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COMMENTARY
Mar 24, 2002

Talk of a turnaround remains premature

ISLAMABAD -- If President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, felt he was winning over world opinion following his recent kudos-winning trips to Japan and the United States, he couldn't have chosen a worse moment.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 24, 2002

Shaping up nicely

There is something about landscaped Japanese gardens that suggests timelessness, a phenomenon apparently contrary to that Japanese tendency to locate beauty in what is fleeting in this world.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2002

Democracy gains a foothold in Cambodia

WASHINGTON -- Official returns have confirmed a broad sweep of Cambodia's ruling party, the Cambodia People's Party, in the country's first local elections. Critics in the U.S. policy community cite these elections as proof that democracy has failed in Cambodia. By their measure, elections are the sole...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 22, 2002

'Tommy' Suharto trial also tests judiciary

JAKARTA -- The youngest son of former Indonesian President Suharto went to trial for murder Wednesday. The case is probably the most important test yet of the credibility of Indonesia's legal system. Hutomo Mandala Putra, better known as Tommy, stands accused of masterminding the murder of a Supreme...
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 21, 2002

Blooms tell curious tale of two cities

Ninet years ago, on March 27, 1912, passersby on the northern bank of the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. may have been surprised to see two elegant ladies digging holes. They may have been even more surprised had they known that the women were Helen Taft, wife of U.S. President William Howard Taft,...
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2002

LDP releases job-boosting proposals

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Wednesday released a set of employment-boosting proposals, including a call for government subsidies to companies that have introduced work-sharing schemes to maintain job numbers.
COMMENTARY
Mar 20, 2002

Uncertain future for Koizumi

In politics, as the saying goes, all is darkness just a step down the road. How right they are. When the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was inaugurated at the end of April 2001, it enjoyed a stellar Cabinet support rating of 80 percent, and the prime minister himself was hugely popular....
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2002

Grim outlook for Asia's final frontier of biodiversity

NEW YORK -- Since brutally assuming direct power in 1988, the Myanmar military has been conducting a sustained assault on the environment in one of Asia's richest and least-developed lands. The country's ecosystem, which ranges from tropical reefs along the Bay of Bengal to the mountains of the Himalayas,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Mar 20, 2002

VOCA roundup is a right royal letdown

It's been almost 100 years since Wassily Kandinsky began creating what are generally regarded as the first purely abstract paintings. The Russian's "compositions," as he termed them, freed him from representation and opened up a new world of expressive possibilities. These were fully explored in the...
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

A rendezvous with the master

During a recent interview at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Arthur C. Clarke displayed a youthful enthusiasm that belied his 84 years. Clad in a batik sarong and pastel shirt with a dolphin motif, the wheelchair-bound author of "2001: A Space Odyssey" was short of breath and complained that he was tired...
SOCCER / World cup / EXCERPTS FROM PHILIPPE TROUSSIER'S BOOK
Mar 18, 2002

Leading my troops into battle

"Passion" is the story of Japan soccer team coach Philippe Troussier, his struggle to make it as a player and manager and his travels around France, Africa and Japan. In the book, Troussier also details his philosophy and thinking as he prepares for the World Cup in June.The book has been published...
COMMUNITY
Mar 17, 2002

Taking a more traditional view

For many residents of Kyoto, the Kyoto Tower brings to mind the story about the Parisian artist who railed to whomever would listen about how much he hated the Eiffel Tower.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 17, 2002

Umaya: Dining in the presence of greatness

When the man behind a major new restaurant is a kabuki actor, it's inevitable that there's going to be strong public interest. When that actor happens to be Ichikawa Ennosuke -- the flamboyant superstar of his self-styled "super kabuki" -- you can expect the buzz to be massive.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 17, 2002

The Steiff of teddy-bear legend

Cute. In Japan, there's cuteness wherever you look -- Hello Kitty, Tare Panda, The Dog, etc., etc. But from next month to September 2003, Japanese people will be able to glimpse the creativity behind the cuteness of that cuddliest of all cuddlies -- the teddy bear -- when Germany-based Margarete Steiff...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 17, 2002

Osaka's spirit in the sky

In survey after survey, Tsutenkaku Tower in Osaka's Shinsekai district comes in second among the structures that most strongly symbolize the spirit of Osaka, the first being Osaka Castle.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2002

No alternative to Saudi peace 'vision'

BEIRUT -- There is little new about Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's proposal for full Arab "normalization" with Israel in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and the establishment of a Palestine state. A vision more than a plan, it leaves vague or unmentioned potential stumbling...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Mar 12, 2002

Fairy-tale castles dreamt up by a mad king

King Ludwig II (1845-1886), absolute ruler of Bavaria, had his little ways.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 10, 2002

Bartender, can you make that a double?

I was once asked to invent a list of bars with brief descriptions as part of an April Fool's joke for a magazine. In fact, one of the bars I included did (and still does) exist. But it was one I had not been able to review, because the master refuses publicity in order to maintain exclusivity. So I gave...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 10, 2002

They're simply the bomb

When Ozomatli played on the closing night of Fuji Rock Festival 2000, they emptied out the Red Marquee. The hundreds of safety-pin punks, rag-head ragamuffins, permanent-press mods and glow-stick ravers had disappeared -- last seen following the band. Like a soccer team of drum-toting Pied Pipers, Ozomatli...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 8, 2002

Gutsy manga classic that pulls no punches

Konjo-nashi (gutless) is a word often used to describe today's Japanese youth. But the people using it are frankly wakkachyainai (clueless). The truth is, young people love konjo (guts). They want it, they admire it. They'd ooze konjo from every pore -- if they could. And to prove it, an increasing number...
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Mar 7, 2002

Enron mania and other diversions

www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,50688,00.htmThe Spudmeister feels like he's cheating a bit here, directing you to a mere article, but it may foretell the next step in digital piracy. The tool tomorrow's pirates are using today is the iPod.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 6, 2002

Comedy that doesn't always translate

After decades of playing Shakespeare "straight," Japanese directors and actors are now taking stagings of his works to a different level. A move away from pure "translation drama" toward an approach rooted in Japanese experience has been the exciting hallmark of productions such as Hideki Noda's "Much...
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2002

Narrow field helps Koizumi

Immediately after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi fired Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka early Jan. 30, the public approval rate of his government plummeted to about 50 percent from the unprecedentedly high 80 percent it had maintained for nine months since its inception in April. There may be no rebuttal...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2002

Apologies to Seoul and Beijing

SAN DIEGO -- When it comes to the histories and cultures of the countries of the Pacific, the U.S. president either received a lousy education at Andover and Yale or else failed to study.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 3, 2002

Who's killing the great athletes of Japan?

Japanese television coverage of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics amounted to 820 hours of total airtime on all the various terrestrial and satellite stations. This compares to about 500 hours for the Nagano Games. The main reason for the sizable increase is the growth of digital satellite channels...
SOCCER / World cup
Mar 2, 2002

Belgian boss praises Japan

Robert Waseige, manager of the Belgian team that will face Japan in the World Cup finals, kept his cards very close to his chest as he met the Japanese media on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2002

Bush puts U.S.-China ties back on track

U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Beijing on Feb. 21-22 signals clearly that Sino-U.S. relations are back on track toward a constructive, cooperative relationship. Bush met Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his successor, Vice President Hu Jintao. Bush re-assured China on the Taiwan issue. He...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2002

Bush fails to show Korean peace map

SEOUL -- The stage was set for a summit showdown when U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Seoul last week, and it did not disappoint. At stake was not only the future of Kim Dae Jung's "sunshine policy" of engagement with North Korea -- which is highly dependent on the resumption of talks between...
LIFE / Language / FOR KIDS
Mar 1, 2002

The boy who dreamt of dragons

More than a century ago, there was a 7-year-old boy who dreamt of a "green great dragon" and wrote his first short story about it.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2002

Familiar faces fail to stir French voters

PARIS -- It could happen only in France. The president of the Republic is running for re-election as the opposition candidate while his main challenger is defending the government's record over the past five years.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo