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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 10, 2004

Dodging tourist traps in Kyoto

Ebisugawa has a vast array of small shops that sell dozens of varieties of high-quality green tea and traditional Kyoto sweets, as well as bric-a-brac stores that are a bargain-hunter's dream.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Sep 5, 2004

Takafumi Horie: Livedoor whiz kid sets a new style

Takafumi Horie, 31, has been the man in the news since the end of June, when he announced that his Tokyo-based Internet service firm, Livedoor Co., was in the market for Osaka's debt-ravaged Kintetsu Buffaloes baseball team.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 1, 2004

Shaking it up on Sado

SADO ISLAND, Niigata Pref. -- Step one: right leg forward, left leg back.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2004

Apple's iPod mini proves big hit

The iPod mini, a digital music player made by Apple Computer Inc., has proved extremely popular since hitting the Japanese market a month ago.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 20, 2004

On the path of poets

Utter silence, Piercing the stone walls, The cicada's cry
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 19, 2004

Down in the grim intertidal zone

A coffee-shop friend of mine recently summed up his appreciation of our local lowland forest just outside Sapporo, saying: "You know, it's wonderful here; every season is the best season." And, you know, he has a powerful point.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2004

DoCoMo, KDDI give number service

NTT DoCoMo Inc. and KDDI Corp. will begin a free recorded message service to give out a subscriber's new telephone number when the person switches to their services.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 11, 2004

Artist builds from zero

Suspicious of the pervasive role of Western culture in his homeland, Katsushige Nakahashi resolved to become a "Japanese artist."
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2004

Man on the street upbeat over economy last month

The business confidence of workers with jobs sensitive to economic trends improved in July, due partly to brisk retail sales spurred by sweltering summer temperatures and the Athens Olympics, the government said Monday.
Japan Times
Features
Aug 8, 2004

The art of seeing

Photographer Jun Akiyama is taking ostrich strides down a Tokyo sidewalk, snapping pictures on a flimsy-looking tourist camera. Click! A child's curious glance is frozen in grainy black-and-white. Click! Akiyama catches a moment of anxiety on an old woman's face.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2004

Like NTT phone fee, line brokers face extinction

Kanji in the window of a three-story building near JR Okachimachi Station in central Tokyo advertise "denwa tokubai" (discounted telephone lines).
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 25, 2004

Cashing in on ideas

Thomas Edison's electricity, Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, the Wright Brothers' creaky biplane, H.G. Wells' time machine (OK, that last one hasn't happened yet), but through these world-changing discoveries, our daily lives have been made easier. Flick a switch and light banishes the darkness, pick...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 18, 2004

Hard-boiled and stuck to Thai ways

"When I finish a book I collapse and say, 'That's it. Never again,' " sighs Bangkok-based author Christopher G. Moore. "About three, four months later the demons pull me back, and the whole mad process starts over."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 11, 2004

Bedroom poetry beckons

EROTIC HAIKU (bilingual), edited and translated by Hiroaki Sato, illustrated by Emi Suzuki. Tokyo: IBC Publishing, 2004, 114 pp., 1200 yen (paper). Since Eros was the god of love, in the sense of sexual desire, so "erotic," the dictionary explains, means "arousing or concerned with this." The cover of...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 10, 2004

Jewelry shops ready for foreign onslaught

Facing intense competition from foreign rivals selling brand-name products, Japanese jewelry stores are countering with their own initiatives.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Jul 9, 2004

Dancing in the streets

South of the Chinzanso/Four Seasons Hotel on the Kandagawa -- where our walk finished last month -- Kagurazaka is a vibrant town named after its sloped main street, The Kagurazaka. This hilly area has a maze of lanes and short but steep hills, making it a thrilling adventure for urban walkers. In pockets...
COMMUNITY
Jul 3, 2004

Japanese antique textiles taking over life and home

For any enthusiast keen to know the state of the Japanese antique textile market in the U.K., Marilyn Ratcliffe knows more than most. When we talk -- her already soft Cheshire burr blurred by hay fever ("they just mowed the grass in fields nearby") -- she has just the day before returned from a vintage...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 27, 2004

Nothing like vintage tech

It's been said that the musical style now referred to as "electro" wriggled to life in the early '80s, when the heavy thump of funk collided with burgeoning synthesizer technology. Jittery, bass-heavy and bombastic, electro lurked on the half-courts and back-alley clubs of New York City, embraced mostly...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 25, 2004

The heartbeat of Aomori

Remoteness is not without its attractions, especially in crowded Japan. And on the main island of Honshu, you would be hard pressed to find a place of human habitation further from the baying crowds than Aomori Prefecture. Curled like a pincer around Honshu's northern tip, Aomori, the capital, is a characterless...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 23, 2004

It's all in the pursuit

Toy Love Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Japanese title: Neko wa Nandemo Shitteiru Director: Harry Sinclair Running time: 88 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] For once, the Japanese title works better than the original -- the New Zealand movie called...
EDITORIALS
Jun 22, 2004

Moment of truth for Iran, IAEA

Doubts surrounding Iran's nuclear-energy program continue to mount. Last week, the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution condemning Iran's failure to come clean about its nuclear plans and urging greater cooperation with the nuclear watchdog. The next steps...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jun 18, 2004

Boorish behavior of England fans reaching outer limits

LONDON -- After each Euro 2004 game representatives of UEFA's technical committee select the Man of the Match. Correction, the (fill in the sponsor name) Man of the Match.
Japan Times
Features
Jun 13, 2004

Front-line fighters

Squeezed between stacks of files and computer equipment in a two-room apartment in Tokyo's Takadanobaba area, Chizuko Ikegami and several volunteers are manning the phones. Round the clock, day in, day out, PLACE Tokyo receives calls from people desperately seeking advice after being diagnosed with...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 12, 2004

Martin Katz

Recently Martin Katz came on a first visit to Japan. He brought to exhibit in Tokyo a collection of diamond jewelry valued at 10 billion yen. The collection included many pieces worn by Hollywood stars at the red-carpeted award ceremonies of the Oscars. Martin is widely known as the jeweler to whom Hollywood's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 11, 2004

Serendipity in the sticks

I noticed a young boy staring at me from afar as I stood alone at the bus stop, poring over my tourist map. Then, with a shy smile and a face full of curiosity, he walked toward me. And when he got close enough for me to hear him, he opened his mouth and spoke.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 10, 2004

Kicking up a storm over climate change

For those who cannot decide whether to see "The Day After Tomorrow," I sympathize. This recent Hollywood thriller that offers an apocalyptic portrayal of global climate change has me at odds with myself. I am torn between the desire to wallow in mindless hyperbole, and the fear of seeing an audience...

Longform

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