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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2004

G7 communique unlikely to touch on dollar's fall: 'Mr. Yen'

Japan will probably not gain support from the European Union in raising concerns over the dollar's recent decline during an upcoming meeting of Group of Seven finance chiefs, the man known as "Mr. Yen" said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 4, 2004

UNESCO top honor for bunraku puppet theater

On Nov. 7, 2003, bunraku was recognized by UNESCO as a World Intangible Cultural Heritage. The award cited the unique nature of Japan's indigenous puppet theater, and praised the realism with which it portrays human emotions.
EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 2004

Dispatch debate fails muster

The government's inconsistent statements last week on the security situation in the southern Iraq city of Samawah, the destination of Japanese ground troops, has raised new doubts about a survey report that describes the situation as "relatively stable." This suggests, regrettably, that the government...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 3, 2004

'Real' last samurai fights for attention

Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe may be raking in big box-office bucks as The Last Samurai, but a rival claimant to the title has emerged in the unlikely form of a sword-wielding British TV producer.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2004

Electronic toll system users on rise

The Electronic Toll Collection system, introduced in 2001 to collect highway fees without drivers having to stop, is gaining in popularity due to discounts for installing the system and reduced fees for users.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2004

Asylum seeker holds onto hope

On Jan. 23, the day after his book came out, 21-year-old Ali Jane received a surprise phone call from his mother back home in Afghanistan, telling him she and his two older sisters were safe in Kabul.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 1, 2004

A testament to the love of Gainsbourg

A week before her concert appearance in Tokyo, I call Jane Birkin. That's Jane -- heavy breathing on the raunchy 1969 Serge Gainsbourg classic, "Je t'aime . . . moi non plus" -- Birkin.
COMMENTARY
Feb 1, 2004

Paying more for education

LONDON -- Last week the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Tony Blair just barely won a vote in the House of Commons on the payment of "top-up" fees at British universities. The government had failed to consult widely in the Labour Party before announcing its policy on fees, and this was one reason...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 31, 2004

Frederick Harris

Many people know Frederick Harris, a 40-year resident of Japan. A past president of the Tokyo American Club, he is a prominent member of several organizations, "joining them if I can give something. If it is to take, I am not interested," he said. Some people know him through his articles, books and...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2004

Creator of blue LED wins ¥20 billion patent payout

The Tokyo District Court on Friday ordered midsize chemical maker Nichia Corp. to pay an unprecedented ¥20 billion to the inventor of a key semiconductor device for his transfer of patent rights to the firm.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2004

Mad cow disease: a blessing in disguise

Mankind's history is rife with examples of natural phenomena radically changing its existence, the ice ages and small pox to name two. HIV has had a profound effect on sexual behavior the world over. Now, a mysterious protein -- a prion -- is about to change the eating habits of many people in the West...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 30, 2004

Manchester United soap opera looks set for very long run

LONDON -- The Manchester United soap opera continues and shows no sign of running out of far-fetched scripts.
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 29, 2004

Japan's longliners devastate world squid stocks

It was early spring 1968, I had received a Fulbright Foundation educational grant to produce a 16mm movie about Japanese fisheries. The grant provided for the latest "state-of-the-art" Canon 16mm movie camera (there were no video cameras in those days), and with it I had successfully completed and edited...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Jan 29, 2004

Japan is learning to love (and loving to learn) Chinese

Every day, it seems, more and more Japanese want to communicate -- in Chinese. One million Japanese, says Web magazine ChinaGate, are learning Mandarin and other Chinese dialects. At Japanese universities and schools, Mandarin has overtaken French and German to become the most popular language after...
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2004

Defense policy put to test

With Monday's government order to dispatch the main contingent of ground troops to Iraq, the Self-Defense Forces is ready for full deployment in the conflict-torn country. The troops will be sent in stages, starting with a group of engineers, to Samawah in southern Iraq. With air and navy units also...
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 29, 2004

Zip and zap -- Sonic's back

"Sonic Heroes," a very entertaining new arcade adventure from Sega for GameCube, Xbox and PlayStation 2, has four background stories -- and not one of them make sense.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2004

Good win in the gambling genre

The Good Thief Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Neil Jordan Running time: 104 minutes Language: English Opens Jan. 31 [See Japan Times movie listings] Gambler flicks can be a pretty predictable lot, and it's all too easy to adhere to formula and end up with an entirely forgettable...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2004

On a not-so-sentimental journey to 1947

Born in Osaka in 1958, Junji Sakamoto has set many of his 13 feature films, including his award-winning 1989 debut "Dotsuitarunen," in his native Kansai. He arrived for our interview at the Takanawa Prince Hotel looking dapper in a retro-style suit that he later told me had been worn by an actor friend...
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2004

10 million yen limit on postal savings to be enforced

The government plans to take the unprecedented step of forcing depositors to observe the 10 million yen legal limit on postal savings, government sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2004

Net denizens debate conflict prevention

An ongoing nine-day online symposium on conflict prevention has generated a number of Internet-based discussions among participants from more than 35 countries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2004

Play democracy for me

Kono yo no Soto E Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Junji Sakamoto Running time: 123 minutes Language: Japanese Opens Feb. 7 [See Japan Times movie listings] Movies, producer Naoya Narita once told me, are news. The problem is, real world news moves fast -- and films often have a hard...
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2004

Defuse the debt bomb

Japan's public debt continues to swell ominously, yet there is no reassuring long-term scenario for deficit reduction. The government's latest medium-term outlook for economic and fiscal reform amounts to a tacit admission that the balanced budget is, at best, a distant goal.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 27, 2004

Rural life's slow death

Matsunoyama town has almost everything its residents could want: spellbinding scenery, gorgeous terraced rice paddies cloaking the hillsides, splendid new roads and magnificent public facilities.
COMMENTARY
Jan 26, 2004

Fog of politics obscures war

For most Americans, World War II began Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor. Europeans date the beginning of the war to the 1939 invasion of Poland. Few Westerners appreciate the length and savagery of the Sino-Japanese war that was already in full force even by then.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2004

Respecting a pillar of democracy

The government is apparently trying to restrict media coverage of the Self-Defense Forces' activities in Iraq. Earlier this month, the director general of the Defense Agency, Mr. Shigeru Ishiba, requested that newspapers, news agencies and networks exercise "self-restraint." He said he was only "asking"...
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2004

Dealing with the new South Korea

The resignation of Foreign Minister Yoon Young Kwan has raised concerns about South Korea's foreign policy. His replacement by veteran diplomat Ban Ki Moon should help allay some of those fears. There will be no abrupt shifts in Seoul. Nevertheless, the shuffle is an indication of the changes at work...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 25, 2004

Where time stands still

Once upon a time, if you stood in the Saiwai-cho area of Kawagoe in western Saitama Prefecture, you would have seen all around you people in kimono moving between rows of old merchants' houses with upswept, tiled roofs, kura warehouses with double-shuttered windows, and alleys twisting between black-painted...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 25, 2004

Happy Ko-Edo exile

Midori Fujii calls herself a "cityscape exile."

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