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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2004

Doctor plans global trek to explore how Japanese got here

A Tokyo surgeon and explorer plans to embark on a five-year journey Thursday to trace the origins of the Japanese people.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2004

40-59 age group seen facing peak stroke risk on back-to-work day

People are in more danger of suffering strokes on Mondays -- especially those in their 40s and 50s who are in their prime, probably because of the stress of returning to work as well as fatigue from weekend leisure activities, according to a recent study by a group of researchers.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2004

Links eyed in cost cuts, workplace accidents

The labor ministry plans to look into work-related accidents for possible links to cost-cutting and corporate restructuring efforts, it was learned Sunday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 4, 2004

Utagawa Hiroshige: Around the provinces in 69 plates

HIROSHIGE'S JOURNEY in the Sixty-odd Provinces, by Marije Jansen. Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2004, 160 pp., 70 full-page plates and other illustrations, $34.95 (paper). Here is a beautifully printed and edited reproduction of the complete "Famous Views of the [Sixty-odd] Provinces" (Rokujuyoshu meisho...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 4, 2004

Imaginative filmmakers shed light on dark side of humanity

At the end of May the Cine Pathos movie theater in Ginza was scheduled to run "Concrete," which is based on a "nonfiction novel" that itself is patterned after an incident that took place in Tokyo's Adachi Ward in 1989. Four teenage boys abducted a high-school girl and kept her prisoner for 40 days,...
JAPAN / ELECTION '04
Jul 3, 2004

Pension issue strikes chord with voters

It's always tough to draw the attention of apathetic voters when stumping.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2004

Kashmir ripe for a solution

BRUSSELS -- The dispute over Kashmir has soured Indo-Pakistani relations since 1947 when, with the partition of India, the Hindu ruler of a mainly Muslim principality dithered his way to war. By the time he finally chose India, after having signed the formal accession, Indian tanks and troops were driving...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2004

SDF striving to become global partner

Among the 550 Ground Self-Defense Force troops in the first deployment to the southern Iraqi city of Samawah were five men in green fatigues armed with musical instruments.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 30, 2004

Creating mirages: the Muslim world onscreen

While Hollywood has a long tradition of demonizing Muslims, Japanese filmmakers have taken a decidedly more benign approach
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2004

Jobless rate declines to 45-month low of 4.6%

Japan's unemployment rate hit a 45-month low of 4.6 percent in May, down 0.1 percentage point from April, with the largest margin of improvement in the jobless number on record, the government said Tuesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 27, 2004

Korean wave may help erode discrimination

Though a lot of people are tired of the guy by now, there's something encouraging about the inexhaustible, Beatlemaniacal attention being paid to Korean star Bae Yong Joon. Bae's popularity is merely the most prominent feature of the current kanryu (Korean wave) boom, but the attraction that many Japanese...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 25, 2004

The heartbeat of Aomori

Remoteness is not without its attractions, especially in crowded Japan. And on the main island of Honshu, you would be hard pressed to find a place of human habitation further from the baying crowds than Aomori Prefecture. Curled like a pincer around Honshu's northern tip, Aomori, the capital, is a characterless...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 23, 2004

Smarting from pension snafu, LDP has modest poll hopes

The Liberal Democratic Party must "humbly accept" the harsh public outrage over its recent forced passage of contentious pension reform bills as it strives to retain its strength in the July 11 House of Councilors election, the LDP secretary general said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 23, 2004

Putting it in motion

When the British choreographer Matthew Bourne first staged his "Swan Lake" in 1995 at the off-West End Sadler's Wells Theatre, most critics and members of the dance establishment simply didn't know what to make of it. That, however, didn't stop the production becoming an instant hit in the West End...
COMMUNITY / Issues
Jun 22, 2004

Nova's culture clash

Going to extremes Your article about the Nova no-contact rule was interesting, but seemed to overlook (or at least de-emphasize) one important aspect of the rule. It not only prevents Nova employees from having romantic or potentially romantic contact with any Nova student from any branch, but it also...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 22, 2004

DPJ needs more than union help at polls

On a recent evening, about 2,500 members of the UI Zensen labor federation filled a hall in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward to rally for fellow member Mitsuyoshi Yanagisawa, who will run in the July 11 House of Councilors election.
EDITORIALS
Jun 21, 2004

'Country, your sport is summer'

Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and the official beginning of the season that inspires so many mixed feelings. Reflect for a moment on the associations, literary and otherwise, that come to mind when you think of the word summer. There are happy ones: the boys of summer; the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 20, 2004

New Komeito to emphasize noncombat SDF role in Iraq

With campaigning for the July 11 House of Councilors election officially starting Thursday, New Komeito leader Takenori Kanzaki says his party has to get the message out that the Self-Defense Forces will stick to humanitarian activities even after joining a U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 20, 2004

Bangkok: Resilience in decay

FRAGILE DAYS: Tales from Bangkok, by Tew Bunnag. Singapore: SNP International 2003. 136 pp., 395 baht (paper). The Bunnag family is one of Thailand's most eminent. Siriwong Bunnag was the formidable and omnipotent Regent of Siam during the minority of King Chulalongkorn in the 19th century. The family...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 20, 2004

Talent agencies enjoy the biggest laugh

Yoshimoto Kogyo, one of the biggest talent agencies in Japan, recently announced that it plans to build a new 1,000-seat comedy theater in Shinjuku. The company already operates a 458-seat theater in the Shinjuku Lumine building, and like that one the new venue will present only Yoshimoto acts. The company's...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 19, 2004

Doom and despair -- worry, worry, everywhere

"If there's one thing I've learned from my life in Japan," I tell my wife over a pot of black coffee, "it's how to worry."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 18, 2004

Enjoy a taste of Boso's byways

When I got off the train at Sanuki-machi on the Uchibo Line in Chiba Prefecture, I realized, in a vague kind of way, that I knew the old little station. Perhaps I'd visited this rural town near the sea on a grade-school summer trip. Certainly, the 89-year-old station at the foot of the hills was exactly...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jun 15, 2004

Does the recent uncovering of torture at Abu Ghraib surprise you?

Yasmine Romero Student, 21 I'm not that surprised. People tend not to think about what they're doing as individuals, not just in war, though. They just tend to get caught up with the moment.
Features
Jun 13, 2004

Shaking off 'shame'

In a civilized society, people should not be scared to talk about their ailments -- especially when the illness may have been contracted from medical product infected with a potentially fatal virus.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2004

Time is ripe to establish G20

In foreign policy speeches in Washington on April 29 and Montreal on May 10, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin proposed the creation of a new group of 20 countries (G20) at the heads-of-government level as the forum of choice for tackling pressing global problems.
EDITORIALS
Jun 11, 2004

Saying goodbye to Mr. Reagan

Friday, at a solemn state funeral in Washington, D.C., the United States formally bids farewell to Mr. Ronald Reagan, one of the most eminent, influential and widely liked U.S. presidents of the postwar era. Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone will be there to convey this nation's sincere condolences...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 11, 2004

Serendipity in the sticks

I noticed a young boy staring at me from afar as I stood alone at the bus stop, poring over my tourist map. Then, with a shy smile and a face full of curiosity, he walked toward me. And when he got close enough for me to hear him, he opened his mouth and spoke.

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’