. A careful planner, he had determined his own strengths and weaknesses and approached...
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2002

Maestro hopes to energize, inspire, connect with Asian youths on tour

Bright Sheng has just finished a 3-hour rehearsal with the Asian Youth Orchestra in Hong Kong. You can detect a hint of tiredness in his voice, but it's overlaid with a definite tone of achievement, and excitement even, for what lies ahead.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Aug 5, 2002

'Sick man' of the intellectual community

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In the 1980s and early '90s, there were efforts on the part of Europeans and Japanese to strengthen their bilateral relationship. Europeans were conscious that they had neglected Japan, while the Japanese were seeking to expand their international networks at a time when the...
MORE SPORTS
Aug 5, 2002

Spurrier a winner in NFL debut

OSAKA -- A rejuvenated Danny Wuerffel threw three touchdown passes to lead the Washington Redskins to a 38-7 rout of the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at the Osaka Dome in a preseason game that marked the NFL coaching debut of Steve Spurrier.
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 4, 2002

Salaryman quits to devote time to family name: Tokugawa

Tsunenari Tokugawa drew a salary for more than 38 years, climbing the corporate ladder to become executive vice president of major marine shipping company Nippon Yusen K.K.
COMMUNITY
Aug 4, 2002

Touched by the hand of the fire god

Akiko Amano says she once saw the God of Fire. It was around 10 years ago when she first started working as a hanabishi (professional fireworks setter). That night, she was working at a countryside fireworks festival.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 4, 2002

The sweet, soft option

Fukuoka sake, in general, hovers just below the surface of mass attention. You don't hear about it too much, and it doesn't have an image of overall style in the minds of most folks. But this belies its historical significance and, more importantly, ignores the fact that great sake can be found in Fukuoka....
LIFE / Language
Aug 2, 2002

Marrying your sweetheart and moving in with his mom

On the day I married my husband, I married his family, too. I moved next door to my in-laws on the family plot in Tokyo. Now, I live there with my husband and daughter; my parents-in-law; my husband's uncle, aunt and their three daughters; two dogs; a cat; and a goldfish named Mikey.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Aug 2, 2002

School trips help cut the apron strings

My son is leaving home. I've always known, of course, that the day would come when he'd strike out on his own. But I never imagined it would happen when he was only 11 years old. Or that he'd make his big break to a mountain in Japan.
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2002

What matters for Nago airport

Japan is set to build an offshore airport for U.S. military and Japanese commercial planes in Nago City, northern Okinawa, almost six years after Tokyo and Washington agreed to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan City, central Okinawa. On Monday, the central government and...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Aug 1, 2002

Pot-shot summer with no room at the inn

Summertime, and the living is easy . . . for me, anyway.
COMMENTARY
Jul 31, 2002

The U.S.-Japan management roundabout

What goes round, comes round. In the 1950s and '60s, U.S. experts warned Japanese businessmen that they had to get rid of their feudalistic management systems if they were to go ahead.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2002

Emergency defense legislation believed too vague

Political dynamics aside, even some Defense Agency officials admit the emergency-contingency bills the ruling coalition plans to carry over to the next Diet session were flawed from the start.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 31, 2002

Will Ham hire foreign skipper in Sapporo?

Nikkan Sports newspaper, in its July 24 edition, ran a story speculating who would be the manager of the Nippon Ham Fighters when the team moves to Sapporo in 2004. The headline read, "Oya ka? Gaikokujin ka?" meaning it could be former Yokohama BayStars manager and Yakult Swallows catcher Akihiko Oya...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 31, 2002

New and improved Pops!

How can anyone market one of the world's great orchestras in an era when orchestral music is growing ever less essential to the cultural fabric and the recording industry itself is ailing?
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 31, 2002

Tabla Beat Science: "Live in San Francisco"

On Aug. 12, 2001, Tabla Beat Science, a multinational collective of forward-thinking musicians founded by the tabla player Zakir Hussein and the bass player and producer Bill Laswell, played a free show in the Stern Grove section of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. For many of the 12,000 people who...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2002

Of chicken legs and trash

CAMBRIDGE, England -- There has been much talk in China recently about hegemony. Some of it has been about denying that China has hegemonic interests in East Asia. But most of it has related to the United States. One wonders if everyone in China understands what is being complained about. I have this...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2002

New law may raise prospects for homeless

In the Kamagasaki day-laborer district of Osaka, news about the soon-to-be passed bill to provide aid for the nation's homeless has been greeted with a mixture of hope and indifference.
COMMUNITY
Jul 30, 2002

Learning goes both ways in JET program

I first came to Japan in 1991 as an English instructor with the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program and ended up staying twice as long as I originally planned. Here are some recollections from that period.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 29, 2002

Pursuit of mediocrity in textbook selection

NEW YORK -- Is the presence of 50,000 prostitutes "an important historical fact"? Grace Shore, chairwoman of the Texas State Board of Education, didn't think so, nor did the majority on her 15-member board.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 28, 2002

Look at her, she's dying to lose some weight

If there is still any question whether China has finally joined the so-called industrialized world, the current diet-aid scandal should put it to rest. Only an industrialized nation with a population that eats enough food on a daily basis to worry about extra kilos can support an industry dedicated to...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2002

Prospects improve with Megawati at helm

CHIANG MAI, Thailand-- With President Megawati Sukarnoputri at the helm, the amount of sensational news coming out of Indonesia has somewhat subsided. This is a welcome development as too much media interest usually points to trouble.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2002

Gov. Davis goes where Bush fears to tread

LIMASSOL, Cyprus -- A remarkable event occurred this week in California -- one that should cheer environmentalists around the world who were angered by the Bush administration's rejection of the Kyoto treaty on global warming.
COMMUNITY
Jul 27, 2002

Creating a museum as a sacred, powerful place

Asked what it is like to be a goddess, Hiroko Koyama laughs. Of course she's not really a goddess, she says, "but if some of our congregation believe me and my mother to be so blessed, well, there's not much we can do about it."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 27, 2002

Do you speak like (pause) a teeeacherr?

Australian researchers have discerned that we use three different voices: one when talking with other adults, one with elongated vowels for talking to babies, and a high-pitched voice for talking to pets.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2002

Accused train gropers sometimes victims?

On the morning of April 13, 1999, freelance writer Naoki Ito was on a rush-hour train in Tokyo, heading home after working all night. Just after the train left Ikebukuro Station, a high school girl turned to him, grabbed him by the wrist and said, "Cut it out."
COMMENTARY
Jul 26, 2002

Iran's reformers need support

BRUSSELS -- Images of Iran seem stuck in a time warp that dates back to the early 1980s, when the country was considered to be one of the world's "rogue states" due to its militant standoff with the United States and its state support of Islamic terror groups. Now it is a flawed democracy -- with a distinctly...
COMMENTARY
Jul 25, 2002

Home of the brave, land of the snitches

WASHINGTON -- Washington "will do everything conceivable, everything humanly and technologically possible to preserve our way of life and our citizens," says Tom Ridge, director of the U.S. Office of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, the Bush administration seems ready to threaten our way of life in...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2002

Chiyoda Ward kicks smokers' habits

With smoking now prohibited in a vast number of public spaces, the nation's sidewalks are viewed by some as the last refuge for those who want to light up.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jul 24, 2002

Women whose work is never done

"Senko (Flash)," singer/songwriter UA's first single in three years, further cements her status as one of J-pop's most enigmatic and original artists. Released July 24, "Senko" is a dark, moody piece that's half tone poem and half pop song. UA and co-producer Rei Harakami have created a sparse, ambient-ish...

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan