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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 4, 2001

Isabella Bird's letters from Japan

UNBEATEN TRACKS IN JAPAN: An Account of Travels in the Interior Including Visits to the Aborigines of Yezo and the Shrines of Nikko, by Isabella L. Bird. New York: ICG Muse, 2000, 1,700 yen, 342 pp. (paper) "Unbeaten Tracks in Japan" documents the journeys of Isabella Bird, an extraordinary woman for...
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Nov 2, 2001

Serbian tennis ace giving it his best shot

It was gunfire that Nikola Stula thought he heard the first night he arrived in Gifu.
COMMUNITY
Oct 30, 2001

Hosts with the most, ma'am, at your service

BANGKOK -- Bangkok may be the sex capital of the world for men, but what do Thai women do for kicks? It's Saturday night and I am in an underground parking garage in central Bangkok trying to find out. It is damp and somewhat desolate, but across the ill-lit tarmac I see a promising neon sign that reads...
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2001

Insurer safety net in trouble

Life insurers can no longer afford to keep funding the safety net of the Life Insurance Policyholders Protection Corp., which makes payments for failed insurers, a top industry official said Friday.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 5, 2001

Open your ears to nature's rainbow of sound

In Japan, autumn fills nature, not only with visual colors, but also with "colorful" sounds: blowing wind, birdsong, the chirping of insects and the crunching of leaves.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 30, 2001

Symbols of the fleeting world

From earliest times, when the country was known as Akitsushima (Island of the Dragonfly), insects have buzzed, skimmed and flitted through the pages of Japanese literature.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2001

Poetry and the pursuit of freedom

Before Night Falls Rating: * * * Director: Julian Schnabel Running time: 133 minutes Language: Spanish, English Now showing
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 1, 2001

Prize-winning poet and the Japanese connection

By today, Ken Taylor will be back in his native Australia after a month in France and three weeks in Japan. He says he always learns something from his trips here -- 17 to date -- but at our time of meeting has no idea what that is. "The process can take a long time, or I may know when I step off the...
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2001

Aetna Heiwa changes hands again

U.S. insurer Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. said Wednesday it has finished purchasing the shares of Aetna Heiwa Life Insurance Co., thus gaining a toehold in the Japanese life insurance market.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2001

Ms. Tokyo takes a trip to reality

Koko ni Iru Koto Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Masahiko Nagasawa Running time: 115 minutes Language: JapaneseNow showing The TV trendy drama was a bubble-era phenomenon, with its stories about the love troubles of beautiful young singles working at glamorous "katakana jobs" (such as "event planner"...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 15, 2001

Comic ambassadors

A rather naive man decides to nip off to Hokkaido to enjoy the Sapporo Snow Festival without booking a place to stay. Wandering the snowy streets, he eventually comes across a solution to his problem -- a love hotel.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 7, 2001

Sharing corporate vision of women and money

Whoever said women were the weaker sex has not met Kaori Sasaki. Not only is she president of UNICUL International Inc. and president and CEO of eWoman Inc., a new Web site for women. She is the brains behind the 6th International Conference for Women in Business, to be held at the Daiba Hotel Nikko...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 7, 2001

Whose theory was it, anyway?

In 1835, Charles Darwin became the first of a long line of scientists to make a study of the Galapagos Islands. Now, on entering the research station there that bears his name, visitors come face to face with a bronze of the Englishman as a very much older and far more famous man than he was when he...
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2001

Memories as microcosms

Directors, it's often said, keep making the same movie over and over, though the sameness is more evident with some than others. Akira Kurosawa was among the most eclectic directors of his generation, filming everything from Shakespearean drama ("Throne of Blood") to popcorn entertainment ("The Hidden...
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 / Art
May 23, 2001

Bright horizon seen from Odaiba

Reflecting the energy and vibrancy of the surrounding Odaiba district on Tokyo Bay, the "New York Philip Morris Art Award: 24 Winners from 1996 to 2000" exhibition is housed in the Fuji Television Forum, on the 22nd floor of the landmark Fuji Television Headquarters Office Tower.
LIFE / Travel
May 22, 2001

Visiting the Little Prince at Hakone

Breathtaking mountain scenery, a walk through a French village, Provencal cooking and a meeting with the doppelganger of a world-famous author -- sounds like a nice day trip. Especially when you can do it all without leaving Kanto.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 13, 2001

A passion for Japan

SIEBOLD AND JAPAN: His Life and Work, by Arlette Kouwenhouven, with Matthi Forrer. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000, 112 pp., with 87 plates, 3,200 yen. Shortly after arriving in Japan in 1823, Philipp Franz von Siebold wrote to a relative back in Holland, "I do not intend to leave Japan until I have...
JAPAN
May 10, 2001

State eyes stricter rules to make boating safer

The Transport Ministry launched an initiative Wednesday to revise safety rules and regulations to stem the rising tide of accidents involving motorboats, yachts, ski jets and other recreational vessels.
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2001

The shock of the Nouveau

Like a femme fatale, Art Nouveau has long guarded her secrets well. Were her sinuous lines symbolic or erotic? Did she bring fresh beauty into the modern world, or exploit a fin de siecle taste for the decadent? And why did she suddenly disappear, after a rapid rise to fame?
CULTURE / Art
May 2, 2001

The golden age of Flemish art

"In the early 17th century, Antwerp was a kind of Hollywood," said Paul Huvenne, director general of Antwerp's Royal Museum of Fine Arts. "There were more painters in the city than bakers!"
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 29, 2001

Armchair travel to Italy and beyond

Tatsuo Umemiya used to be one of the hardest-working yakuza actors in Japan. Nowadays, he is mainly known as the father of model/talent Anna Umemiya and as "the cooking king" of Japanese show business. He even owns a popular chain of stores that sell all sorts of Japanese foods. The stores are easy to...
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2001

Three nonlife insurers to merge in fiscal '02

Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and two other nonlife insurers due to merge April 1, 2002, inked a deal Wednesday to merge into a single entity on April 1, 2002.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 25, 2001

Nick Cave

Nick Cave has never been one to just "get on with life," to wander through it blind, intent on getting to the end with the least trouble. He needs to know why we are here and what happens to us when we've gone. And, like the rest of us, he'll never know, at least not in this life.
COMMENTARY
Apr 18, 2001

Mistaken cures for the Japanese economy

The debate over economic reform in Japan, especially the alleged need to force banks to dispose of bad loans, resembles the story about the hospital patient on life support because of a serious blood-circulation problem. One result of that problem is badly swollen feet. But the doctors can only focus...
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2001

Sanctioning death in the Netherlands

Once again, the Netherlands has braved the storm. Last week, the country's Senate, the upper house of Parliament, passed a bill legalizing euthanasia. When Queen Beatrix signs the law, which was passed by the lower house last November, the Netherlands will be the first country to permit mercy killing....
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 12, 2001

From ridiculous to sublime: the arguments of a fossil fool

Last month, the White House announced that U.S. President George W. Bush would not support the Kyoto Protocol because it "is not in the United States' economic best interests." The protocol is aimed at reducing human emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, that contribute to global...
COMMENTARY
Apr 11, 2001

The hazards of reform -- British-style

LONDON -- Forget sagging stock markets and omens of world recession. Forget global warming and U.S. President George W. Bush's rejection of the Kyoto treaty on carbon emissions. Forget, even, the foot-and-mouth disease that is currently paralyzing Britain's farming and tourist industries and has caused...
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.
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2001

Ghosts on the loose

You may have thought that the big story out of Hong Kong last week was the slumping Hang Seng Index or continuing pressure from Beijing to crack down on the Falun Gong. But no, something much more fascinating was going on, and it was going on right inside one of the places that break, but don't usually...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?