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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2005

Government to probe extent of asbestos woes

The government will begin an investigation into the spiraling number of asbestos contamination cases revealed in recent weeks, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2005

Jobless rate dropped to 4.2% in June

Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent in June, marking a 0.2 percentage point contraction from May and the lowest figure in nearly seven years, the government said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2005

Balancing security and rights

On July 23, Jean Charles de Menezes, a young Brazilian legally living and working in Britain, was killed at Stockwell Underground Station in a tragic case of mistaken identity. Police have confirmed he had no links whatsoever to terrorism. But he had come out of a house under surveillance by antiterrorist...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jul 27, 2005

Funhouse of the avant-garde

Like many people of my generation, I became aware of Laurie Anderson in 1981, when her song "O Superman" was an improbable radio hit. The eight-minute number featured a simple and hypnotic, breathy backing track, over which Anderson half spoke and half sang through a vocorder. The quirky lyrics repeatedly...
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2005

Philippine crisis simmers

MANILA -- One and a half months after audio tapes surfaced allegedly showing President Gloria Arroyo cheated her way into office, the Philippines' political crisis is far from settled. There is a general feeling that the country has entered a period of political stalemate. While Arroyo's supporters declare...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 27, 2005

Make'em laugh (if you can)

As with many traditional Japanese arts, aspiring owarai comedians once had to apprentice themselves to popular comedians to learn their craft.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Japan plans to tighten up rules on fund transfers

In an effort to cut off money for terrorist organizations, the Financial Services Agency plans to check the identity of people transferring even relatively small amounts of money to other people's accounts, FSA officials said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Vulnerability is all too apparent

The strong earthquake that struck the Kanto region Saturday reminded Tokyo residents of the city's vulnerability to natural disasters -- and left them wondering what would happen if the capital is hit by the long-anticipated Big One.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Strong quake hits Tokyo

A strong earthquake jolted the Tokyo area Saturday afternoon, paralyzing train and subway services and disrupting road traffic.
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2005

Selling evil without a cause

If British Prime Minister Tony Blair wants to prevent more London bombings, he needs to come up with some better arguments to condemn Islamic militancy. His claim that Britain confronts an "evil ideology" was both naive and foolish.
EDITORIALS
Jul 23, 2005

Making ends meet with less

The fiscal 2005 "Annual Report on the Japanese Economy and Public Finances" pays attention to the impact on the economy of two inevitable demographic changes: the expected shrinkage of the population (the first such shrinkage since World War II) and the retirement in large numbers of baby boomers born...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 23, 2005

'Breakthrough Japanese' book sees light of day

It is rare to be interviewed twice for this column. But Hitomi Hitayama, president of the executive Japanese language school Japanese Lunch, deserves the space because she has kept faith with her book project for so long. Also, the result -- "Breakthrough Japanese: 20 Mini Lessons for Better Conversation"...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2005

Coming in from the cold

BRUSSELS -- In a vital move toward securing greater stability, North Korea announced last week it would return to the six-party talks in Beijing with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia to try to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. The breakdown in negotiations had...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 23, 2005

Cool Biz: Okinawan shirts and bikinis

Prime Minister Koizumi would be proud of me. I am completely embracing the Cool Biz campaign by going to work in a bikini top and shorts. And I think Mr. Koizumi would agree after seeing my workplace, which doesn't even have air conditioning. I would support the campaign even more if in addition to the...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 22, 2005

Baseball had no chance in IOC vote with Rogge at helm

Mission accomplished.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 22, 2005

Do you want it soft or natural?

Aoyama is a breeding ground for night culture. It's as if someone dropped an extremely virulent strain of lounge-bar.alt in the area and it went berserk. Almost every time you round a corner, there's yet another stylish light-box sign marking the entrance of another chic new hideaway (some don't even...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 21, 2005

Beauty: Japanese women's never-ending quest

Elsewhere in the world women are concerned about politics, social issues, family, warfare or simply survival. In Japan, it seems their interests are centered on just one thing: bi (beauty).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 20, 2005

Shock & awe: hotshots wow Shibuya

Two leading contenders to the throne of the contemporary drama world, now long occupied by Yukio Ninagawa, are certainly Suzuki Matsuo, 42, founder of the Otona Keikaku theater company, and the Asagaya Spiders' 30-year-old founder, Keishi Nagatsuka. Currently both of these rising stars happen to be staking...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2005

The lights, guitars, action of Go! Team

Film commonly relies on music to add emotional impact. However, with The Go! Team, who hail from Brighton, England, it works the other way around. Early singles were flush with action and near-cinematic thrills, all guitar squalls and percussive thrust, with soaring horn lines that burst through your...
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2005

On the verge of decline

The countdown has begun ahead of Japan's plunge into a period of shrinking population that will have a serious impact on the nation's economy and society, especially the labor force and social welfare, including the pension system.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2005

Security threat from disease

SINGAPORE -- Given the real possibility of a global pandemic, possibly from the possible outbreak of a virulent influenza, it's time to ask: Should states treat infectious diseases as security threats?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jul 13, 2005

Interesting times in China

Chinese contemporary art made a splash in the late 1990s with the so-called Mao Goes Pop movement, which broke big among Western gallerygoers and collectors.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 12, 2005

A fight to the death

Her bony, 80-year-old body floating around inside a nylon shirt and cigarette permanently clamped between what appear to be her two remaining front teeth, Kan Kyon Nam is an unlikely illegal squatter.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2005

'Cool Biz' dress code spreads through halls of promotion

The "Cool Biz" casual dress code campaign launched by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on June 1 has spread to the bureaucracy, Diet and Supreme Court, but whether the intended effect -- of setting air conditioners at higher levels in cities to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and thus help curb global...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2005

Beijing aims to politically isolate Koizumi

SINGAPORE -- The feud between China and Japan over the contents of Japanese history textbooks, sovereignty of the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's periodic visits to Yasukuni Shrine came to a head in April when anti-Japanese riots broke out in some Chinese cities.
EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2005

A year of autonomy for Iraq

It has been one year since Iraqis reclaimed control over their country in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion. It has been a long year, marked more by disappointment than hope. Political squabbles among Iraq's political leaders as well as an ongoing -- some would say escalating -- insurgency have...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’