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EDITORIALS
Aug 12, 2004

Blind spots of inspection

The nuclear plant accident that occurred Monday in Mihama, Fukui Prefecture, is a shocking reminder that the nation's nuclear safety inspection system is flawed. Four maintenance workers in a building housing steam turbines were killed and seven others were injured, some critically, when high-temperature...
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2004

Spassky asks Bush to go easy on Fischer

Fugitive former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has an unlikely ally in his battle against U.S. authorities seeking his handover from Japan -- ex-rival Boris Spassky.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 11, 2004

Walking on the wild side

Walkabout Rating: * * * * * (out of 5) Director: Nicholas Roeg Running time: 100 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] The Story of the Weeping Camel Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni Running time:...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2004

Used airline, cop uniforms given new lease on life

An airline and several police departments are recycling employee uniforms -- but workers aren't getting hand-me-downs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 11, 2004

National treasures of Bizen-ware pots

The city and pottery style of Bizen hold a special place in my heart; in a sense, Bizen was my "first love" in the ceramic world. When I was first given a Bizen yunomi (tea cup) twenty years ago I had never held something so earthy and "alive" -- a vessel for use in daily life, to enhance drinking pleasure,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 11, 2004

UA: Fluid beauty

UA is not your average pop star. She arrives at an interview in the western Tokyo suburb that is her home on her bike. In a cut-off T-shirt and long, billowing peasant skirt, she looks like a hipster mama, and after the interview in this ordinary cafe, she's off to pick up her son from elementary school....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 9, 2004

Art's ancient moderns

Rimpa is usually defined as an artistic tradition and style begun by Towaraya Sotatsu (years of birth and death unknown) and Hon'ami Koetsu (1558-1637), who were at work during the Momoyama and early Edo periods from the late 16th century to the early 17th century.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 9, 2004

Ozawa show gives no straight answers

When the Mori Art Museum opened its doors almost a year ago, media attention naturally focused on its prime location atop the Roppongi Hills complex (with a dazzling panoramic view of Tokyo), the debut exhibition "Happiness," and the talented and affable British gallery director, David Elliott. Less...
Japan Times
Features
Aug 8, 2004

The art of seeing

Photographer Jun Akiyama is taking ostrich strides down a Tokyo sidewalk, snapping pictures on a flimsy-looking tourist camera. Click! A child's curious glance is frozen in grainy black-and-white. Click! Akiyama catches a moment of anxiety on an old woman's face.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 8, 2004

All of Japan between two covers

JAPAN ENCYCLOPEDIA, by Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002, 1102 pp., 48 illus., 14 maps, $59.95 (cloth). This large, beautiful and indispensable volume is a translation of "Le Japan: Dictionnaire et Civilisation," published in 1996, the year of the author's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 7, 2004

Eugenio Toussaint

In its straightforward Japanese transcription, "El Pez Dorado" uses the "kanji" characters for "fish" and "gold." "El Pez Dorado" is the name given to the most recently released CD of Eugenio Toussaint, a musician from Mexico. The CD includes piano pieces that have not been previously recorded, and which...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Aug 5, 2004

Woodland beauty there for all to sense

Just about the time when the wild wood irises burst into glorious purple around early July up here in Nagano Prefecture, high in the treetops there is a dancing, fluttering ballet of countless white-winged creatures.
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Aug 5, 2004

"The Silver Spoon of Solomon Snow," "Granny Torrelli Makes Soup"

"The Silver Spoon of Solomon Snow," Kaye Umansky, Puffin Books; 2004; 224 pp. "Picture it." With that short command to her readers, author Kaye Umansky opens her latest novel and dispatches you on a real joyride of an adventure. In short, here's what you're in for -- a comic tale of: Solomon "Solly"...
COMMENTARY
Aug 5, 2004

Sincerity is not good enough

LONDON -- A London weekly headed a recent issue with photos of U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair and with the caption "Sincere Deceivers?" Perhaps they were sincere in their belief that Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq was a threat to U.S. and British national interests,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 4, 2004

Telling some truth in black & white

Dirty Pretty Things Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Stephen Frears Running time: 97 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] I'm not one of those cranky post-Marxist social critics who believe that the movies, particularly the American brand, subtly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 4, 2004

Parental advisory: hormonal overdose highly probable

La Bande du Drugstore Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Francois Armanet Running time: 94 minutes Language: French Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Love is never having to say I love you, goes the tone of "La Bande du Drugstore," a love story in which the couple meet...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 4, 2004

Guggenheim's show harks back to modern times

Several years ago, Thomas Krens, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, approached Mori Building Co, Tokyo, about setting up a Guggenheim branch in Tokyo. The Guggenheim has recently opened centers in Bilbao, Berlin and Las Vegas. The idea was, in the end, rejected, but it did inspire...
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2004

Japan, U.S. may hold 'kampo' talks

Japan and the United States are considering holding talks in Tokyo around Aug. 20 on the privatization of the government-run "kampo" life insurance program, sources from the two governments said Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2004

Privatizing Japan Post could lead to profit hike

Splitting up and privatizing Japan Post into four independent units could increase profits by up to 900 billion yen a year, according to a recent estimate presented to the government's postal privatization preparatory office.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2004

Japan, U.S. may hold 'kampo' talks

Japan and the United States are considering holding talks in Tokyo around Aug. 20 on the privatization of the government-run "kampo" life insurance program, sources from the two governments said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2004

Princess afflicted by adjustment disorder

Crown Princess Masako is suffering an adjustment disorder, the Imperial Household Agency said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 31, 2004

Some don't like it hot

My idea of hell is to be trapped for eternity in a tiny room with two women with one-track minds. All they want to do is talk, and their sole topic is this:
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2004

Panel agrees with plan to strengthen Penal Code

A government advisory panel on Friday endorsed a plan by Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa to toughen criminal penalties to control the nation's rising crime rate.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2004

Supporters seek asylum for chess legend Fischer in Germany

Supporters of fugitive chess legend Bobby Fischer said Thursday in Tokyo that they are asking several nations, including Germany, to offer the American political asylum.

Longform

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