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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.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2004

Consumers starting to take notice of Japanese wine

Despite a wide selection of imported wines available at stores nationwide, domestic wines are reportedly beginning to appear on connoisseurs' tables.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 25, 2004

Commissioner Stern stands firm in bid to restore image

NEW YORK -- Unlike David Stern, who's clever enough to sift through and digest the countless number of confrontations, machinations, nuances and interrogations relevant to the scariest NBA scene he confesses to have ever witnessed and impart a ground-breaking decision within 36 hours, my investigation...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 24, 2004

Lonely days in Fukuoka

The imminent sale of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks baseball team to the Softbank Internet company may yield great results down the road but, right now, the elimination of the "Daiei" name seems to have cast an atmosphere of sabishisa (loneliness) over the city and the entire northern Kyushu area.
COMMENTARY
Nov 22, 2004

Liberals should stand proud

LONDON -- U.S. President George W. Bush's favorite accusation in the election campaign is reported to have been that Sen. John Kerry was a "liberal." The president seems to have used the label as a term of abuse meaning a "leftwing" radical and a supporter of the appeasement of terrorists.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2004

Wife of GSDF sergeant found dead in her home

The wife of a Ground Self-Defense Force sergeant was found dead at their house in late September while he was stationed in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 21, 2004

Yoriko Ganeko

The incredible longevity of Okinawans results from the islanders' traditional diet, sociability, exercise and general stress-free living, but it might also be helped along by the island's lovely, passionate folk music. With strong dance beats, sinuous melody lines and earthy lyrics, Okinawa's music sounds...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 21, 2004

Jean Grae: "This Week"

Regardless of the content of their raps, the vast majority of MCs use the boast as their narrative mode, and Jean Grae is no exception. On the exquisitely tight slow jam, "Not Like Me," from her sophomore album, the NYC-based South African emigre counts off her unique qualities with such an abundance...
EDITORIALS
Nov 21, 2004

Leave it to the beavers

You have to admire the spirit of some beavers in Louisiana who were found last week to have woven thousands of dollars worth of stolen currency into a dam they were building out of the more usual boring sticks and brush. It was certainly a whole new twist on the idea of putting money into property.
Features / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2004

Lolitas' bard is sitting pretty

The morgue-like, air-conditioned lobby of Tokyo's Keio Plaza Hotel is the haunt of businessmen in crisp black suits who sip $10 coffees and nod along to conversations that never rise above a murmur. But the studied cool is broken when Novala Takemoto swishes in, drawing faces in his direction like sunflowers...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Nov 21, 2004

Toilet humor in the Tokyo underground

"Tell Franck he's an asshole," barks David Pallash down the phone to me. "And that he is just tooooo French."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 21, 2004

A boy detective of Old Edo

THE GHOST IN THE TOKAIDO INN, by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler. New York: Puffin Books, 2001, 214 pp., $6.99 (paper). Other books by same authors:
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2004

Keep the assistance flowing

Four weeks have passed since the Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake struck. The good news is that reconstruction is making progress. Schools in the disaster zone have resumed classes, the Kan-etsu Expressway has reopened to traffic, and the region's well-known sake breweries have started shipping again. The...
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2004

Woman, 77, must hang: top court

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld lower court rulings sentencing a 77-year-old woman to death for killing her husband and another woman for insurance money.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 20, 2004

Why Johnny can't read 'kanji'

Here's a quick communication survey of your typical long-term foreign resident of Japan, particularly one from the West.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 20, 2004

Kazuko Siazon

Kudan, the official residence of the Philippine ambassador to Japan, is said to be one of the most beautiful Philippine ambassadorial residences in the world. Kazuko Siazon certainly thought so when she first visited it in 1960. When she came to live in it in 1993, she faced a huge restoration project....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 20, 2004

Shiraishi, island of mists and trances

Shiraishi is an island of trances, a place where one is lured into long contemplative pauses. I can sit on top of the mountain and look out over the sea for hours, awed by the beauty of the Inland Sea. Like getting lost in your favorite song, or an entire CD, these are the moments when our mind is so...
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2004

Diet to get tougher on heinous crimes

The House of Representatives approved a set of bills Thursday that toughen the penalties for heinous crimes and extend fixed prison terms to as long as 30 years.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight