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COMMUNITY
Apr 13, 2004

Rappers relish the opportunity to express individuality

Japanese-born, but with roots in Korea, MCs Jewong, 20, and Liyoon, 22, of rap duo KP, have caused a stir in the booming Japanese hip-hop industry with music and a message drawn from their experiences as members of the Korean community in Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2004

52% of young adults uninterested in science, survey shows

More than half of Japanese between the ages of 18 and 29 are not interested in science, and the percentage is growing despite an increased exposure to information technology products, according to a government poll.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 11, 2004

Religion of the East through the eyes of the West

THE BUDDHA AND THE SAHIBS: The Men Who Discovered India's Lost Religion, by Charles Allen. John Murray, 2003, 322 pp., £8.99 (paper). The story begins with a botanist. At the end of the 18th century, a Scottish doctor named Francis Buchanan was employed to carry out surveys of Burma and Nepal, neither...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 11, 2004

Chosuke Ikariya: the professional amateur

In his autobiography, Chosuke Ikariya, who died two weeks ago at the age of 72, mentions that when he won a Japan Academy Award in 1999 for his performance in "Odoru Daisosasen (Bayside Shakedown)" he felt guilty because he had never taken acting that seriously. It sounds like the requisite modesty of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 11, 2004

The struggle to find a collective identity

JAPAN UNBOUND: A Volatile Nation's Quest for Pride and Purpose, by John Nathan. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2004, 271 pp., $25 (cloth). In this engaging book, largely based on extensive interviews, John Nathan probes the pathologies, contradictions and search for identity in contemporary Japan. He ranges...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 11, 2004

NHK's "Sonotoki Rekishi ha Ugoita" and more

Zenigata Heiji is an enduring fictional character in Japanese popular culture. Many of Japan's top leading men have portrayed him in dozens of movies and TV series.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 11, 2004

India girds for world's biggest tamasha

Between April 20 and May 10, staggered over five rounds, Indians will vote in the 14th general election since inde- pendence in 1947. When Florida caused such a fuss in the last U.S. presidential election four years ago, Indians were bemused and amused in equal measure. They suggested that Americans...
Japan Times
Features
Apr 11, 2004

Women in noh

Backstage at a noh theater in downtown Tokyo, the play was about to begin.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 11, 2004

On a High with Teens

Friday, March 19: There's an explosion of noise and color in the heart of the Ten-jin district in Fukuoka City and the locals don't know what has hit them.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2004

Koizumi says no to hostage-takers

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi struck a defiant pose Friday over the Japanese hostage crisis in Iraq, stating he would not cave in to terrorists' demands that the Self-Defense Forces troops be withdrawn from the country.
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2004

BOJ aims to stabilize bond market

The Bank of Japan Policy Board on Friday left its monetary policy unchanged for the month and decided to introduce by the end of May a measure to stabilize the government bond market.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 10, 2004

Alice Harrington

All her life, Alice Harrington has been used to caring for others. She said: "I grew up in a small farming community in South Dakota, where neighbors helped each other. My parents cared for my father's Danish immigrant parents, an elderly aunt and several elderly men on welfare. Our home was open to...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 9, 2004

Chelsea's performance makes Abramovich look foolish

LONDON -- There was a wonderful cameo of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich captured on television after Wayne Bridge scored the winner at Arsenal to send the Blues into the Champions League semifinals.
BUSINESS
Apr 9, 2004

Japan Post let billions in taxes slide

Japan Post said Thursday it and its predecessor failed to collect 15.16 billion yen in withholding tax on postal savings interest in the three years through fiscal 2003 by illicitly applying its tax-exempt small savings system for the elderly and disabled to noneligible customers.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2004

Fujitsu files suit against Samsung

Fujitsu Ltd. said Wednesday it has sued subsidiaries of Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea in Japanese and U.S. courts for infringing on its patents for plasma display panels.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 8, 2004

What's love gotta do with it?

This column is often concerned with the evolution of sexual behavior and sexual anatomy, but instead of attributing everything to sex, for once let's accept a view like that of Bertrand Russell.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2004

Ex-cancer patients left in the dark, worry about recurrence

Most former cancer patients fear the often fatal disease could return, and many fret over the inadequate explanation they get from their doctors, a recent health ministry survey found.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Apr 7, 2004

Mario A -- a 'Japanese artist' who provokes admiration

"This is Not a Pipe," the title of Rene Magritte's 1926 painting of a pipe, succinctly illustrates a paradox in perception. On Magritte's canvas is a representation of a pipe, not an actual pipe, and so the title is perfectly valid. But how tempting to scoff at this, to regard Magritte as mischievous,...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 6, 2004

Otaku proud of it

I wouldn't be offended if someone called me an otaku," says Koichi Nakayasu, ". . . because I am."
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2004

Angry French voters hit back

PARIS -- An old French proverb says "only the stupid never change their mind." In that case, the French certainly aren't dumb. In the first round of last April's presidential election, Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin got only 16 percent of the vote. Extreme rightist Jean-Marie Le Pen won more...
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Ishihara airs sea, port security report

Nobuteru Ishihara, minister of land, infrastructure and transport, presented a white paper Friday to the Cabinet that emphasizes crime prevention and counterterrorism in Japanese territorial waters and ports of entry.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Crackdown has publishers running scared

Yasunori Okadome last month suspended publication of his profitable monthly gossip magazine Uwasa-no-shinso (The Truth Behind Rumors), due to fears that a lawsuit could put him out of business for good.
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2004

Almost 1 million graduates start work

Around 948,000 new graduates from colleges and other schools entered Japan's workforce Thursday, with companies and government agencies nationwide holding initiation ceremonies.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2004

Temporary magazine sales ban threatens freedom of expression

The Tokyo District Court's temporary injunction banning the sale of the weekly Shukan Bunshun over an article about the private life of a Diet lawmaker's daughter triggered debate over the issue of privacy vs. freedom of expression.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 1, 2004

Matsui rips homer as Yanks win

Now that's more like it. A day after dropping the season opener to A.L. East doormat Tampa Bay, Hideki Matsui and the Bronx Bombers came out with all guns blazing, bashing out 11 hits and four homers as the New York Yankees demolished the Devil Rays 12-1 Wednesday night at Tokyo Dome.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 1, 2004

Water demon

* Japanese name: Kappa * Scientific name:Suijin kappensis * Description: Some sources claim that kappa are primates, but in fact they are the only known examples of an order of primitive mammals related to the duck-billed platypus. Remarkably for a mammal, kappas are bipedal. They have a curved duck's...

Longform

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