Search - life

 
 
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 6, 2003

Freaks that are something to quack about

In 1832 the young Charles Darwin embarked on one of the most epic journeys in the history of biology, if not of all science. As a naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle, Darwin saw things that challenged the prevailing view of how life arose. On returning to England five years later, he began work on what he...
COMMENTARY
Feb 5, 2003

New life for de Gaulle's old dream

PARIS -- France and Germany have solemnly celebrated the 40th anniversary of the so-called Elysee Treaty, signed by French President Charles de Gaulle and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer on Jan. 22, 1963. Last month governments and parliaments in both Paris and Berlin held joint meetings, as French...
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2003

No welcome mat for North Korea escapees

On a rainy night in fall 1996, a Japan-born tractor driver in North Korea dived into the fast and muddy current of the Yalu River on the border with China in a last-ditch attempt to escape the hunger and poverty that had plagued his family for decades.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2003

Slip into Wonderland in a museum of marvels

The Koishikawa Annex of Tokyo University Museum is currently hosting an eye-catching exhibition, "Microcosmographia: Mark Dion's Chamber of Curiosities." The brainchild of New York-based contemporary artist Mark Dion, the show runs until March 2.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2003

Video shorts become cafe fare

OSAKA -- The 20-odd people sipping coffee and tea in a shop in Chuo Ward here haven't come in just for the beverages. They also want to see free short videos made primarily by amateur filmmakers such as high school students and citizens' groups.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 4, 2003

Kitting out the big man in Japan

If this writer had to pick a Tom Hanks film to depict his three-and-a-half decades of life in this country, it would be a tossup between "Forrest Gump" and "Big."
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2003

Beware the chair

Meanwhile, in another corner of the far-flung Internet universe, there was a portent of a different kind last week. A dismal portent this time, although not one that is likely to bother the fit climbers dropping into the Mount Everest cybercafe to send a few e-mails. According to a British science magazine,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 2, 2003

How the 'modern' code was cracked

The headless body of a woman in her 50s was laid on a straw mat inside a hut at Kotsukahara in Edo's Senju area. Born in Kyoto and nicknamed "Aochababa," sketchy court records indicate the woman had been convicted of killing her adopted children. She had been executed by beheading that very morning,...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 2, 2003

Seles, Davenport reach final

After a dozen of unforced errors, several racket flicks and countless mumblings to herself, Lindsay Davenport could only stare down at her feet as the Toray Pan Pacific Open semifinals came to an end on Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2003

How long must the guilty wait to hang?

Sentenced to death for killing a farmer to claim an insurance payout in 1963, Tsuneki Tomiyama played his last card in early December when he and his support group filed a clemency plea.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Bond buying spree expected to continue

The recent buying spree of Japanese government bonds that has pushed the key long-term interest rate to a record low will continue for at least several months, as an end to the deflationary trend is nowhere in sight, economists and analysts say.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 1, 2003

Need a guide to Japan's flea markets? Here it is

Rather, here he is: Theodore Manning, whose book "Flea Markets of Japan: A Pocket Guide for Antique Buyers" was published last month. He no longer lives here, having returned last year to America after a 10-year stretch, so I call him in his new home base of Chicago and we talk by phone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Feb 1, 2003

Crystal Skulls: 'hatsumode' for the groove generation; Yokosuka joins the party

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- We plowed our way into the mass of humanity packing the Makuhari Messe event hall moments after the cheers rose to ring in the new year.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 1, 2003

Would you send a poor fly to the U.S.?

I walked into the dentist office, and sitting at the table was "Dude." Dude is a 22-year-old dental technician who wears black concert T-shirts under his lab coat. He also wears an earring and a black leather bracelet with silver studs. I know Dude because he dropped out of my "Dental English" class...
Japan Times
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Feb 1, 2003

Hiroshima's long-neglected cuisine brought to the fore at Shinjuku store

Hiroshima Prefecture's natural beauty and abundance of marine life are almost always upstaged by the tragedy that befell its capital in 1945.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Sogo announces plan to join Seibu under a holding firm

Sogo Co. President Shigeaki Wada announced Friday that the department store chain will merge its operations with those of Seibu Department Ltd., its bankruptcy-rehabilitation sponsor suddenly experiencing its own difficulties.
COMMENTARY
Jan 31, 2003

War drums making al-Qaeda restless

ISLAMABAD -- Across the Mideast, the fact of life remains that violence breeds more violence. Thus the warning by Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah that al-Qaeda terrorists may stage retaliatory attacks if the United States leads a war against Iraq cannot be ignored. Speaking on the sidelines...
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2003

Outstanding JGBs forecast to hit 929.9 trillion yen

The outstanding balance of government bonds by March 31, 2017, the end of fiscal 2016, will amount to 929.9 trillion yen if deflation continues and economic growth remains sluggish through the end of fiscal 2006, according to a Finance Ministry estimate released Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

Newspapers and plays feature in report on polishing Japanese

A panel of experts advising the education minister on use of Japanese has issued an interim report on how to improve command of the language among elementary and junior high school students.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2003

Shinsei experience: lattes in the lobby, free ATM transactions

A typical Japanese bank looks a bit like the dowdy, paper-shuffling office of a shoddily run company. There are plenty of bowing clerks. But don't count on conveniences like 24-hour ATMs.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2003

China hands over Japanese refugee

A Japanese woman who had been in Chinese custody for two weeks after fleeing North Korea in November arrived in Japan shortly before noon Wednesday, her first time home in 44 years.
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2003

Making waves over foreign policy 'realism'

HONOLULU -- One of the advantages of living in Hawaii is that you get to spend weekends at the beach. I spend mine with the Grizzled Old Vet, a longtime observer of East Asia who has spent a lifetime straddling academia and the minefields that litter the Beltway. Between waves, the Gov (as I will call...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 30, 2003

Asia's last emperors of its wetland wilds

CHENGDU, China -- Though surprisingly not Japan's national bird, which oddly is the pheasant, the red-crowned crane, also known as the Japanese crane, has long been close to the Japanese heart. In China, too, it occupies a special place, along with the pine and turtle, as a symbol of luck and longevity,...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2003

Death penalty sought for major Aum figure

Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded the death sentence for Tomomasa Nakagawa, a former Aum Shinrikyo senior member accused of involvement in numerous crimes, including the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 29, 2003

Mother Teresa: a shining example for all of humanity

MADRAS, India -- In a time of harrowing sectarian strife, the Vatican has shown that there is an ocean of compassion and tolerance in the highest form of faith.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2003

Plutonium extracted from spent fuel is 206 kg short

A tally of plutonium extracted at a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, since it began operating has come up 206 kg short, the government said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 28, 2003

Turning Japanese no simple process

Japan's aging society and low birthrate demand dramatic measures, some say.

Longform

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