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JAPAN
Nov 30, 2001

State seeks 10-year sentence in Matsuo embezzlement trial

Prosecutors demanded a 10-year prison sentence Thursday for fired Foreign Ministry official Katsutoshi Matsuo, who stands accused of embezzling 500 million yen from the Cabinet Secretariat's discretionary funds from 1997 to 1999.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2001

Lee Teng-hui on a mission to save his vision of Taiwan

NEW YORK -- Taiwan will hold an election Saturday to choose members of the national Parliament, mayors and county magistrates. The outcome will have a lasting impact on Taiwan's future -- in particular on its relationship with China.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2001

Four war-displaced women to sue state

Four Japanese women left in China by their families during World War II plan to sue the Japanese government on Dec. 7 for 80 million yen for decades of failing to help their repatriation, sources familiar with the case said Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 29, 2001

Deafness givin' them good vibrations

The Italians got it right about some of the important things in life, like olive oil and coffee. But they got it right about something else, too, something that brain researchers have only just realized. The Italian for "to hear," sentire, is the same (in its reflexive form) as the verb "to touch," (sentirse)....
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2001

Aum says it wants to pay compensation

The Aum Shinrikyo religious cult, accused of carrying out the fatal sarin gas attacks in Tokyo's subway system in 1995, has opened a software development firm and resumed ties with followers in Russia, members said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY
Nov 25, 2001

Key insight spells riches for Hollywood nail care magnate

All it took for a small dental supply business to become the world's largest independent manufacturer of nail products was one man's realization that some of his biggest buyers of dental acrylics weren't dentists at all they were manicurists.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 25, 2001

High style for high rollers

Over the last few years, most mainstream fashion -- in London, Paris, New York or wherever -- has tended toward a softer, more casual look, and taking inspiration from various genres like streetwear has become the norm.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 25, 2001

'Prince of Knitting' spins a good yarn

KYOTO -- Being male and knitting for a living has earned Mitsuharu Hirose the reputation of being somewhat "strange." Parading about on television in women's knit tops and makeup probably played a part as well. But that doesn't needle Hirose one little bit.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

When film told it like it was

THE BENSHI -- Japanese Silent Film Narrators, edited by the Friends of Silent Films Association, with essays by Tadao Sato and Larry Greenberg, and an interview with Midori Sawato. Tokyo: Urban Connections, 2001, 172 pp. with photographs, 1,500 yen (paper) Despite its name, no silent film was, of course,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Nov 25, 2001

Where the twains meet and swing

Certain musical phrases, combinations of notes, chord changes and rhythms appear consistently in the folk music of Hungary, Turkey and China.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 24, 2001

Amy Jorrisch

"From my grandparents I always had an avid interest in theater. They took me to everything they could get tickets for. I have vivid memories of my grandfather's phenomenal singing voice, that seemed to send me a message to follow my dreams. But I intended to stay away from theater as a profession," said...
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Rikkyo to get Rampo literary trove, home

Rikkyo University in Tokyo will inherit the home and nearly 20,000 books left by the late mystery writer Rampo Edogawa (1894-1965) from Ryutaro Hirai, his eldest son and a professor emeritus at the private university.
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2001

Poll reveals disaffected youth chase good times, shun work

Young people in Japan are more interested in having a good time than in seeking a better society, according to a government survey released Thursday. They are also overwhelmingly dissatisfied with Japanese society and have little interest in making a contribution to it.
LIFE / Lifestyle / LEARNING BY HEART
Nov 23, 2001

Pioneer still speaking up and acting out

Almost 20 years ago, Teri Suzanne stood in front of a packed audience in Tokyo at the Association of English Teachers of Children, and unveiled her "English in Action" method with what was then a radical declaration: "I know that young children have the capacity to learn multiple languages by connecting...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 23, 2001

Forest cockroach

* Japanese name: Morichabane gokiburi * Scientific name: Blattella nipponica * Description: These sleek insects are 11-14 mm long, with two pairs of wings. Adults are brown, although when they change from a nymph into an adult, the body is white, as in the photo. During the transformation, the wings...
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2001

Ex-con to hang for slaying pair while on parole

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court sentenced a 53-year-old paroled killer to death Tuesday for fatally stabbing a man and a woman in Osaka Prefecture in 1998.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 21, 2001

2002 could be busy year in Japanese sports

You read last week where the National Football League is coming back to Japan next year, having scheduled an American Bowl exhibition game between the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins in Osaka on Aug. 3. Let's hope this will be the first of several announcements of major international sports...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 21, 2001

Unconscious beauty crafted by Korea's unknown artists

The founder of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum (Nihon Mingeikan), Soetsu Yanagi (1889-1961), was a collector and philosopher who had been attracted to Korean crafts since his youth. Recognizing the beauty of folk craft, he strove for its recognition both in Japan and abroad.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 21, 2001

Tori Amos: 'Strange Little Girls'

Tori Amos, whose most famous song, "Me and a Gun," is an a cappella description of her own real-life rape at gunpoint, wanted to do an album of rock songs originally written and performed by men, so she asked male acquaintances for the names of songs that made an impression on them. Cover albums are...
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2001

'Make no haste' makes way

Facing its worst economic crisis in the postwar era, Taiwan has opted for deeper engagement with the mainland. The government of President Chen Shui-bian has lifted limits on investment in China in an attempt to boost the island's faltering economy. The move was applauded by Taiwanese businesses eager...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Nov 20, 2001

Mysteries of the Matopos

The Matopos Hills near Bulaweyo have always had the reputation of being a little special, a little uncanny.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2001

Does self-defense justify Afghan war?

SEOUL -- Even as the scope of combat operations in Afghanistan widens and their scale intensifies, the legal basis for waging war under international law grows ever more tenuous. According to U.S. President George W. Bush, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were an act of...
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2001

Japan files acceptance of U.N. terrorism pact

The Japanese government submitted a letter of acceptance of the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan at U.N. headquarters in New York at midnight Friday Japan time, government officials said.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2001

Will New York ever be New York again?

NEW YORK -- I was one of many New Yorkers who had the sad experience of witnessing the destruction of the World Trade Center twin towers. The memories of those moments -- gigantic skyscrapers collapsing like castles made of sand -- have not disappeared from my mind. I wonder if they ever will? After...
EDITORIALS
Nov 18, 2001

A turning point for Afghan art

Most Afghans have good reason to be celebrating the Taliban's departure from Kabul and Jalalabad last week. Chief among them, of course, are Afghanistan's brutally subjugated women, but there are others, too -- not least those who cherish the country's cultural treasures and have mourned their destruction...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 18, 2001

The long road to a barrier-free Japan

Compact size. Lightweight. High-speed. Extra new features. Appealing design. Competitive price. Manufacturers have long focused on criteria like these in their quest for successful product lines. In the single-minded pursuit of profits, though, consumers unable to adapt themselves to standardized products...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 18, 2001

A story that just doesn't translate

DRUNK AS A LORD: Samurai Stories, by Ryotaro Shiba; translated by Eileen Kato. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2001, 253 pp., 3,500 yen (cloth) Ryotaro Shiba (1923-1996), a distinguished historical writer, brought Japan's past alive by examining many of its important historical figures and the personal...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 18, 2001

Aiming for the heart

ONE FOOT IN LAOS, by Dervla Murphy. Overlook Press, 2001, 284 pp., $27.95 (cloth) Dervla Murphy's journeys as a travel writer, usually in the remoter, poorer parts of the world, are made, appropriately enough, in the old manner -- on foot, by donkey or mule, or on decrepit trucks or buses on their last...

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan