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Features
Feb 15, 2004

Lap up a taste of the good times

"I'm going to be in tears before the end of all this. I just know it," says Heidy, fluttering her mascara-clad eyes.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 15, 2004

Shelters from the storm

Japan's small 'snack' bars may be a mystery to most, but to their loyal and mainly male customers they are cozy havens where they can unwind with friends and share life's ups and downs with a mama-san who's always there for them
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 15, 2004

Asian Sherlocks pursue exotic crimes

THE FENG SHUI DETECTIVE, by Nury Vittachi. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004, 280 pp., $23.95 (cloth). THE LAST KASHMIRI ROSE, by Barbara Cleverly. New York: Bantam Dell, 2003, 314 pp., $6.99 (paper). The "feng shui detective," an elderly Singaporean named C.F. Wong, doesn't wear a trench coat or pack...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 14, 2004

Roland Thompson

His happiest memory, Roland Thompson says, is of his training, and learning advanced techniques, in Soke Shioda's black-belt aikido classes. His saddest memory is of the day Shioda died. He regards himself as "very fortunate to have been with him, and to have trained with him, during that last part of...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Feb 13, 2004

Champagne's blushful secrets stripped bare

Champagne made its debut at the French court at Versailles in the second half of the 17th century and was an instant hit with licentious aristocrats such as the regent Duc D'Orleans and Madame de Mailly, mistress of Louis XV. Ever since, Champagne has enjoyed a reputation as one of the most "romantic"...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2004

Women starting new tradition: Valentine's Day self-indulgence

The sluggish economy has done little to dim the hopes of retailers this Valentine's Day season: They still expect women to flock to their shops to buy chocolates and other gifts for men.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 13, 2004

Japan pair finish second in U.S. meet

ORLANDO -- Japan's Takashi Yamamoto placed second in the men's 200-meter butterfly and Masami Tanaka was also second in the women's 200-meter breaststroke at the U.S. Spring National Championships on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2004

Pension reforms without teeth

With Japan's population aging rapidly, overhauling the underfunded public pension system for company employees is an urgent priority. The reform package approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday contains important reforms, but it entails painful adjustments. Its primary aim is to balance revenue (premiums)...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 12, 2004

To run, or not to run, the race issue

Last year, when Californians had to choose between Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger and incumbent Democrat Gray Davis to be their governor, they also had to vote on another divisive issue: Proposition 54. This law, the so-called Racial Privacy Initiative, sought to ban the state collection of information...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 12, 2004

The road to pinpointing corporations that care

When it comes to sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, the media never tire of airing dirty laundry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2004

'It's 1918 for everyone'

Dutch-born Menno Meyjes has had a prosperous career working as a screenwriter under the wing of Steven Spielberg, penning the Oscar-nominated "The Color Purple," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and "Empire of the Sun." So it's surprising to see Meyjes make his directorial debut with a script on...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2004

Ah, that's Dogma amore

Italian for Beginners Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Japanese title: Shiawase ni naru tame Itariagokoza Director: Lone Scherfig Running time: 97 minutes Language: Danish, Italian Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "Italian for Beginners" is a sweet, unpretentious love story...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2004

Changing security situation may alter collective defense stance: Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi hinted Tuesday that the government might alter its constitutional interpretation of the nation's right to collective self-defense as it deals with future changes in the security situation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 11, 2004

Timeless message of divine 'Angels' rings loud and clear

They've pulled it off again! Almost exactly a year ago the team at tpt (Theatre Project Tokyo), led by the renowned American director Robert Allan Ackerman, got Tokyo theater in 2003 off to a great start with their stunningly moving production of "Bent," cast entirely from the young actors who took part...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2004

Sexual harassment victim to stage English play about her experience

About six years ago, Lilith Takahashi began performing a solo Japanese play based on her experience of sexual harassment at a U.S. university in the early 1980s.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2004

Abe's trial over AIDS death set to be halted

An appeal against the acquittal of Takeshi Abe on a charge of causing a patient's death will probably not be heard because the former HIV expert has been judged mentally incompetent.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2004

Politicians mark war centenary

Forty-three Diet members visited Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday to mark the centennial anniversary of Japan's declaration of war against Russia that led to the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War.
COMMENTARY
Feb 11, 2004

SDF dispatch opens new era for Japan

The dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq marks a watershed in Japan's post-World War II security and defense policy. The SDF has joined U.N. peacekeeping operations several times since 1992. The latest deployment, though designed primarily to support humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2004

Back to Futurists and fascists

Max Rating: * * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Japanese title: Adolf no Gashu Director: Menno Meyjes Running time: 108 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] With his debut feature, "Max," director Menno Meyjes takes us back to the Germany of 1918, in the immediate...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 10, 2004

Used books, furniture sales and clothes

More readers have been writing to say that they have lost columns cut out for future reference, so could we please relay the same information again. Happy to do so from time to time. Note, however, that that you can find back columns on The Japan Times Web site at www.japantimes.com
COMMENTARY
Feb 10, 2004

'Next big thing' key to growth

During Japan's bubble-economy years of fiscal 1987-1990, consumer spending grew at an annualized 5.5 percent in real terms. But during the Heisei recession of fiscal 1991-2001, consumer-spending growth slowed to an annualized 1.0 percent. Most experts agree that the slowdown in consumer spending, which...
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2004

Shinsei Bank sets IPO price at 525 yen for listing on TSE

Shinsei Bank said Monday it will make an initial public offering at 525 yen per share when it lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Feb. 19.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 10, 2004

Davenport powers to fourth Toray title

Lindsay Davenport cruised to her fourth Toray Pan Pacific Open with a convincing 6-4, 6-1 victory over Bulgarian Magdelena Maleeva on Sunday. Davenport needed less than an hour to walk away with the $189,000 first prize, exhibiting a crushing display of groundstrokes behind a consistently dominating...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2004

Court rejects former sex slaves' plea for damages, government apology

The Tokyo High Court on Monday rejected an appeal by seven women from Taiwan for an official apology from the government and a total of 70 million yen in damages for being forced to provide sex for the Japanese military before and during World War II.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 8, 2004

Dawn of a tragic era

Across a waterfront park in the Shirahama district of Yokosuka, beyond a bronze statue of Admiral Heihachiro Togo, the 15,000-ton Mikasa, his flagship in the Battle of Tsushima (1905), is anchored in concrete -- its chrysanthemum figurehead golden in the winter light, the Rising Sun snapping at the stern....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 8, 2004

Who needs actors when you've got SMAP?

Last summer's Nippon TV scandal, in which a producer admitted he'd bribed monitor families into watching his program, has compromised the Japanese ratings system, but no matter how skeptically you regard such numbers the ratings performance of the pop group SMAP during the first month of the new year...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 7, 2004

Kazuko Asakura

"Bar pianists are like public bathhouses, or shoeshine boys in the street. There are no jobs any more. Situations have changed, and it is shocking how much has disappeared," said Kazuko Asakura.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004

Officials flee embassy amid terror fears

Officials at the Japanese Embassy in Baghdad have been evacuated from the compound to a separate site in the city amid fears of a terrorist attack, government sources said Friday.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 6, 2004

Player power and disloyalty becoming endemic in English game

LONDON -- There is a new game sweeping English football and the rewards can run into millions for the lucky winners.

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