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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 13, 2002

Why North Korea's people starved

THE GREAT NORTH KOREAN FAMINE: Famine, Politics and Foreign Policy, by Andrew S. Natsios. United States Institute of Peace Press, 2002, $19.95 (paper) This is a grim and troubling account of the 20th century's fifth great famine, a calamity that swept through North Korea during the 1990s, claiming an...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 13, 2002

Different strokes, different folks

Former Olympic swimmer Yasuko Tajima appears tonight on the exotic travel show, "Sekai Ururun Taizaiki (World Sojourn)" (TBS, 10 p.m.), the program on which she made her showbiz debut last year.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jan 13, 2002

Take me to your anti-leader

The Shibuya Takeshi Orchestra is one of the most singular, challenging and unusual jazz units in Tokyo. Many local groups strive for accomplished technique, pushing their instruments to the far edge of rapid-fire playing or polishing one style to perfection. The Shibuya Takeshi Orchestra, however, delights...
COMMUNITY
Jan 6, 2002

Life in the new year: Que sera sera

What joys and sorrows will the coming year bring for Japan? Fast forward to Jan. 1, 2003, apply tongue firmly to cheek and enjoy the benefit of hindsight by reading the alternative futures contained in the 2002 diaries of long-suffering Tokyo banker Gamansuruzo Nostrodoomus, and go-getting Kansai career...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 6, 2002

All the tricks, touch-ups and trip-ups of the trade

TV Asahi's new dramatic comedy series, "Trick 2," which premieres this week (Friday, 11:15 p.m.), fits comfortably into the current TV zeitgeist of pop spiritualism and magic shows. A lot of the renewed interest in paranormal phenomena has been boosted by the addition of debunking elements. On many recent...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Jan 4, 2002

Archers learn to read the nuances of the wind

When marksman-archer Lim Han Soo arrived in Japan 3 1/2 years ago, his dream was to teach his Japanese students how to read the wind, but they were more interested in soccer and baseball.
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 3, 2002

S-Pulse kicks off new year by winning Emperor's Cup

For Shimizu S-Pulse, Tuesday's Emperor's Cup final was a chance to make it third-time lucky after losing two finals in the past three years. For Cerezo Osaka, it was a chance to finish off a miserable season with a trophy and the opportunity to start the year with a boost as the team attempts to return...
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2002

Royal couple's poems touch on Afghanistan

The Imperial Household Agency on Monday released eight poems in the traditional Japanese "waka" form written by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko in 2001.
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2001

Japan nears economic abyss

The story of the dimwitted man watching the rerun of a Clint Eastwood Western is relevant to current claims that the "structural reforms" urged by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will somehow rescue the Japanese economy.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2001

When men were men -- and spies were spies

Spy Game Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Tony Scott Running time: 128 minutes Language: English Now showing
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2001

Preserving freedom in an unfree world

WASHINGTON -- The massive terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 brought home to the United States its vulnerability. Protecting Americans' security has become a critical challenge. So has protecting their freedom. People who seek to do the first often sacrifice the second. So it has been in the war on terrorism....
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 23, 2001

A gift from the South of France

At this time of year, the frigid streets of Tokyo feel a very long way from the sun-baked hills and turquoise seas of the South of France. But they have cold weather down there too. And for that we should be thankful -- because if they didn't have winter, the local fisher-folk might never have developed...
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2001

Milking maids for all they're worth

Here's a well-timed debate. In the runup to Christmas, the traditional season of generosity and good will to all, the citizens of Hong Kong have been arguing the rights and wrongs of their government's pending proposal to cut the minimum wage of foreign (mostly Filipino) domestic workers for the second...
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2001

Fairer pension for women sought

The nation's public pension program, which has long favored the full-time housewife over the full-time working woman, may finally balance the scales, bringing a major impact to women's lifestyles.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 17, 2001

Shirahata, Tabata take overnight speed skating leads

Keiji Shirahata cruised home to set a meet record in winning the men's 5,000 meter race Saturday at the speed skating nationals in Nagano, establishing the overnight lead with 76.704 points after the first day.
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 2001

Caught in a worsening recession

Japan's economy is in serious condition. Despite years of recovery efforts, its vital signs continue to worsen. Gross domestic product in July through September contracted at an annual rate of 2.2 percent, posting two straight quarters of negative growth -- a condition that is technically defined as...
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Dec 14, 2001

Barbie dolls, Muppets battle to bore draw

We all wait with an impending sense of dread to see what South Korean soccer chief Chung Mong Joon and his cronies have got up their sleeves for the opening ceremony of the World Cup next year.
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 9, 2001

The climes they are a-changin'

Smokers probably have something to teach us about why it's so hard to believe in global warming.
EDITORIALS
Dec 8, 2001

A first step toward Afghan peace

Afghan factions and the United Nations have managed to sign an agreement stipulating the composition of an interim administration, or Cabinet, to replace the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The official inauguration of the interim administration on Dec. 22 -- after the Ramadan month of fasting ends --...
COMMUNITY
Dec 8, 2001

East meeting with West carves history into wood

Reiko Yamanouchi remembers clearly how wood engraving entered her life. "Soon after joining my husband in Cambridge in 1968 -- he was a research student at the university -- I was given a book to help me get a feeling for the city, a memoir by Gwen Raverat, the granddaughter of Charles Darwin.
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2001

Breaking with Keynesianism

The government's economic and fiscal report released Tuesday focuses on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's program to resuscitate Japan's moribund economy. No wonder its writers -- selected public economists -- have made a great effort to rationalize the prime minister's "no reform, no growth" agenda....
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Dec 4, 2001

Oceania hoping for fairer crack at the draw

PUSAN, South Korea -- FIFA decided last week to no longer give the defending World Cup champion an automatic berth in the following World Cup.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2001

Refuge in the little shop of solace

Sekai no Owari to Iuano Zakkaten Rating: * * * Director: Kiseki Hamada Running time: 94 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2001

Second budget takes page from Nakasone's book

Only 10 days after the first supplementary budget was enacted, the government performed an almost acrobatic feat to finance a second extra budget for this fiscal year -- tapping the proceeds from government sales of shares in Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

A spark that ignited social change

ORGANIZING THE SPONTANEOUS: Citizen Protest in Postwar Japan, by Wesley Sasaki-Uemura. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001, 293 pp., $27.95 (paper) The events accompanying the revision of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in 1960 aroused strong emotions among those involved, making it difficult for...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2001

Banker sees smooth euro cash start, no 'black fund'

FRANKFURT -- Japanese investors should have full confidence in the stability and strength of the euro as the currency is launched in its physical form at the start of next year, according to the European central banker coordinating the project.
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2001

'Make no haste' makes way

Facing its worst economic crisis in the postwar era, Taiwan has opted for deeper engagement with the mainland. The government of President Chen Shui-bian has lifted limits on investment in China in an attempt to boost the island's faltering economy. The move was applauded by Taiwanese businesses eager...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2001

Turning victory into permanent success

LONDON -- Four out of five: Mazar-e Sharif, Herat, Kabul and Jalalabad. All but one of Afghanistan's major cities have been lost by the Taliban and captured by the Northern Alliance in less than a week, and the last, Kandahar, is likely to fall at any time. Neither Washington nor anyone else expected...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2001

Dismal outlook for Sri Lanka's president

The political crisis is Sri Lanka appears to be worsening, and in the latest government's call for a ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam -- fighting a long and bloody battle for the independence of the island's minority Tamil-speaking population -- one can sense a state of near panic,...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami