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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Oct 4, 2003

Dad(o) hands down a family tradition

Frederic Holyszewski (aka Dado, Deedrah) was raised in the countryside of Fontainebleau, south of Paris. His parents handed down strong family traditions that grew out of a humble background. It was a charmed setting in which to grow up -- Fontainebleau even has a castle. And music was a pillar of his...
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2003

Ward marks antismoking anniversary

A pair of middle-aged men in bright yellow uniforms patrol a business district near JR Tokyo Station in Chiyoda Ward, watching every pedestrian like hawks. They spot a salaryman carrying a lighted cigarette and spring into action.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2003

Only recourse is to negotiate

Will Myanmar (also known as Burma) be banned from the summit meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations next week? That's not likely, but Myanmar's new prime minister, Gen. Khin Nyunt, could utterly lose face unless the regime frees prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi before the...
MORE SPORTS
Oct 2, 2003

Japan adds backup

Standoff Hiroaki Ito, who recently moved to Italian first division club L'Aquila, will join up with the Japan squad for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in Australia, Japan coach Shogo Mukai said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Oct 2, 2003

"The House of Windjammer," "Boolar's Big Day Out"

"The House of Windjammer," V.A. Richardson, Bloomsbury; 2003; 349 pp. No matter where you grow up, whether it's in 21st-century Japan or in 17th-century Europe, some things never change. People everywhere, at every time, are at the mercy of larger forces -- political upheavals, market fluctuations,...
MORE SPORTS
Oct 1, 2003

Tosa pulls out of Tokyo Marathon

Reiko Tosa, who took the silver medal at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, Canada, has decided not to compete in the Tokyo International Women's Marathon this fall because of an injury sustained to her left foot, marathon sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2003

Government takes abandoned arms ruling 'seriously'

The government "takes seriously" a court ruling holding it responsible for Japan's wartime abandonment of chemical and conventional weapons in China, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2003

Childhood experiences key to protecting nature

Childhood experiences of nature hold the key to raising the public's environmental awareness, according to a top official at a public institution for environmental education in Germany.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2003

Koizumi pledges $1 billion in aid for Africa at donor conference

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged $1 billion in new aid for education and health care in Africa at the opening Monday of a major donor conference for the continent.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2003

Court finds Japan responsible for abandoned arms

In an unprecedented ruling, the Tokyo District Court on Monday ordered the state to pay a total of 190 million yen to 13 Chinese who lost relatives or suffered health problems due to weapons abandoned by the Imperial Japanese Army at the end of World War II.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2003

New rules target metropolis' diesel exhaust

Tokyo and its neighboring prefectures will debut regulations Wednesday to curb emissions from diesel-powered trucks and buses to clear up the region's air pollution problem -- the nation's worst.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 30, 2003

A level playing field?

Sports are seen as a catalyst for international communication. Even the Olympic Games were established a century ago to promote world peace -- through people meeting and competing on level playing fields.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 28, 2003

Singing in the ageless language of love

Among the rags-to-riches stories that make the annals of popular music such a colorful read, few tales are as dramatic as that of Ibrahim Ferrer, now age 76.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2003

Justice minister pledges to make Japan 'safe again,' tighten border controls

Daizo Nozawa says Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has ordered him in his new job as justice minister to make Japan the "safest country in the world" again.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2003

Nakagawa's farm trade background brings mixed bag to METI portfolio

The appointment earlier this week of Shoichi Nakagawa as minister of economy, trade and industry is a mixed blessing for the nation's trade policy.
EDITORIALS
Sep 27, 2003

DPJ's uphill road to power

The birth of the new Democratic Party of Japan -- the largest opposition party to debut since 1994 -- promises to create more constructive tension in Japanese politics. The DPJ, which has absorbed the smaller Liberal Party, is looking to the coming general election as an opportunity to snatch power from...
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2003

Advantest sees first-half profit jump

Advantest Corp., one of the world's largest makers of semiconductor testers, said Friday its group net profit for the first half of its business year will probably be more than six-fold above its original forecast.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 26, 2003

Arsenal, Wenger out of excuses this time

LONDON -- It's Groundhog Day for this column.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2003

Lee's intensity hardly dulled by age

HONG KONG -- A rare and remarkable Asian leader passed a milestone on Sept. 16. Former Singapore Prime Minister, now Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew celebrated his 80th birthday. He has been running Singapore, in substance if not in title, since his People's Action Party swept the polls in 1959.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2003

Dollar peg undermines China's economy

As Beijing is pressured to halt currency intervention, arguments are generally proposed in terms of the possible benefits to other countries. Such an argument is less compelling than one that points out how China might benefit from an end to its peg against the U.S. dollar. In any event, China's fixed...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 25, 2003

Education minister wants kids to be more patriotic

The Fundamental Law of Education should be revised in ways that would encourage children to regain a sense of patriotism and learn about religion, according to the new education minister, Takeo Kawamura.
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2003

A veiled but strong G7 message

China maintains a de facto fixed exchange rate for the yuan. Japan has continued to intervene aggressively to prevent a sharp rise in the yen. In a veiled criticism of both countries' currency policies, a communique issued last weekend by Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers called for...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Sep 25, 2003

Peeved monkeys reject unequal pay on the job

Philosophers as diverse as Plato, Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill tried hard to argue that there is a rational basis for fair and just behavior. However, the best philosophy in the world is only worth so much when there is the chance to make bucket-loads of cash.
EDITORIALS
Sep 24, 2003

A bitter anniversary in Chile

Thirty years ago, Chile's elected government was overthrown by a military coup. While most of the world remembers Sept. 11 as the day that marked the beginning of the war on terror, Chileans commemorate the end of a presidency and the cleaving of their country into two, as yet irreconcilable, halves....
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2003

Koizumi will push for extension of antiterror law

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will resolve in an upcoming policy speech in the Diet to extend by two years a law permitting Japan to cooperate in the U.S.-led fight against terrorism, government sources said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2003

Break the Mideast impasse

EDMONTON, Canada -- When the U.N. General Assembly opened its 58th annual session on Sept. 19 with a moment of silence in memory of the U.N. staff killed and injured as a result of the terrorist attack in Baghdad last month, its 191 member governments renewed their pledge to uphold the principles of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Sep 24, 2003

Ito's embroidered art has got it all stitched up

The Watari-Um Museum of Contemporary Art in Shibuya is one of Japan's most respected private museums. Now, it seems, the beautiful, Mario Botta-designed art space has also become one of the country's leading supporters of young artists.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight