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CULTURE / Books
Feb 20, 2001

More to it than meets the eye: the private world of 'manga'

ADULT MANGA: Culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society, by Sharon Kinsella. Curzon Press, 2000, 228 pp., $19.95 (paper). "Manga" leads a double life in Japan. Its popularity as entertainment for the masses is well-known: Subway riders furtively flip through its pages, young people crowd into...
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2001

Unusual body shop fills in the blanks

OSAKA -- After dealing with the usual prewedding chores of choosing venues, flowers, dresses, menus and guests, the young bride-to-be was faced with one final task: find a finger to go with her ring.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2001

Writer ponders role of men today

As a youth, Masayoshi Toyoda wondered why he was expected to follow in the footsteps of his father in the family business simply because he was the only son, but had no way to express his feelings.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 17, 2001

Ukiyo-e treasures make brief return

The Baur Collection of ukiyo-e woodcuts by several of Japan's top masters is this country's own version of the Elgin Marbles. Perhaps this is why the 200 works are only on display so briefly. If you want to see these excellent examples of print art in their homeland, you have only a short time.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2001

Career bureaucrats increasingly opting out

An increasing number of young, fast-track career bureaucrats handling Japan's economic policymaking are leaving public positions, either because they are seeking better work in the private sector or because the recent government realignment is reducing their administrative authority.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 16, 2001

This one's for the record

Call me a vinyl junkie if you will, but I'm one of those guys who files his memories with his music. I could tell you what record I played over and over when my first girlfriend went off to college and stopped answering my letters ("Love Will Tear Us Apart Again," Joy Division, just released as a funereal...
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2001

The Lucie Blackman case

One piece of a sad, grim puzzle was solved last weekend when police confirmed that human remains found in a beach cave in Kanagawa Prefecture were those of a 21-year-old British woman missing since last July. The other piece of the puzzle -- who killed her, how, where and why -- is not quite in place,...
LIFE / Digital
Feb 16, 2001

From video game to big screen

HONOLULU -- Aki, the scientist/heroine of Square Picture's new movie "Final Fantasy," steps from the door of her space shuttle and surveys the wreckage that is Old New York.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Feb 16, 2001

Keeping it pure and personal

There are people who have character and there are people who are characters. Coppe, the coolest musician you've never heard of, is both.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2001

Allies withdraw Mori criticism

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori came under fire again Wednesday as a top member of key coalition partner New Komeito called for his resignation.
COMMENTARY
Feb 14, 2001

The 'freeter' phenomenon

LONDON -- An article in the Jan. 31 issue of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun began with these words (my translation): "It was afternoon when he woke up. There was nothing he had to do. To avoid meeting his parents he got up without making any noise and went out of the house. It was the same thing for him every...
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 14, 2001

Sakhalin oil sparks hopes and fears

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, Russia -- Sakhalin Island is a remote former penal colony where the sea freezes for up to six months a year and villagers have been known to sleep in tents pitched in their bedrooms when the central heating fails.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2001

LDP panel approves bill on pensions

A panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party gave the go-ahead Tuesday to a government bill designed to drastically reform Japan's corporate pension system with an eye to protecting employees' rights to receive pension benefits.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2001

Politicians rethinking reliance on vote-gathering machinery

Staff writer It is election year in Japan again. About half of the seats in the Upper House will be up for grabs in the triennial election in July, while the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election -- often seen as an indicator of voting trends in national polls -- is expected in June.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2001

Politicians rethinking reliance on vote-gathering machinery

Staff writer It is election year in Japan again. About half of the seats in the Upper House will be up for grabs in the triennial election in July, while the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election -- often seen as an indicator of voting trends in national polls -- is expected in June.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 12, 2001

Into the heart of darkness

What is it about deeply rural places and deeply strange religion and sex? In the United States, one has the stereotype of the hills of Appalachia as refuges for snake-handling preachers and cousin-marrying hillbillies. In Japan, one has the mountains of Shikoku in Masato Harada's "Inugami," where ancient...
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2001

Destroying a fragile trust

In the semirural area near Tokyo where I and some others spend weekends, we have just suffered our first break-ins. Nothing serious. Someone, probably delinquent kids, going through unlocked parked cars looking for loose items. Far more interesting is why we have been able to leave our houses and cars...
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Feb 12, 2001

Getting back on the right track

In all walks of life, those who make successful comebacks have always been admired. They become figures of resilience with a commendable never-say-die attitude; think Muhammad Ali or even Bill Clinton.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 12, 2001

How to profit from a nation's tragedy

THE TIANANMEN PAPERS: The Chinese Leadership's Decision to Use Force against their Own People -- in their Own Words, compiled by Zhang Liang, edited by Andrew Nathan and Perry Link, with an afterword by Orville Schell. Public Affairs, 2001, 560 pp., $30 (cloth). "The Tiananmen Papers" surfaced with...
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2001

How do you spell that again?

Another storm has been raging lately in the teacup of English. Like many linguistic squalls, this one is centered on spelling. It blew up in Britain late last year after the government's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority decreed the use of internationally agreed spellings for some scientific terms...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2001

Safety, services attract fishery schools to Hawaii

Uwajima Fisheries High School, whose training ship the Ehime Maru sank after colliding with a U.S. Navy submarine off Hawaii on Friday, is one of many Japanese fisheries schools that train students in Hawaiian waters.
COMMENTARY
Feb 11, 2001

In the land of the militantly mellow

NEW YORK -- San Franciscans, if we're to believe reporters who've spent the last week running up their New York employers' expense accounts, are searching the bottom of their recyclable souls in the aftermath of the death of Diane Whipple. Whipple, 33, was killed by one (or two, according to some sources)...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 11, 2001

More than 15 minutes of fame

In many ways, prints take the pulse of modern art. The flowering of techniques early in the 20th century gave artists a wild new freedom of expression, just as their personal opinions and emotions began to move center stage. Prints also reflected the growing democracy of art, the seismic shift that occurred...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2001

Nine Japanese missing off Oahu

Nine people, including four high school students, were reported missing Friday after a Japanese training ship sank following a collision with a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine in waters off Hawaii, the Japan Coast Guard said Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2001

Nine Japanese missing off Oahu

Nine people, including four high school students, were reported missing Friday after a Japanese training ship sank following a collision with a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine in waters off Hawaii, the Japan Coast Guard said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 11, 2001

Yeltsin and Reagan revisited

This year there were two sad anniversaries in the first week of February: two former political superstars, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Russian President Boris Yeltsin celebrated their birthdays in the shadow of severe health problems. Confined to hospital, they were unable to appreciate the cheering...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Feb 10, 2001

The beauty of the dark side

Black is usually associated with the "dark side" -- evil, frightening, and negative. But in the Way of Tea, a black chawan (tea bowl) is prized above all others.

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