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JAPAN
Dec 8, 2004

OECD test sees Japanese kids slip

Japanese high school students have slipped in the latest international ranking of reading and mathematics skills by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2004

Index prompts economists to believe expansion has peaked

A weak economic index prompted economists Tuesday to say Japan's economic expansion has peaked.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 5, 2004

Existentialist/essentialist

SHINTO: The Way Home, by Thomas P. Kasulis, preface by Henry Rosemont Jr. Honolulu: The University of Hawaii Press, 2004, 188 pp., $15.00 (paper). One day several years ago, the author of this new book on Shinto took an early stroll through the grounds of Yasukuni Shrine. After "feeling the connectedness...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2004

Adventurer plans trek across Canadian Arctic

Adventurer Mitsuro Oba is planning a 3,800-km trek across the Canadian tundra above the Arctic Circle over a four-month period beginning in February.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 5, 2004

TV Tokyo's "Totsugeki! Idobata 7" and more

According to a recent article in weekly newsmagazine Aera, 8,158 Japanese women are married to non-Japanese men (the largest national group is American), while 27,881 Japanese men are married to non-Japanese women. The article says that the divorce rate among these "international couples" is rising faster...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2004

Canberra's free trade polka

SYDNEY -- The convening of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations with Australia and New Zealand at ASEAN's meeting in the Laotian capital last week was a landmark for the region's push toward greater security and economic growth. It also started a move toward a free trade area that will...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2004

Knives out for Kofi Annan

One would think that the cheerleaders for waging war on Saddam Hussein's Iraq, on the thoroughly discredited grounds that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, would have retreated into a period of quiet introspection. In fact, it is as difficult to find any trace of embarrassment, humility or...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 3, 2004

Tigers sending wrong message with Tsujimoto signing

"A mind is a terrible thing to waste."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 3, 2004

Olives Tokyo: For a night to remember

It was one of those evenings that called for -- nay, stridently demanded -- a special celebration. Not a quiet, intimate table a deux; nor some sober parade of rarified gourmet delicacies; but a full-on, self-indulgent feast in a setting to match. It was time for dinner at Olives.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2004

Vocational-tech schools face visa-violator action

As part of efforts to crack down on visa violators, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will issue directives to ensure vocational schools in the capital that accept foreign students do not allow their charges to run astray.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2004

Crime victims may get key role in trials

The Justice Ministry is considering introducing legislation that would allow victims of crime to play a greater role in the trials of their accused offenders, ministry sources said Wednesday.
Rugby
Dec 2, 2004

Tokyo's rugby community honors former teammate

Rugby players haven't always enjoyed the best of reputations.
COMMENTARY
Dec 2, 2004

Risks to secular government

MANILA -- In the Cold War era, the global confrontation was basically ideological. Two radically different socio-political blueprints were pitted against each other: democracy and capitalism on one side, one-party-rule and communism on the other. The opponents, then, were two superpowers and their allies...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 1, 2004

Fun with a gentleman

Kevin Kline is every inch the professional. Unlike many other Hollywood notables he arrived on the dot for the press conference to promote "De-Lovely." He answered each question with succinct sincerity and was dressed in an immaculate suit very much like the ones he wore as Cole Porter (designed by Giorgio...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 1, 2004

Wanting a piece of the rebel

Aoi Kuruma Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Hiroshi Okuhara Running time: 90 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Plenty of Japanese directors are making films about the way the young live now, so many that I could probably fill this space...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 1, 2004

Liberate your mind and art

The conductor walks away. The crowd applauds. Beethoven's 5th? A moving rendition by the orchestra? Eric Satie? Closer, but wrong again. The performer is Ben Patterson and he's just completed George Maciunas' "Solo for Conductor." For this, he bent over to face the audience, placed his baton on the floor...
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2004

Prince Akishino regrets brother's remarks on Masako

Prince Akishino, who turned 39 on Tuesday, expressed regret that his elder brother, Crown Prince Naruhito, commented in public about the health of his wife without consulting Emperor Akihito.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2004

For visa violators, it pays to come clean

In June 2000, Mohammad Mizanur Rahman was deported from Japan for overstaying his visa. Shortly after he was forced back to his native Bangladesh, his Japanese girlfriend joined him and they married.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2004

A new dawn for Myanmar?

Many Myanmar watchers might have been surprised when they got news of the pending release of nearly 4,000 prisoners who had been inappropriately jailed by the notorious Military Intelligence (MI) wing of former Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt's regime.
EDITORIALS
Nov 28, 2004

Found in translation

I n the field of law, Japan certainly cannot yet be said to be sufficiently open vis-a-vis other countries. In order to improve this situation, a law-and-ordinance translation group set up within the government's Office for Promotion of Justice System Reform has unveiled a project to translate legislation...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 28, 2004

Kanye West

The term "old school" can be taken several ways on Kanye West's "The College Dropout," easily the overground hip-hop album of 2004. The once and future producer of Jay-Z, West obviously makes a lot of money so he doesn't have to convince anyone that his lack of higher education didn't hold him back....
Japan Times
Features
Nov 28, 2004

Revealing 'The Japanese Sensibility': Modernity

Who was this man who wrote, "When I die I forbid the erection of anything resembling a monument, and if erected I am vehemently opposed to any words being engraved into it, and if people must engrave words into it I absolutely despise when they gush on and on, because I'd rather that someone just rolled...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Nov 28, 2004

The power of one note

Power and imagination have been Kazumi Watanabe's mainstays for over 30 years. As a prodigy on electric guitar, his first release was in 1971 at the age of 18 and his ever-evolving guitar technique has served as the central pillar of near-annual releases. In the 1980s, his progressive and very muscular...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 27, 2004

Yumiko Tanaka

Twenty-five years ago, Yumiko Tanaka opened in Japan her Institute for Bharatanatyam. On Monday she and her students will dance in a silver jubilee evening performance at Musashino Geino Hall, Mitaka. Two of her students will dance in Nakano Geino Hall on Dec. 19. "Bharatanatyam is the great cultural...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 27, 2004

ARI teaches leadership skills via organic farming

What is the connection between Hoichi Endo, a former member of Japan's Credit Union (CU), based in Tsujido, Kanagawa Prefecture, and the Asian Rural Institute's group of students from developing countries learning leadership skills and organic farming in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture?
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2004

Once 'poor food,' cereals now healthy choice

Barn grass, millet, foxtail millet and other cereals, regarded as "poor food" at a time when people had little rice to eat, are becoming more popular with health-conscious women.
EDITORIALS
Nov 26, 2004

Lighten Iraq's debt load

I raq's future depends on the country finding its footing. The most important precondition is peace and stability. Free and fair elections, the foundation of a healthy democracy, are also vital. Ultimately, however, Iraqis must believe that they will have a better life. Without a functioning and growing...
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2004

NHK can skip correction, but not redress

Although it upheld a redress award against NHK for defamation, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a 58-year-old woman's claim against the broadcaster, reversing a lower court ruling that had ordered it to air a correction to a 1996 program that referred to her divorce.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?