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COMMENTARY
Apr 6, 2001

Few worthy leaders in LDP

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is expected to step down sometime this month, a year after he took office. Widely criticized for his alleged incompetence and lack of qualification for national leadership, Mori is sometimes called Japan's worst postwar prime minister. Even though Mori expressed his apparent...
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2001

Japan Inc. moves toward true accounting of books

The true standing of Japanese firms in relation to their foreign rivals is slowly becoming clear.
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 6, 2001

Super League seen as boost to Asian soccer

Asian Football Confederation general secretary Peter Velappan said in an interview with The Japan Times that the AFC is aiming to boost the sport in the region with the launch of a new Asian Super League and also hopes to bring next year's World Cup cohosts closer together with the establishment of a...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 5, 2001

Somei-Yoshino cherry blossom

This perfectly still Spring day bathed in the soft lightFrom the spread-out sky, Why do the cherry blossomsSo restlessly scatter down? -- Ki no Tomonori
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 5, 2001

To dabble or dive: duck lifestyle choices

DNA analysis has enabled us to peer ever closer into the intricacies of what characterizes and distinguishes species, as well as the orders, genera and families they belong to.
BUSINESS
Apr 4, 2001

Microsoft wants Xbox to be center of gaming

The launch of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox is designed to secure a foothold in the home video-game market for the company, an area seen as critical for long-term growth, according to a top executive of the game console project.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2001

Sub's surprise port call due to U.S. Navy error

The arrival Monday of a U.S. submarine in Sasebo port, Nagasaki Prefecture, without advance notification was due to a misunderstanding by the U.S. Navy in Japan over where the sub was anchored, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono said Tuesday.
Events
Apr 3, 2001

Nursery provides multilingual learning

KOBE -- For 20-month-old Andrei Hirata, the nursery school was hell.
MORE SPORTS / THE DUKE OF HAZARDS
Apr 3, 2001

Tiger's rivals finally get on the ball

Tiger Woods may be the runaway favorite for this week's Masters, but don't expect everything to go Tiger's way. His "slump" showed that the gap between him and the competition is not as great as some people thought.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2001

Homegrown IT plans are best

The government has unveiled the "e-Japan" strategy that it hopes will turn Japan into the most advanced information-technology-based nation in five years. Most mass media and IT experts are critical of the strategy. They say it lacks vision and workable plans, is late and is designed to benefit only...
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Apr 3, 2001

Japan stuck in the Twilight Zone

Now that the dust has settled after "Le Flop," Japan coach Philippe Troussier will have a clearer idea of what he needs to do to put his team's chemistry right before this month's friendly against Spain in Cordoba.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2001

India wages an uphill battle against AIDS

NEW YORK -- India's population of 1 billion, greater than Africa, Australia and Latin America combined, is undergoing the threat of the unrelenting advance of HIV/AIDS. The infection is affecting all ages and social classes, and does not show any signs of abating. As things stand now, it is necessary...
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2001

Cheap long-distance calls launched

Fusion Communications Corp. on Sunday launched its Internet-based domestic long-distance telephone service that charges users a uniform rate of 20 yen per three minutes for calls made to anywhere in Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2001

Universal Studios opens in Osaka

OSAKA -- The power of Hollywood arrived in Osaka on Saturday as the Universal Studios Japan theme park opened its doors to the public.
EDITORIALS
Apr 1, 2001

A crime for the times

Italy, a country we are celebrating this year in Japan, is at the cutting edge of all sorts of things: food, fashion, fast cars, films and some interesting criminal practices. Oh, and bizarre opera plots. Sometimes it seems as if those last two get a bit entangled.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 1, 2001

Takoyaki wars shift to Tokyo

There was a time when takoyaki (octopus dumplings) were dismissed by Tokyoites as festival fare or a snack for kids. In recent years, though, takoyaki has found fans outside its birthplace of Osaka and joined the ranks of other Kansai-Kanto crossovers such as okonomiyaki and Yoshimoto-style comedy (think...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 1, 2001

Modern gagaku: Experiments with tradition

In the late 1960s, the National Theater of Japan made a decision to commission new music for gagaku (court music) orchestra and changed the destiny of traditional Japanese arts.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 1, 2001

Schilling reels in a decade of film

CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE FILM, by Mark Schilling. Weatherhill, 1999, 399 pp., $24.95 (paper). Americans flock to subtitled films the way the Swedes flock to church. That is, hardly ever. So when Asian films make their way into the theaters of U.S. shopping malls, it is no small feat.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 1, 2001

The word on the street is croquettes are hot

In Harajuku, the holy land of Tokyo's young people, the "king of street cuisine" has long been the crepe. Rolled around a filling of whipped cream, fruits, chocolate and/or other sweets, the thin pancake is a favorite among suburban girls who flock to the area to shop and be seen among the trendsetting...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Apr 1, 2001

Only rock 'n' roll, but I loathe it

If you are gagging in disgust at the thought of Fuzzy Logic from now on contaminating your Sunday with lurid tales of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll . . . fear not.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Apr 1, 2001

Misunderstanding in the shadows, five flights up

Like many, I initially confused Gokai with Go, another fifth-floor hideout on Meiji-dori going toward Shibuya. Having ascertained that it is in the building next to the crepe shop on the corner of Takeshita and Meiji-dori, I then thought people meant Bar Poor, another cavelike perch with hobbit-sized...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 1, 2001

Depachika build a boom from the bottom up

Misako Kaneko, a Tokyo office worker, likes to have dinner at home while watching her favorite TV dramas. But as a single woman who works full-time, it's not easy for her to find time to prepare a healthy meal every night after work.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2001

Ministers urge curbs on Chinese imports

The ministers of agriculture, trade and finance reached a basic agreement Friday on the need to invoke temporary curbs on surging imports from China of stone leeks, fresh shiitake mushrooms and rushes used to weave tatami.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 31, 2001

Graffiti blasts Beijing demolition

Under the cover of darkness and armed with a can of spray paint, Zhang Dali pedals his bicycle around the quiet Beijing streets with the intention of giving the city a new face -- sometimes two or three.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 31, 2001

Patching together a lifetime of art

For many centuries thrifty housewives have saved odd scraps of cloth and sewn them together to be re-used as patchwork. Their humble recycling ultimately produced the spectacular geometrically patterned quilts that now are valuable collectibles, and today many people around the world pursue patchwork...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 31, 2001

The gift from kitty that never stops giving

If you travel enough, there is going to be a day when your cat pees in your suitcase. It's something that only happens if you have gone out of town and left your cat behind so many times that the cat becomes determined to accompany you in the most odorous way. Basically, your cat's message is: I love...
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2001

More mobile phones anticipated

Ownership of mobile phones in Japan is expected to rise to around 66.8 percent of the population in fiscal 2004 from 57.1 percent in fiscal 2001, according to a survey released Thursday.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Mori unrepentant for missing king's reception

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori came under fire Wednesday for skipping a reception the night before hosted by Norway's visiting King Harald V, only to later dine at a sushi restaurant with his LDP colleagues.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2001

Abe acquitted of negligence in HIV blood-products scandal

A former top authority on hemophilia was acquitted Wednesday of professional negligence resulting in the death of a male patient through the use of HIV-tainted blood coagulants at Teikyo University Hospital in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2001

Australians try to sort good economic news from bad

SYDNEY -- With the government of Prime Minister John Howard still reeling from a by-election humiliation, along comes a morale booster -- a corporate deal that makes Australia the dominant player in global-resources trade. Comeback Kid Howard has done it again, although his chances of staying prime minister...

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