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JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 17, 2002

We're all narrow-minded

It's a commonly held belief that we lose brain cells as we age. But, in fact, although our brains may not work as well when we get older -- learning becomes harder, memories fuzzier -- the number of cells they contain remains the same, about 28 billion. Scientists think the real problem is that the myelin...
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
May 16, 2002

Love-hate ties bind Okinawans, U.S. military

OKINAWA CITY, Okinawa Pref. -- Many former American soldiers who once stayed at the Diego Hotel near the U.S. Kadena Air Base here regard the hotel's manager with a reverence usually reserved for their own mothers.
COMMENTARY
May 15, 2002

Myanmar moves forward, China takes a step back

LOS ANGELES -- Fleeting images can become perceived realities. For example, images viewed positively by the American public allow U.S. political leaders to unlock foreign-aid funds -- and business leaders to go forward with ambitious foreign-investment schemes. From this perspective, Myanmar, long-spurned...
EDITORIALS
May 12, 2002

Harry Potter and the no-show sequel

Where is Harry Potter when we need him? For the second year in a row, the nonappearance of Book 5 of the small bespectacled one's magical doings is throwing readers of all ages into a spring tizzy.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 9, 2002

Sons light up mum's life, but also take years off it

All sons know that we get more flak than daughters. Does "You've taken years off my life" or "Why can't you be more like your sister?" sound familiar?
JAPAN
May 9, 2002

McDonald's joins stampede toward personalized marketing

Ltd. revealed its plans to launch a new e-shopping venture targeting users of cellular phones and personal computers. While the e-business entry by the fast-food giant underscores the huge potential of the sector, some experts believe consumers need to be aware that greater convenience carries with it...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
May 5, 2002

Thoughts of an accidental politician

Kyosen Ohashi was born in Tokyo in 1934 and studied journalism at Waseda University. He enjoyed a long career as a respected jazz critic and TV presenter, before quitting the entertainment world in 1990.
COMMUNITY
May 5, 2002

What is terrorism?

Two weeks after the attacks on New York and Washington, an article by Susan Sontag, novelist, essayist, director, playwright and easily America's most provocative public intellectual, appeared in the now-famous black-cover issue of the New Yorker magazine. In it, Sontag excoriated Americans for their...
JAPAN
May 4, 2002

Rallies held for, against change to Constitution

Groups for and against a revision of the Constitution held rallies Friday in Tokyo to mark the 55th anniversary of the supreme charter.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 2, 2002

Robo-rats galvanized into action

When the Italian physician Luigi Galvani published his theory of "animal electricity" in the 1790s, it roused biologists and physicists all over Europe, went on to influence the construction of the first electric battery and inspired an 18-year-old English girl to write "Frankenstein."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 28, 2002

They came, they saw, they democratized

"Bataan," the C-54 transport carrying Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers (SCAP), landed at Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, at 2:05 p.m. on Aug. 30. The general, wearing sunglasses and puffing on a corncob pipe, struck a dramatic pose near the top of the ladder for the more than...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 28, 2002

Stars & strikes: a revolution from above

Just 18 months after surrendering in the Pacific War, more than 3 million people throughout Japan were preparing to bring the shattered, hungry nation to a standstill.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 25, 2002

Japan: A land gone to the dogs?

Alex Kerr loves Japan as much as anyone, but he knows much more about it than most. With the publication April 25 of "Inu to Oni" (Kodansha) -- a translation of his book "Dogs and Demons" (Hill and Wang, 2001) -- Japanese, too, will be able to share his insight. As it says on the cover of "Dogs and Demons,"...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 21, 2002

Getting on the right track

JAPAN BY RAIL, by Ramsey Zarifeh. Trailblazer Publications, 2002, 416 pp., $18.95/2 yen,900(paper) "Perfect timing," I thought when I picked up this guide book, barely two weeks before a trip I was planning out of Tokyo. I flipped to the index to look for my destination: Mashiko, a pottery town close...
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Apr 14, 2002

The story of the global village; concise but unabridged

If such complex problems as globalization and the war in Afghanistan seem difficult to grasp, simplified figures could come in handy.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 14, 2002

New twists on a venerable tradition

EINSTEIN'S CENTURY: Akito Arima's Haiku, translated by Emiko Miyashita & Lee Gurga. Brooks Books, 2001, 128 pp., $16/2,000 yen (paper) GENDAI HAIKU 2001/JAPANESE HAIKU 2001, edited by Modern Haiku Association. YOU-Shorin Press, 2000, 297 pp., 3 yen,000/$30 (paper) A FUTURE WATERFALL, by Ban'ya Natsuishi,...
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2002

Asian issues carry much weight on global stability

NAGO, Okinawa Pref. -- There were times when relations between the European Union and Japan suffered from having a narrow focus, centered on economic matters.
LIFE / Language
Apr 5, 2002

When the lights go out, who'll be waiting?

Modern monsters seem to have a big image problem. If you've seen the new movie "Monsters, Inc.," you know they're in trouble because, well -- they just aren't frightening!
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 4, 2002

Sea lampreys excited by eau de liver bile

The sea lamprey is a parasitic, eel-like fish with a fearsome, tooth-covered "oral disk" instead of a regular mouth. When attacking, the lamprey rears its head, and clamps its oral disk onto the skin of other fish. With its grasping tongue, it feeds on blood and body fluids for an average of 76 hours,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2002

Who can blame U.S. for going it alone?

ATHENS -- It was a curious political moment in the cradle of democracy. A recent visit by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami sparked a flood of favorable media coverage about Iran -- and an avalanche of condemnation of America.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 31, 2002

These are a few of our favorite things

THINGS JAPANESE, by Nicholas Bornoff, with photos by Michael Freeman. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions, Ltd. 2002. 144 pp., profusely illustrated with full-color plates, $24.95 (paper) In 1890, Tokyo University professor Basil Hall Chamberlain codified an entire generation's view of Japan in his "Things...
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

War of the words

Ah, Nihongo. Of all foreign languages, this is the one that keeps you on your toes. An Occidental beginner might suspect that the Japanese did it on purpose -- sowed their language with mines and pitfalls to thwart non-native penetration. To 16th-century European missionaries, Japanese was the devil's...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 31, 2002

The human face of migration to Japan

FOREIGN MIGRANTS IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN, by Hiroshi Komai, translated by Jens Wilkinson. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2001, 230 pp., AU$44.95 (paper) The Japanese economy has been in all but permanent recession for more than a decade. Yet, the number of foreign migrants has not diminished. What seemed...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2002

Davos themes dazzle with Webcasting

SEOUL -- If you missed Davos in New York last month, you have a rain check coming via the miracle of Webcasting. The more important panels will be broadcast at the World Economic Forum's Web site ( www.weforum.org ), starting Monday. Don't pass up this intellectual cyberfest for the netizen!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 27, 2002

Humans' distance laid bare in two close-ups on 'intimacy'

Theater Project Tokyo's current, compelling double bill, "TPT Futures 2002," grapples head-on with how, as time and circumstances change, people deal with the eternally fraught business of maintaining or severing their intimate ties with others.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 24, 2002

De Ferranti opens the door to a musical Other

JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, by Hugh de Ferranti. Oxford University Press, 2000, 104 pp., $13.95 (cloth) It would be perfectly possible for a foreigner to live in Heisei Japan for quite some time without ever becoming aware that Japan has an original music of its own, so low is the profile of "hogaku"...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 24, 2002

Shimoda sounds a literary lament

SAN FRANCISCO -- A foreigner in Japan is an outsider by default, a fact foreign residents have lamented for centuries in what is now a ritualized barstool grievance: "I've lived here for so long, learned the language, love my natto, but still . . . "
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

A rendezvous with the master

During a recent interview at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Arthur C. Clarke displayed a youthful enthusiasm that belied his 84 years. Clad in a batik sarong and pastel shirt with a dolphin motif, the wheelchair-bound author of "2001: A Space Odyssey" was short of breath and complained that he was tired...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 17, 2002

The only certainty is change

THE UNITED STATES AND ASIA: Toward a New U.S. Strategy and Force Posture, by Zalmay Khalilzad, et al. RAND, 2001, 260 pp. (paper). Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Asia has enjoyed considerably more stability than has Europe, the other critical theater of the Cold War. It's fair to say that there...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 17, 2002

Pampered pachyderms and groveling courtiers

SIAMESE COURT LIFE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AS DEPICTED IN EUROPEAN SOURCES, by Dhiravat na Pombejra. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, 2001, 236 pp., 190 baht. Foreign dignitaries were amazed by the 17th-century Siamese court. Though the general population seemed, as one diplomat wrote, "rich in...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji