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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.
COMMUNITY
May 15, 2005

Spaghetti with chopsticks makes a mess of Mishima image

Many years ago, while teaching Japanese language and literature at the Australian National University in Canberra, I asked students in a seminar to conduct an experiment on campus. That was in the 1970s, when Australia and much of the rest of the world were rediscovering Japan as an economic and cultural...
EDITORIALS
May 14, 2005

A Holocaust memorial

A monument 17 years in the making officially opened Tuesday in the heart of Berlin. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe -- a city block of blank gray concrete slabs or pillars erected near the German Parliament building -- drew predictably mixed responses. Yet, by all accounts, its American architect,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 14, 2005

The true scoop behind Japan's baseball superheroes

Another spring and another baseball season for the sports-numb nation of Japan. And once again the TV-viewing public is being regaled with starry-eyed tales of wonder regarding its established heroes: Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui and, this year -- perhaps due to the shortage of heroic clay here in Japan...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 12, 2005

Fetuses found to inherit mother's trauma

Stress can motivate us, but it can also get us down. And though it might just make us feel blue, it can also kill us. It depresses levels of sex hormones and people stressed by deadlines are more likely to suffer heart attacks.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2005

NTT DoCoMo reports first decline in profit

NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Tuesday reported its first decline in both profit and revenue since it went public in 1998, after resorting to aggressive discount programs to lure subscribers.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2005

Design for sustaining peace

DILI, East Timor -- The United Nations has not been notably successful in moving from initial stabilization, infrastruc- ture reconstruction and re-establishment of local governance institutions to the more demanding goal of leaving behind self-sustaining structures of state that can implement rapid...
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2005

Fishing for sustainable profits

The good news for Japan's fisheries is that some of its products enjoy growing demand abroad, particularly in some parts of Asia. This year's government white paper on fisheries stresses the importance of developing overseas markets and highlights a variety of export-oriented initiatives across the country....
Japan Times
Features
May 8, 2005

Grilling he who would be Barbecue King

Steven Raichlen, a.k.a. the Barbecue King, is an award-winning American author, journalist, cookery teacher and television host. He is the author of 26 books on international foods and grilling, including the "Barbecue Bible" cookbook series that has clocked up sales over 3 million. His show, "Barbecue...
Features
May 8, 2005

How to look hot or not

Dressing properly for a barbecue party is a daunting task.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 2005

Reflecting truth and beauty

Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, who writes and performs under the moniker Mirah, records for K Records, the proudly lo-fi label headquartered in Olympia, Wash., and run by indie rock's most dedicated iconoclast, Calvin Johnson, singer in band Beat Happening.
Japan Times
Features
May 8, 2005

It's time to get out there and grrrrrrrill!

Years ago, at a friend's house in Kobe, an intense argument broke out between the Americans and Australians present. It turned into quite a searing row, and for a while it threatened to inflame tempers and disrupt the otherwise festive occasion.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 7, 2005

Liverpool's run to Champions League final amazing

LONDON -- It is part of the attraction of what Pele called the beautiful game that there are some things even the best coaches cannot explain.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2005

Jubilee breathes new life into Bandung

SINGAPORE -- Indonesia recently brought together 80 leaders of the "decolonized peoples of Asia and Africa" to celebrate the historic 1955 Bandung conference of nonaligned nations.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 7, 2005

Knitting trip around Japan ties up more projects

One Japan-related project attracts attention at "Knit 2 Together: Concepts in Knitting," organized by the U.K.'s Crafts Council and on show in London until May 15, from where it will set out to tour Britain as part of the "Knitting and Stitching Show 2005."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
May 5, 2005

Swallow tales to silence those who speak with forked tongues

It was 1969, and I was driving our open-topped Mercedes Unimog to Asmara to get some building supplies and other gear not available in Gondar, the nearest town to the Simien Mountain National Park in Ethiopia where I was then a game warden.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 4, 2005

Living tradition of court doll-making celebrated

"Gosho Ningyo Court Dolls and Paintings of the Modern Era,' currently at the Seikado Bunko Art Museum and coinciding with Golden Week, sets out to display the decorative flourishes and innovations of the late 19th century (late Edo and Meiji periods) through to the early 20th century. It was a time when,...
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2005

Some pits remain in Vietnam's growing bowl of cherries

LOS ANGELES -- The people of Vietnam -- who celebrated the 30th anniversary of the United States' final pullout from Saigon on April 30 -- are getting with the market-oriented, rich-is-glorious, we-love-anyone-with-money (including Westerners), China-clone program of economic reform (while keeping dissidents...
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2005

Strong apology needs a willing recipient

HONOLULU -- The issue of Japan's apology for invading China from 1931 to 1945 and occupying Korea from 1910 to 1945 just won't go away, for two reasons:
Japan Times
Features
May 1, 2005

Heading for the stars on high

KONA, Hawaii -- The big white 4WD driven by Yasuhiro Nishida left the hotel in Kohala Coast at 2:50 p.m. with 13 people on board. It was another windy afternoon on the west coast of the island of Hawaii -- "the Big Island," as this, the largest and youngest in the Hawaiian chain, is known.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 1, 2005

Soundz from Germany

Classical German culture had a profound influence on modern Japan, especially in the fields of philosophy and medicine, but recent German trends have had to compete for attention with all the other international cultural imports. The Deutschland in Japan Year aims to give Germany a higher profile here,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 30, 2005

Rosie Stancer

Only three women have ever on their own reached the South Pole. The first was a Norwegian skier. The second was a Briton, who covered the requisite 1,123 km in 42 days, a record that stands. The third was Rosie Stancer, also a Briton and the eldest of the three when at 43 she trekked solo in one of the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 30, 2005

Classic car buff backs first Le Mans race abroad

The most famous race in the world for cars that have survived the test of time, Le Mans 24 Hours, has never been staged outside France in 82 years. Until this year, that is, when it comes to Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 29, 2005

Reliving the good life in the country

Visitors to Japan often go into a form of shock not long after they arrive. It is not the different language, cuisine, or social customs that are the cause, but, rather, the realization that Japanese cities are vast, crowded, hyper-modern jungles of humanity where life seems to be constantly on warp...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 29, 2005

Shopping for the little bookworms

It's bedtime and you're keen for the little ones to get off to sleep so you can return to that DVD you left on pause. For their story, you try winging it again with a Japanese picture book, but the version you concoct this time is different to what you told them before. Pointing out that you've got the...
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2005

New biotech miracles won't come cheap

WASHINGTON -- The California biotechnology industry recently gathered for its annual CALBIO conference. Participants were excited at the prospect of developing new medical miracles. But the potential of government interference hung over the proceedings like dark clouds on the horizon.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2005

Has China learned a lesson?

It is naturally welcome that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan and President Hu Jintao of China reaffirmed in Jakarta that friendly Japan-China relations are desirable not only for the two countries but also for Asia at large. It is beyond doubt that good Japan-China relations promote peace and...
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2005

Aichi, Tokyo top list of worst prefectures for car pollution

Aichi Prefecture tops the list of prefectures in total carbon dioxide emissions from cars, but Tokyo is even worse when it comes to the amount released from a car per kilometer, the Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Ministry said.

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