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LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jan 25, 2001

Best time of year to savor the joys of heated sake

Warm sake. It's hard to think of anything more appealing on a cold winter evening. As we trudge through the depths of one of the coldest and snowiest winters Japan has seen in years, warming oneself from the core out with a glass or bottle of a well-chosen heated sake settles and soothes like nothing...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2001

Nukaga likely to step down

State minister Fukushiro Nukaga is likely to resign from his Cabinet post today in the wake of allegations he received 15 million yen from KSD, a provider of industrial accident insurance, in 1999 and 2000, political sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2001

Avoiding generalizations about ASEAN

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Recent days have seen the emergence of a number of cliches in the press with reference to policies and trends in Asia and particularly to ASEAN. Among the most common are the following:
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2001

Bush inherits his father's legacy in Iraq

BEIRUT -- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein rang in the new year with the largest military parade Baghdad had ever seen. Over 1,000 tanks rumbled through the capital. According to the opposition Iraqi National Congress, they were equipped with new engines and cooling systems, imported from Ukraine in defiance...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jan 20, 2001

Mixing and matching musical genres

Late January and early February offer three fascinating hogaku concerts, ranging from the traditional to the contemporary and a world premier of a collaboration of Asian musical styles and dance.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Jan 11, 2001

Kick off your year of wine-drinking with a refresher

Here's wishing you a Happy New Year, a bit belatedly. After all the hoopla a year ago, isn't it ironic that the new millennium didn't actually begin until 11 days ago?
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2001

Reply to No-Action Letter clarifies insurance rescues

The first article on the debut of the No-Action Letter system focused on why it is necessary to create a standardized, public interface through which the Financial Services Agency can promptly respond to financial institutions' questions and concerns about compliance with regulatory issues.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 6, 2001

The movie's the thing

Who do you think you are, the Prince of Denmark? Such is the complaint I'd like to lodge with wordy, lordly, self-obsessed people whose introverted grievances often manifest themselves in extroverted acts of harm. Hamlet had always struck me as a curious choice for a hero. It's true he gave some great...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jan 6, 2001

Japanese music gets support from New Year's tradition

New Year's in Japan is a period when Japanese suddenly seem to "rediscover" their traditional music. Radio and television stations, which, except for NHK, practically ignore traditional music for most of the year, get into the seasonal spirit and air programs of the classical performing and theatrical...
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2001

Britain feared a revival of militarism after Mishima's suicide

LONDON -- The dramatic suicide by Japanese writer and nationalist Yukio Mishima after his failed attempt to foment a coup in 1970 triggered British concern about a revival of militarism in Japan, according to 30-year-old declassified British documents released on New Year's Day.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2001

Japan in miniature: Edo Period stroll gardens were the original amusement parks

The Japanese tourist, unlike the overseas visitor, may be only mildly astonished to find himself transported to the upper part of a castle donjon by means of a newly installed elevator. Convenience, the Western visitor notes with some bemusement, does not seem to detract from the enjoyment, let alone...
CULTURE / Art
Jan 3, 2001

The simple pleasures of Karatsu

KARATSU, Saga Pref. -- Best known for its deceptively simple pottery, Karatsu is a peaceful coastal town on a western tip of Kyushu. It's quiet year round except for summer, when holidaymakers crowd the long sandy beaches nearby, and November, when several hundred thousand visitors flock to see giant,...
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2001

Unresolved issues linger for Japan

Japan greets the new century with two major diplomatic issues unresolved since the end of World War II -- concluding a peace treaty with Russia and normalizing diplomatic relations with North Korea.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2000

LDP lawmakers try to quell non-Japanese suffrage moves

A group of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers has urged local LDP chapters to revoke local assembly resolutions that favored a bill to give permanent non-Japanese residents voting rights in local elections.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 30, 2000

'Discovering' Heinrich Vogeler

With most Tokyo galleries closed during the New Year's break, it can be difficult to find an interesting contemporary art show in the city.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2000

State urged to improve understanding of Islam

A study group set up by Foreign Minister Yohei Kono earlier this year is urging the government to improve its understanding of Islamic thinking to deepen ties with Muslim states.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

83 trillion yen budgeted for 2001

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Wednesday unveiled a draft general-account budget for fiscal 2001 that is smaller than its predecessor for the first time in three years but will nevertheless leave Japan 666 trillion yen in debt.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 12, 2000

Hoost king of K-1 roost

Dutch fighter Ernesto Hoost claimed his third K-1 Grand Prix title Sunday at a packed Tokyo Dome when he won the final by judges' decision over New Zealand's Ray Sefo.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 9, 2000

Nishiki-e outshine Chinese prints

"The Birth of Nishiki-e," the current exhibition at the Ota Memorial Museum of Art, claims to be an attempt to explore Chinese influence on ukiyo-e, Japanese print art.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Dec 4, 2000

Judging history's 'single most violent act'

At a midtown bar, Wolcott Wheeler, whom I call a historian without portfolio, tells me a story about Robert Oppenheimer: how the physicist, meeting President Harry Truman in the Oval Office, said, "Mr. President, I have blood on my hands."
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2000

2002 World Cup: Soccer without fear?

BRUSSELS -- The first world cup of the new millennium is to be staged in Japan and South Korea in the summer of 2002. Both countries want to use this billion-dollar sporting showpiece as a global shop window allowing those watching, both in the stadiums and on TV, to see the real Japan and the real South...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2000

U.S. blocks the road to a greener planet

LONDON -- The Canadians and the Australians were just as bad, really, and the Saudi Arabians were outrageous: They want the world to compensate them for every barrel of oil they don't sell if it cuts back on burning fossil fuels to slow global warming. But the Americans were the real reason that the...
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Officer admits giving secrets to Russian spy

An ex-Maritime Self-Defense Force officer pleaded guilty Monday to passing two confidential documents to a Russian military attache in June and apologized for endangering the people of Japan.
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2000

Key panel suggests independence for DoCoMo

A subcommittee of a key government advisory panel on Thursday urged "effective independence" for NTT DoCoMo Inc. from its parent, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., if sufficient competition fails to form in the nation's telecommunications market.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 11, 2000

Love, oil and Bangkok traffic jams

If you've ever been caught in a Bangkok traffic jam, it's a fair bet that "beautiful" would not be a word you'd use to describe the scene. But asurvey of Takanobu Kobayashi's new paintings gives the impression that the 40-year-old painter loves the buses and big trucks and little tuk tuks that choke...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 9, 2000

Now is the season of our great content

It's all too easy to take for granted a restaurant of the caliber of Les Saisons. Ensconced within the venerable portals of the Imperial Hotel, it is plush, self-assured and runs with the same effortless reliability as a well-tuned Bentley sports car. You just know that an evening at table is going to...
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2000

Cyberspace expo to be tough on your mouse, not your feet

The government is preparing to launch a cyberspace exposition on the last day of 2000.
EDITORIALS
Nov 6, 2000

Neighbors, yet strangers

The latest round of normalization talks held in Beijing last week between Japan and North Korea failed to reach any specific agreement. Although no statement was issued, it seems clear that the two sides largely agreed to disagree, at least for the moment. The two nations remained divided over the pivotal...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 2, 2000

Cooperation is key to ending Northern Territories impasse

Russia and Japan appear to be creeping toward an interim solution to the Northern Territories imbroglio. There are two possibilities being discussed -- joint administration and control of some or all four islands, and a two-stage agreement in which Russia gives up or shares Shikotan and the Habomai group...

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