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JAPAN / VIEWS ON KABUL
Oct 12, 2001

Middle East specialist says give aid but keep SDF home

Last in an interview series on Afghanistan In the U.S.-led antiterrorist campaign, Japan should not only emphasize its diplomatic relations with the United States but give more consideration to sentiments in the Islamic world, according to an expert on Islamic society.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2001

Web gossip sparks corporate anger

Two major life insurers were battered by a swirl of rumors in September as several message boards on a popular Web site began predicting their demise.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Oct 11, 2001

Dollar's safe-haven status questioned

The dollar is often considered a safe haven in times of international unrest -- but not these days.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Oct 11, 2001

Firmly rooted in tradition and daily life

In the foothills of Mount Fuji, there is a fascinating botanical garden devoted to the cultivation and display of bamboo plants and products. Unique in this country, the Fuji Bamboo Garden, which opened on its 4-hectare site in 1951, cultivates more than 500 species and cultivars of bamboo from around...
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2001

El Nino found to affect typhoons

Japanese researchers said Tuesday that the El Nino effect strengthens typhoons and thus increases typhoon-related damage in Japan.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 10, 2001

Such stuff as dreams are woven from

Just as poetry is more than a few well-chosen words, fabrics are more than a gathering of threads. People have always understood the spiritual importance of our "second skin," from the early Peruvians who wrapped their departed in priceless tapestries to the ancient Greeks who believed that the Three...
JAPAN / VIEWS ON KABUL
Oct 10, 2001

Lining up with U.S. a bad move

Dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to provide emergency support to refugees will only heighten anti-Japanese sentiment in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a volunteer aid worker said.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2001

Peace activists denounce offensive on Afghanistan

Japanese peace activists Monday expressed disappointment and anger as the United States began bombing targets in Afghanistan in retaliation for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
BUSINESS
Oct 9, 2001

Market fears prolonged conflict could cripple world economy

Market players in Japan took the start of the U.S. assault in Afghanistan in stride Monday, wondering instead whether a drawn-out war will deal a critical blow to an already fragile global economy.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2001

Children's center provides haven for teenagers

Teenage boys with long dyed hair and guitar cases saunter into the lounge, passing a group of high school students playing mah-jongg. By 5 p.m., teenagers have taken over this "jidokan," or children's center, in Suginami Ward, Tokyo.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 8, 2001

Transnistria: relic of a bygone era

TIRASPOL, Moldova -- Think of the end of the Soviet Union as the Big Bang of recent politics. The successor states are the new planets -- large or small, and subject to varying amounts of gravitational pull from Russia. And then there are the asteroids, in this case composed of breakaway republics, autonomous...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2001

Master of ancient go believes it's more than just a game

It's often called the world's most fascinating game. For Chizu Kobayashi, the ancient game of go most certainly is, not least of all for its intellectual challenges.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2001

Macedonia historian delighted at award

Macedonian historian Dr. Kosta Balabanov has expressed his delight at receiving this year's Japan Foundation special prize for his contribution to introducing Japanese culture to the Balkan country.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 7, 2001

Rinkaen: Those were the days . . .

There are several excellent reasons why we can recommend a visit to Rinkaen. Unfortunately -- and this is exceptional for the Food File -- few of them concern the act of eating. Nevertheless, this wonderful old place still qualifies (conditionally) as a classic of its kind.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 7, 2001

What Lara can tell us about Afghanistan

Angelina Jolie's new movie, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," might not be up to much, but I have a lot of respect for Jolie herself. On Sept. 10, at a Tokyo press conference to promote the film, the actress mentioned her new job as special ambassador for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees. She spent almost...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 7, 2001

A lonely struggle for recognition

LEGACIES OF THE COMFORT WOMEN OF WORLD WAR II, edited by Margaret Stetz and Bonnie B.C. Oh. M.E. Sharpe: Armonk, NY, 2001, 230 pp., $55 (cloth) More than 50 years after the end of World War II, the question of whether or not the Japanese government bears responsibility for forcing tens of thousands...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2001

Guard shot in 5 million yen robbery

OSAKA -- A gunman snatched 5 million yen in cash Friday morning from a vehicle parked outside a Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. branch in Osaka, shooting and wounding a guard in the leg, police said.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2001

UNHCR seeks more aid as Afghan crisis looms

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is urging Japan to make further financial contributions to help with the expected influx of Afghan refugees into Pakistan and other neighboring countries, a top UNHCR official said.
SPORTS / TALK OF THE TIMES
Oct 5, 2001

Rhodes finds formula for success in Japan

American Tuffy Rhodes is the senior-most foreign pro baseball player in Japan, currently completing his sixth season with the newly crowned Pacific League champion Kintetsu Buffaloes. The 33-year-old Rhodes, who played for the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox during his six-year major-league...
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2001

Maglev project OK'd for Aichi

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry on Wednesday approved a third-sector company project to build a commercial maglev train line in Aichi Prefecture.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2001

Endocrine disrupter discovered in newborn

A study carried out by the Environment Ministry found a substance believed to be an endocrine disrupter in the umbilical cord of a newborn baby, the ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2001

More 10,000 yen counterfeits found

Two counterfeit 10,000 yen bills were found Tuesday night inside a ticket machine at a railway station in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, officials of East Japan Railway Co. said Wednesday. Also on Tuesday, 16 counterfeit 10,000 yen bills were discovered in ticket machines at three Seibu Railway Co....
MORE SPORTS
Oct 4, 2001

Japanese players continue to impress

Third-seeded Japanese ace Ai Sugiyama battered Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia into submission Wednesday to advance to the third round of the AIG Japan Open tennis championships at Tokyo's Ariake Tennis Forest Park.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 3, 2001

Sugiyama delights home fans

Third-seed Japanese ace Ai Sugiyama broke back from a two-game deficit in her match against Zsofia Gubacsi, rallying to beat the Hungarian in straight sets as she cleared the first round of the $970,000 Japan Open tennis tournament Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 3, 2001

Ray Wylie Hubbard: 'Eternal and Lowdown'

The 1970s produced an amazing crop of Texas singer-songwriters, though few have survived without some, shall we say, "life experiences." Transforming the pain and confusion of such experiences into self-revelatory, tight-rocking songs is what the Texas troubadour tradition is all about.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2001

DoCoMo launches 3G service with soft sell, finds few takers

NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Monday chose to go with a low-key launch of its third-generation (3G) cellular service amid low expectations by retailers and customers alike.
Events
Oct 2, 2001

Nara Station spared wrecking ball

NARA -- After three years of fuss, Haruyuki Chichibu felt relieved -- the Nara Prefectural Government announced last month that it would not demolish the 67-year-old JR Nara Station building.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2001

Civil servant union finds it is missing 50 million yen

Around 50 million yen withdrawn in 1998 by a firm affiliated with a prefectural and municipal employee union is missing, sources familiar with the case said Monday.

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