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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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 12, 2003

Season of 'new faces' sees an old master take a bow

This month the Kabukiza, Ginza, is sporting a yagura (turret) on its gabled facade, covered with a blue curtain on which is written "Kyogenzukushi (All kyogen plays)." To those in the know, the turret is announcing the arrival of the annual kaomise ("face-showing") season. This was the most important...
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2003

Some diners on city's tab to remain secret

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the identities of private citizens who dined at the Osaka Municipal Government's expense will remain a secret.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2003

Political leaders count campaign mileage

The leaders of Japan's six major political parties traveled a distance of 10,500 km on average during the 12-day campaign for Sunday's House of Representatives election.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2003

Is Japan to mainland Asia what Britain is to Europe?

The European landmass lies to the south and east of Britain, the Asian landmass to the north and west of Japan. A newspaper headline in Britain once famously declared: "Fog over the channel, continent isolated." Japan may lack such endearing chauvinism, but is far more homogeneous and closed as a society...
COMMENTARY
Nov 9, 2003

Iraq changes U.S. presidential scenarios

HONG KONG -- Seen from East Asia, American politics appear to be undergoing a sea-change. Mainly under the pressure of events in Iraq, President George W. Bush's re-election in 2004 has become much more uncertain, and it has become easier to see some of the Democratic Party's potential candidates becoming...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 9, 2003

Wine trade in gear for party of the year

Just 10 days to go, and the scramble to cash in on Japan's biggest-ever demand for France's youngest wine is heating up.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Nov 9, 2003

In a community of like-minded spirits

Psychedelia, for most people, was all about bad fashion and, of course, bad trips.
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2003

Forum ponders attributes of 'globally useful Japanese'

Leading business executives and scholars gathered Friday in Tokyo to discuss what constitutes a "globally useful Japanese," and how individuals of this kind may be nurtured at businesses.
COMMENTARY
Nov 8, 2003

Pressure won't bring peace

Visit Shanghai and while you may not see the future -- contrary to what Sydney and Beatrice Webb once foolishly claimed when they visited the Soviet Union in the 1920s -- you will certainly see very little of the past.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 8, 2003

Keiichi Kurosawa

"English music in its most primitive form was essentially group music. The old divisions were church, secular and concert music. . . . The madrigal flourished best in the Tudor period. Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I composed madrigals."
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2003

Solution in sight for Bhutanese refugees

NEW DELHI -- The complicated issue of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal seems to be heading toward a solution after some major breakthroughs were achieved during a two-day meeting of diplomats of two countries in Thimpu on Oct. 20-21.
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2003

Another keyword in campaign

What should be done to rebuild Japan's tightly-knit, bureaucrat-led society? The question is gaining urgency as local governments clamor for greater autonomy. In response, the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is moving toward streamlining the complex system of grants and subsidies,...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 7, 2003

Mihajlovic's disgraceful behavior brings shame to football

LONDON -- It is unlikely that there is a more loathesome player in European football than Sinisa Mihajlovic, the Lazio defender.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2003

Roads to stay state-owned despite panel's entreaties

The nation's debt-laden expressways will remain government-owned despite recommendations that they be privatized.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 6, 2003

Kobe a loner who still has much to learn

NEW YORK -- As a self-trained psychoanalyst, I'm greatly tempted to explore the alcoves of Kobe Bryant's innermost thoughts regarding loneliness, ruthless words about Shaquille O'Neal and dirty deed with a stranger whose allegation will stain him forever even if found innocent (bad choice of words),...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 5, 2003

Freed architecture

Rem Koolhaas, recently awarded the 2003 Praemium Imperiale for architecture, is prolific to the point of relentlessness. Looking at the stream of bold, innovative and aggressively hip buildings Koolhaas' Rotterdam-based office has produced, one well-known Japanese architect was prompted to liken him...
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2003
Nov 4, 2003

Party campaign strategies smack of desperation

With the coming election in mind, former House of Representatives member Kaoru Yosano last spring departed the Liberal Democratic Party faction led by Shizuka Kamei.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 4, 2003

Marines make Valentine feel 'wanted and needed'

Former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine returned to Japanese baseball Monday, signing a three-year deal with the Chiba Lotte Marines.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 4, 2003

Pension cash payments and house-buying

Nenkin Dear Lifelines; I am American, my late husband was Japanese. We lived in Japan throughout our marriage, but for various reasons it became prudent to bring the kids back to the U.S. after he died at age 42.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 3, 2003

Punishment for Arsenal players doesn't fit the crime

LONDON -- These are not the best of times for English football.
COMMENTARY
Nov 3, 2003

Britain's institutions fall on hard times

LONDON -- The world I grew up in was dominated by the Tory Party, which had governed for as long as any child could remember, by its icon the royal family, which smiled serenely from every magazine, and by the Church of England, which hosted every major national occasion and ritually adjured us to respect...
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2003

Drug suspect, yakuza have same name

A gangster with the same name as a Japanese trader reportedly arrested in North Korea on drug-smuggling charges left Japan for Beijing earlier this month, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 1, 2003

U.S., Europe make amends

PARIS -- It was widely assumed, a few months ago, that three of the world's top international organizations -- the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union -- would suffer heavily from the quarrel over the Iraqi war between the U.S.-led coalition and those nations...

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes