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COMMENTARY
Feb 9, 2002

Can U.S. find the right voice?

LONDON -- The United States is the predominant force in the world -- more so than ever. Its military reach is awesome (as Afghanistan has proved), its technology at the forefront, its universities the most advanced, its Nobel laureates the most numerous, its production now back to almost 30 percent of...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 9, 2002

Ueda-san: busy staying home no more

On our island, the passage of time is measured in lives. With the passing away of my neighbor Ueda-san, I feel like a part of Japan has gone with her.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2002

Diplomats: more than traveling salesmen

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Recently, the order of a prominent European political leader to his country's ambassadors to begin acting as salesmen made waves all the way to Asia. This is not an isolated case: To various degrees, politicians from Europe to Asia and Oceania are now calling for a new diplomacy...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 8, 2002

Arimori strides for success in life after marathon

Winning an Olympic medal, you would think, would be the greatest honor an athlete can achieve.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2002

Wearable display does not block view

OSAKA -- Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has developed a headset-mounted liquid crystal display that does not block the viewer's field of vision, making a radical departure from the goggle-style displays being marketed as portable movie theaters.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2002

BOJ Policy Board seeking to enhance its credit-easing tools

The Bank of Japan convened a two-day meeting of its Policy Board on Thursday to discuss ways of refining its credit-easing tools in a bid to ensure that its current quantitative-easing policy will not be undermined.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2002

Canberra sticks to its policy on illegal immigrants despite growing protests

SYDNEY -- Just as Australian Prime Minister John Howard was addressing world economic leaders in New York on the profits to be made from investing here, Afghan asylum seekers held in detention camps in the Australian desert were trying to die in hunger strikes.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2002

Look out for suicidal signals amid these hard times: doctor

Psychological stress is building among Japanese businessmen due to the crisis of lifetime employment, which has deep roots in the nation's way of living.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 7, 2002

Hypersexual farming

Humans have practiced selective breeding for thousands of years to develop plants, animals and fungi better suited for human use than they are in their natural states. No genetic engineering is required, yet the genes of selected strains are different, "improved." Even people opposed to genetic modification...
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2002

The only viable choice

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy speech to the Diet on Monday could not have come at a worse time. The week before, he had invited public anger by firing Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, the most popular member of his Cabinet and the staunchest supporter of his reform plans. It was an "agonizing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 6, 2002

From Dakota to Nagoya with a pirouette

Next week will see the great and the good of the ballet world descend on Nagoya for the Fourth Japan International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition. This triennial event, inaugurated in 1993, is unusual among leading international dance competitions in featuring simultaneous classical and modern dance...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 6, 2002

Impressionist master of time and space

If the world seems like a dark place at the beginning of the present century, an exhibition of work completed at the beginning of the last may help put things back in a more optimistic perspective. "Monet -- Later Works: Homage to Katia Granoff," is on show at the Iwate Museum of Art till Feb. 11 and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 6, 2002

Diary of a not-so-mad man

"I'm not the Antichrist, I'm not the Iron Man, I'm not the kind of person you really think I am . . . I try to entertain you the best I can, I wish I'd walked before I ran," Ozzy Osbourne sings in "Gets Me Through," the opening track on his new album, "Down to Earth." It is at once a touching thank-you...
Japan Times
Events
Feb 5, 2002

Artificial jellyfish find niche market with aquarium hobbyists

NARA -- Jellyfish swimming up and down inside a water tank may be a comforting sight to see, but keeping them alive is another matter entirely. Help, however, is on the way, said Hideaki Okuda, a maker of artificial jellyfish.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2002

Kinki Nippon, Nippon Travel part ways

Kinki Nippon Tourist Co. and Nippon Travel Agency, the nation's second- and third-largest travel agencies, announced Monday that they have canceled a merger plan for January 2003 due to ramifications of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2002

Topix closes at new 17-year low

The Tokyo Stock Price Index closed Monday below 950 for the first time since April 1985 as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy speech to the Diet failed to ease investors' worries over a possible delay in structural reforms.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

TV anchor aims to set new standards for news reporting

Most television news programs in Japan neglect their responsibility to inform people of what is happening in society by failing to present news in an understandable way.
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2002

Sake brewed with a feminine touch

SHIBATA, Niigata Pref. -- Orderly chaos might be a good way to describe the Ichishima Sake Brewery on this bone-chilling January morning.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 3, 2002

A little bit of Martha in every rabbit hutch

Considering the state of the Japanese economy, the current popularity of penny-pinching advice in the media is hardly surprising. There seems to be a fundamental paradox at work here, in that advertisers prefer programs and articles which encourage the spending of money, while the advice given out these...
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2002

Sake's never been better -- so why the poor business?

Sake is so central to life in these islands that the name of the fermented rice drink is also the Japanese word for all alcoholic drinks.
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2002

The long journey from rice to ambrosia

Sake is brewed -- and not distilled -- from rice. The alcohol content is initially about 20 percent, but this is usually watered down to about 16 percent, which is just a tad more than most wine. But sake is closer to beer than wine, at least in terms of how it is made.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 2, 2002

How Lon Chaney led to lifetime of Japanese film

I'm rarely nervous these days. But the prospect of sitting down with author, academic, film scholar and art critic Donald Richie has me ever so slightly on edge. Movies like Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon," seen as a student in England, were profound in effect. Forty years on and here I am with the man reputed...
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Analysts consider possibility of large-scale crash

Takeshi Kimura, president of consulting firm KPMG Financial Co., says he periodically receives calls from overseas investors who ask one chilling question.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 31, 2002

Backhand compliment earns volley

The most significant volley that Marcelo Rios had to face at this year's Australian Open was the volley of abuse he received from female professionals after describing the women's game as a "joke."
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2002

An inadequate rescue plan

A new three-year restructuring program for Daiei Inc., the nation's second-largest supermarket chain operator, is symbolic of the debt woes that plague large Japanese distributors, constructors and real estate firms. Earlier this month, Daiei's three creditor banks -- UFJ Holdings Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2002

Indo-Pakistani crisis: a catalyst for peace

In a way, the Dec. 13 attack on the Indian Parliament was a blessing. It may have pushed two nuclear powers to the edge of a disaster. But the threat of war often helps feuding nations pause and re-examine their priorities and how they affect bilateral relations.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 28, 2002

The plastic nature of historic judgment

NEW YORK -- There is something mesmerizing about America's fascination with its own people of prominence, especially presidents. There is an endless stream of biographies, and some become immensely popular.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jan 27, 2002

Yuji Katsui: An anomaly on the dance floor

Whether jamming with techno-trance outfit Rovo in front of a seething dance floor, adding to the psychedelic vibe of prog-rockers Bondage Fruit or frolicking in the pop carnival of Demi Semi Quaver, Yuji Katsui is something of an anomaly. With all these groups, the 38-year-old plays neither a sampler...
COMMUNITY
Jan 27, 2002

Crash diet with a soft landing

"That's impossible!" said my colleague. "Ten kilos in three months? That's . . ." "Don't say it!" I put my hands over my ears, but he continued anyway. "That's 100 grams a day."

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