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Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Aug 17, 2002

8,000 relics of Tibetan Buddhism might not all appeal to faint-hearted

The area around Tokyo's Meguro Fudoson Temple has traditionally been a site for the city's faithful.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
Aug 17, 2002

Photo processors bet livelihoods on digital age

For photo shops, the increasing use of digital cameras among consumers means fewer people dropping off rolls of film to be developed and printed.
COMMENTARY
Aug 15, 2002

The scrapheap of the brave

The fuss surrounding the Diet resignation of former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka has seen Japan and its media at their shallow, group-think, conservative, anti-individualist worst.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Aug 15, 2002

History still alive on the old Nakasendo

Of the five highways (gokaido) built in the early years of the Tokugawa Shogunate to radiate through the country from its capital at Edo (present-day Tokyo), the best-known nowadays is the Tokaido coastal route to Kyoto. Hardly less used during the Edo Period (1603-1867), however, was the mountain route...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2002

PNG's founding father back at the helm

SYDNEY — It's back to the future for Papua New Guinea. Only this time round the friends of the young, troubled South Pacific nation are hoping it's not a case of the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2002

Janet Klein: past perfect

Janet Klein's ukulele is no gimmick. Nor are her "obscure, lovely and naughty songs from the '10s, '20s and '30s." Klein and her L.A.-based band, The Parlor Boys, are about as real a deal as it gets. More than just fans of phonographs and sepia tone, Klein and company are musical archaeologists, taking...
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2002

'Green map' points to Tokyo's sights, blights

On a sunny day in early August, three university students and four children walking near JR Shinagawa Station in Tokyo stopped when they came upon litter on the street.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2002

Tour leader opens eyes to harsh realities of Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY -- Most tourists don't expect to be scolded by tour operators while vacationing abroad. But that's what they're in for when they join a tour led by Hiromi Tanaka of Sinh Cafe Tours in Vietnam.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 11, 2002

Book industry cries murder

Although everyone agrees that the Japanese publishing industry is in trouble, there is less consensus as to the causes. Book and magazine sales have been declining for five years and book revenues for last year were at roughly the same level as a decade earlier; indeed, some say that if it were not for...
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 11, 2002

Bible scholar questions value of religion without substance

If something lacks substance, it is not to the taste of Bible scholar Michiko Ota. Thus, she contends, humans are better off without religion if that religion has lost its substance.
EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2002

Fears of an Orwellian government

The government launched a nationwide resident registry network Monday, with several municipalities refusing to join it. The controversial system, known as Juki Net, has many people wondering whether it is designed to promote convenience for residents or to tighten the government's grip on basic personal...
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2002

Record 7 million lost their jobs in 2001

About 7.01 million workers lost their jobs in 2001, marking the largest exodus ever, according to an annual report on employment released recently by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, which started compiling relevant figures in 1991.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2002

Aum grows again, guru still revered

Several of its senior members have been convicted of heinous crimes, including two deadly nerve gas attacks. It has been placed under tight surveillance and wherever its members try to settle, local residents and municipalities turn out to keep them away.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2002

State has let in three from North Korea

At least three people have been allowed to enter Japan from North Korea with the direct involvement of the Japanese government through secret channels since 1996, it was learned Sunday.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Aug 5, 2002

Failure to cap deposit insurance means banking system will fester

Starting in April 2003, the government will no longer protect deposits when banks fail and instead introduce a "payoff" scheme offering partial protection of up to 10 million yen per depositor per bank.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 4, 2002

Reform by fiat and persuasion

INSIDE GHQ: The Allied Occupation of Japan and its Legacy, by Eiji Takemae. London: Continuum, 2002, 751 pp., $40 (cloth) The U.S.-led Occupation of Japan ended 50 years ago, but still casts long shadows over the country and remains hotly debated among scholars and pundits. It is indeed fortunate, therefore,...
EDITORIALS
Aug 2, 2002

Diet stood in the way of reform

The 192-day regular Diet session that ended on Wednesday will be remembered more for what it did not achieve than for what it did. In brief, it failed in two critical areas: political reform and economic revival. While politics bogged down in a quagmire of corruption, deflation dragged on, with no recovery...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2002

USJ struggles to save image from 'sophomore jinx'

OSAKA -- The Universal Studios Japan theme park, which drew 11 million people in the first 12 months after it opened in March 2001, is having a bad second year as it struggles to regain public trust following a series of management blunders.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 1, 2002

'Rami' has Swallows fans squealing with delight

Call him the Shigeki Maruyama of Japanese baseball, with a little Tony Robbins thrown in for good measure.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2002

Half of jobless receiving no aid

An average of 3.74 million people were out of work in April and May, and 1.9 million of them had no source of income, according to a government report released Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2002

Unemployment rate stayed at 5.4% in June

The nation's seasonally adjusted jobless rate stood at 5.4 percent in June, unchanged from the previous month, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 31, 2002

New and improved Pops!

How can anyone market one of the world's great orchestras in an era when orchestral music is growing ever less essential to the cultural fabric and the recording industry itself is ailing?
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Jul 30, 2002

Fans now flocking to J. League games

The J. League is savoring the World Cup carry over. Since league action was resumed (Division Two on July 10 and Division One on July 13) following the World Cup, the J. League has so far drawn high attendance figures to its games.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 30, 2002

A race against cultural oblivion

Like minority groups the world over, the hill tribes of Laos are facing unaccustomed pressures on their traditional way of life. The depletion of protective, life-giving forest and wilderness, the upward migration of more lowland Laotians, growing pressure on the hill tribes to settle closer to accessible...
LIFE / Travel
Jul 30, 2002

A race against cultural oblivion

Like minority groups the world over, the hill tribes of Laos are facing unaccustomed pressures on their traditional way of life. The depletion of protective, life-giving forest and wilderness, the upward migration of more lowland Laotians, growing pressure on the hill tribes to settle closer to accessible...
COMMUNITY
Jul 30, 2002

Learning goes both ways in JET program

I first came to Japan in 1991 as an English instructor with the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program and ended up staying twice as long as I originally planned. Here are some recollections from that period.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 28, 2002

Moronic student textbooks

MOSCOW -- When you visit a recently independent nation, ask what kind of elementary school textbooks their kids are reading. I must say the textbooks my kids use are horrific.
COMMENTARY
Jul 28, 2002

Land-mine removal cannot be put off

ISLAMABAD -- A bus driving along a quiet road in central Afghanistan earlier this month suddenly drove over the country's worst killer. A loud explosion could be heard across the surrounding neighborhoods as the bus was ripped apart, leaving 13 people dead and another six badly injured.

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’