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Features / WEEK 3
Mar 20, 2005

Quake amateurs shake skeptical pros

With surprisingly little fanfare, the Japan Meteorological Agency, which keeps tabs on tens of thousands of earthquakes a year, has been setting up a network of ultra-sensitive electronic motion detectors that will pick up on the kind of minute seismic quivering that heralds a major quake.
Features / WEEK 3
Mar 20, 2005

On a wing and no fare

When Momoko Sasaki goes traveling, she literally "goes an extra mile" to enjoy perks that few of her peers have likely ever dreamed of.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2005

Curing the plague of piracy

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- For years now piracy in the Malacca Strait has been one of the top problems facing the Asian region. A recent Japan Times editorial very succinctly dealt with the potential dangers that it presents, especially with regard to Japan. My purpose here is to consider possible ways...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2005

Experts trade conflicting views on how to handle U.S. beef

Japan's 15-month-old import ban on U.S. beef has become a major diplomatic issue between Tokyo and Washington, and U.S. lawmakers are increasing pressure on Japan to lift the ban as soon as possible.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2005

Ito-Yokado holds initiation rite for 1,046 rookies

Supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co. held an initiation ceremony for 1,046 new recruits of its group companies Thursday, ahead of other similar rites by major companies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 16, 2005

A baroque approach

With his keen, adventurous musical intellect and an interpretative idiosyncrasy that breathes new life into the standard repertoire, Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey is fast assuming a hallowed place in the cellist pantheon. Influenced by the revolutionary Early Music movement in the Netherlands under...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 16, 2005

Directing duo blossoms

In 1990, shortly after I started reviewing for The Japan Times, I saw a film by a former porno director, Shun Nakahara, that made me think I was not wasting my time after all.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 15, 2005

Visa la difference

Although it is certainly not impossible to receive a credit card as a foreigner living in Japan, chances are that unless you're working for a major Japanese company that is prepared to provide you with a family card, you're probably going to be rejected far more often than you might be at home.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 13, 2005

Acceptance of foreign managers reflects yet another change in Japanese baseball

It is obvious Japanese baseball is changing. It was not all that long ago when such terms as free agency, posting, expansion, inter-league games and post-season playoffs were unheard of. Now, everyone here knows them.
COMMENTARY
Mar 13, 2005

Bad time to take a chance on arms sales

WASHINGTON -- When China's National People's Congress convened in Beijing early this month, Premier Wen Jiabao highlighted his nation's military modernization campaign and breathed threats against Taiwan. It would be hard to find a worse time for Europe to offer China military aid.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 13, 2005

Fuji's "Dead Age" tries to bridge babyboomers and youngsters' culture gap and more

Though baby boomers control the creative side of the television industry, a huge part of their audience is a lot younger, a divide that often results in stilted programming.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2005

End to deposit guarantee symbolic more than strategic: economist

The upcoming removal of the government's decade-long unlimited guarantee on bank deposits is not expected to drastically change the financial portfolio of the average household, said Paul Sheard, chief economist for Asia at Lehman Brothers.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 10, 2005

Will the 'Brave Blossoms' soon be drinking champagne?

It's often said that it is a brave man who owns up to being wrong.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 10, 2005

Mandarin duck

* Japanese name: Oshidori * Scientific name: Aix galericulata * Description: The male Mandarin duck is the last word in avian cuteness. With a wingspan of 68-74 cm, and a body that's 41-49 cm long, he has highly elaborate plumage, with long orange feathers on the "cheeks" of his face, swished-back...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 9, 2005

Can Lions stay focused in midst of scandal?

This could be the final season for the Seibu Lions, at least as we know the ball club by that name.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 9, 2005

The melting pot of theatrical Asia served up for Japan

"Hotel Grand Asia," the debut production resulting from an ambitious pan-Asian collaboration called Lohan Journey, opened at the Setagaya Public Theatre (SEPT) in Sangenjaya on March 8 is the fruit of over two years of intensive preparation since the project was launched by SEPT's director Kentaro Matsui....
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2005

Toyota booming in world's No. 2 spot over U.S. rival Ford

Back in the 1970s, workers at Toyota Motor Corp. were taught to never turn down an order because good times couldn't be counted on to last forever. These days, Toyota cars are in such demand workers are exhausted just keeping up.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 8, 2005

Creating laws out of thin air

With terrorists striking fear into governments worldwide, Japan too is currently considering its own version of America's Patriot Act, to be passed in a year or two.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2005

U.S., Taiwan miss communication cues

TAIPEI -- Communications between the governments of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and U.S. President George W. Bush have become increasingly muddled, adding to the possibility of a miscalculation in the confrontation between this island nation and China.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 6, 2005

Nagashima recovering from stroke

Former Yomiuri Giants manager Shigeo Nagashima is showing signs of slow but sure progress toward recovery a year after suffering a stroke, Central League club officials said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 2005

Dolls without borders

'T here is no new thing under the sun," said the preacher (Ecclesiastes, 1:9). Well, the preacher had it half right. Sometimes people come up with a brand-new thing in response to an age-old reality. Consider the case of Hong Kong-based software developer Eberhard Schoeneburg. According to recent reports,...
Japan Times
Features
Mar 6, 2005

Issey Ogata: Comic chameleon

Issey Ogata is nothing if not versatile. Alone on an empty stage, he has audiences in fits as he performs his seriously funny one-man shows portraying characters as diverse as a classic sarariman (office worker) and a folk-song diva -- one after another.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 6, 2005

New Western poetry from an old Japanese tradition

THE TANKA ANTHOLOGY, edited by Michael McClintock, Pamela Miller Ness & Jim Kacian. Red Moon Press, 2003, 231 pp., $24.95 (cloth). EDGE OF LIGHT: The Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku, edited by Jim Kacian et al., Red Moon Press, 2004, 175 pp., $16.95 (paper). The haiku, already well established...
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2005

India's new double standard

NEW DELHI -- The growing warmth in U.S.-Indian relations is getting strangely reflected in India's adoption of U.S.-style dual standards on democracy.
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2005

Increase pressure on North Korea

Talks with North Korea are deadlocked on two make-or-break issues: that country's nuclear weapons program and its past abduction of Japanese nationals. Last month, declaring that it has nuclear weapons, Pyongyang threatened an indefinite boycott of the six-party talks. It also refused to discuss the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 2, 2005

Goya brought to life in flamenco

La Yoko, as she is known by those in the flamenco world, is the woman responsible for not only bringing this ethnic gypsy-rooted form of dance into Japan but also establishing the first flamenco dance company on this far eastern island 36 years ago. In 1959, Yoko Komatsubara, after having seen the spectacular...
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2005

Jobless rate remained at low of 4.5% in January

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained at a six-year low of 4.5 percent in January, unchanged from December, the government said Tuesday.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 1, 2005

Revamped Fuji Speedway unveiled

OYAMA, Shizuoka Pref. -- Toyota Motor Corp. on Monday unveiled a revamped Fuji Speedway, a state-of-the-art racing facility the Japanese manufacturer hopes will be among the best Formula One circuits in the world.
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2005

Look for VAT hike on the agenda

It appears that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is pushing the consumption-tax issue onto the political agenda. During a Lower House plenary session earlier this month, he said, in effect, that the value-added tax should be increased as part of overall social security reform. Until recently, Koizumi...

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