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EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2001

Mr. Kim's tutorial

Mr. Kim Jong Il's "secret" trip to China was one of the worst-kept secrets in recent history. Although the Chinese government refused to officially confirm the visit by the reclusive North Korean leader, the news was out as soon as Mr. Kim's special train crossed the border into China last week. If much...
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2001

Smells like a significant odor

To tell you the truth, I'm not really a fan of this "new metal," or whatever you want to call it. I have nothing against rap — Will Smith sounds pretty bitchin' after six or seven Coronas — but metal is special. You don't mess with a perfect art form. Call me a purist, but that's just the way I am....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 21, 2001

Almost like a mouthful of Momma's tasty tofu

If you're a foreigner in Japan, Japanese people will always ask you, "Why are you in Japan?" If you're a foreigner who has been in Japan a awhile, Japanese people will always ask you, "Why are you still in Japan?"
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2001

Making gardens accessible proving a slippery path

Legend has it that when the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden in Bunkyo Ward was built in the early Edo Period, it boasted gigantic rocks and majestic, ancient trees reminiscent of the steep mountains and dark valleys of China.
COMMENTARY
Jan 12, 2001

Still waiting for real reform

A slimmed-down national government debuted Jan. 6, when Japan's central bureaucracy was reorganized. The realignment cut the number of ministries and agencies, under the Cabinet Office, to 12 from the previous 22.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2001

Former Chiyoda Mutual board sued for insurer's bankruptcy

Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co., restructuring under the corporate rehabilitation law, filed a 7.136 billion yen damages suit Wednesday against former board members, claiming their reckless loan policies were responsible for the firm's failure.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2001

Cop impostor just wanted respect

A 25-year-old man was arrested close to the Diet building with a fake lapel pin resembling those worn by members of a special police unit assigned to protect key figures as well as a false bar association membership card, it was learned Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Jan 10, 2001

Daimyo's garden: tall trees among the embassies

Arisugawa Memorial Park has an area of 3.6 hectares and is the largest park in Tokyo's Minato Ward. The collection of tall mature trees gives the park a pleasing woodland effect.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2001

A peep inside the otaku cocoon

Writing about Japanese films in English, I am usually flying below the radar of the local industry -- I can skewer a director's latest triumph on this page and meet him laterat a party secure in the knowledge that he has not the foggiest idea of what I've said about his movie. Once in a while, though,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 28, 2000

Looking back at the future

In honor of that particularly Japanese custom of creating instant tradition ("Since 1999"), this last column of the year peers forward by looking back. Here are just three of the many new places we have visited and enjoyed during the past 12 months but never got around to writing up.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / RENDEZVOUS
Dec 24, 2000

Rendezvous

MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . Have a great day. And the best is yet to come for Japan, with the unique welcoming of the new year -- a festival that can take as long as two weeks or a shorter period of about five days, beginning with what westerners call New Year's...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 24, 2000

Chamber orchestras prove light but not flighty

Die Freitagsakademie and l'Ensemble Vocale de Lausanne
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Dec 21, 2000

Refresh your soul with the scent of eternal rebirth

For me the special warmth, freshness and magic of this time of year is beautifully embodied in its piny scents. The pine of Christmas trees and wreaths segues nicely into the pine of Japanese New Year displays.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2000

Jazz singer's choir beats holiday blues

Like strangers, they eye each other cautiously at first -- perhaps even with a trace of suspicion. But the music begins, and instantly the room is transformed into a hall housing a choir of angels. A thunderous applause ensues, some tears fall -- and finally the smiles materialize.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 20, 2000

Gifts galore for the gadget lover

Japan constantly churns out high-tech gadgets, and Christmas is a great time to buy the best.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 20, 2000

Glaciers prove ecological succession

That powerful forces have shaped the world we live in is somehow easier to grasp when one lives in a country wracked by earthquakes, dotted with calderas and pocked with active volcanoes.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2000

Eco-terrorism threatens Galapagos natural treasures, eco-tourism

The Galapagos Islands, the world's second-largest marine reserve, are under attack from fishermen spurred by Asian markets for marine products. The Ecuadorean government has done nothing to halt the eco-terrorism in what only recently was a paradise for eco-tourism.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2000

Societal barriers facing disabled may prove the most formidable

As deputy chief of the Japanese delegation at the Sydney Paralympic Games this summer, Tsunenobu Wakana was impressed with the handicapped-friendly facilities and transportation system.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2000

Tokyo to open parks and zoos for New Year's holiday season

The New Year's holiday season is one of the rare occasions when the hustle and bustle of Tokyo comes to a temporary halt as dwellers of the metropolis leave in droves.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2000

A true match made in heaven

Wiener Philharmoniker Nov. 16, Seiji Ozawa conducting in Suntory Hall -- Symphony No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 90; Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 (Johannes Brahms, 1833-97)
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

Ogi rocks the boat with airport review

Transport Minister Chikage Ogi recently sparked a row over a key part of the nation's future infrastructure plans when she suggested a review of the roles of Haneda and Narita airports.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2000

Bush expected to focus on Japan rather than China

Experts on Japanese-U.S. relations broadly see George W. Bush's victory in the U.S. presidential election as a good sign for Tokyo, as the Republican Party places relatively strong importance on Japan in its Asia policy, and the new administration is expected to take a less-confrontational approach to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 14, 2000

Dining out in year-end style

With Christmas a mere 10 days away, it is unlikely that anyone has failed to make their arrangements for celebrations, either on the day itself or during the Yuletide run-up. However, just in time for the season of good cheer, overeating and loosening of purse strings, here are two places (opened in...
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Narita-Haneda role reversal not in offing, Ogi assures

The current rules on the roles of Haneda and Narita airports will not change in the immediate future, Transport Minister Chikage Ogi said Tuesday in an apparent effort to fend off stronger-than-expected protests from Chiba Prefecture.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 13, 2000

The willow world stripped bare

GEISHA: The Secret History of a Vanishing World, by Lesley Downer. London: Headline Books, 2000, 370 pp., 20 British pounds. A common question asked about geisha is: Do they or don't they? Their attraction seems balanced between artistic prowess and sex appeal, but just how often is the latter properly...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 6, 2000

Expats all losers, choosers or abusers?

Wetting my whistle on a humid afternoon inside a Tokyo establishment for the soberly impaired, I listened to the following affirmation by a foreign longtime friend.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 3, 2000

First leg ends scoreless

YOKOHAMA -- One of the arguments against the J. League having a two-stage format is that the first-stage champion spends the entire second stage coasting.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan