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JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
May 2, 2001

Public works projects not so easy to ax, Ogi reckons

The central government must look to local governments and their leaders when reviewing public works projects and avoid drastically reviewing or canceling them without such input, Infrastructure Minister Chikage Ogi said.
CULTURE / Film
May 2, 2001

Don't go messing with the Iron Ladies

Satree-Lex Rating: * * * Japanese title: Attack Number HalfDirector: Yongyoot Thongkongtoon Running time: 105 minutes Language: Thai, with Japanese subtitlesNow showing A lot of men say that femininity is a dying art. Women are no longer interested in polishing that side of themselves and, consequently,...
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
May 2, 2001

Toyama sticks by controversial textbook

Newly appointed education chief Atsuko Toyama, continuing the policy of her predecessor, said her ministry will not seek additional revisions to a controversial history textbook even if South Korea officially lodges requests to this end.
CULTURE / Art
May 2, 2001

The golden age of Flemish art

"In the early 17th century, Antwerp was a kind of Hollywood," said Paul Huvenne, director general of Antwerp's Royal Museum of Fine Arts. "There were more painters in the city than bakers!"
CULTURE / Art
May 2, 2001

'Girly photographer' charts her own course

It is has been about a decade since the debut of the onnanoko shashinka, an immensely popular group of young Japanese female photographers whose work was largely characterized by simple subjects reflecting their everyday life, captured with a point-and-shoot aesthetic. Initially, the best known of the...
CULTURE / Art
May 2, 2001

Hitchcock and human nature

Alfred Hitchcock is an icon of the film world, like the Beatles are to rock and pop. Often referred to as the greatest director of all time, the English filmmaker produced art for the masses, using avant-garde techniques and character psychology with universal relevance.
Events
May 1, 2001

Baseball fans clear air about stars 'Spaceman' Shinjo, 'boring' Ichiro

OSAKA -- While most of Japan has celebrated the American success of Ichiro Suzuki, baseball fans in the Kansai region are sharply divided in their enthusiasm for the Seattle Mariners newest superstar.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2001

Technology obscuring Japan's culture, calligrapher believes

For many contemporary Japanese -- both children and adults alike -- everyday life is becoming unthinkable without personal computers and cellular phones.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2001

Koizumi bids to win over members of unions at May Day rally in Tokyo

In an apparent attempt to win the support of union members for his Liberal Democratic Party in the Upper House election in July, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi joined opposition leaders in attending a May Day rally in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2001

Yanagisawa ready to mend emergency economic plan

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will carefully review an emergency economic package adopted in early April to repair shortcomings, if there are any, according to Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 29, 2001

Pets in the big city

After a long, grueling day at the office, there's nothing better than returning home to a warm welcome. For some that means a freshly cooked meal, for others, a warm hug. For many, though, it's the excited bark of a dog and the affectionate nuzzle of a cat.
COMMUNITY
Apr 29, 2001

My friend, my life, my ferret

They're furry. They're fun. They're portable. They're Japan's fastest-growing pet craze. Ten years ago they were nowhere on the pet scene; today they edge out rabbits for third place after dogs and cats.
LIFE
Apr 29, 2001

Beast and bot battle to prove their wurff

They're unlikely to scare away the burglar or land you a slobbery early-morning kiss on the cheek, but robopets have been rapidly making their way into Japanese homes.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 29, 2001

No frills, no thrills: the hottest trend in retailing

The news that the discount department store chain Jusco made money last year while its two perennial competitors sank deeper into the red was met with surprise by the media. One can get a handle on how the press views the former underdog by reading this week's Aera, in which it describes the three-way...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 29, 2001

Seeing guide dogs through society's eyes

Chap can't help sniffing around the camera, while Ace and Yayoi are eager to play.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2001

Foreign minister vows to improve strained Japan-China relationship

New Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka vowed Friday to study past developments in Japan-China ties and talk to Chinese officials directly to improve Tokyo's strained relations with Beijing.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2001

People want social support, hope, economic stability from the Cabinet

Support for the victims of a volcanic eruption and economic stability are just two of the many things the public wants from the Cabinet of new Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2001

Jospin still far from the top

PARIS -- Created 43 years ago by Gen. Charles de Gaulle, France's Fifth Republic has had 14 prime ministers but only five presidents. Most of these premiers have harbored an ambition to become head of state, but only two of them managed to fulfill this dream. Will Lionel Jospin be the third?
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2001

Incoming economic ministers promise to work hard

Economic ministers in the newly formed Cabinet of Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday that they will try hard to pull the nation out of its long economic downturn and help accelerate the disposal of banks' bad loans.
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 27, 2001

FIFA happy about 2002 ticket requests

David H. Will, the chairman of FIFA's World Cup Ticketing Sub-Committee, told a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday that he was "astonished " at the demand for tickets in the host countries, particularly Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / LEARNING BY HEART
Apr 27, 2001

Toddlers' dance: freedom within structure

In fluffy tutus and silky ballet slippers, a circle of pink angels do back-bends in a circle. They dance like storks, skip to my lou and fly backward. It's obviously fun, but the pace is quick.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2001

Impact of hotter planet seen locally

The effects of global warming have become visible in ecosystems around the country, according to the latest research released Thursday by an advisory group to the Environment Ministry.
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 27, 2001

Spain slips past Japan 1-0 in friendly

CORDOBA, Spain -- Substitute midfielder Ruben Baraja scored in injury time Wednesday to give the home team a 1-0 win and deny Japan a draw in a friendly international with Spain at Cordoba's Arcangel Stadium.
COMMUNITY / THE PARENT TRIP
Apr 27, 2001

Being completely fair

When I brought my children to Japan a year ago, I expected they'd pick up on certain things faster than me. I did not, however, anticipate that they'd so quickly succumb to the Japanese national obsession with janken.
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Drugs, lies and policy debate

Traffic Rating: * * * * Director: Steven Soderbergh Running time: 148 minutes Language: English and Spanish (with subtitles in Japanese and English)Now showing It's rare enough that Hollywood makes an issue film, rarer still when it's an ongoing debate and not one where history has already decided...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2001

Riding roughshod over planet and people

While many of us were celebrating Earth Day on Sunday, environmental activists Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera spent another day in a Mexican jail. Soldiers arrested the pair in May 1999 and, says Amnesty International, tortured them until they confessed to guerrilla ties. Amnesty rejects this, saying...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Wake up, it's just a bad movie

The Family Man Rating: * * Director: Brett Ratner Running time: 125 minutes Language: EnglishNow showing This is Kafka's nightmare scenario: One morning, a man wakes up and finds he's turned into a giant bug. He must deal with the inner turmoil that follows. This is writer/director Brett Ratner's...
COMMENTARY
Apr 23, 2001

Textbook serves Japan poorly

A junior high-school history textbook edited under the direction of a nationalist group, the Japanese Society for Textbook Reform, continues to stir controversy both here and abroad. The textbook recently received the green light from the Education and Science Ministry after the editors accepted all...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Apr 23, 2001

Moscow exiles a mogul with good taste

The Kremlin wins one: President Vladimir Putin's bitter critic, Media-Most media empire, is dead. Its assets have been transferred to pro-Kremlin stockholders, its journalists have been fired or silenced and its owner, Vladimir Gusinsky, is hiding abroad.
EDITORIALS
Apr 22, 2001

Poetry and the people

When the poet Chaucer saw that it was April, one year in the late 1300s, he wrote cheerily about its sweet showers piercing the drought of March to the root. When T.S. Eliot saw that it was April, some five and a half centuries later, he wrote bleakly about it being the cruelest month, "breeding lilacs...

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