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CULTURE / Books
Jun 23, 2002

Following in the footsteps of Alexander and Marco Polo

AN UNEXPECTED LIGHT: Travels in Afghanistan, by Jason Elliot. Picador, 2001, 473 pp, 3,420 yen (paper) Jason Elliot's "An Unexpected Light" has been pigeon-holed in that genre of literature known as travelogue, but it is a great deal more. An account of the author's two visits to Afghanistan -- the first...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 23, 2002

Overcoming the tyranny of distance

TREASON BY THE BOOK: Traitors, Conspirators and Guardians of an Emperor, by Jonathan Spence. London: Penguin Books, 2002, 302 pp. 7.99 UK pounds (paper) In his short story "The Great Wall of China," Franz Kafka wonderfully evokes the enormity and complexity of imperial China by describing the travails...
COMMENTARY
Jun 22, 2002

Media: bulwark of democracy

LONDON -- The British prime minister's chief of communications has publicly accepted that the overuse of "spin" in government has led to cynicism and that the emphasis should now be on policy and delivery. Most British observers would agree. But government ministers, who have spent much of their life...
COMMUNITY
Jun 22, 2002

Don Carmine: a great team for food and attitude

Welcome to Don Carmine in Tokyo's Nishi-Azabu, opened April 10 and described by its founders as an Italian restaurant with attitude.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2002

Council finalizes basic reform policy

The government's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy on Friday finalized a basic economic reform policy that features such revitalization and tax reform measures as corporate tax cuts and consolidation of government expenditures in the fiscal 2003 budget.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Jun 21, 2002

Bringing the classrooms to the children

Several hundred Japanese children sit enchanted as Justin Somi mimics a fluttering butterfly. Somi, a celebrated mime artist and musician, belongs to the Zia tribe that live along the Waria River Valley in Papua New Guinea. For two weeks this spring, he and five other Zia tribesmen visited schools in...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 21, 2002

Mayfly

* Japanese name: Monkagero * Scientific name: Ephemera strigata * Description: Mayflies are common, soft-bodied insects with short antennae and mouthparts that are vestigial (not used). They have two long cerci, tail-like structures growing from the end of the abdomen. They are easily recognizable...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 20, 2002

South Korea scores huge upset

TAEJON, South Korea -- A sudden-death goal by Ahn Jung Hwan propelled South Korea into the quarterfinals of the World Cup here Tuesday night, a well-earned 2-1 victory over Italy setting off incredible scenes of celebration.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Jun 20, 2002

Where 'Green Peach' blossomed

The woodcut print shown here depicts a rural idyll northwest of Edo. A meandering river nourishes an expanse of rice paddies on the left-hand side. Two men are crossing a bridge, and more people are walking by the riverside. On the rising ground behind them, a cluster of thatched houses identified as...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2002

SIDS diagnoses seen as malpractice cover

In June 1999, Shinobu and Shinya Ishii took their 4-month-old son, Mahiro, to a municipally run hospital in the city of Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, for treatment of bronchitis, and were told he would be released after a week or less of care.
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2002

New continental shelf exploitation eyed

New continental shelves may be spreading off the Boso Peninsula of Chiba Prefecture and off southern Hokkaido, according to a Japan Coast Guard study released Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2002

Comparing Botswana, Japan unfair: ambassador

In many ways, Botswana is an African success story, boasting the world's fastest-growing income per capita over the past 35 years.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2002

Australia tightens net against illegal aliens

SYDNEY -- Now that the monsoon season is over, the huddled masses of Asia's worst conflict areas, notably Afghanistan and Iraq, are again looking abroad for refuge. As in past years, they see a big, empty island on the map and steer southeast. Unfortunately for them, the folks already here have other...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2002

Troussier book offer for readers

The Japan Times is offering free copies of the book "Passion," by Philippe Troussier, Japan's national team coach in the World Cup, to five readers.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2002

War on terror to have Asian side effects

SINGAPORE -- Speaking earlier this month to the inaugural Asian Security Conference, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz suggested Washington's latest vision for a post-Cold War world. Held here under the auspices of London's International Institute of Strategic Studies, the conference brought...
COMMUNITY
Jun 16, 2002

The trickle down effect

Ever year around June, the high-altitude air current known as the jet stream lunges into the Himalayas, whose towering 8,000-meter peaks slice it into two branches that soar eastward over Asia toward the Pacific. Near Japan, they finally reunite and embrace between them a colossal mass of cold oceanic...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jun 16, 2002

Refined wining and dining without pretension

Japan's trendy wine boom ended a few years ago. Still, interest in wine did not plummet; instead, it normalized. In groceries stores, elderly ladies and hip twentysomethings alike scrutinize the wine shelves. At many Tokyo izakaya pubs, diners can opt for a glass of house wine with their sashimi, odenor...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 16, 2002

Soldiers who fought for their honor on two fronts

THE LAST FOX: A Novel of the 100th/442nd RCT, by Robert H. Kono. Eugene, Oregon: Abe Publishing, 2001, 322 pp., $14.95 (paper) Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the American government interned people of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of them American citizens, in camps. Families who...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 15, 2002

Japan reaches World Cup milestone

OSAKA -- On-fire Japan reached another World Cup milestone Friday, advancing to the World Cup second round for the first time ever, after topping Group H with a 2-0 win over Tunisia at Osaka's Nagai Stadium.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 15, 2002

Red Devils win game of Russian roulette

SHIZUOKA -- The Red Devils of Belgium qualified for the Round of 16 as runnersup of Group H after a dramatic 3-2 victory over Russia at the Shizuoka Ecopa Stadium on Friday. The seesaw battle revived memories of Belgium's 4-3 extra-time win over the same team in Mexico '86, with Belgium again gaining...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2002

World Cup fever grips the nation as Japan advances to second round

OSAKA — Japan was upbeat Friday as its national team beat Tunisia in a make-or-break match in Osaka to secure a place in the second round of the World Cup soccer finals.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 15, 2002

Phil Richardson

Long, long ago, in a preflight age, diplomats and expatriate businessmen in Japan expected their lives to be leisured until the arrival of the next ship with its communications from home offices. Phil Richardson does not belong to such a remote past, but his timing places him at the end of another era...
COMMENTARY
Jun 13, 2002

Facing need for immigrants

LONDON -- The problem of illegal immigrants (or economic migrants) and of people seeking asylum because of persecution in their home countries have become dominant themes in the European media. Popular antipathy to the plight of these people has been exploited by rightwing parties, especially in France,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2002

Consumer empowerment key to saving energy, expert says

Japan should reduce energy consumption and establish an environmentally sustainable society, according to a Danish energy conservation expert.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 13, 2002

Get yourself an attitude

"Human history," said H.G. Wells, "becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe." That was in 1920, but his words are more relevant than ever.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jun 12, 2002

Message in a pop song

You've probably noticed a big mascara-lined eye staring out at you from billboards all over town lately. The eye in question belongs to Lisa, former vocalist with hip-hop/R&B trio m-flo, and the billboard is plugging her new single, "Babylon no Kiseki (Miracle of Babylon)," which was released on May...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight