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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 28, 2003

Maruichi: Bettering the bistro

Maruichi is so intimate and unpretentious that it has chosen to call itself a bistro. But that gives the wrong impression entirely. You will find no red checkered tablecloths here, no tourist posters, Pernod ads or guttering candles jammed into empty wine bottles. Instead it espouses a quiet simplicity...
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2003

Trans-Atlantic arrogance defeats unity

LONDON -- One of the most depressing features of the past few weeks has been the arrogance displayed by political leaders. With some leaders, power goes to their heads. They are surrounded by sycophantic underlings and protected by posses of security guards. The media are bludgeoned by press offices...
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Gates courts LDP leadership over 'e-Japan' deal

In an unprecedented attempt to encourage the Japanese government to adopt Windows for a planned electronic government project, Microsoft Corp. founder and Chairman Bill Gates said Tuesday that he will reveal Microsoft's most tightly guarded secret -- the operating system's source code.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 24, 2003

Burying beetle

* Japanese name: Yamatomon shidemushi * Scientific name: Nicrophorus japonicus * Description: Burying beetles are large insects, growing up to 20 mm long. They have large eyes, strong legs, powerful biting jaws and club-shaped antennae. These beetles are black, with distinctive orange markings on...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 23, 2003

Kashima Antlers hold out to take tri-nations Champions Cup

The Kashima Antlers battled to a scoreless draw with South Korean K. League champion Seongnam Ilhwa and thereby clinched the inaugural A3 Mazda Champions Cup on Saturday afternoon at Tokyo's National Stadium.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 23, 2003

Trade at your fingertips

The Japanese term for "do it yourself" is nichiyo daiku, which literally means "Sunday carpentry," though the usage of the term suggests an activity more related to recreation and leisure than making improvements or doing repairs.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2003

Seething kin confront President-elect Roh

TAEGU, South Korea -- Angry relatives of victims of a subway fire attack confronted South Korean President-elect Roh Moo Hyun on Thursday as he visited the scene in Taegu city where 126 people died and up to 340 are missing.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2003

Suzuki looking to get the jump on rivals with 490,000 yen car

Getting the jump on deflation, Suzuki Motor Corp. has taken the wraps off a 490,000 yen car.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2003

A new home for world-class art

With the opening of "The Romantic Tradition in British Painting, 1800-1950," The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art seems set to take its place as an art institution of international standing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2003

When utopia went to hell

Although the 1920s and early 1930s were turbulent years indeed in the new Soviet Union forged out of 1917's October Revolution, despite civil war, famine, purges and mass deportations, many still clung to the dream of a workers' paradise promised by the revolutionaries who overthrew the Czarist regime....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 16, 2003

Don't be too quick to jump on the bondwagon

Two weeks ago, post offices and financial institutions began taking orders for new Japanese government bonds targeted exclusively at individuals and set to go on sale March 10. Post offices immediately booked sales for all 50 billion yen worth of bonds they were entrusted with, and the remaining 280...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

Shiga 'eco-village' lures many disciplines

HIKONE, Shiga Pref. -- Rooftop solar panels provide energy and heat water. Rainwater is collected and used for washing and toilets. Kitchen waste and leaves are composted into fertilizers for crops. People work on farms and community businesses.
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Feb 15, 2003

Taste, color of Tokushima arrive in Tokyo

One weekday afternoon in January, an elderly woman dropped by Tokushima Ai-ai Plaza in Tokyo's Minato Ward just to pick up a package of boiled and dried baby sardines and fish paste.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2003

Unions plan to rally around seniority-based pay increases

The "shunto" spring wage talks got under way Wednesday with several major automotive unions submitting demands related to job security and wages.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 11, 2003

Stick insect

* Japanese name: Nanafushi * Scientific name: Phraortes elongatus * Description: Stick insects belong to the order of insects called Phasmida, which derives from phasma, the Latin word for phantom. It's easy to identify a stick insect, but it is seeing it in the first place that is difficult, because...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2003

'Bereavement industry' in flux

Most of the businesses providing funeral and other services pertaining to the dead are mom-and-pop operations catering to local needs.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 8, 2003

The Canadian eco-angle for using fur in fashion

I first talk with Paula Lishman in Ontario, where she lives in the earth-integrated house that husband Bill built. Married 34 years, she describes him as "a true Renaissance man"; his Web site explains just why.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 7, 2003

Sonamu: Fare to put some hair on your chest

You think it's been cold here this winter? You should try spending some time over on the Korean Peninsula. Those bitter gales from Siberia take no prisoners. Not to worry -- as long as you're somewhere with under-floor ondol heating and plenty of that chili-laden food, you'll survive. You may even enjoy...
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2003

Love beneath the headlines

LONDON -- France is in everybody's bad books. In Washington, France has been dismissed -- along with Germany -- as "Old Europe," paralyzed by traditional views and unable to come to terms with the security imperatives of the global age. In London, anti-French feeling has been building up in official...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 5, 2003

The Lakatos Ensemble

Roby Lakatos was born into a Gypsy violin dynasty begun in the 18th century by Janos Binari, a man known as the "King of the Gypsy Violinists" and the "Hungarian Orpheus" to two of his admirers, Franz Liszt and Ludwig van Beethoven. Lakotas has recently applied those inherited traditions to the world...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 5, 2003

Roy Gaines: "Roy Gaines In the House"

Far from the smoky city clubs where electric blues grew up, some of the best blues is now heard at outdoor summer festivals. The Lucerne Blues Festival in Switzerland is one of the best, and German label CrossCut Records captured many intense sets of lesser-known but serious blues bands in the summer...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2003

Slip into Wonderland in a museum of marvels

The Koishikawa Annex of Tokyo University Museum is currently hosting an eye-catching exhibition, "Microcosmographia: Mark Dion's Chamber of Curiosities." The brainchild of New York-based contemporary artist Mark Dion, the show runs until March 2.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2003

Mitsubishi robot seen as family friend

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. unveiled a robot Tuesday that it claims will become a future house-sitter, caretaker, nurse and family friend.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2003

Honda to enter mountain bike races

Honda Motor Co. said Monday it will enter its newly developed downhill-racing mountain bike in competitions this year to build expertise and enhance the bike's performance.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2003

Nissan unveils Teana sedan

Despite the increasing popularity of small cars in recent years, Nissan Motor Co. on Monday unveiled its Teana luxury sedan to tap into the market for larger vehicles.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2003

Kawaguchi criticizes Iraq over violations

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi condemned Iraq on Friday for failing for more than a decade to carry out its obligations under United Nations resolutions, and urged Baghdad to clear suspicions over its possession of weapons of mass destruction.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 30, 2003

Asia's last emperors of its wetland wilds

CHENGDU, China -- Though surprisingly not Japan's national bird, which oddly is the pheasant, the red-crowned crane, also known as the Japanese crane, has long been close to the Japanese heart. In China, too, it occupies a special place, along with the pine and turtle, as a symbol of luck and longevity,...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2003

Remarks on Okinawa base cause more fallout

Hiromu Nonaka, former secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, resigned Wednesday as chairman of the party's Okinawa Promotion Committee in protest over remarks made by a senior party executive on the relocation of a major U.S. base.
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2003

Cabinet OKs set of corporate restructure bills

The Cabinet approved a set of corporate restructuring bills Tuesday, paving the way for the much-touted launch of a government-backed entity tasked with rescuing ailing firms the government deems salvageable.

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