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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2004

We wantsss it, we needsss it!

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Peter Jackson Running time: 203 minutes Language: English Opens Feb. 14 [See Japan Times movie listings] It's February, so we must be in Middle Earth. The annual magical mystery tour through Tolkien's...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2004

Diet business resumes with apology by Koizumi

Diet business reopened Thursday after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi retracted an earlier remark about the security situation in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah.
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 27, 2004

File taxes, apply for passports over the Net

A public service will begin Thursday allowing people to file tax returns and apply for passports over the Internet.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 25, 2004

To give proves easier said than done

JAPAN'S "CULTURE OF GIVING" AND NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS, by Akira Matsubara and Hiroko Todoroki, translated by Richard Forrest. Tokyo: Coalition for Legislation to Support Citizen's Organizations, 2003, 45 pp., free (paper). Japan's transformation is proceeding quietly, slipping beneath media radar screens...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 25, 2004

Japan's culture dictates: Thou shalt eat meat

On Jan. 15, the animal rights organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, announced that CBS had refused to accept a 30-second TV spot from the group for the network's Feb. 1 Super Bowl broadcast. CBS explained that its policy is not to accept "advocacy advertisements." PETA, which would...
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Yahoo clients' credit card info stolen

Softbank Corp. said Friday that someone had stolen personal information on 242 subscribers to its Yahoo BB asymmetrical digital subscriber line high-speed Internet access service. The information includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and credit card numbers, Softbank said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jan 24, 2004

2003 -- Year of the Compilation

It began in Japan with a nasty flu spawned in an overflowing crowd at the countdown party. Right off the bat, 2003 had all the makings of a year that would never get off the ground.
COMMUNITY
Jan 24, 2004

Custom-made 'samue' fit tallest, widest, largest

So many foreign customers asked the owner of Good Day Books in central Tokyo where they could buy the traditional clothing she and her brother wore for work that she put on her thinking cap. "Samue" -- originally designed as work clothes for Buddhist monks -- are made in Japanese sizes only; even if...
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 2004

Reform key to Mr. Koizumi's future

In his policy speech to the Diet on Monday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi spent a considerable amount of time trying to convince a public that is skeptical about sending Self-Defense Force troops to Iraq to provide humanitarian aid and assist with reconstruction. It is not clear whether he succeeded...
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2004

Pay pension premiums or else, agency warns

The Social Insurance Agency will mail letters Tuesday to some 500 people, demanding they pay their national pension premiums or face measures such as the confiscation of their bank deposits, agency officials said.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2004

Online symposium to address peace

The Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and The Japan Times will open the Fourth e-Symposium on Conflict Prevention on Thursday.
JAPAN / BULLETIN BOARD
Jan 19, 2004

Indian Embassy invites public to celebrate Republic Day

The Indian Embassy is inviting all Indians and friends of India in Japan to a celebration at the embassy's chancery in Tokyo to mark Indian Republic Day on Jan. 26.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 18, 2004

Wacky potions can be crocks of gold

The doorbell rang. It was my neighbor, Mrs. S., asking if the lady of the house (a Taiwanese) could help her by translating the Chinese-language instructions for a "miracle" baldness remedy that someone had brought back from China and presented to her husband.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Jan 8, 2004

Japanese books climbed walls, went back to the past in 2003

The particular combination of theme, packaging and timing that produces a best seller is always a mystery, and last year's top sellers in Japan presented even more of a puzzle than usual. What is it about "Baka no Kabe" by anatomy professor Takeshi Yoro that took it to the top of the chart soon after...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Jan 4, 2004

Nothing lost in the digital translation

Sitting in his record distributor's office in a small house in Naka-Meguro, Riow Arai is ostensibly being interviewed. But he isn't answering questions, he is asking them.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2003

Revised law would ban use of cell phones while driving

The National Police Agency is planning to carry out a major revision of the Road Traffic Law next year, including banning the use of mobile phones while driving and outsourcing parking enforcement, according to an NPA draft proposal made available recently.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 28, 2003

If truth be told . . .

There was once a Chinese emperor who abolished time. Wei Ming decreed that day broke when the dawn sky flushed the color of his pet bullfinch's breast. Nighttime began whenever he retired from the audience chamber with his concubines, and was consequently rather longer.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 24, 2003

Kazuo Matsui dropped the Big Egg for the Big Apple

Kazuo "Little" Matsui is set to be the next Japanese star to make a huge splash in the major leagues and become the latest toast of the town in New York.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2003

Schools to see Windows source code

Microsoft Co. said Thursday it will make the source code for its Windows operating systems open to researchers involved in an Internet project involving six Japanese universities.
BUSINESS
Dec 18, 2003

Firms team up on Net-linked appliances

Four major electronics firms announced Wednesday they have agreed to jointly develop standard specifications for connecting fridges, microwave ovens and laundry machines to the Internet.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2003

Japanese Embassy in Baghdad issues alert

The Japanese Embassy in Baghdad has asked Japanese nationals to refrain from visiting it for the time being after receiving threats of attack, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 18, 2003

Cold feet over winter camp

Camping is a wonderful way to unplug from the computer and e-mail, catch up on sleep, and escape the never-ending round of deadlines and commitments. While summer and autumn camps offer opportunities to "shoot the breeze" around a campfire, on dark evenings in the winter there is nothing more one can...
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2003

2 Channel most popular keyword

Internet bulletin board 2 Channel was the most typed-in keyword on the Yahoo Japan Web site in 2003, the operator of Japan's leading Internet portal said Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 16, 2003

'Shut-ins' turn backs on Japan

To look at 29-year-old Kenji Tanaka laughing and drinking with his friends, it's hard to believe that he spent the best part of his twenties cut off from almost all human contact.
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 2003

What the Wright brothers wrought

History is rife with illustrations of those rueful conditional verbs "could have," "would have" or "should have" -- and never more so than when a momentous anniversary rolls around. The latest example is the 100th anniversary this Wednesday of the huge accomplishment of the American Wright brothers,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 10, 2003

Imagine art for all people, living peacefully

Yoko Ono loves me. Or at least she said that she does in the e-mail interview we conducted as she crisscrossed the globe.
JAPAN / TALKING SHOP
Dec 8, 2003

When lenders balk, entrepreneur banks on worthy cause, trust

When Safia Minney first learned over a decade ago the Japanese phrase "mottai-nai" (what a waste) in regard to resources, she knew she was on the right track.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past