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LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Feb 19, 2004

Schools step in to teach kids table manners

Why is it so difficult to teach children table manners? My kids are quick learners. My oldest only needs to hear a Weird Al song once and he's got the lyrics memorized. His little brother can recite the specs for every fighter plane ever built. So why can't they master the trick of getting their napkins...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 18, 2004

Medieval kyogen treads modern boards

Mansai Nomura, the 37-year-old kyogen supremo who has also enjoyed success in contemporary theater and film and TV dramas, is embarking on yet another a new enterprise in Tokyo this month. At Setagaya Public Theater (SEPT) where he is artistic director, Mansai is presenting his first "Kyogen Gekijo (Kyogen...
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2004

Whistle-blower law in the pipeline

Three decades after Hiroaki Kushioka exposed a price-fixing cartel involving his employer in the trucking industry, the government is working on what would become Japan's first-ever law to protect whistle-blowers in private-sector firms and government organizations.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 13, 2004

New subway signals start of a new era

At 4:57 on the morning of Feb. 1, a navy-blue and yellow train pulled out of Motomachi-Chukagai Station bound for Yokohama Station, connecting with through services from there to Shibuya via the Tokyu Toyoko Line.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 11, 2004

Timeless message of divine 'Angels' rings loud and clear

They've pulled it off again! Almost exactly a year ago the team at tpt (Theatre Project Tokyo), led by the renowned American director Robert Allan Ackerman, got Tokyo theater in 2003 off to a great start with their stunningly moving production of "Bent," cast entirely from the young actors who took part...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Feb 5, 2004

"The Pig Scrolls," "Blood Red Horse"

"The Pig Scrolls," Paul Shipton, Puffin Books; March 2004; 224 pp. Author Paul Shipton warns us at the outset of his (sort of) Greek-style epic that though every effort was made to ensure the accuracy of the material, the Great Library of Alexandria was closed on the Tuesday afternoon he tried to go...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 4, 2004

UNESCO top honor for bunraku puppet theater

On Nov. 7, 2003, bunraku was recognized by UNESCO as a World Intangible Cultural Heritage. The award cited the unique nature of Japan's indigenous puppet theater, and praised the realism with which it portrays human emotions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2004

Currency intervention raises eyebrows

Japan's repeated attempts to check the dollar's fall against the yen by intervening in the currency market is raising concerns among some economists.
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 Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 28, 2004

Nothing lost in Johnnys R+J translation

Since Shakespeare got through the notoriously long wait for foreigners at Japanese immigration and started to settle down and assimilate the local culture, what sort of changes have been wrought on him by his extended sojourn on these shores?
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Rokkasho in dark, or wary, about ITER

OSAKA -- Just weeks before a decision is made on whether Japan or France gets to host the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project, Japanese officials are conducting a last-ditch international campaign to secure support.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 21, 2004

Making a spectacle of man's inhumanity to man

"Bent" is one of the outstanding theatrical creations of the 20th century. Ostensibly about the persecution of homosexuals and Jews under Hitler's dictatorship, what the play really addresses is the power -- in even the most disempowered circumstances -- of the individual and of love.
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2004

Europe's tower of Babel

A funny thing happened on the linguistic fringes of the European Union earlier this month. A group of demonstrators had gathered outside Dublin Castle in Ireland, where talks on an EU constitution were being held, to demand that the EU officially recognize the Irish language. Then Ireland's minister...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 18, 2004

'Losing dog' believers are barking up the wrong tree

In last week's column I mentioned that the media now likes to divide people and things into winners and losers (kachigumi, makegumi). This device is mainly used for economic-related matters, but it has trickled down into other social spheres.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 18, 2004

On a mission for the future of funk

Coming up with a technical definition for funk isn't easy, but New York Times critic Jon Pareles did a pretty good job in his review of a Nov. 2003 concert by the New Orleans band Galactic. Stating that the "discipline of funk [is] the repetition and deliberate space that give the music its solidity...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 18, 2004

Wacky potions can be crocks of gold

The doorbell rang. It was my neighbor, Mrs. S., asking if the lady of the house (a Taiwanese) could help her by translating the Chinese-language instructions for a "miracle" baldness remedy that someone had brought back from China and presented to her husband.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 16, 2004

Layer up against the cold with chanko nabe

With winter in control and showing little sign of abating, it's time to search out warmth and sustenance of the kind that only nabemono can provide. And no heartier form of the genre exists than chanko, the hotpot that has nourished generations of sumo wrestlers.
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2004

Settling labor disputes efficiently

One notable development in Japan's labor relations is the rapid increase in disputes between individual employers and workers, such as those involving sudden dismissals and unpaid wages. To settle these disputes legally and quickly, the government has decided to set up a "labor tribunal system."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2004

Reporters get Iraq combat lessons

The Ground Self-Defense Force held basic protective and survival drills Thursday for Japanese reporters planning to cover the GSDF deployment in Iraq.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2004

2003: worst and best of times for U.N.

Twelve months ago, the international community heaved a sigh of relief as the major powers appeared to reach a compromise on how to manage Iraq. But Washington's determination to act on its own cut short the role of U.N. weapons inspectors and challenged the very notion that the organization has a role...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 4, 2004

Informed feelings elicit the essence of Japan

There are many good books on Japan (as well as a number of bad ones), so how do you decide which ones are best? The decision is subjective but, objectively, I think that the best are informed with a certain peculiarity, and it is in this that I would find their pre-eminence. "There is but one way of...
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2003

Unmarried couple attempted in vitro

A general hospital in western Japan attempted to fertilize ova from a woman who was to undergo cancer treatment with the sperm of her fiancee, it was learned Sunday.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2003

Consumer-loan firms find eager allies

Switch on the television, and soon enough you'll see a commercial in which a famous comedian playing a hotshot young businessman screams every time his girlfriend orders expensive items in stores or restaurants. Then all his problems go away when the name of a consumer-loan firm pops into his mind, and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Dec 21, 2003

Of death and glories

The stench! That was what got me first as I pushed my bike up the steep, narrow lane: the reek of burning hair, bones, hooves and flesh.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 19, 2003

In praise of a 'brilliant idea'

Even a cursory check of convenience store shelves these days shows how the omake giveaways that makers once offered as lures to buy certain candies have now become the main selling points themselves. After all, how many people would pay 300 yen just for the two almond chocolates in a packet of "Time...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 17, 2003

A family unit to value in tech's brave new world

The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Shinagawa used to be a family home, and it must have been a very nice one because it is a beautiful place, designed and built in the late 1930s in the Bauhaus style. The hardwood floors and comfortably high ceilings create a relaxing atmosphere in the one-time dining,...
EDITORIALS
Dec 12, 2003

Russian reality test for Kyoto

It is still unclear whether Russia has decided to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. But reports that Moscow had rejected the proposal refocused international attention on the appalling lack of progress since the agreement was negotiated more than five years ago. Despite the now considerable...
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2003

Amino sports drinks gaining strength

Reflecting higher health consciousness and an ever-rising number of fitness enthusiasts, sports drinks containing amino acids are continuing to enjoy brisk sales in Japan.
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2003

Radiant male clerks look to tempt female shoppers

Women are facing a cunning new strategy aimed at loosening their purse strings -- attractive young men working as clerks in cosmetics and women's clothing departments.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.