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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2005

The Alban Berg Quartett know Schubert inside out

The Alban Berg Quartett occupies a near-legendary position among string quartets. Their technical fluency, the beauty of their playing, the harmony of their interpretation -- have left critics searching for superlatives and ensured their constant demand in recital halls around the world.
Japan Times
Features
May 29, 2005

Aftershocks in Sri Lanka

HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka As the sun sets on another sultry Sri Lankan day, a small crowd gathers outside tent No. 68, home of Thuwan Rashid Kaseer and his three children. The 45-year-old carpenter is well known in the southern town of Hambantota for his fine, emotion-filled voice, and this evening his song...
Japan Times
Features
May 29, 2005

Japanese NGO in unique role

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka -- Eight-year-old Koushigan Sivapalasundaram's day begins at 4:30 a.m.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 28, 2005

Liverpool's win shows miracles do happen

LONDON -- I now believe I will marry Julia Roberts. I now believe I will win the lottery triple rollover. I now believe I will win the Tour de France, the Olympic 100 meters and climb Mount Everest, possibly all in the same year.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 27, 2005

Sakai drives in three as Eagles complete three-game sweep of Dragons

Tadaharu Sakai drove in three runs Thursday and the Rakuten Golden Eagles erupted for nine runs in the top of the sixth inning on their way to a 15-3 win over the Chunichi Dragons and a three-game sweep of the defending Central League champions.
Rugby
May 26, 2005

Brave Blossoms fell Romanian Oaks to set up rugby final against Canucks

Daisuke Ohata may well be the pin-up boy of Japanese rugby but 19-year-old Ayumu Goromaru is the face of the future and the two combined on Wednesday to send Japan into the final of the Toshiba Super Cup as the Brave Blossoms beat the Oaks of Romania 23-16 at Tokyo's National Stadium.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
May 26, 2005

Parenting book gets princely praise

Parenting expert Dorothy Law Nolte enjoys a huge following worldwide; her 1998 book, "Children Learn What They Live," sold over 700,000 copies in her native U.S. and has been translated into 36 languages. The Japanese version was a steady seller -- until February this year, when the father of a certain...
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2005

Stop the torture and abuse

The steady drip of revelations about the abuse of prisoners in the global war against terror is doing serious damage to the U.S. image and efforts to win that battle. Contrary to official claims, the instances of misbehavior are not episodic or exaggerated; they appear to be serious, widespread and systematic....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 25, 2005

Stage plays restore your faith in comedy

"Comedy is an escape, not from the truth but from despair; a narrow escape into faith," wrote the English playwright Christopher Fry in Time magazine in 1950. These days the moment you switch on television in Japan, you are likely to be assailed by gales of laughter as young comedians talk frantically,...
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

MMC suffers a 475 billion yen loss

Struggling Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Monday that its group net loss widened to a record 474.8 billion yen in fiscal 2004, from 215.4 billion yen posted a year earlier.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 24, 2005

Vikings, traditional gear and theater

Viking Katya has what she calls a "random goofy question." She wants to know why it is that a buffet here is called "viking."
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

Insurers pay the price for last year's typhoons

Due to record natural disaster-related claims caused by the unprecedented number of typhoons last year, Japan's three largest nonlife insurers on Monday reported sharp drops in fiscal 2004 profits.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 22, 2005

Cavaliers looking to hire Vandeweghe

NEW YORK -- Kiki Vandeweghe is emerging as the leading candidate to preside as president of the Cavaliers next season and beyond, numerous sources stipulate.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 22, 2005

Bryant back in key role with Buffaloes

Returning to Japanese baseball this season after a decade-long absence is Ralph Bryant, one of the most prolific sluggers ever to play the game here as a member of the Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1988 to 1995, and currently the first-base coach and a batting instructor with the Orix Buffaloes.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 22, 2005

It's not all quiet on the (Middle-) Eastern front after the abduction

After it was learned that Akihiko Saito, a Japanese national working for a British security company in Iraq, was captured by a militant group during an ambush, the media seemed so stunned by the revelation that they couldn't get their bearings. So they seized on the only source of local information they...
Japan Times
Features
May 22, 2005

Retirees lead the way back to nature

Yoshishige Nagayama started farming when he retired nine years ago at age 60.
Features
May 22, 2005

A growing trend

These are hard times for Japan's construction workers. The days when they were forever taking flak for digging up roads and causing traffic chaos, or teetering on the edge of scandals as they built yet more roads and bridges into the middle of nowhere are now long gone.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2005

Battling the windmills while Iraq burns

DOHA, Qatar -- Cast aside the nonsensical rhetoric about U.S. President George W. Bush's ostensibly successful efforts to bolster democratic tendencies "sweeping" the Middle East, and you'll discover that the facts are not so rosy, with Iraq remaining the most horrific reminder.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 19, 2005

Birders' islet of delights

The last month has been one of considerable atmospheric variety here where I live in Hokkaido, with laggardly spring weather lapsing back to winter sunshine and warmth, then being followed by snow and cold winds. It has been playing havoc with blossoming times, bumblebee emergence and spring bird migration....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 18, 2005

Spectacular diversity of clay

As noted in this column last month, Japanese ceramic art is finding a wider audience overseas. Many collectors search out the great potters of the past, such as Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) or Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966), while more savvy collectors are looking to find out who's hot in Japan today.
SOCCER / World cup
May 17, 2005

Kickoff times set for World Cup qualifiers

Japan's upcoming World Cup qualifier away to Bahrain on June 3 will kick off at 7:30 p.m. local time -- 1:30 a.m. on June 4 in Japan -- the Japan Football Association said Monday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 17, 2005

Nagashima ready to face baseball fans

Former Yomiuri Giants manager and Japanese baseball icon Shigeo Nagashima has indicated that he will soon make his first public appearance since suffering a stroke in March last year.
COMMUNITY / LIFELINES
May 17, 2005

More on books, cake and bank bungles

Used books On the subject of used books, and where to get them/leave them, an alert reader writes in to let us know that Caravan Books, long a popular spot to pick up bargains, closed down in March.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 17, 2005

Foreign victims lacking a voice

As a foreigner living in Japan, it's often difficult to blend it with the crowd. While at times this might be fun, at others it can be a catalyst for trouble.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 16, 2005

Climbing up the down escalator: Inflation still out of Japan's reach

Inflation is not about to return to Japan just yet. According to the Bank of Japan's latest "Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices" released at the end of last month, the BOJ Policy Board members' median forecast for consumer prices in fiscal year 2005 is a 0.1 percent decline over FY 2004. Their...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 15, 2005

When law and justice won't mix

JAPAN'S COLONIZATION OF KOREA: Discourse and Power, by Alexis Dudden. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005, 215 pp. $45 (cloth). Lawful and just are two separate things that may be irreconcilable. A good example that offers plenty of material to fathom this out was the annexation of Korea by Japan....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
May 15, 2005

Close encounters of a wild sundowner kind

It was sundowner time -- that precious moment on an African safari when the gin and tonics come out, along with the nibbles and camp chairs. The day's adventures are over, and those of the night have yet to begin.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
May 15, 2005

No laughing matter

O n the stage, Charlie Chaplin was known as the tramp who made millions laugh without saying a word. But in his heart of hearts, it seems the great comic wanted to be a statesman whose words could change history.
Japan Times
Features
May 15, 2005

Never-ending playtime

Remember when you were little and the days were long and filled with play? Back then, too, your playmates likely included a happy band of figures and stuffed animals that took on lives of their own in your imaginary world.

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