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Jul 16, 2002

Japan qualifies for Rugby World Cup finals

SEOUL -- Japan maintained its proud record of having appeared at every Rugby World Cup finals when it beat South Korea 55-17 at Tondaemun Stadium, Seoul on Sunday to ensure it finished top of the Asian qualifying group.
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2002

The little cell phone that could

What is the single most annoying product of modern technology -- at least when other people use it? If letters to the editor of this newspaper are any indication, the clear winner is the cell phone. It seems that many, if not most, of us experience a surge of irrational irritation when we see people...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 14, 2002

Powell, Matoyama lead PL revenge

MATSUYAMA, Ehime Pref. -- It turned out to be another great night for Kansai baseball.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 14, 2002

The name is Otaku, James Otaku

Don't go to Akihabara if you're looking to buy an Aston Martin with twin machine guns, or a pen that shoots poisoned darts. Aside from these, though, there's enough exotic spy goodies there to keep 007 -- or even the most discerning otaku -- supplied for years to come.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jul 14, 2002

Skip the jazz club, it's festival season

Most jazz people are night owls who don't get much sun, so summer festivals give the music, players and fans all a good airing out.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 14, 2002

Keep your cool in the big heat

Every food has its season, and every season its food -- and the arrival of the big heat means that, more than ever, this is the time of year for noodles.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2002

HIV epidemic taking its toll on Myanmar

NEW YORK -- According to the latest statistics, the number of HIV/AIDS cases in Myanmar continues to rise, fueled by drug abuse, population mobility, poverty and a lack of effective government policies. Thai medical experts report that the epidemic, if not controlled, may soon eclipse the worst situation...
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2002

Report calls on banks to carry out risk assessment

A private advisory committee to Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa unveiled a draft report Friday that offered Japan's financial system a road map to a future radically different than its present.
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 13, 2002

With the World Cup over, J. League gets back to business

The World Cup may be over, but Japan's newly converted soccer fans will still have plenty to cheer about when J. League Division One action resumes Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 13, 2002

Ciaran Murray

"I had to come to Japan, to sit in a garden and discover something of Japanese culture, in order to write the history of my hometown," Ciaran Murray said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 13, 2002

Nisei woodworker follows grain of ancestral roots

His mailbox in Kikoba, where the town of Hayama meets Yokosuka City in Kanagawa Prefecture, reads "toco," the Portuguese word for log. Lengths of bamboo lean against an outside wall.
EDITORIALS
Jul 12, 2002

Narrow the wage gap

The important fact about Japanese wages today is that pay scales for regular workers have not fallen despite declining prices. This "downward rigidity" in seniority-based wages may be partly responsible for the growing presence of part-time workers and for the nation's persistently high level of unemployment....
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Jul 12, 2002

Traditional industries adapting to stay afloat

KYOTO -- Tango Orimono Kogyo Kumiai, an association encompassing the traditional textile industry in Kyoto's Tango district, has tasted success with its foray into the skin-care products sector.
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2002

Uncertain times boost top gold retailer's sales 3.17-fold

The nation's top retailer of gold ingots said Thursday it logged a 3.17-fold surge in sales in the January-June period from a year earlier on a quantitative basis.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 11, 2002

Diving and biking to eco-awareness

Excuse me for a moment if I boast, but I am delighted with the progress my backyard is making in its quest for biological diversity. No doubt my neighbors view my garden as unruly and overgrown, but as it's no bigger than a parking space, I let it have its way.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jul 11, 2002

Undead moving into town

Time is short and the enemy grows ever stronger. You have a small encampment outside of a large medieval city. The residents of the city would be your natural allies; but the Undead Scourge gave them poisoned grain, and now they are dying to join your enemy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2002

Postal services bills clear Lower House

The House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon approved a package of postal services bills, paving the way for the enactment of the controversial legislation during the current Diet session.
BUSINESS
Jul 10, 2002

Dollar's rapid fall must be checked: Shiokawa

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday that the rapid decline of the dollar must be checked before it reaches the 115 yen level.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jul 10, 2002

A card-carrying regular guy

One interesting aspect of Japanese meishi (name-card) etiquette is that entertainers never give them out. It took me a while to figure out that one. Several interviews with musicians I thought had begun inauspiciously when I handed the artist my meishi only to receive nothing in return.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jul 9, 2002

Chengdu, Sichuan's city of contrasts

Tonight, our guide Desmond assures us, there is going to be "a very exciting party." The Tibetans are planning a neck-wrestling competition. And you, Desmond adds, as the first foreigners to visit the newly opened hall of Tibetan games and dance, are going to be invited to participate.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jul 9, 2002

Chengdu, Sichuan's city of contrasts

Tonight, our guide Desmond assures us, there is going to be "a very exciting party." The Tibetans are planning a neck-wrestling competition. And you, Desmond adds, as the first foreigners to visit the newly opened hall of Tibetan games and dance, are going to be invited to participate.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2002

Legacy-building in Beijing

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Chinese President Jiang Zemin has made another speech -- another important speech -- adding gloss to the landmark speech he made July 1 last year at the Communist Party of China's 80th birthday party.
EDITORIALS
Jul 7, 2002

A man in a balloon

It may not seem obvious, but Mr. Steve Fossett really is a man for our times. Why? Because this adventurer-athlete, who last week became the first solo balloonist to circumnavigate the globe, in some ways embodies our frenziedly competitive era and in others -- particularly with his latest feat -- gives...
COMMENTARY
Jul 7, 2002

Morality to match the times

LONDON -- What is it about the British and sex? Young people seem to leap to it as though having as much of it, as soon as possible, as flamboyantly and boastfully as possible and damn the consequences, is their national destiny.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jul 7, 2002

As benchmarks rise, honjozo takes a hit

Last year, sake production dropped below 1 million kiloliters for the first time since the industry's postwar recovery. Much of this drop was seen in the realm of cheap sake and honjozo, whereas the higher grades of junmaishu and ginjoshu stayed the same or made very modest production gains. Fewer people,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 7, 2002

How we wonder what we are

Stargazing is like traveling through time and space; imagining as best we can such unimaginable distances, such wondrous, unknown possibilities out there in the vast, star-spangled sky.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2002

Envoy seeks to boost Greece's profile

The new Greek ambassador-designate to Japan is eager to enhance his country's image and perception among Japanese during his tenure, especially through promoting the 2004 Olympics in Athens and through the country's assumption of the European Union presidency in the first half of 2003.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 5, 2002

It may be the world's most popular sport, but not here in Japan

If there was any defining moment for Japanese sports last month, it surely came right after Turkey eliminated the lads in blue from the World Cup on June 18.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight