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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 27, 2001

Sip your way to a green, healthy state of mind

URESHINO, Saga Pref.-- Green tea is back.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 27, 2001

Who says that women can't have it all?

Several weeks ago, this column covered TBS's romantic comedy series "Love Story," in which Miho Nakayama plays a not-so-successful book editor whose employer tries to force her to quit by assigning her to its most difficult author. Though, as with all "trendy dramas," this one is mainly about love, Nakayama's...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 27, 2001

Cosmetics companies give themselves a makeover

Truth in advertising has never been a strong concept in Japan, but no one flouts it as boldly as the cosmetics industry, which is understandable, since makeup itself is a form of deception. One company's antiwrinkle cream is said to "prevent aging," an obvious impossibility, while the manufacturer of...
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2001

On the streets of Oguiss' town

When I first saw the oil paintings of Paris by the Japanese artist, Takanori Oguiss (1901-1986) I was strangely reminded of the neutron bomb, a weapon notorious for its ability to annihilate humans without damaging buildings.
CULTURE / Stage
May 23, 2001

Dankikusai passes torch to a new generation

For the month of May, the Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo is presenting a special program celebrating the Dankikusai (Danjuro-Kikugoro Festival). The afternoon program features "The Tale of Genji, Part II" in three acts, and the evening program includes two strikingly intense plays, "Gappo's Abode" and "Ise...
LIFE / Travel
May 22, 2001

Mists of time and fable fade at Janakpur

JANAKPUR, Nepal -- There are few places where history and allegory blur more easily than the Indian subcontinent. The line dividing fact and fable meanders and shifts like the great Ganges River that figures so prominently in both.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 20, 2001

Audrey Hepburn's neck

"I don't understand cats and I don't understand women," confessed a foreign friend, half to me and half to his mug of beer. I leaned in closer to listen.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
May 20, 2001

Now that's what I call internationalism

Beginning in the 1970s and continuing into the "bubble" years of the 1980s, one of the buzzwords heard often in the media and from the mouths of politicians was "internationalization." Internationalization supposedly meant that the Japanese would become confident world citizens, fluent in English and...
COMMUNITY
May 20, 2001

Kansai dialect survives on CD

OSAKA -- The distinctions are clear, a Kansai native might tell you. To express, for example, "she's not coming" ("kanojo konai" in standard Japanese), Osaka people would say "kanojo kehen," Kyoto people "kanojo kihen" and Kobe people "kanojo kohen."
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2001

Kishida's short but brilliant career

When Japan opened up to the West after the Meiji Restoration, it had a lot of catching up to do. Achievements that took hundreds of years to develop in European civilization were transplanted to Japan in a few decades.
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2001

Coloring the fabric of the universe

"The World of the Galaxy," an exhibition of dyed work by Shihoko Fukumoto, will be on view at Tokyo's Bunkamura Gallery from May 22.
JAPAN
May 10, 2001

Iwate sculptors seek to shape cultural ties

IWATE, Iwate Pref. -- Iwate Prefecture is probably not the first place people would expect to stumble on artists of international renown.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 10, 2001

Long-protected holy mountain to be gutted by highway project

Japan's Environment Minister, Yoriko Kawaguchi, recently told Mick Corliss of The Japan Times that she would like to incorporate an "environmental perspective" into public-works projects. If she is serious, there could be no better place to begin than Mount Takao.
CULTURE / Film
May 9, 2001

Crowd-pleasing in Udine

Given the media frenzy over "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Western interest in Asian cinema may be news, but it's hardly new. Back in 1998, the organizers of Udine Incontri Cinema, a small film festival in a quiet Italian town near the Austrian and Slovenian border, shifted their focus to commercial...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 6, 2001

Issei: It might as well be spring

Issei's exterior is almost too picture perfect. The entrance is overhung with thatched eaves. A large white lantern dangles above a complex flower arrangement, and an indigo noren stretches across the rustic sliding wooden door.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 6, 2001

It might as well be spring

Issei's exterior is almost too picture perfect. The entrance is overhung with thatched eaves. A large white lantern dangles above a complex flower arrangement, and an indigo noren stretches across the rustic sliding wooden door.
CULTURE / Film
May 2, 2001

A war movie of guts, glory and heavy gloss

Merdeka Rating: * Director: Yukio Fuji Running time: 114 minutes Language: JapaneseNow showing War movies have a hard time telling the truth about one of humankind's most universal acts. Even when filmmakers loudly proclaim their intention to get it right, they nearly always make their films as...
LIFE / Travel
May 1, 2001

The end of a British institution?

LONDON -- The sleekly dressed man brandishing the Koran and standing on an upturned crate is getting very worked up. He points at a man in the crowd and shouts a retort, furious.
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Apr 27, 2001

I know! Let's put on a show in the barn!

Peals of laughter erupt in the audience as the performers onstage go through their routines. It's not every day that the residents of Kitagawa, a village outside of Kochi, have the opportunity to see a musical performed entirely in the local Tosa dialect, and they're relishing every minute of it -- especially...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Hidden Gems

'Straight-to-video" is a term that carries a stigma, and deservedly so. So much of what emerges without theatrical release is either slasher, sleaze or sly made-for-TV imitations of a bigger-budgeted film (e.g., "Asteroid," released just prior to "Armageddon"). But here in Japan there is a surprisingly...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Science fare

There are two scientist types that have traditionally made it to the big screen: the mad and evil (Dr. Frankenstein) or the bold and dashing (Dr. Indiana Jones). Sometimes they are bold, dashing and mad (Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly"). If women, they are usually babes (Linda Fiorentino in "Men in Black,"...
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2001

Women fighting for space in a man's land

The recent debuts of women-only areas at a prominent hotel and department store, as well as on long-distance buses, railway cars and airplanes, have generally been received favorably.
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 22, 2001

Yukio Ninagawa: Now that's the fighting spirit

In the theater world, director Yukio Ninagawa is a living legend. Practicing his craft for more than 30 years and in the international spotlight for 20, he has yet to exhaust his renowned creativity and energy.
COMMUNITY / THE PARENT TRIP
Apr 20, 2001

Thievery and redemption: a normal Sunday

I am seduced by a late-flowering sprig of cherry blossom in the morning. Number Two Son -- all of 6 years old -- thoughtfully snags my nose with it as he lays it on my pillow. Feelings of undying gratitude are quickly spiked by concern about provenance. Not our garden, not the neighbors', not the nearby...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Apr 19, 2001

Here's why MJ will stay away

Michael Jordan is "99.9 percent sure" he won't return to the NBA. I can do one-tenth better: I'm 100 percent.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2001

Tanaka's no-dam stand finds locals split

Staff writer SHIMOSUWA, Nagano Pref. -- It began raining heavily around 1 p.m. on Jun. 29, 1999. Startled by a strange sound from a nearby river, Koichi Kato approached the bank to see a dirty torrent swelling up to only 30 cm below the edge of the embankment.
CULTURE / Film
Apr 18, 2001

Europe goes Hollywood

Enemy at the Gates Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud Running time: 132 minutes Language: EnglishNow showing You could probably count on one hand the number of European directors with the budgets and grand vision to compete directly with Hollywood films. Somewhere between Luc Besson and...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 18, 2001

Hollywood goes indie . . .

The Mexican Rating: * * Director: Gore Verbinski Running time: 123 minutes Language: EnglishNow showing "Brad, meet Julia." And with that, the makers of "The Mexican" probably sat back smugly and started dreaming of box-office dominance. With casting like that, you could make a film called "Steaming...
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

New rules to trim public organizations

The Cabinet on Friday approved a set of guidelines to reform public organizations financially aided by the government or conducting charity, academic or other work on behalf of the state.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 14, 2001

Sylvie Gramegna

"Small and beautiful" is the description people use when they speak of Luxembourg. This little country, tucked between Belgium, Germany and France, has for centuries been a meeting place of Germanic and Latin cultures. It is known for being open to the movement of people and the different influences...

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