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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 26, 2003

Rambo rides again on the mean streets of Tokyo

RAIN FALL, by Barry Eisler. G.P. Putnam's Sons: New York, 2002, 306 pp., $24.95 (cloth) What's it like to open a book and read an account of yourself being gunned down on the streets of Akasaka?
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2003

Yahoo takes on fraudulent auctioneers

Yahoo Japan Corp. started posting on its Web site Wednesday the family names and bank account numbers of people who have repeatedly engaged in fraudulent and other illicit transactions on its auction sites.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 23, 2003

Casting light on the aurora

"The sight filled the northern sky; the immensity of it was scarcely conceivable. As if from Heaven itself, great curtains of delicate light hung and trembled. Pale green and rose-pink, and as transparent as the most fragile fabric, and at the bottom edge a profound and fiery crimson like the fires of...
LIFE / Digital
Jan 23, 2003

Move over MP3; purists demand 'lossless'

There's a whole industry built around the MP3 data-compression format, but did you know that by using MP3s to burn music CDs, you lose part of the original recording as the data compressor does its work?
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2003

Politics still trumps business in China-Taiwan relations

HONG KONG -- The new year has begun with conciliatory messages from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, suggesting that both China and Taiwan want to avoid too much tension in their relationship, although neither side seems likely in the short term to yield any ground on the sensitive issue of "One China."...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 22, 2003

Can Matsui handle the pressure and avoid the 'cha-cha'?

So far, so good. New York Yankees player Hideki Matsui made it back to Japan, apparently in one piece, after a whirlwind trip to the Big Apple that included evasion of a large Japanese media contingent waiting for him at Newark Liberty Airport, an appearance at Yankee Stadium, the well-attended and media-smothered...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 21, 2003

Gadgets gnaw at polite society

A funny thing happened to me on the train home the other day. I had a conversation with a total stranger.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2003

Japanese escape woes in 'Boogie Wonderland'

Middle-aged disco lovers in Japan boogie to the sounds of a past era, when flares, platform shoes and gold medallions were cool and the economy was on the upswing.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2003

Two Nigerians arrested over fake U.S. bills

Two Nigerian nationals under arrest for allegedly overstaying their visas were served further warrants Tuesday on suspicion of trying to smuggle 20 fake $100 bills into the country, Metropolitan Police Department and Tokyo customs officials said.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 7, 2003

Drunken driving, unhappy holidays, and shaping up

Under the influence Glen refused a drink with us on Christmas Eve with more than his usual reluctant zeal. He had just heard of someone who had been arrested in a car being driven by someone else. The acquaintance was relatively sober; the driver was not.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 5, 2003

Staging stellar shows at bargain prices

As the commercial networks wind up their holiday offerings of low-budget blooper specials and celebrity-heavy quiz shows, regular programming slowly returns. However, things don't really get back to "normal" until next week.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 31, 2002

Caveats to help avoid the conmen

Not long ago, while I was out posting a letter, a salesman phoned and told my wife that we had been tabbed to receive a new water filter for our kitchen faucet, absolutely free of charge.
COMMUNITY
Dec 29, 2002

Winter's ancient symbol of vigor and life

In the contemporary Western world, Christmas starts with Christmas Eve on Dec. 24. and ends with Boxing Day on Dec. 26. In times now long past, though -- and on calendars now long since consigned to history -- the date of Christmas and celebrations of the birth of Christ have varied from Dec. 25 to Jan....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 25, 2002

Dancing to the Eastern wind of change

Asian performers of contemporary dance embody an inherent contradiction. With their Asian physiques and being raised in Asian cultures, they perform an art form that was pioneered by Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) and developed in the West.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Dec 23, 2002

"The World of Peter Rabbit"

A hundred years ago, a naughty little rabbit sneaked its way into a farmer's garden -- and into the imagination of generations of children across the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 18, 2002

Asia, in a nutshell

In Douglas Adams' future dystopia novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," a giant computer finally determines the answer to the meaning of life: 42. The joke was that nobody knew the question.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Dec 16, 2002

Sicily's sobering message for grandparents

SYRACUSE, Sicily -- Sicily is an ideal place to ponder the fate of civilizations and to reflect on the future. This island off the boot of Italy, with a population of 5 million, has been a crossroads of civilizations for almost three millennia. The Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Normans, Catalans, French,...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 3, 2002

Can tourists get themselves working visas?

There is a Japanese saying that goes "when you stand in front of the lighthouse you often miss the light."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Dec 1, 2002

Writer on the borderline

Haruki Murakami is Japan's most important and internationally acclaimed living writer. "Norwegian Wood," his fourth novel, has sold more than 2 million copies since it was published in 1987. His latest, "Kafka on the Shore," has sold more than 200,000 copies since its publication in September, and has...
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2002

Essential dangling modifiers

Yuko, 38, an office worker, has keitai straps appropriate for each season -- furry ones for winter and beaded ones for summer. When the temperature changes, she adds another to her collection.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 30, 2002

Roaches with secret technology win war

I came home the other day and noticed someone had been eating my porridge. "Someone's been eating mine too," said my husband. "And there he is!" I got my shotgun and pointed it at the roach. Bam! He's gone now.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 28, 2002

Superfly just f- f- f- fades away, showing that insects age too

Neil Young referred to it with, "It's better to burn out than to fade away" while Pete Townshend echoed the sentiment with the line, "I hope I die before I get old."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 24, 2002

Designed to deceive

The next time you visit a department store, head over to the luxury-goods section, stop in front of a leather bag by Louis Vuitton or Gucci, and just reach out and touch it.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Nov 24, 2002

Pulsating with rock, reality

To describe the dizzy thrill of Sleater-Kinney, one has to reach back to the bristling energy of early rock 'n' roll. Think of Chuck Berry cackling the words to "Maybelline." Think of Wanda Jackson's redemptive howl. Think of Muddy Waters' deliberate spelling of "M-A-N," each letter promising transgressive...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2002

Pressures of infertility exact toll

The women sit in a circle in a silent room.
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2002

Prison guard held over killings

OSAKA -- An Osaka prison guard was arrested Saturday by prefectural police on suspicion of murdering his daughter-in-law and grandson in April, police said.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2002

McCartney meets underachieving English students

A group of 16 Tokyo high school students and two teachers who use Beatles songs to study English received an invitation from British rock legend Paul McCartney to attend his concert Monday.

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