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EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2004

The year of the blog

Whether you're sick to death of the word "blog" or have no idea what it means, you are equally abreast of the times, linguistically speaking. Merriam-Webster, the U.S. dictionary publisher, recently declared it the most looked-up term on its Internet site this year, not counting profanities and perennial...
COMMUNITY
Dec 25, 2004

Shades of capella, Yale sabbatical and key-lime pie

Peter Hasegawa is on the Tokyo run . . . conducting postgraduate research, studying at Keio University, tutoring Japanese students at international schools in English, and trying to organize a visit by the Yale capella group, Shades. But only until Dec. 23, when he flies home to Connecticut for the Christmas...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 25, 2004

Robert Morton

When he speaks of Queen Victoria, British monarch from 1837 to 1901, young Englishman Robert Morton becomes impassioned. He said: "England would have had a revolution if it weren't for Victoria. Her route to the throne was very tenuous, then she became the first monarch of the people, supported by the...
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2004

Waiting for Japan to change -- or can it?

LOS ANGELES -- For as long as I write this column on Asia, which enters into its 10th year next month, I doubt I'll ever witness anything as amusing or telling as the flareup that took place at the close of the University of Southern California's Asia Conference last month.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2004

Singh moves to resolve Kashmir conflict

MADRAS, India -- India's new prime minister, Manmohan Singh, welcomed his Pakistani counterpart, Shaukat Aziz, in New Delhi the other day with a classic line: "Who could say 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall would be a thing of the past. My hope and prayer is that we can do something similar in the Indian...
JAPAN / READERS' FUND
Dec 24, 2004

Kyoto aid group helping farmers revive agriculture in Afghanistan

When a nongovernmental organization based in Kyoto sent a study team to Afghanistan's Herat Province in November 2001, just a month after the Taliban regime had collapsed under the onslaught of U.S. retaliation for the Sept. 11 attacks, it found a human disaster in progress.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2004

Gangland power vacuum leaves Kobe residents gasping

KOBE -- Nada Ward is one of Kobe's better neighborhoods, home to senior business executives and foreign diplomats, and known for its good schools and small, trendy shops and cafes.
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2004

Mongolia's nuclear-free wish

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea -- Mongolia is a landlocked wilderness the size of Alaska. With a population of only 2.7 million, it is squeezed between two geopolitical giants, China and Russia. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the withdrawal of Russian troops in 1992, leaving the country alone -- and...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2004

Myanmar mom 'anxious' for kids before her release

A Myanmarese woman who along with her husband was separated from her young children while incarcerated at the Tokyo immigration center for illegal entry said Wednesday she was filled with anxiety and dread during her ordeal.
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2004

Ukraine's poisonous politics

How far will the old order in Ukraine go to safeguard its privileges? News that opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned suggests that it is desperate indeed. Three months after the alleged poisoning, questions continue to mount about how Mr. Yushchenko ingested what should have...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 22, 2004

Mission of self-destruction

Sylvia Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Christine Jeffs Running time: 110 minutes Language: English Opens Dec. 25 [See Japan Times movie listings] "A writer should be remembered for his writing," Jean-Paul Sartre once wrote, but in the world of movies many writers tend to be remembered...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 22, 2004

Making love from the inside out

Vital Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Shinya Tsukamoto Running time: 86 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] When Shinya Tsukamoto released his first feature, "Tetsuo," in 1989, many critics compared the crazed black-and-white speed dream...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2004

230 people killed or missing in natural disasters in 2004

At least 230 people were killed or remain missing and presumed dead in typhoons, rainstorms and other natural disasters in 2004, according to a government report released Tuesday.
JAPAN / READERS' FUND
Dec 22, 2004

JVC uses donations to dig wells, improve water in Laotian villages

Japan International Volunteer Center kicked off a project in 1997 to promote environment-friendly agriculture at villages in Vientiane Prefecture, Laos.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 2004

The sound of 2004

Rock and blues Animal Collective, "Sung Tongs" (Fat Cat): An acoustic hootenany reinvented for the electronic era. Exhilarating, innocent of any apparent influence, and completely unlike anything else released this year (or maybe ever). (S.T.)
Dec 22, 2004

230 people killed or missing in natural disasters in 2004

At least 230 people were killed or remain missing and presumed dead in typhoons, rainstorms and other natural disasters in 2004, according to a government report released Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2004

Haneda reopens revamped Terminal 1

Tokyo's Haneda airport on Tuesday reopened Terminal 1's renovated North Wing, allowing Japan Airlines to use both wings of the terminal.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 21, 2004

Workplace worries

Bullying and dismissal I've been working for a private university for almost eight years. During that time, I have put up with constant "ijime" from two other teachers, who finally got their way and are having me fired. No reason was given for my firing.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2004

Chief Yasukuni priest brings business savvy to shrine

At one time, Toshiaki Nambu was just an ordinary employee at Dentsu Inc., the nation's top advertising agency, working with such clients as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
Dec 20, 2004

Chief Yasukuni priest brings business savvy to shrine

At one time, Toshiaki Nambu was just an ordinary employee at Dentsu Inc., the nation's top advertising agency, working with such clients as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 20, 2004

Consumption tax, reforms, incentives key to future growth

The Keidanren in September released a simulation of the medium- to longer-term prospects for Japan's fiscal policies and social security programs. The simulation made itclear that unless the fiscal structure of the Japanese government is reformed, Japan's outstanding public debt will likely expand to...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 19, 2004

TBS's "The Plan to Rescue Santa Claus" and more

Ryoko Yonekura returns to the airwaves as Arisa, the housewife-witch patterned after Samantha of the old U.S. sitcom "Bewitched," for a special Christmas show. In "The Plan to Rescue Santa Claus" (TBS, Tue., 9 p.m.), Arisa and her daughter, Tsubasa, return to the world of mortals and husband Joji after...
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Dec 19, 2004

Dixieland duo's Wonderful World

Take a stroll down Royal Street in the Adventureland area of Tokyo Disneyland any weekend and you'll likely hear the heart-tugging sounds of Dixieland jazz. What's most surprising, perhaps, is the sheer authenticity of the New Orleanian music re-created by 62-year-old trumpet player Yoshio Toyama and...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 19, 2004

Fredrik Lundin Overdrive: "Belly-up"

Combining the gutsiness of blues with the sophistication of modern European jazz, Danish saxophonist Fredrik Lundin's "Belly-up" is a fitting tribute to the toughest bluesman of them all: Leadbelly. The CD's seven tunes, plus one original, slather the raw melodies of Leadbelly (whose real name was Huddie...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Dec 19, 2004

A tourist jaunt to horrors past

Kanchanaburi (pop. 58,000) could be just another semi-rural town in Thailand. There are touts with strong ideas about where you might like to stay. There's the smell of someone flash-frying beef somewhere -- chilies, garlic and basil; a few feckless chickens are pecking at bits and pieces in the middle...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 18, 2004

Talking (and talking) about talking

"Did I ever tell you about the time I was kidnapped by Gypsies?"
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Japan to join spring resolution to get UNSC reform ball rolling

Japan will work together with other countries to submit a resolution as early as next spring to revise the United Nations Charter and reform the international body, according to Kenzo Oshima, Japanese ambassador to the U.N.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 17, 2004

FIBA likes Japan's plan for 2006 world championships

Top executives from FIBA, basketball's world governing body, recently visited Japan for a site inspection tour of the five cities and venues that will host games here during the 2006 world championships.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’