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CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jul 1, 2000

Sinking to sulphurous musical depths

One of the few consolations amid the relentless damp and humidity of the Japanese rainy season are the irises and hydrangeas whose colors seem to become ever more limpid in the mist.
COMMUNITY
Jun 29, 2000

Fresh ideas keep old traditions alive

"A hundred people must have told me it was impossible," said Sarah Cummings as we sipped sake in the stylish Kurabu restaurant in the village of Obuse.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2000

Refugee attacks Japan's asylum process

Over 10 years have passed since Myanmar democracy activist Than Htay fled to Japan from his military-ruled motherland on May 26, 1990, the day before a general election whose results were nullified by the junta.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 18, 2000

All in the Phish phamily

At first, I felt sorry for the Americans who followed Phish across the Pacific for the band's Japan tour. I live here, and even I find the prices intolerable and the infrastructure unforgiving.
CULTURE / Books / POETRY MIGNETTE
Jun 18, 2000

Cafe's tempting literary brew

Cafe Independent, a "rattle-bag collection of poetry, art, pearls of prose . . . ," is produced by Oliver Kinghorn and Shannon Smith in Kyoto.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 8, 2000

Epic upset by Warriors still greatest in NBA history

It's been 25 years now but I remember it like it was yesterday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 8, 2000

Fresh innovations at home in Tsukiji

Urban dining myth number one: The closer you eat to Tsukiji, the better quality the fish must be.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2000

Usu victims to get cheap loans

The government will grant zero- and low-interest loans to aid small business owners in Hokkaido who have been adversely affected by the eruption of Mount Usu, Ministry of International Trade and Industry chief Takashi Fukaya said Friday.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jun 3, 2000

Drumming to a Japanese beat

The drum is easily Japan's most popular instrument.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2000

Lower House dissolved for June 25 poll

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori dissolved the Lower House on Friday and called a general election for June 25, placing the fate of his leadership in the hands of voters.
JAPAN
May 26, 2000

Billions in aid eyed for foreign students

HISANE MASAKI Staff writer The government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are considering creating a multibillion yen fund using low-interest yen loans to provide financial aid to foreign students in Japan, according to government and LDP sources.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
May 25, 2000

Strong traditions flow through Iwate sake

Talk about a late bloomer. From its location in the northeastern corner of Honshu, Iwate Prefecture exerts a tremendous influence on the sake world. Yet, sake was not even produced there on any real scale until well after 1678, long after Nada, Itami and Kyoto were well into their sake-brewing heyday....
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
May 24, 2000

Shopping with the herd

We track the tickers of global auctions. We flock to comparative shopping sites seeking the deal of the century. We sign up for sweepstakes galore and even occasionally invite vendors into our in-boxes to inform us of their latest discounts.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
May 24, 2000

Fresh or aged, the coffee is kicking at Satei Hato

On a nondescript side street, a short walk from Shibuya Station's jangling cell phones and glaring white lipstick, Satei Hato first catches your eye with the dramatic vases and fresh flowers that grace its entrance. Intrigued, you discover a space much larger than you anticipated, filled with the warmth...
JAPAN
May 15, 2000

Japan, U.S. to cap host-nation support

Japan and the United States are poised to agree on measures to keep upper limits intact when they renew a treaty on host-nation financial support for U.S. military facilities in Japan, Japanese government sources said Sunday.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 13, 2000

Celebrating the cream of Japanese pottery

Believe it or not, a new museum has opened in Japan. In the midst of hearing about this or that institution shutting its doors for good it's refreshing to hear of one opening its doors for the first time, especially one entirely devoted to pottery.
BUSINESS
May 5, 2000

Sowa Bank fabricated capital base

Tokyo Sowa Bank, a regional bank declared insolvent last June, fictitiously replenished its capital base in 1997 and 1998 to inflate its capital-adequacy ratio, industry sources said Thursday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / GETTING THINGS DONE
May 3, 2000

Following old paths

Last Sunday we considered flowers -- peonies, azaleas and wisteria -- and the best places to see them during our Golden Week holidays. Here is one more outing to add to your flower calendar. The Tokyo Garden Show 2000 is being held through May 7 in the large open space in front of the picture gallery...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 25, 2000

The 400-year-old bridge

BRIDGING THE DIVIDE: 400 Years The Netherlands -- Japan, edited by Leonard Blusse, Willem Remmelink and Ivo Smits. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000, 288 pp., $60. Japan and the Netherlands have a special relationship. No two other European and Asian countries have maintained such long and continuous contact...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 16, 2000

Cindy Fueki

More than 70 years ago, a group of women living in Yokohama founded the International Women's Club. They devised lively social programs and gave their attention to welfare work. The outbreak of World War II meant that the club ceased its activities.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 7, 2000

You've come a long way, baby

Their faces may be swollen and their noses might get bloodied, but Japanese female boxers have no intention of stepping out of the ring.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2000

Entry to be made easier for legal foreign workers

Japan will aim to promote smoother acceptance of legal foreign workers, while at the same time taking stronger measures to weed out illegal aliens, according to a revised edition of the Basic Plan for Immigration Control to be released today by the Justice Ministry.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 23, 2000

The magic of dancing spores

Sake fans these days are quite often inundated with information (much of it extraneous) about how a sake was made. The rice, yeast strain, water quality, nihonshu-do (specific gravity) and acidity are commonly found listed on the labels of most decent bottles of sake.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2000

Embattled triumvirate seeks to rally the public before polls

Although Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi encountered little difficulty in securing Diet passage of the fiscal 2000 budget Friday, the likelihood of him dissolving the Lower House for general elections in the near future seems more distant than ever.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2000

If only Greenpeace told the truth about whaling

On Nov. 9, 1999, Japan's whale research fleet departed for the Antarctic to begin the 13th year of its research program. The research program involves both a sighting survey whose primary purpose is the estimation of trends in abundance, and a sampling component that involves the take of up to 440 minke...
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Mar 15, 2000

No way out

Sometimes it seems my mailbox is a place for complaints. Today it is NHK fees. Wednesday's column will consider NTT's high initial charge for phone service. Don't look for ways to avoid the inevitable; your daily life entails certain obligations.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes