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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 6, 2003

James E. Hoare

LONDON --When diplomat Dr. James E. Hoare was head of post at the British Embassy in the DPRK, he often went to the airport. Speaking impressive Korean -- "but I am not a linguist," he protested -- he was on hand to help welcome visitors to North Korea.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 5, 2003

Rise of new Roman empire truly amazing

LONDON -- There are only 86 more non-shopping days until the transfer window opens again on Jan. 1. You can almost imagine Roman Abramovich counting the days, like a prisoner awaiting release from jail.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2003

Miyake evacuees sold short by government

Having spent three years away from their homes, many Miyake Island residents forced to evacuate due to volcanic eruptions in 2000 are suffering amid a lack of financial support from the government.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 5, 2003

The little town with a big name

You've hauled your bags off the conveyor belt onto the cart, you've skulked through Customs and you're staring blankly at an electronic board, trying to fathom which Limousine Bus is going where. You've heard that there is another Narita apart from this one dedicated to air travel, but somehow you've...
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2003

Death row inmate who sought retrial dies

An 86-year-old death row inmate who had been appealing for a retrial for decades died early Wednesday at the Tokyo Detention House, officials said.
EDITORIALS
Sep 3, 2003

Deteriorating job environment

The unemployment rate in Japan remains at a disturbingly high level of more than 5 percent, although the overall economy shows some signs of recovery. Particularly hard hit are workers in their 40s and 50s, who continue to bear the brunt of corporate restructuring. Once out of work, those who have passed...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 3, 2003

POLA star shines bright in Hakone

The POLA Museum of Art is celebrating its first anniversary, and its excellent exhibition -- "Paris, City of Artists" -- capitalizes on the museum's fine standing collection, proving just what an asset the POLA is to the the hot-spring resort area of Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 3, 2003

Abdul Tee-Jay and Palm Wine A-Go-Go

Sierra Leone might be most closely associated with blood diamonds and gruesome images of civil war, but it is also the home of palm wine music, a happy, bubbling style of guitar picking. Palm wine music, or maringa, as it's known inside the country, combines calypso with local melodies and rhythms and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 3, 2003

World domination: Let's do it again

Many a country has enjoyed its time in the sun -- a period of dominance when the world (often quite literally) seemed to be at its rulers' feet. It's a difficult trick to repeat, though. Italy's Renaissance, glorious though it was, never recaptured the heyday of the Roman Empire, and Mussolini's attempts...
JAPAN / AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS
Sep 3, 2003

Was 'reform without sanctuaries' an empty pledge?

When Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took office in April 2001, he told the public that pain was a necessary evil in the process of rehabilitating the corporate sector and achieving financial stability.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / A GAIJIN'S TALE
Sep 2, 2003

Charisma Man's revenge

When I came to Japan, after a dateless college life, I was very popular with the ladies in my town, regularly going on "group dates" of just me, and 3-4 young women.
COMMENTARY
Aug 31, 2003

France's long, hot summer

PARIS -- Fifty-three thousand deaths in August against 40,000 the same month in 2002: This has every chance of being the minimum toll of the unprecedented heat wave France has known this summer, with daytime peaks of more than 40 degrees Celsius vs. a seasonal norm of 27 degrees.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Aug 31, 2003

Buffalo Daughter's deeper grooves

It's usually not a good idea to go into the recording studio without having some idea of what you're going to record. Most artists have a demo or a written score to work from; some even have full-fledged arrangements down on paper before they start recording.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 30, 2003

Scones, fresh lemon curd and cream teas, anyone?

Glen Taylor is on a mission. He wants to help dispel the notion that English food is terrible. "Forget any negative image. I'm out to prove it's easy to make, tastes terrific and is very healthy."
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2003

Aussies discover cost of being Big Brother

SYDNEY -- No good deed goes unpunished, says the cynic. And that's the way it's looking for Australia's efforts to bring peace and stability to the South Pacific.
COMMENTARY
Aug 28, 2003

Brinkmanship in Beijing

HONOLULU -- "Surrender means death!" This pretty much sums up North Korea's opening position at the six-nation talks in Beijing this week. U.S. insistence that North Korea dismantle its nuclear program "fully, verifiably, and irreversibly" in advance of dialogue (or rewards) "is little short of demanding...
COMMENTARY
Aug 28, 2003

Asia needs export controls to keep terrorist forces at bay

SINGAPORE -- The recent bomb blast at the J.W. Marriott hotel in downtown Jakarta is only the most recent reminder of the ruthless cruelty of international terrorism. The topic dominates every discussion of Asian security. Those talks have become increasingly sharp in the face of a rising death toll...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 28, 2003

Aging can be a laugh

A teenager is being interviewed for a part-time job.
BUSINESS
Aug 28, 2003

Mitsui unit to become part of IRCJ

Mitsui Mining Co. will be granted debt waivers of 170 billion yen and will become a unit of the governmental Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan, sources said Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 28, 2003

The answer is blowing in the wind

Let me be honest from the outset: I'm a serious fan of wind power, and I'd love to see Japan become a world leader in wind-power generation. I'll admit, too, that my reasons are partly selfish.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 27, 2003

Face to face with history's Greatest

Histor is wont to bestow epithets on its more colorful characters, from the vertically challenged King Pepin the Short (714?-768), father of Charlemagne, to Ethelred the Unready, who ruled England with singular incompetence from 978 to 1016. Few, however, have so richly deserved their title as Alexander...
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2003

TSE planning online voting system

The Tokyo Stock Exchange will create an online system that will allow domestic and overseas investors to exercise their voting rights in Japanese companies, exchange officials said Monday.
SUMO
Aug 26, 2003

Kaio keeps top spot on east ozeki roost

Kaio, winner of the Nagoya tournament, maintains the top east ozeki position for the second straight time, while yokozuna Asashoryu keeps the top east slot for the third tournament in the Japan Sumo Association's rankings for the upcoming Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament released Monday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Aug 25, 2003

Humanity takes a bite out of Mother Earth

SUNSET BEACH, North Carolina -- Sunset Beach is a summer resort town that appears to have achieved its full-blown status only about a dozen years or so ago, just about the time we started spending our two-week vacation in the beach house of our poet friend Grace Gibson. Photos taken when she built the...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Aug 25, 2003

What has your political party done for you lately?

The Nippon Keidanren is working on a set of guidelines aimed at encouraging member companies to donate to political parties and evaluate their policies. I would like to provide some background on the objectives of this ongoing effort.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 24, 2003

Voices from the past help explain the present

SERVING OUR COUNTRY: Japanese American Women in the Military during World War II, by Brenda L. Moore. Rutgers University Press, 2003, $60 (cloth), $22 (paper). Building on her previous studies of racial issues, gender issues and military sociology, Brenda L. Moore has analyzed and documented an unusual...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 24, 2003

Samurais are in a league of their own

With the launch of the Top League (the new professional league for rugby union in Japan) just three weeks away and the World Cup due to start on Oct. 10, it is easy to forget that there are in fact two codes of rugby.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan