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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 21, 2003

Somewhere for everyone

Hop on a Tokyu Denentoshi Line train at Shibuya Station and you'll find the first five stations are all underground. Then, when you emerge from tunnels and pull into Futakotamagawa Station, from the platform you're treated to views of the Tamagawa River separating Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, with...
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2003

Debate needed on pension reform

Japan's underfunded public pension system -- which was a major issue in the Nov. 9 general election -- is in need of urgent reform. As expected, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's plan for 2004, unveiled Monday, calls for drastic changes that would impose a greater burden on both the younger and...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2003

Worlds apart: a tale of two Asian cities

LONDON -- I have spent most of the last two months traveling in the poor areas of western China (the mountain areas in south Ningxia, Qinghai and Gansu) and in Uzbekistan. What a contrast! You could describe the development process in western China as two steps forward and one step back, while in Uzbekistan...
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2003

Japan told to lower farm trade barriers

Japan and other major industrialized nations should open up their agricultural markets to give developing countries the opportunity to sell their goods on an equal footing, according to Ian Goldin, vice president of the World Bank.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2003

Shiatsu to soothe the nervous Chihuahua?

Dog owners will readily say that just being around their pets helps ease their stress. But beyond petting and feeding, how can owners return the compliment and relieve their animals' tension? Or else just pamper them to the max?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2003

Security key factor in future Japan-ASEAN tieup

Although the relationship between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has largely been an economic affair until now, it will cover political and security concerns in the years to come, according to ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong.
COMMENTARY
Nov 19, 2003

Freedom of choice and the ACLU don't quite go together hand in hand

WASHINGTON -- Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, has written to ask me to become a "card-carrying member" of the ACLU. She explains: "There is no higher calling, nor greater reward, democracy can offer an individual than the opportunity to stand up for fundamental freedoms...
EDITORIALS
Nov 18, 2003

Graying Japan needs a road map

Falling birthrates and aging populations -- largely consequences of affluence and longevity -- are a common phenomenon in industrialized countries. Japan is no exception, yet it stands out as an extraordinary case, historically as well as globally. To our knowledge, few countries have experienced such...
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2003

Carbon credits beat bioethanol

The cost of reducing carbon dioxide in Japan by using bioethanol fuel will be 52 times higher compared with purchasing carbon dioxide emission-reduction credits overseas, according to a recent government study.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 18, 2003

Where do you feel most comfortable?

Robert DuncanFinance, 25
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Nov 18, 2003

Shiseido positions itself for China cosmetics boom

Faced with a maturing market in Japan, the nation's largest cosmetics company has turned its attention to China.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 18, 2003

Unusual election full of promise

It may be difficult to take an interest in Japan's election last week, since many readers cannot vote. But results this time may be critically important for Japan's future as a democracy.
COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 2003

Japan's milestone election

Japan took a major step toward a two-party system when the opposition Democratic Party of Japan made big gains in the Nov. 9 Lower House election. The poll will be remembered as a milestone in Japanese political history for this reason and because it was the first Japanese election to be fought over...
JAPAN / TALKING SHOP
Nov 17, 2003

For headhunter in middle, tactful persuasion is art of the deal

For headhunter Toshiaki Komatsu, the most electric moment in his work is when he negotiates a candidate's salary contract -- in English.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 16, 2003

Political intrigue and mystery imagined in present and past

THE THIRD WORLD WAR: A Terrifying Novel of Global Conflict, by Humphrey Hawksley. London: Pan Books, 2003, 514 pp., £6.99 (paper). THE HELL SCREEN, by I.J. Parker. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 2003, 338 pp., $24.95, (cloth). Long before Dec. 7, 1941, at least three novels -- the earliest published...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 16, 2003

A world of fashion in the family

Japan's recession, the pundits say, is dragging on. More unemployment, less yen in the government's coffers, and people from Hokkaido to Okinawa tightening their belts another notch.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 16, 2003

Spring is in the air

It's party time in Tokyo -- again. You know, that twice yearly event when the capital's trendy restaurants and coffee shops seem to be overflowing with leggy, blonde models from overseas. They're here to make a few bucks, have a few parties -- and also have a stab at furthering their careers.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Future pension benefits, premiums depend on who does the calculating

Four government entities are bracing for a policy showdown that could dictate the financial state of future generations and could influence the country's economic vitality for years to come.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Tokugawa symposium promotes idyllic view of life under shogunate

People should use the opportunity of the 400th anniversary of the establishment of Tokugawa Shogunate to consider the culture and social stability of the Edo Period, participants of a symposium in Tokyo said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 15, 2003

Did Godzilla roar? Or simply growl?

Let's see . . . our world is writhing through some of its worst turmoil ever, the Japanese economy continues to stumble about like a man on uneven stilts, crime is up, jobs are down and the ozone layer has begun to resemble Swiss cheese without the cheese.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Exercise from 12th week urged for expecting moms

Pregnant women can start physical exercise from the 12th week of pregnancy, but should make efforts to keep their heart rate to less than 150 beats per minute while doing so, the Japanese Society of Clinical Sports Medicine recommended in a report released Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2003

Nakasone still a believer in LDP, Japan

Although he is still smarting from his enforced retirement before last Sunday's election, former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone still backs the Liberal Democratic Party and the Junichiro Koizumi administration.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Nov 14, 2003

On the road to wine-country romance

There has always been a friendly rivalry between Napa and Sonoma, California's two premier wine-growing regions. We think of Napa as Kyoto -- containing stunning vistas, but marred by a tour-bus mentality. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, we sometimes feel "there's no there there." Sonoma, on the other...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 14, 2003

Letting the plane take the strain

There can be fewer more ostentatious trappings of wealth than a private jet. However, the perception of such aircraft as mere playthings of the rich and famous has tended to detract from their more mundane role as effective, hassle-reducing business tools.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2003

Refugee status denial puts family in limbo

Khin Maung Latt of Myanmar, his Filipino wife, Maria Hope Jamili, and their two daughters have no place to call home but Japan, and they are on shaky ground.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 13, 2003

A black hole on our doorstep

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. It's 2,600 meters above sea level and receives almost no rainfall. Visitors, when they are not tending to dry skin and nosebleeds caused by the altitude, often compare the terrain to the barren red rocks that cover...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 13, 2003

Poor farmers pay price for subsidies

Beyond the negotiations and protesters that highlight agricultural trade talks lies a simple reality: In the end, each nation must feed its own people.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Nov 13, 2003

Come to Disney, go to Mars

Mission: Space, a new ride/space flight simulator at Epcot Center, part of the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, takes Disney guests in a whole new direction -- straight up into space.

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