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Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 13, 2002

An adopted son of the circus

It was a small advertisement in the paper that led Koichi Yano to one of Canada's leading circus companies, Montreal-based Cirque Eloize. It was 1996, he was in Canada helping his sister settle in and was still under the spell of a recent performance by renowned circus company Cirque du Soleil, also...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 13, 2002

What names, things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me

William Shakespeare
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 13, 2002

In the nihongo words of the Bard . . .

Kazuko Matsuoka is the Shakespeare translator whose work directors and actors in Japan most like to use. A 59-year-old Tokyo resident, she is the translator appointed for the Saitama Arts Theater's project of staging Shakespeare's complete works. To date, she has translated 11 of the plays, and is now...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 13, 2002

The power and the glory of the Prado

It was the age of Spain's Inquisition and its Age of Gold. King Felipe II, who ascended the throne in 1556, lost an "invincible" armada to the fleet of Protestant England, but he also built the breathtaking palace of El Escorial near Madrid. In swift succession, he married four wives from the four great...
COMMENTARY
Mar 12, 2002

Asia changed little by 9-11

HONOLULU -- While the way Americans look at the world may have fundamentally changed since Sept. 11, the basic Asian issues confronting U.S. decision-makers remain largely unchanged. A look at regional concerns shows more similarities than differences to those that existed before Sept. 11.
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2002

WTO should review rules of investment: Hiranuma

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma on Monday told the next director general of the World Trade Organization that investment rules should be negotiated during the recently launched new round of international trade talks.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2002

International community must pressure Sharon

AL-BIREH, West Bank -- The first Palestinian refugee camps were a product of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. When Israel militarily occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in 1967, a second wave of Palestinian refugees was created. Today, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon...
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 11, 2002

Sluggish Jubilo goes top

Jubilo Iwata overcame a sluggish performance to rally over shorthanded Tokyo Verdy 1969 3-2, thanks to Toshiya Fujita's 85th-minute penalty on Sunday at Tokyo Stadium.
COMMENTARY
Mar 10, 2002

Modern delusions of equality

LONDON -- Ask a total stranger about his or her sex life and, though he may be taken aback, he is likely to take it in stride. For what's so secret about sex? Ask a total stranger about his or her income, and she is likely to biff you for your impudence. Money is all secrets and lies.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 10, 2002

Caught between two parallel worlds: growing up under the Raj

OUT OF INDIA: A Raj Childhood, by Michael Foss. London: Michael O'Mara Books, 2001, 181 pp., xC820 (cloth) The Raj began in 1818 when the Rajput states of central and northern India and much else of the country came under British "protection," an occupation that ended only in 1948. Many accounts exist...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 10, 2002

'Genji': the long and the shorter of it

The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Royall Tyler. Viking, 2001, 1,174 pp., $60 (cloth) In the February 2002 issue of the monthly journal Eureka, Fusae Kawazoe gives a rundown of translations of Murasaki Shikibu's "The Tale of Genji" -- not only into foreign languages, but into modern...
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2002

Swing your (same sex) partner round and round

The shouts of the caller are heard continuously over the country and western music on the sound system. His words, like magic, control the movements of the dancers on the floor. The dancers are arranged in groups of four couples -- leads and their partners, just as in all square-dancing groups. But in...
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2002

Shall we sizzle?

At first glance, Koji Kanazawa looks like any other desk-beagle: neatly pressed gray pants, white shirt and bland tie topped off with a bashful, almost apologetic bow.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 10, 2002

Il Pentito: Anyway you slice, it's real Roma

The first thing you see when you walk through the door of Il Pentito is the oven. It's a monolithic, red-brick structure, like a relic from some Industrial Revolution foundry. A massive, dominating presence, it seems to take up half the premises, an impression reinforced by the way the tables are crammed...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 10, 2002

They're simply the bomb

When Ozomatli played on the closing night of Fuji Rock Festival 2000, they emptied out the Red Marquee. The hundreds of safety-pin punks, rag-head ragamuffins, permanent-press mods and glow-stick ravers had disappeared -- last seen following the band. Like a soccer team of drum-toting Pied Pipers, Ozomatli...
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2002

Takebe to meet Seoul counterparts

Tsutomu Takebe, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, will visit South Korea today and Sunday for talks with his South Korean counterpart, Kim Tong Tae, and Yu Sam Nam, maritime affairs and fisheries minister, the ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2002

Japan may give up on towel curbs

Japan may not impose emergency curbs on towel products from China and Vietnam, due to a slowdown in imports, government officials said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 9, 2002

Burial, cremation and getting flushed

I have always thought the worst way to die is to get flushed down the toilet. My father used to flush everything: large roaches that might revive themselves even after you had stepped on them, flies buzzing their last break dances on the sink, and goldfish. The first sight of a goldfish listing to one...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / THE PARENT TRIP
Mar 8, 2002

Not every parent wants a model child

I had noticed the woman in the shop, but hadn't really thought anything of her. She was watching me as I tried to keep an eye on Alex, my hyperactive 2 1/2-year-old son, while at the same time picking my way through the kids' section to find a new jacket for him.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2002

DoCoMo, Oracle in wireless deal

NTT DoCoMo Inc., U.S. software giant Oracle Corp. and Oracle's subsidiary in Japan said Wednesday they have agreed to develop products and services using DoCoMo's cellular phones, and Oracle's database and server systems.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Mar 7, 2002

Xbox grapples for Japan footing

Imagine a Sumo tournament with a young Konishiki battling Akebono, the winner of which must then challenge Godzilla. Such a battle is going on right now in the video game arena.
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Mar 6, 2002

Getting back to the beginning

How I love to drift off to sleep in cars and on trains. But invariably, when they stop, I wake up. Someone once told me that the reason moving cars and trains are so soporific is because they subconsciously remind us of the time we spent inside our first-ever mode of transport, which was, of course,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 6, 2002

Comedy that doesn't always translate

After decades of playing Shakespeare "straight," Japanese directors and actors are now taking stagings of his works to a different level. A move away from pure "translation drama" toward an approach rooted in Japanese experience has been the exciting hallmark of productions such as Hideki Noda's "Much...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 3, 2002

Ken Noguchi: Climb (and clean) every mountain

When Ken Noguchi reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1999, at the age of 25 he became the youngest person to have scaled the highest peaks on all seven continents. Born to a Japanese father and Egyptian mother, he grew up moving around the globe. His love affair with the dizzy heights of high-altitude...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 3, 2002

The complete angler

Although casting a line in a perfect midair loop may take a few years to master, you don't need to be a magician to catch the first trout of your life. All you need is a few 10,000 yen bills to spare for a starter kit.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Mar 3, 2002

Wolves in wolves' clothing

How Guitar Wolf is still going after 15 years of unadulterated sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll madness is a miracle. It's not like they're cashed-up like Keith Richards and can hit an exclusive Swiss clinic to have their blood replaced with that of fresh virgins every other week.

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