Search - life

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2001

The trial of Unit 731

KHABAROVSK, Russia -- Late in December 1949, Soviet Communist Party leaders began distributing tickets in factories and institutes for an upcoming trial. Twelve Japanese physicians and military officers -- former researchers at a secret facility near Harbin, China known as Unit 731 -- stood accused of...
COMMENTARY
Jun 5, 2001

Labor's win, democracy's loss

LONDON -- It is possible that in some dark cavern by the River Thames, or wherever it is that Labor's inner circle does its thinking, party planners are already plotting who is going to do what in government for the next five years. Labor is confident of winning the election on June 7: Its lead in the...
MORE SPORTS / THE DUKE OF HAZARDS
Jun 5, 2001

Hogan's 'home' course set to host U.S. Open

Summer in Tulsa, Okla., is hot and humid. The golf season's second major of the year, the U.S. Open, will be held at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa from June 14-17. The defending champion, of course, is Tiger Woods.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 5, 2001

Sparks fly in Mexico's city of artists and artisans

SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, Mexico -- Having grown up in Los Angeles, where only the sanest of fireworks were legally sold, I was taught that colorful sparks shooting up higher than 30 cm would surely make someone pay for their reckless abandon. How happy I was to discover here that it's not necessarily true....
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2001

Group calls for education of illegals' kids

OSAKA — Members of an Osaka group supporting children of illegal immigrants in Japan will deliver to the United Nations letters from children facing deportation with their parents but who wish to remain in Japan to continue their studies, group members said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 3, 2001

It's bargain time for antique lovers

The atmosphere is gloomy at the Ikebukuro Folkcraft and Antiques Hall.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 3, 2001

Bite into some music for thought

"You've got to come and see Gaji. They'll kill you," said the gig's promoter.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 3, 2001

From simple folk to the royal couple

When the American folk revival landed on the shores of Japan in the early '60s, it gave rise to the "modern folk" movement. Japanese musicians copied The Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary, and it was only a matter of time before students started writing songs that reflected their own situations....
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2001

Dour and dark outlook pulling Japan farther from neighbors

Japanese hopes to play a leading role in Asia are endangered by a growing split between its views and those in other countries in the region. In its most recent survey on global values, the Dentsu Institute for Human Studies depicts a pessimistic country that is groping toward an uncertain future.*
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2001

Fiscal panel eyes release of public entities

A key government panel on economic and fiscal policy is expected to recommend next month a partial privatization of employee pension programs and sweeping deregulation, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2001

Discrimination suit against golf club fails

An ethnic Korean resident in Tokyo lost a damages suit Thursday seeking compensation from a Chiba golf club operator for denying him membership because of his nationality.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 1, 2001

Japan debuts with 3-0 victory

NIIGATA -- Japan got off to a good start in the Confederations Cup, beating Canada 3-0 in a Group B game Thursday night at Big Swan Niigata Stadium.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Italy wants Japanese to take in its countryside

The Italian tourism industry hopes to bring more Japanese visitors to less-traveled destinations in the country's rural areas, a senior official of the Italian State Tourism Board said.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

U.N. forum cautions against globalization's impact on poor

The advance of economic globalization should improve the life of people in developing countries and bring about sustainable development, according to Carlos A. Magarinos, director general of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

New curriculum sees parents push English for infants

Second of two parts Staff writer Yukiko Wada left her Tochigi home at 8 a.m. one Saturday with her 2-year-old daughter, Hinami. While their journey to Tokyo's Eifuku-cho in Suginami Ward seemed a bit long, it became worthwhile when they encountered an American acquaintance near their destination.
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2001

The ecstasy and the agony

Quills Rating: * * * * Director: Philip Kaufman Running time: 123 minutes Language: EnglishShowing at Hibiya Scalaza and other theaters The face of a beautiful woman appears in intense close-up, her fair skin offset by the clear blue sky behind her. The faint sighs of her soft, heavy breath are amplified...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 30, 2001

'Lovers Leap': Dan Bryk

In art, confession treads a fine line between catharsis and showing off. A subset of current punk bands like Wheatus and Blink 182 utilizes the geek mode to comment on classic macho-rock poses, but since they have nothing original to say (girls ignore you at school? figure it out), geekiness turns out...
LIFE / Travel
May 29, 2001

France's last wilderness

"No one is born in the Camargue, and no one dies in the Camargue." -- Rhone Delta saying
LIFE / Travel
May 29, 2001

Thai bases offer a taste of military life

LOP BURI, Thailand -- Where else in the world can a tourist be a soldier for a day or two, shoot off an M-16, jump from a parachute tower, climb rocks, ford streams and hike through the jungle?
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2001

A sham antismoking program

On May 31, World No-Tobacco Day as designated by the World Health Organization, a variety of commemorative meetings are scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Shiga Prefecture and other places under the sponsorship of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry. WHO's slogan is: Secondhand Smoke Kills. Let's Clear...
BUSINESS
May 28, 2001

Sea change in Japan's values

Japan is in the midst of change in its social value system.
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2001

When borders are better

Aliens come in many guises. There is the extraterrestrial kind, variously envisaged over the years as little green men, wrinkly creatures homesick for their own planet, curious kidnappers and genocidal invaders. There is the human kind -- people who fetch up in some foreign country and find themselves...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 27, 2001

The quest for sleep

It's 5 a.m. and you've spent the past hour staring at the ceiling.
CULTURE / Books
May 27, 2001

Japan's traditions aren't lost, they're buried

DOGS AND DEMONS: Tales From the Dark Side of Japan, by Alex Kerr. Hill and Wang, 2001, 432 pp., $27 (cloth). An ancient Chinese tale holds that dogs are difficult to draw because they are ubiquitous; demons are easy to create because they spring from the artist's imagination. Or, to put it more plainly,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 27, 2001

Bibliophiles rejoice

A COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO BOOKS ON JAPAN IN ENGLISH: An Annotated List of over 2,500 Titles with Subject Index, by Joseph Rogala. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, Ltd., 2001. 292 pp., 15.99 UK pounds. The book's title says precisely what it is. It is not a listing of 'best' books on Japan, nor a catalog...
EDITORIALS
May 26, 2001

Help the world's poorest citizens

Politicians and pundits like to remind us that we live in an age of unprecedented prosperity, Japan's "lost decade" and the trillions of dollars of paper wealth that has vanished as a result of the current downturn in global stock markets notwithstanding. But for more than 600 million people -- one-tenth...
BUSINESS
May 26, 2001

Lower House OKs bill to reform pension plans

The Lower House on Friday approved a new defined-benefit pension bill that will drastically reform the corporate pension system.
COMMENTARY
May 26, 2001

Feud serves nation poorly

The new administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is enjoying a high public-approval rate of around 80 percent. But although he may be able to carry out his economic and domestic agenda, I have some reservations about his ability in the field of diplomacy.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2001

Charting a course as wide as the region

To understand the logic that is driving the Bush administration's redesign of U.S. military strategy, overlay two maps. The first focuses on wealth and population. It highlights Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, some of the world's richest and most important trading nations. China, India and...

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