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COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 6, 2004

Otaku proud of it

I wouldn't be offended if someone called me an otaku," says Koichi Nakayasu, ". . . because I am."
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Crackdown has publishers running scared

Yasunori Okadome last month suspended publication of his profitable monthly gossip magazine Uwasa-no-shinso (The Truth Behind Rumors), due to fears that a lawsuit could put him out of business for good.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2004

Hemophiliac targets hepatitis C blunders

A hemophiliac who achieved fame through his dogged fight to make the government accountable for the use of HIV-tainted blood products is picking a fight again, this time over Tokyo's handling of hepatitis C.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 18, 2004

Professional bowling coming to an alley near you

When first approached to interview Steve Miller, President and CEO of the Pro Bowling Association Tour (PBA), I was reluctant to put it politely. Bowling for me was always something of a last resort if a date was going badly, a sport in which my average closely resembled what it takes me to get around...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2004

How scared should we be? Some bird flu facts at a glance

The following are answers to basic questions concerning bird flu:
Japan Times
Features
Mar 14, 2004

Roots

Have you ever considered making your family tree?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2004

Amusement parks on white-knuckle ride

Roller coasters and merry-go-rounds at amusement parks offer people an opportunity to spice up their lives with a few thrills and spills.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 29, 2004

Caring for the canines whose job is to care

On Sept. 14, 2001, veterinarian H. Marie Suthers-McCabe arrived in New York City. Disbelief, horror and shock over what had occurred only a few days before was still so profound as to be virtually palpable, with hundreds still missing from the attacks on the World Trade Center towers. Suthers-McCabe's...
Japan Times
Features
Feb 29, 2004

Pooch paradise

A dog's life in Japan can be about as close to canine heaven on earth as it gets.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 22, 2004

Legends keep it visceral and current

Colin Newman of the English punk band Wire uses the words "interesting" and "energy" a lot when he talks about music. "Interesting" can often be a backhanded compliment, but Newman uses it literally because he tends to approach pop as an intellectual endeavor.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 22, 2004

A first step to understanding the homeless

The mayor of Kawasaki, Takao Abe, is currently under attack from a group of city residents who don't want a planned homeless shelter put in their neighborhood. Last month, Abe rejected the residents' request for a meeting to hear his explanation of why a disused chemical factory in the Tsutsumine district...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 18, 2004

Unpeeling Melt-Banana

Melt-Banana are one of the most popular Japanese bands in Europe and the United States, and there's two reasons for this: 1) They play more shows abroad than any other Japan-based band; and 2) They are one of Japan's most original-sounding bands, who, although highly experimental, make quality music...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 11, 2004

Dreams with wings

Last month, Brooklyn-born director Robert Allan Ackerman was in New York for the prestigious Golden Globe Awards, for which he had nominations for his TV movie of Tennessee Williams' "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" and his TV miniseries, "The Reagans," which CBS refused to screen. This month he is in...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 1, 2004

Speaking out from the streets

Diana was born in Santa Marta, Colombia, in 1973, the third of four children. Her father was an electrician who worked on construction projects that often took him away from the family for months at a time. There wasn't much money in the house, but all the children went to school -- their sharp-tongued...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Jan 29, 2004

Japan is learning to love (and loving to learn) Chinese

Every day, it seems, more and more Japanese want to communicate -- in Chinese. One million Japanese, says Web magazine ChinaGate, are learning Mandarin and other Chinese dialects. At Japanese universities and schools, Mandarin has overtaken French and German to become the most popular language after...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2004

Middle-aged are filling temp agency labor niche

Although the employment situation remains severe for older job seekers in search of full-time work, temporary employment services for the middle-aged are attracting increasing attention.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2004

Protest halts work on homeless shelter

KAWASAKI -- A protest rally by local residents forced the postponement Monday of the start of construction of a publicly run shelter for homeless people.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2004

Public interest in North Korean problems increasing: survey

Public interest in security issues concerning North Korea has increased substantially over the past year or so, with most people responding to a government survey released Saturday saying they are concerned about the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by the North.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 11, 2004

Discriminating professor takes provincial view of Izumo

IZUMO-JIN: The People of Izumo, by Daisetsu Fujioka, translated by Caroline E. Kano and Toshiko Yamakuse. Matsue: Harvest Publications, 2002, 138 pp., with maps. 1200 yen (paper).
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 9, 2004

Morioka vs. Major League Baseball: Not a pretty picture

In the beginning it seemed like a dream, the opportunity of a lifetime, but it ended up being more like a nightmare.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2004

Japan needs to emerge from behind America's apron: Wolferen

Japan may be the world's No. 2 economic power, but where diplomacy is concerned, Karel G. van Wolferen likens it to a boy who has to ask his parents (i.e. the United States) if he can go outside to play.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 1, 2004

Salaryman blues? Don't worry, be happy on less

Few people may think economist Takuro Morinaga and investment guru Robert Kiyosaki have anything in common.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 30, 2003

Mobile commerce market taking off

Taking the 15-minute walk from her home to her office in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, every morning, Noriko Kato, 29, looks at the tiny screen on her DoCoMo 505i mobile phone to check her e-mail and sometimes access her favorite shopping site, run by Netprice Ltd.
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2003

'We got him'

With these words, Iraq's U.S. administrator Paul Bremer announced on Sunday that American military forces had captured former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. His arrest symbolizes the end of an era in Iraq. It also could break the back of a resistance that has stymied efforts to bring peace and stability...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 14, 2003

Not letting the facts get in the way of a good 'documentary'

In the tributes to the Japanese diplomats who were killed two weeks ago, few people mentioned what they were actually doing in Iraq. Katsuhiko Oku was, among other things, encouraging Iraqis to watch NHK's popular drama series, "Oshin," which is being broadcast on Iraqi TV. The show, originally aired...
COMMENTARY
Dec 14, 2003

Getting Asia's youth behind their party

MANILA -- As elections approach, politicians remember the importance of being on good terms with the youth. Young people are easily motivated and are inexpensive workers in political campaigns. The young generation also constitutes a sizable electoral constituency.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2003

Dispatch foes grope to find, let alone sway, opinion

OSAKA -- Japanese against the war in Iraq and the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces troops to help rebuild the nation may not be as vocal as their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe, but they are trying to sway public sentiment in an equally determined manner.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 7, 2003

Japan's refusal to embrace sex education fuels spread of AIDS

U.S. President George W. Bush may be the best example of how ignorance can be wielded as a weapon, but most people who take advantage of their ignorance prefer to use it as a shield. Tadao Eguchi, the president of the hotel company that operates the hot-spring resort that canceled the reservations of...
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2003

Companies pursue image boost via programs for disabled

Japanese corporations are steadily expanding their social action programs to support physically disabled people in an apparent bid to look better to foreign investors.
COMMENTARY
Dec 2, 2003

Bolster will to defend Japan

Last month the government published an outline of draft legislation aimed at protecting the lives and property of Japanese people during a military attack from abroad. Such legislation could also apply in the event of a large-scale terrorist attack. The Diet will discuss the draft during the next regular...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight