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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2001

Ending Chinese interference

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 13, backtracking on his vow to make the visit Aug. 15, the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. Although he signed his name and title in the visitors' register, Koizumi would not say whether his visit to the shrine...
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2001

Nakatani climbs Fuji to warm ties with U.S.

Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani on Sunday climbed Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak, along with about 40 U.S. servicemen stationed in Okinawa in an effort to improve relations between Japan and the United States.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2001

Environmental destruction dooms us all

"Environmental security" has three different meanings. First, it can be used to explain conflict. Resources can be causes, tools, or targets of warfare. Disputes over water can cause conflict between nations. Upstream states can use water as a tool of warfare by manipulating shared river basins to inflict...
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Aug 19, 2001

May we live long on beans and rice

On the first of every month, I get out the glutinous rice and soak the adzuki beans. Though New Year's Day is the only first of the month that is a formal holiday, thus mandating the celebratory sekihan (red beans and rice), there is a certain pleasure to welcoming each one with this favorite dish and...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 19, 2001

Uniformly stylish Japanese

WEARING IDEOLOGY: State, Schooling and Self-Preservation in Japan, by Brian J. McVeigh. Berg, Oxford, 2000, 231 pages, $19.50 The Japanese are some of the most fashion-conscious dressers in the world. They spend large amounts of their discretionary income on clothes, have a strong preference for designer-made...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 19, 2001

The little brewery that wouldn't die

Since time immemorial sake has been brewed only in the winter. But in the last 40 years or so a handful of the nation's breweries pioneered shiki jozo (year-round brewing), cranking out sake in large, climate-controlled factories. For various reasons, only the largest breweries can pull this off. The...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 19, 2001

Grant-oh puts the grrr in martinis

Mizu shobai is a fickle business at best. And these troubled economic times tend to heighten the sense of risk. So when I first heard of a plot to hatch a fun and funky martini lounge on a quiet back street in Roppongi, it struck me as downright dangerous. As I sipped a classic 007 at the opening of...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 19, 2001

Politico battled clans, bureaucrats

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF OZAKI YUKIO: The Struggle For Constitutional Government in Japan. Translated by Fumiko Hara. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2001, 455 pp., $35 (hardback) Well into this fascinating account of Japanese politics, which spans the period from the beginning of the Meiji Era...
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 19, 2001

Designer holds hope for the future of Japanese creativity

Surrounded by shelves filled with art books and magazines from around the world, Yasushi Fujimoto sits comfortably in his office in Harajuku, one of Tokyo's trendiest areas.
EDITORIALS
Aug 18, 2001

Grim forecast for the Mideast

The low-grade war between Israel and the Palestinians continues. The number of victims increases every day, but the greatest casualty may be the hopes for any resolution of the violence. Real peace will require some measure of trust and goodwill between the two parties. Both these qualities are practically...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 18, 2001

Iron your troubles away and keep taking herbs

My local Japanese doctor was blunt: Bad knees? It's osteoarthritis, and can only get worse. Forget cycling, yoga -- all forms of exercise.
COMMENTARY
Aug 18, 2001

Many twists in the road to democracy

ISLAMABAD -- The road map for returning Pakistan to democracy, delivered this month by President Pervez Musharraf has ended a long wait for a number of countries, including the United States, which had repeatedly urged the former general to state exactly when democracy would be restored.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2001

Fire policy sales on hot streak

Major nonlife insurance firms enjoyed sizable increases in sales of fire insurance policies and resultant rises in premium revenues in the April-July period.
BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2001

Dollar, yen both seen being weighed down

Last week's U.S. Federal Reserve report on stagnant regional economic conditions has weighed on the dollar's value.
BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2001

DoCoMo's 3G service disappoints users in trial

At the end of May, Kazunori Hagiwara was thrilled to be chosen to try out NTT DoCoMo's next-generation cellphone system.
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2001

Rome's unseemly retreat

Determined to avoid another bloody fiasco like last month's Group of Eight summit in Genoa, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has asked the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization to move the World Food Summit, which is scheduled to be held in November in Rome, to Africa. That would be a mistake:...
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2001

Koizumi makes amity pledge at annual surrender day rites

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged that Japan will never again isolate itself from the world but will seek only amity with its neighbors, during a secular ceremony Wednesday marking the 56th anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2001

Legitimized foreigners urge more amnesty

A 15-year-old Iranian girl's first trip to her home country in 10 years last July began with a surprise welcome at Tehran airport by some 100 relatives.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 16, 2001

World Games 2001 open in Akita

Who is the best lifesaver in the world? Who is the most elegant performer at a height of 3,000 meters? And who throws a flying disc the most accurately?
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2001

Decade-long district court trials highlight need for judicial overhaul

As calls for speedy trials mount following a blue-ribbon panel proposal in June to overhaul the judiciary, the pace of work at the Tokyo District Court probably serves as "exhibit A" in the argument for reform.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 16, 2001

Wild answer to the deer problem

KAMIKITAYAMA, Nara Pref. -- It was a rainy Monday in July when Fumio Minamiura came across a shocking scene: a stray dog trotting along with the head and fore-parts of a young deer in its mouth. Blood was still dripping from the fresh kill.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2001

Fruits of U.S. economic expansion eluded many American families

FREDRICKSBURG, Virginia -- We're supposed to remember the 1990s as a period of economic expansion unlike anything the United States had ever seen. But to Oya Oliver and the rest of the staff at the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank, that decade always looked a little different than the official story that...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 15, 2001

So you think you're some sort of wiseguy?

Love, Honour and Obey Rating: * * * * Japanese title: London Dogs Director: Dominic Anciano and Ray Burdis Running time: 103 minutes Language: English Now showing "Oi, mate, what'ya up to this weekend?" "Dunno. Nothin' special -- maybe a spot of snooker." "How d'ya fancy making a film with us,...
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2001

Decline in busts belies widespread drug use: NPA

A total of 8,986 people allegedly violated the Stimulants Control Law in the first half of this year, down 632 from the same period last year, according to a recent police survey.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2001

Increasingly good massage chairs gain popularity

OSAKA -- Demand for electric massage chairs is steadily growing as more and more people seek attention akin to the touch of a professional masseur in the comfort of their own homes.
EDITORIALS
Aug 14, 2001

Mr. Koizumi's poor choice

In disregard of opposition at home and abroad, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a controversial visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Monday, two days before the Aug. 15 anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War II. By avoiding going on Wednesday, the date originally planned, Mr. Koizumi apparently tried...
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 14, 2001

Swallows widen CL lead

Pinch-hitter Hirofumi Watarai singled home two runs in the seventh inning to spark a four-run rally for Yakult on Sunday as the Swallows came from behind to defeat the Yomiuri Giants 7-4 and widen their lead to five games in the Central League pennant race.
EDITORIALS
Aug 12, 2001

The lure of Amelia Earhart

Life abounds with mysteries, both profound and trivial, and if we were to spend all our time pondering them we would never get any work done. Yet some tug more forcefully at our imaginations than others -- and of these, the mysteries surrounding disappearances are the most forceful of all. Nature abhors...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 12, 2001

She's got legs . . .

You've probably seen her somewhere -- on product packaging, in fashion catalogs or TV commercials. But no one would recognize her, because she is famous only for her legs.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami