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COMMENTARY
Oct 3, 2004

Bleak hopes for democracy

LONDON -- The U.N. secretary general recently reaffirmed that the war in Iraq was illegal in the absence of a second U.N. resolution. Last week, Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted at the Labour Party Conference that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and that the intelligence alleging the...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 2, 2004

Drive into the sea, then put up guardrail

On my planet, the United States, used car salesmen have a classic line for selling a car with low mileage: "This car was driven by a little old lady who only used it to drive to the grocery store." In Japan, if I ever get rid of my lightweight pickup truck, the salesman will say, "This truck was driven...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2004

Tokaido Shinkansen Line fetes 40 years

Ceremonies were held Friday marking 40 years since the Tokaido Shinkansen Line opened, pioneering the bullet train service linking Tokyo and Osaka just ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 1, 2004

Rooney's debut helps Manchester fans overlook his roots

LONDON -- Mancunians, generally speaking, do not like Liverpudlians and that is putting it mildly. The feeling is also mutual and just about the only thing the folk from the two cities have in common is their opinion of each other.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 1, 2004

Top tapas made the Tio Danjo way

Tio Danjo is not a large place, and it's hard enough at the best of times to reserve a table at short notice. At the end of last month, though, it was nigh on impossible. Owner-chef Keita Danjo had just come back from one of his regular visits to Madrid, and the word was out among regular customers....
COMMENTARY
Sep 28, 2004

No sense of proportionality

I was intrigued by two recent U.S. antiwar movies -- Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911," and "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara," directed by Errol Morris. The former denounces U.S. President George W. Bush's justification for the Iraq War; the latter is based on an interview...
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Sep 28, 2004

Japanese mega-stores blazing trails in a brave, new publishing world

The Japanese bookstore world used to be one of "If you put it out, it will sell." But that comfortable age is over. Seven straight years of declining book sales have killed off some 1,500 bookstores.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 26, 2004

Mourinho's method wins many games, not many friends

LONDON -- Returning from Chelsea's 3-0 Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain in France last week this correspondent was the last passenger to leave the team's plane. A police officer at Gatwick Airport asked: "Did they win?"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2004

Howl of Los Lobos stronger than ever

For 30 years, East L.A.'s Los Lobos has made a habit of crossing borders. One look through their discography reveals the Latin rock quintet's frequent movement between Mexican folk and American R&B, with regular stops along the Mississippi for funk and blues. Recent albums have even showed a moody, experimental...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 26, 2004

Disillusioned bard of a bygone Japan

In the century that has passed since the death of Lafcadio Hearn on Sept. 26, 1904, the Japanese people have studiously formulated and maintained a myth -- and they have done it with all the tools and vigor of nostalgia at their disposal.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 26, 2004

"Sunday Present" on TV Asahi and more

Lately, a lot of attention has been focused on the problem of waste left behind on mountains by alpinists and hikers. Mount Everest is said to be almost a dump and Mount Fuji a national disgrace. However, the problem of trash and environmental pollution afflicts even smaller peaks.
Japan Times
Features
Sep 26, 2004

Abandoned misfit who found peace in prose and his new land

In the West, Lafcadio Hearn is largely unknown outside of small circles of Japanophiles and aficionados of Gaelic writers.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 25, 2004

Fighters keep playoff hopes alive

Shinji Takahashi and Angel Echevarria both hit two-run homers Friday as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters moved a step closer to the Pacific League playoffs with a 7-4 win over the Orix BlueWave.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Sep 23, 2004

Putin's bloodless coup d'etat

MOSCOW -- In what amounts to a coup d'etat five years after he came to power in August 1999, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a number of measures annihilating the fragile system of checks and balances constructed during President Boris Yeltsin's tenure in the 1990s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 22, 2004

And in the tattered black tights, Papa

Backdrop Papa Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Toshio Lee Running time: 98 minutes Language: Japanese Opens Oct. 8 [See Japan Times movie listings] Boys want their fathers to be heroes. Men want to be heroes to their sons. These truisms sound old-fashioned in today's unheroic Tokyo,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 22, 2004

Getting under the skin of a serial killer

After "Hannibal" et al., seeing another serial killer flick was about as pleasant a prospect as being buried alive. It was a nice surprise, then, to find that director Patty Jenkins had made an intelligent, genre-defying film grounded in reality. Jenkins, who also wrote the screenplay, has been riding...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 22, 2004

Stop usif you'veheard thisone before

The Quiet American Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Philip Noyce Running time: 101 minutes Language: English Now showing [See Japan Times movie listings] When Graham Greene penned his novel "The Quiet American" in 1954, he was set on capturing a particular point in time in late,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 22, 2004

Let's dance to those rhythms

To the soft tinkle of a music box, a solitary couple twirls on stage, spinning faster and faster as the whispering voices of the night entice them. Suddenly the doll-like figures vanish, and the stage and auditorium erupt in a blaze of nightclub beats. The floor vibrates to the rhythm of three-dozen...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 21, 2004

Kawashima defends WBC title

Japan's Katsushige Kawashima scored a unanimous decision over Raul Juarez of Mexico on Monday to retain his WBC superflyweight crown at Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Sep 20, 2004

Despite reforms, future looks grim without consumption tax hike

In the "Okuda Vision (Japan 2025)" report released in January 2003, Keidanren used a simulation to present the medium to longer-term prospects for Japan's fiscal and social security systems. We made it clear that the measures which would be needed to maintain the sustainability of national and local...
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2004

Japan's diplomatic might

In late August, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi visited four Central Asian states to build a new framework of regional dialogue. The creation of the "Central Asia Plus Japan" forum means that Japan is pushing strategic diplomacy in the geopolitically important Silk Road region, surrounded by Russia,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 19, 2004

Suffering survivor's guilt

PURPLE SUN, by Lawrence McAuliffe. Hinesburg, VT: Upper Access Books, 2003, 233 pp., $12.95 (paper). In this short work, a U.S. Marine named Billy Kern cracks up and deserts his unit to remain behind in Vietnam after the war. Twenty-eight years later, a master sergeant and officer who knew him go back...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 19, 2004

A flavor of Lima with Fujimori to the fore

Visit any Latin dance club and you'll hear the salsa music blaring well before you get through the doors. But this month at dance clubs across Japan there'll be another sound as well: the buzz over a new, free-of-charge magazine on Peruvian life in this country that's being distributed not only at clubs...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 19, 2004

Just picture that!

The overthrow of the feudal Tokugawa Shogunate in 1867 and the restoration of imperial rule in 1868 was preceded by 15 years of intense change in news reporting.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 19, 2004

Cubist on the turntables

A cacophony of electronic bleeps and disjointed drum rolls kick off the second and latest CD "Sensation" by Ryo Kato, aka DJ Klock. What follows is a series of drill-like drum riffs that start, stop then start again several times before settling into a jerky hip-hop-like beat. Later, this transient groove...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 18, 2004

Referees an easy target of blame for managers, players, media

LONDON -- Last weekend was such a bad one for referees that the man from the Daily Mirror was desperately searching for someone to speak up on behalf of the off-form officials.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 18, 2004

The perfect touch for fall: Christmas

Every eight years, our neighborhood has "matsuri toban," or festival duty, which means we are in charge of all the island festivals for the year. One house within that neighborhood volunteers to set up decorations, receive guests at festival times and host the Shinto gods for the year.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji