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BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2001

Ministries approach budget deadline

Fiscal 2002 budgetary requests under the seven strategic areas outlined in the structural reform blueprint of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi currently total 1.38 trillion yen, the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy said Wednesday.
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 26, 2001

Rising stars shine in kabuki's heirloom roles

During the month of September, the Kabukiza Theater and the nearby Shinbashi Enbujo Theater are presenting competing kabuki midori (selections). The Kabukiza's program features such veteran actors as Kichiemon Nakamura, Baigyoku Nakamura and Jakuemon Nakamura, as well as up-and-coming performers in their...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 26, 2001

A kiss in the darkroom

When I spoke with curator Michiko Kasahara about the Tokyo Museum of Photography's new exhibition, "A Kiss in the Dark," the first thing she wanted to explain was the show's intriguing title. Her catalog essay expands:
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 26, 2001

John Linnel & John Flansburgh: 'Mink Car'

Since their early albums "Lincoln" and "Flood," John Linnell and John Flansburgh, the self-appointed supercilious music nerds of They Might Be Giants, have displayed a remarkable talent for straddling the fence between disdain for and celebration of the pop tune. Usually sweet and upbeat on the surface,...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 26, 2001

Macy Gray: 'The Id'

Webster's defines the id as "the part of the psyche that is the source of instinctual impulses and demands for satisfaction." For Macy Gray, it is simply "what you do before you think. The real you . . . unedited."
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Sep 25, 2001

To know them is to love them

High summer. Sarasota, western Florida, and the bridges linking the Keys (off-shore islands) hum with traffic. Boutiques throng with tourists, construction cranes loom high, the beaches are peppered with sunbathers courting melanoma and the surface of the Gulf of Mexico is torn by Jet-skis.
SOCCER / World cup
Sep 24, 2001

Pictograms counted on to bridge language gaps

As the country prepares to host the 2002 Soccer World Cup, a growing number of local authorities and transportation operators are employing visually oriented communication means called pictograms on streets and at public facilities.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2001

Out and About

English seminar covers quake preparedness Tokyo Emergency Language Supporters, or TELS, a volunteer group based in Setagaya Ward, will hold a free seminar Oct. 6 in English on earthquake disaster information and preparedness.
COMMUNITY
Sep 24, 2001

Tyndale and the English Bible

History sometimes fails to recognize the brilliance of a true pioneer, glorifying those who profit from his innovation while conveniently forgetting the source.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2001

Troubled youngsters turn to friends, not family

Young people are more likely to turn to friends in times of trouble than their parents or teachers, with most youngsters both dependent on and fearful of their peers' opinions, according to a government survey released Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 22, 2001

Adhering to the law of the Japanese letter

The theme of today's Culture Quiz is "sending and receiving a Japanese letter."
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2001

Land prices post 10-year slide

Land prices fell in the year to July 1 for the 10th consecutive year, reflecting the prolonged economic downturn, according to a government survey released Wednesday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 20, 2001

Almost like a hippo

In "The Origin of Species," Darwin describes how black bears in North America often swim "for hours with widely open mouth, thus catching, almost like a whale, insects in the water." Darwin was making a hypothetical point about how evolution might work -- the swimming bear, he suggested, might be the...
ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM
Sep 20, 2001

Higanbana (spider lily)

JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Half of imprisoned gangsters plan return to mob: poll

Almost half of all gangsters currently imprisoned hope to return to their organizations after their release, according to a recent Justice Ministry survey.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 19, 2001

Down and about in New York, Tokyo

The 8 x 10 monochrome prints on show at Tokyo's UNAC Salon are hardly eye-poppers, overt only in the sharp, downward angles which drag your eyes to the ground.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Dearth of bottom-dwellers linked to Isahaya Bay project

The amount of bottom-dwelling organisms found near a controversial reclamation project in Isahaya Bay in Nagasaki Prefecture has dropped drastically following a reduction in the amount of oxygen in the water over the summer, the Environment Ministry said Tuesday.
JAPAN / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Sep 19, 2001

Foreign firms slowly influence job-for-life market

As foreign companies have increased their presence in Japan in recent years, many have found it difficult to hire quality local staff.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 19, 2001

Bob Dylan: 'Love and Theft'

You can tell how much the critical establishment needs Bob Dylan by the praise heaped on his last studio album, 1997's "Time Out of Mind," which contained five excellent songs, five pretty good ones and one 161/2-minute bore. Music critics decided the album was all about death, and as this was, after...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 19, 2001

Kodo: 'Mondo Head'

For some, that Kodo is based on Sado Island might encourage the stereotype of the Japanese master taiko drum troupe living and working in splendid isolation fully dedicated to its traditional Japanese art. But what Japanophile types may not realize is that Kodo, perhaps uniquely among its peers, has...
Events
Sep 18, 2001

Shikoku has 1,400-km path to spirituality

OSAKA -- People often go to great lengths for spiritual enlightenment, and a 1,400-km pilgrimage to 88 key temples on the island of Shikoku is certainly no exception.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 17, 2001

Fans seek distraction at Fighters-M's game

Sunday was supposed to be Yankees Day at the Tokyo Dome. The American national anthem was supposed to be played by a U.S. military band. Public address announcements were supposed to be made in English. One fan was even supposed to win a round-trip airline ticket to New York. Out of respect to those...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 16, 2001

The ideology of Japanese identity

MULTIETHNIC JAPAN, by John Lie. Harvard University Press, Cambridge University Press, 2001, 248 pp. $35 Japan and many of its observers have avoided the confusion and contention associated with diversity by assuming, asserting and elaborating a monolithic, monoethnic Japan that jostles uncomfortably...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 16, 2001

Come together, right now

"East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet," Rudyard Kipling once wrote.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 16, 2001

Pick a fate, any fate: it's all in the tarot

It is often said that all human life is contained within the tarot -- from shady business prospects and secret admirers to unexpected adventures and marriage plans. But can a tarot spread really contain so much meaning, or is it pure chance?
CULTURE / Music
Sep 16, 2001

Gone but no longer forgotten

A psychological opera composed in the shadow of World War I, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's long-neglected "Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City, or Shi no Miyako)" has this year been brought to the stage three times: once in a revival of the New York City Opera's 1975 production and twice in new stagings.

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