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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 15, 2002

On the trail of a killer in ancient Kyoto

RASHOMON GATE, by I.J. Parker. St. Martin's Minotaur: New York, 2002, 336 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Scholars who pen historical mystery fiction must tread a fine line between being faithful to the materials they research and creating stories and characters that will appeal to contemporary readers. It's by...
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Dec 15, 2002

Ann Lewis in driver's seat with new single

What happens to idols after their popularity has waned?
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Dec 15, 2002

What's Uwajima so bullish about?

Long before you step into the firszt gift shop peddling the usual range of touristic fripperies, you are in no doubt about how serious Uwajima is on the subject of bulls. In fact, the first thing you see as you get out of the station is a great bronze statue of a bull, standing implacably before the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Dec 15, 2002

Close encounter with a UFO navigator

By the time you read this, Raphael Sebbag will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of his arrival in Japan. He will not only be able to reflect on how much he's seen change in that time, but he will also be able to take responsibility for having engineered some of those changes as a DJ in Tokyo's club...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 15, 2002

On the margins of legend

Like many other legends, the tale of the 47 ronin has behind its bare historical facts several fascinating anecdotes. Here are some of the lesser-known aspects surrounding Japan's classic vendetta.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 11, 2002

International ideas take shape in Lebanon

Though the word "symposium" comes from Plato's ideal of a drinking party held to facilitate philosophical discussion, most of us are familiar with its modern usage, meaning a conference or meeting. Few people, however, know about the sculpture symposium movement, started by Karl Prantl in Austria in...
COMMENTARY
Dec 8, 2002

Jiang put in a position to kill the party

HONG KONG -- Chinese President Jiang Zemin, far from stepping down as a result of giving up his post as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, appears to have bolstered his position vis-a-vis his successor as party leader, Hu Jintao.
COMMUNITY
Dec 8, 2002

Mothers under pressure

Recently much media attention has been paid to the rise in depression and suicide among middle-aged men threatened by layoffs. The Yomiuri Weekly, however, reports that stress-related illness is actually more prevalent among housewives (Nov. 24).
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 8, 2002

Soaring lineup to peak your curiosity as well as appetite

On Monday at 8 p.m., TV Asahi presents the fourth special in its ongoing documentary series about the history of human endeavor with "The Legend of Human Flight."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 8, 2002

On the night side of life

The last trains have long gone and the stations are shuttered.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 8, 2002

There's cows in them there hills

Even today, most of the "milk" in Japan is soymilk, eaten as tofu. The lactic sort, from cows, may be steadily growing in popularity, but consumption per person is still only around a liter a week, according to government data issued last year.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 8, 2002

Expat writers shoot from the lip

FACES IN THE CROWDS: A Tokyo International Anthology, edited by Hillel Wright. Printed Matter Press: Tokyo, 2002, 254 pp., 2 yen,500/$25 (cloth) "Faces in the Crowds" is a hyperkinetic grab bag that brings work by a cross section of Tokyo's expat writers, and Japanese writers working in English, together...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 8, 2002

Capital transports of restricted delight

It's got the party places. It's got the party people. Now if only someone could come up with a way to get the people to the places, Tokyo could truly call itself a 24-hour city.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 8, 2002

Brief encounters in the darkness

It stirs to life when the high-rise office lights click off floor by floor, when bleary-eyed men in suits drift away to their homes in the suburbs and beyond. It simmers with activity even as the most garrulous crows snooze beneath the stars.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 6, 2002

Newcastle's Robson set for dramatic return to Nou Camp

LONDON -- Dreams, apparently, do come true.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 5, 2002

Carping over muddy ponds

Me and Mr. Matsuki, we're developers. There -- I've said it. We actually alter habitat. We haven't got around to making golf courses yet, but about 10 years ago, when I bought another section of land to add to what is now the Nagano prefectural Afan Woodland Trust, there was a large section of it that...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 5, 2002

GM crops get good press? Surely not

Everyone from religious scholars to British lords seems to have an opinion on genetically modified foods -- whether it is that they are "Frankensteinian" or that they are creations revealing the promise of biotechnology in the service of humanity.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Dec 5, 2002

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's ... dull

"Superman: Shadow of Apokolips," a new game from Atari for PlayStation2, is an utterly forgettable 3-D adventure game in which Metropolis' man of steel vanquishes familiar foes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 4, 2002

The world out there

It is a few minutes before rehearsal.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 4, 2002

Aphex Twin: "Out From Out Where"

Techno music is never short on energy, but with artists now letting their laptop algorithms call the shots, electronica often comes up dreadfully short on actual human emotion. Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) best displays this embrace of the cold, clinical side of the sampler. Most of his ambient...
COMMUNITY
Dec 3, 2002

Lighting up the lives of the world's refugee kids

Refugees International Japan will hold the opening ceremony for its annual "Light up the Life of a Refugee Child" campaign on Thursday, Dec. 5, from 12:00-12:45 p.m. The campaign will continue daily from 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. until Wednesday, Dec. 11th (excluding Sunday).
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2002

Deserter would likely face court-martial

HONOLULU -- Amid the swirl of diplomatic maneuvering among the United States, Japan, South Korea and North Korea stands the strange case of Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins, who is accused of having deserted from the U.S. Army in South Korea in 1965 to defect to North Korea.
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2002

Essential dangling modifiers

Yuko, 38, an office worker, has keitai straps appropriate for each season -- furry ones for winter and beaded ones for summer. When the temperature changes, she adds another to her collection.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2002

New ways to kei-mmunicate

"The day is coming when telegraph wires will be laid on to houses just like water or gas -- and friends will converse with each other without leaving home."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2002

Tapping into the future of wireless communication

In late 2001, domestic heavyweight NTT DoCoMo, flying high on the popularity of its i-mode mobile Web service, launched the world's first ultrahigh-speed, "third-generation" wireless network.
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Nov 30, 2002

Literature museum goes into cyberspace

KOBE -- The opening earlier this month of a new museum of literature in Hyogo Prefecture was marked by the usual ceremonial pomp.
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2002

A new law to help the abductees

The government is set to provide financial and other support for Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea and their family members who return to Japan. On Thursday the Lower House unanimously passed a special bill for this purpose, which is due to clear the Upper House next week and take effect Jan....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 30, 2002

Celebrating 'washi' in tune with Kyoto winters

Traditional farmhouses amid wintry landscapes. Schoolchildren under brightly colored umbrellas cross snow-covered paddy fields. Footprints mark an otherwise pristine street scene after a snowfall. Then, as if to remind us that summer will soon be coming round again, a woman bearing a child on her back...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Nov 30, 2002

The funkier side of Mike Maguire; new Antidote release; Domino at Fire

Somewhere standing off to the side of all the people who have claimed titles in electronic music -- the various kings, queens, godfathers and godmothers -- is Mike Maguire, marking his own beat, seemingly oblivious to the world.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji