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JAPAN
Aug 5, 2001

Dual-surname system gaining support

Those in favor of permitting married couples to have different surnames far outnumber those opposing it, according to a government survey released Saturday.
COMMUNITY
Aug 5, 2001

What's in a name?

A wedding ceremony may be the culmination of romantic love, but it's also when life within the institution of marriage begins.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 5, 2001

'It's a complicated story,' pleads a battered press

The press has taken quite a beating over its coverage of the murders at Ikeda Elementary School. Even before the funerals, letters to the editor columns were filled with missives from enraged readers lam basting the media's lack of either common decency or common sense. Most complaints concerned interviews...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 5, 2001

If at first you don't succeed . . .

FUKUOKA -- Divorce and remarriage have been possible in Japan since feudal times, though until recently shame and social stigma ensured that few unhappy couples formalized their differences -- let alone took the plunge again.
COMMENTARY
Aug 4, 2001

Donors can make a world of difference

ISLAMABAD -- As Tetsuko Kuroyanagi returns to Japan with promises of using her television appearances to raise awareness over the plight of women and children in Afghanistan, there's no doubt that her six-day trip to the central Asian war-torn country was a brave effort.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 4, 2001

Enduring summer's mosquitoes is murderous

It's summer on Shiraishi Island and the mosquitoes are out on their search and annoy missions. There are so many mosquitoes at night, it sounds like Leo Sayer is singing in my bedroom: "You make me feel like dancin' " they sing, "Gonna dance the night awa--" Pssssshhht. In a cloud of insecticide, they...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 2, 2001

You say Frankenfruit, we say miracle tomato

Prince Charles played into the hands of the sensation-seeking media -- and drew the groans of scientists -- with his comments last year on genetically modified crops. They are, he said, "Frankenstein foods." Rather than genetic manipulation, he urged investment in "traditional systems of agriculture."...
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2001

Commuters fume over train temperatures

Frustration levels are running high among train and subway commuters amid a spell of uncomfortably hot weather this summer, driving many to demand cooler trains.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2001

Panel touts benefits of ODA budget

An advisory panel to Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Wednesday stressed the importance of official development assistance with regard to Japan's foreign policy.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Bath salt vendors flout norm, chase smell of success

OSAKA -- The Japanese affinity with hot spring resorts has long provided a market for firms selling bathing salts containing various minerals and ingredients.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 1, 2001

Mario A's walking, talking, breathing, living doll

A new photography book titled "ma poupee japonaise" arrived in the post the other day, sent by German-Italian artist Mario A. After skimming through pictures of an apparently life-sized wooden doll posed mostly unclothed in a variety of private and public places, I uploaded a brief note about the publication...
EDITORIALS
Jul 31, 2001

Now Mr. Koizumi must deliver

The tremendous popularity of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi led his Liberal Democratic Party to an overwhelming victory in Sunday's election for the House of Councilors. His dedication to "structural reforms without sacred cows" generated enthusiastic support among voters for Mr. Koizumi and his party,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 29, 2001

Nursing your house back to health

What can you do to protect yourself from sick-house syndrome?
COMMUNITY
Jul 29, 2001

The makings of a home, sick home

Air pollution isn't restricted to areas with factories and heavy traffic. Though it may nestle in a rural idyll, your home itself could be a potent source of potentially harmful chemicals.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 29, 2001

Hong Hu Asian: The cafe of Asian delights

The idea of the Asian-themed izakaya, complete with basic hawker food and crass giant Buddhas, has been with us for several years now. But Hong Hu is surely the first place in Tokyo to reinterpret Southeast Asian street food in the guise of a sidewalk cafe-bistro.
COMMUNITY
Jul 28, 2001

Sufi focuses on forgiveness, healing

It is not often you meet a Sufi. Nor conclude the evening with him and his interpreter dossing on your floor. With last Friday a national holiday, and Kamakura booked to the brim, it was a case of back to my pad or sleep on the beach. And I could hardly leave Sheikh Ingo Taleb Rashid to such a fate;...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 28, 2001

A dictionary by any other name is not so sweet

The Japanese have a curious habit of naming dictionaries. Not names like Taro, Yumi, Pochi, or something that might come if you called it, but names that are meant to conjure up an image. Here is a list of English-Japanese, Japanese-English Dictionaries and possible images they are meant to convey:
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2001

Budget test for sacred cows

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's "structural reforms with no sacred cows" received a boost from the G7 economic summit in Genoa, Italy.
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Jul 27, 2001

Hawaiian JETs sing a new island song

The song "Neba Neba Natto" may never make the Japanese music charts, but it is becoming a classic of a sort. The song, by Nikkei Aloha, has a laid-back Hawaiian tempo and humorous lyrics paying homage to natto (fermented soybeans).
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Jul 26, 2001

So much to see despite the cedars

Earlier this year, I hired a car at Miyazaki Airport and drove along the coast to Kagoshima.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2001

Something for everyone under the big blue sea

Dykkerne Rating: * * 1/2 Director: Ake Sandgren Running time: 91 minutes Language: DanishNow showing This is my second week in a row writing on a film from Scandinavia, so I'm suffering somewhat from Big Blonde People Overload. Especially since the latest involves apple-cheeked, sturdy-boned youngsters...
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2001

Pick a question, any question

Good news: We members of the Japanese masu-komi were privileged to attend the premiere press conference for Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes."
COMMENTARY
Jul 23, 2001

Seek justice, not provocation

China has reacted strongly to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's announcement that he will visit Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, Japan's anniversary of the end of World War II. Coupled with the history textbook issue, the statement has again unsettled Tokyo's relations with Beijing.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 22, 2001

CCP is going nowhere fast

When the International Olympic Committee awarded Beijing the 2008 Summer Games, the decision was widely publicized as a move that would promote reforms in China, improve its human rights situation and eventually open China to the world. This is not unlike the rationale for awarding the 1980 Summer Games...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 22, 2001

Reaching higher than the sun

The determined individualism and unique artistic vision of Taro Okamoto (1911-1996), a leader in Japan's 1960s-'70s avant-garde art scene, continues to be a source of inspiration to many people today.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 22, 2001

Dead-end lives in the suburbs of Tokyo

LIFE IN THE CUL-DE-SAC, by Senji Kuroi. Translated by Philip Gabriel. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 2001, 231 pp., $12.95. To read this version of "Life in the Cul-de-Sac" is to experience two conflicting emotions. On the one hand, there is admiration for the storyteller, as the dozen linked...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 21, 2001

Ruin yourself in extravagance with food

Today I will give you a tour of Osaka, Japan's third largest city that doubles as the nation's largest pachinko parlor. If you've ever wondered what it's like to walk around inside one of those pachinko game machines, I suggest taking a walk through Umeda or Nanaba at night. With all the neon and blinking...

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person