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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 18, 2005

Spectacular diversity of clay

As noted in this column last month, Japanese ceramic art is finding a wider audience overseas. Many collectors search out the great potters of the past, such as Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) or Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966), while more savvy collectors are looking to find out who's hot in Japan today.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2005

Quasi-brews jack up beer sales

Shipments of malt-free beerlike beverages grew 4.6-fold in April compared with the same month the previous year, accounting for 19.4 percent of the total market, according to industry figures unveiled Monday.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2005

30% cut in expenditures needed: panel

General expenditures need to be trimmed by 30 percent if the government is to bring Japan's finances under control by fiscal 2015 through spending cuts alone, according to a projection released Monday by the Fiscal System Council.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 14, 2005

Takashi Kikuchi

The College Women's Association of Japan is already preparing for its 50th anniversary print show in October. Proceeds from this show each year are allocated to CWAJ's scholarship and education fund. Most beneficiaries are female graduates of different nationalities planning advanced studies in Japan...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 10, 2005

Repairs, free calls, tickets and cheesecake

Auto-repairs Therese comes to Claire's rescue concerning the latter's request for an auto-repair shop in the Shibuya/Yoyogi area (Lifelines; April 26).
COMMUNITY
May 8, 2005

Serial stereotyping only serves others' brazen hubris

Ever since the reopening of Japan to the outside world in the mid-19th century, people from the West have categorized Japanese life in terms of one or another social model. Whatever the category chosen, though, the inference has always been that Japan is "different." How else would you account for something...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 2005

Reflecting truth and beauty

Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, who writes and performs under the moniker Mirah, records for K Records, the proudly lo-fi label headquartered in Olympia, Wash., and run by indie rock's most dedicated iconoclast, Calvin Johnson, singer in band Beat Happening.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 8, 2005

Window dressing the great divide

THE SARI SHOP, by Rupa Bajwa, W.W. Norton Company, 2005, 224 pp., $13.95 (paper). Indian-ness has ceased to be the flavor of the season, or at least that's what they've been saying in Indian publishing circles. One only wishes this were true. The "Indian experience" is the proverbial dead horse, flogged...
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2005

'Superjumbo' no threat, Boeing says

A senior Boeing Co. official on Wednesday brushed off the threat of European rival Airbus SAS's "superjumbo," saying orders for Boeing's smaller, more fuel-efficient Dreamliner were robust.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Apr 22, 2005

Phoenix's Nash clear choice as NBA's MVP this season

NEW YORK -- For those scoring in the league office, this is how I voted for . . .
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Apr 20, 2005

The Koreans who potted in Kyushu

Japan has long been fascinated with outside influences, and voraciously absorbs them in order to create something totally unique. This can be found in almost all aspects of Japanese industry and culture -- and it is nowhere more apparent than in the pottery born in Kyushu. Of course, ancient kilns dating...
BUSINESS
Apr 16, 2005

Daiei records another heavy loss

Struggling retailer Daiei Inc. reported Friday a consolidated net loss of 511.2 billion yen for the year through February, with the firm having booked hefty restructuring costs.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2005

More Minamata victims to receive financial aid

The central and Kumamoto Prefectural governments announced Thursday they would offer financial assistance to about 3,000 Minamata disease sufferers who have not yet received any help to pay for their medical treatment, the Environment Ministry said.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2005

Honda hopes compact wagon debut snaps slide

Honda Motor Co. said Thursday it will start selling its first compact station wagon this week.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2005

Kirin enters fray for near-beer with new brew

Competition for beerlike beverages heated up Wednesday as Kirin Brewery Co. entered the market with a new beverage.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Mar 30, 2005

Asia week sees debut show of a famous celadon potter

New Asian art becomes the talk of the town each spring -- not just in Tokyo or Beijing -- but in New York City where its annual Asia Week is now in full sway. Exhibitions abound in the Big Apple with some of the world's top dealers offering their treasures to collectors who visit from around the world....
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2005

Household spending fell 3.8% in February

Spending by wage-earning households fell a real 3.8 percent in February from a year earlier to 301,372 yen, the government said Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2005

Toyota takes the wraps off two new SUV hybrids

Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday released two sport utility vehicles featuring hybrid engines, expanding its hybrid lineup to appeal to a wider range of customers.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 9, 2005

Legal action gives new definition to 'The Meaning of Ichiro'

Well, I must say, this one really takes the cake.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2005

Toyota booming in world's No. 2 spot over U.S. rival Ford

Back in the 1970s, workers at Toyota Motor Corp. were taught to never turn down an order because good times couldn't be counted on to last forever. These days, Toyota cars are in such demand workers are exhausted just keeping up.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 2, 2005

Uchishiba to compete in All-Japan judo championships

Masato Uchishiba, who won the gold medal in the men's 66-kg weight category at last summer's Athens Olympics, will compete in next month's All-Japan judo championships, judo sources said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 21, 2005

They boil lobsters, don't they?

WASHINGTON -- A recent European study has suggested that lobsters don't feel pain when being boiled. For a lobster, the study suggests, going into a boiling pot is like taking a dip in a hot tub.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 13, 2005

Japan makes great genres, but . . .

THE MIDNIGHT EYE GUIDE TO NEW JAPANESE FILM, by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp, foreword by Hideo Nakata. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. 366 pp., 151 b/w photos, $22.95 (paper). The authors of this very interesting new compendium on recent Japanese cinema would agree, I think, that the "new" in their title...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 4, 2005

Kitajima accepts award from FSAJ

Double Olympic gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima has another addition for his impressive trophy cabinet after accepting the award for 2004 Japanese Sportsman of the Year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 25, 2005

Japan's enemy within

Riding home from school on the crowded Tokyo underground recently one day, 12-year-old Kim says she felt something hit the back of her head. When she checked what it was, her hand came away covered in saliva spat by a middle-aged male passenger. As he was getting off, the man said: "Get back to your...
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jan 21, 2005

Sugidama

Dear Alice,
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2005

Flesh traders targeting Western women

A 23-year-old Russian woman became intrigued with the idea of working as a hostess in Japan a few years ago after a friend returned home flush with cash from hostessing and opened a boutique.

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