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Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Sep 14, 2002

Romantic-era painter's works bring old-fashioned district of Tokyo to life

For anyone who enjoys the sight of old-fashioned Japanese houses and the rich culture that flourished in the early 1900s, the Nezu residential district of central Tokyo is a wonderful place for a stroll.
COMMENTARY
Sep 14, 2002

It's folly for U.S. to go it alone

LONDON -- "Go it alone" is clearly the prevailing mood in Washington. Officials and commentators alike argue that with the United States' overwhelming military might and Europe's alleged weakness, the world must be set right by unilateral American action, and the international community can either like...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 14, 2002

Silver, socks make Afghan refugees independent

Shahnaz Akhtar arrived in Tokyo from Pakistan on Sept. 3, a guest of Global Village's Fair Trade Co. in Jiyugaoka, which distributes and sells leather and silver work and embroidered, woven and knitted goods crafted by Afghan refugees under her guidance. The purpose in being here? "To gather information...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2002

Former Yakult executive sentenced to seven years

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday sentenced a former vice president of Yakult Honsha Co. to seven years in prison and fined him 60 million yen for engaging in illicit transactions of "Princeton bonds" over the past decade.
COMMENTARY
Sep 13, 2002

Koizumi gambles for results

I'm not sure whether to be cautiously optimistic or pessimistic about Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to North Korea next Tuesday, but either way, "caution" is the watchword.
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Sep 13, 2002

"Artemis Fowl," "Egg Drop"

"Artemis Fowl," Eoin Colfer, Puffin Books; 2002; 282 pp. "Stay back, human. You don't know what you are dealing with."
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2002

Disabled writer Ototake OK'd to drive

The 26-year-old author of a best-selling book about life without normal limbs has acquired a driver's license.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2002

Fewer support traditional gender roles

Forty-seven percent of Japanese back the traditional roles of men as breadwinners and women as housewives, down 11 percentage points from five years ago, the Cabinet Office said in a survey on gender equality.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 8, 2002

A rose by any other name

One of life's great pleasures is drinking a wine that is exactly right for that particular moment. As summer slowly winds to a close, many of us are in pursuit of one last weekend picnic or open-air meal on the balcony. Chilled soups, chicken, pasta and salads are naturals, but what to drink? Although...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 8, 2002

Judicial biases shape the American way

NEW YORK -- The first time I knew that Japan's Supreme Court was not really supreme but just another political arm of the state was when it ruled on the Sunagawa Incident. In December 1959, it reversed the Tokyo District Court's ruling that the Japan-U.S. Mutual Security Treaty was unconstitutional....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 8, 2002

A woman's life behind the wheel

Taxi driver Yoko Yamaoka finished working at 5 this morning. Tomorrow she will get up at 5 in the morning and start the day's shift at 8. She usually works on a rotation of three days on and two days off.
COMMUNITY
Sep 8, 2002

Hey Taxi!

An arm stuck out from the sidewalk and Hideaki pulled up his cab, let the customer in . . . and immediately sensed trouble.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Sep 8, 2002

Tataki : a tasty starter created in a flash

After the hors d'oeuvre course is served, the first dish presented in a traditional Japanese meal is most often a course of raw fish or other meat. The general term for this course is o-tsukuri. The root of the word, tsukuru, means to make, create or — if you read into the meaning — to arrange. ...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 8, 2002

Across continents by cab

For most people, all it takes to get from Tokyo to London these days is an air ticket and a 12-hour flight. But for taxi drivers Takemasa Irie and his son, Takeshige, the journey was much longer and far more grueling, and jet lag was nowhere on their long list of concerns. They were going to drive all...
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2002

Postal panel compiles final report

An advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday compiled a final report featuring three plans for the future privatization of the nation's postal services.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2002

Koyama gets two years for taking KSD bribes

The Tokyo District Court sentenced former lawmaker Takao Koyama to a 22-month prison term Friday for taking bribes from KSD, an organization that provides industrial accident insurance to small businesses.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2002

Diva 'Hikki' ties knot with video director

Pop star Hikaru Utada, known for hit albums such as "First Love," on Friday married her video director, Kazuaki Kiriya, by registering at a government office, her Japanese record label Toshiba-EMI Ltd. announced.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 7, 2002

Mute appreciation by home stay girls

We went to Paris for a couple of hours, ate brunch in Venice, then did some shopping in Luxor. When I looked at my watch, I realized we were going to have to walk fast to make it back to New York on time to check out of our hotel. It wasn't as far as you'd think, though: all of this was on the strip...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 6, 2002

Pro bowler Bohn masters the mind game

YOKOHAMA -- Parker Bohn III thinks, throws, reacts and thinks again. It's the same routine over and over. The 17-year pro bowler says 50 percent of the game starts and ends in his head.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 6, 2002

New transfer rule won't help rumor mill

LONDON -- The FIFA-imposed transfer window, which means Premiership clubs will not be able to sign any new players until Jan. 1, has brought different reactions from various parties.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
Sep 6, 2002

Demographic shift prompts toy makers to reach out to adults

Faced with an ever declining number of children, Japan's toy makers have started courting their parents, alluring them with frothy beer dispensers and matchbox luxury sedans.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2002

Koizumi may invite Kim to visit Japan

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may invite North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to Japan when he visits Pyongyang on Sept. 17, a top government spokesman said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 5, 2002

On the trail of semi and shochu

I don't drink sake any more. It's just about the only alcoholic drink that gives me hangovers. Horrible ones. However, shochu I love, and where better to drink it than at a yatai in Fukuoka?
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 5, 2002

Divorce issues, cheap traveling and getting ADSL

Divorce issues Dear Lifelines, My wife and I have been separated for three years. I do not see any hope for our marriage and feel we need to get a divorce. I have two children. What should I do? -- Tony in Chiba
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 5, 2002

Soon we could all be Spiderman

Picture the scene: Athens, 350 B.C., and Aristotle is reclining in his chair in Plato's Academy. Leaning back to scratch his unruly beard, Aristotle notices a large pink-spotted gecko on the marble ceiling above him. The gecko scampers away faster than 1 meter per second, leaving Aristotle wondering...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Sep 5, 2002

Blinx gives Xbox style

Nintendo is all about platform games. Since Mario, Luigi, Banjo-Kazooie, and Donkey Kong specialize in platform adventures, GameCube owners have plenty of this ever-popular genre.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2002

No fear of flying

"There's no such thing as improvisation," the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia once said. "There's only composition. Only you do it quickly; you're composing on the spot."
CULTURE / Art
Sep 4, 2002

Designed to dazzle: a lacquerware celebration

The quintessential Japanese aesthetic is that of wabi sabi, a beauty associated with things that are simple, rustic, unpolished or even plain rundown. It is perhaps surprising, then, that this aesthetic is so little in evidence at an extensive exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum of one of Japan's...
COMMENTARY
Sep 4, 2002

Asian stereotypes die hard in U.S. national psyche

LOS ANGELES -- One of the best reading experiences in the United States this summer is the thriller "Absolute Rage," certainly a rage among applauding reviewers from Publishers Weekly to the Los Angeles Times. The 14th in a series of crime thrillers, it tells a well-informed tale about America's brutal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 4, 2002

Everlasting beauty left by everyday lives

Two thousand years from now, what will archaeologists unearth from the ruins of our civilization? Cars? Rice cookers? For sure, examples of "technology" so outdated as to provoke incredulity. The U.S. government believes that future humans -- or perhaps extraterrestrial excavators -- will uncover still-toxic...

Longform

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