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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2003

Australia takes on role as sheriff of the South Seas

SYDNEY -- South Pacific island states, led by Australia and New Zealand, are gearing up for an historic intervention in the internal affairs of one their distressed members, Solomon Islands. An armed "invasion" should land within weeks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2003

Tokyo Star taking a different approach to banking

Enter one of Tokyo Star Bank's four new branches, and you are soon ushered into booths arranged for private consultations with customers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jul 10, 2003

"Big George and the Seventh Knight," "Bang on the Door Animals"

"Big George and the Seventh Knight," Eric Pringle, Bloomsbury; 2002; 200 pp.
COMMENTARY
Jul 9, 2003

Human rights under siege worldwide

LONDON -- Terrorism is a serious threat to our societies and way of life. We must give top priority to combating it, but if we ignore or undermine the protection of human rights in the process we shall endanger the principles of humanity for which we are purportedly fighting.
BUSINESS
Jul 9, 2003

Takenaka denies Tokio Marine was blackmailed

Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka denied Tuesday that a senior financial regulator tried to blackmail Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. into consolidating with Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2003

Web suicide sites have officials worried

The pattern has become eerily familiar. After forging a pact with strangers over the Internet, young people get together to carry out a carefully planned task -- suicide.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2003

Wartime killing contest trial starts

The daughter of an Imperial Japanese Army soldier sentenced to death by a military tribunal for engaging in a contest to kill Chinese soldiers in 1937 said during a defamation suit hearing Monday she and her family still suffer stigma because of the "accusations."
EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2003

A victory for Hong Kong's democrats

In a victory for democracy, the Hong Kong government has decided to postpone debate on antisubversion legislation that triggered the largest public protests in over a decade, alarmed human rights advocates worldwide and cracked the governing coalition in the special administrative region (SAR). The controversy...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2003

Kim Jong Il's sushi chef pens tell-all book

A Japanese chef who prepared sushi for North Korean leader Kim Jong Il for 13 years has recently published a book that claims to give a firsthand account of Kim's luxurious lifestyle.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 6, 2003

Buried treasure: the mysteries and majesty of Nara

NARA -- At the end of 2001, the Emperor made a comment that received relatively little attention in Japan but one that will, without a doubt, stand as one of the most significant statements of his reign. In speaking about Japan's often troubled relations with the Korean Peninsula, the Emperor noted that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 6, 2003

A last taste of Honey

It might be the right time for the 54 Nude Honeys, but it's the wrong place and they've decided to do something about it. In September, they're jumping on a plane and decamping to New York, where the American music-media have stepped into line with their British brethren and realized that the current...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 6, 2003

The rich visit the poor to teach us a lesson

The fate of the Japanese economy may still be up in the air, but one thing is certain: We are living in an age of reduced expectations. Regardless of what happens to the GDP and unemployment rates, the public does not believe that things can only get better.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 6, 2003

The linden city turns over a new leaf

LEIPZIG, Germany -- German cities, even the larger ones, are associated with -- among other things German -- linden trees. In addition to the memory of Frankfurt's linden-lined streets, I remember a joyous summer evening in the city a few years ago when I had supper out in the courtyard of a local restaurant,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 5, 2003

David Helfgott

In 1996, a movie portraying the true-life story of pianist David Helfgott became a box-office hit. Actor Geoffrey Rush, who played the part of David, won an Oscar for his sympathetic, moving and convincing performance. The annual book Video Movie Guide applauds his interpretation of "deeply troubled...
BUSINESS / Q&A
Jul 5, 2003

Interest-rate hikes: good news or bad?

Long-term interest rates surged this week. Is it good news or bad?
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2003

Sumatra islander tells court how aid project destroyed lives

A representative of residents of Indonesia's Sumatra Island who were forced off their property by the construction of a dam funded by Japanese aid told a Tokyo court Thursday how the project has devastated their lives.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 3, 2003

Who says all factories have to be eyesores?

Earl in 1995, a friend of mine, a journalist I first met back in the 1970s, asked me to have dinner and drinks with him in a cozy, noisy izakaya in Shinjuku. There, he introduced me to a very friendly, well-traveled man called Masayoshi Ushikubo, the executive manager of a company that made electrical...
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2003

Mori takes turn at insulting women

Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is in hot water over remarks he reportedly made last week insinuating that women who grow old without having children deserve no state aid.
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2003

Latest 'tankan' survey shows surprising rise in sentiment

Business sentiment at Japanese companies improved during the April-June period, a closely watched Bank of Japan survey showed Tuesday, surprising bears who had braced for a reality check on the markets.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 2, 2003

On a director's storyboard far, far away

Is there a person in the Western world -- or even globally, given Hollywood's cultural reach -- who is unaware of "Star Wars"? In a society increasingly described as amnesiac, in which pop culture seems to come with an expiry date, George Lucas' movie trilogy (now with two -- soon to be three -- "prequels")...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 2, 2003

Linda Thompson

Linda Thompson is living proof that it is more difficult to be wed to genius than it is to possess it. Her 10-year marriage to the flinty, cynical singer-guitarist Richard Thompson that ended in 1982 was by all accounts, including hers, a tumultuous affair that produced three children, at least four...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2003

Hong Kong strives to end SARS stigma

As the principal representative of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Tokyo, I am pleased to share the challenges and achievements of Hong Kong with our friends in Japan on the sixth anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 30, 2003

Extension of Stackhouse's contract bizarre

NEW YORK -- Who exactly were the Wizards bidding against when they awarded Jerry Stackhouse a two-year extension ($18 million) to piggyback the two years he could have escaped from before July 1?
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2003

Dangerous shock symptoms affect 10% of food allergy sufferers: poll

One in 10 people diagnosed with a sudden allergy to certain foods suffer life-threatening shock symptoms, according to a health ministry survey report made available over the weekend.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 30, 2003

An irrational space odyssey?

MOSCOW -- Of all the arms races humankind has been involved in, the one in space has been the most bizarre. If a person is interested in a case study of unintended consequences, one could hardly find a better subject. Scientific curiosity, imperial dreams, down-to-earth geopolitics, interests of commerce...
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2003

Six lies of Myanmar's junta

HONG KONG -- Myanmar's military junta has reacted to growing international disquiet over its current crackdown on the country's duly elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy by telling lies that only increase fears for her personal survival.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes