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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.
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2003

Extra budget makes it out of key panel

The House of Representatives on Monday passed a fiscal 2002 extra budget aimed at countering the negative effects of an accelerated cleanup of the banking sector.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 27, 2003

Nutria

* Japanese name: Nutoria * Scientific name: Myocastor coypus * Description: The nutria, also called coypu, is a ratlike mammal with a long tail and broad, orange teeth. It has small eyes and ears, short legs and webbed hind feet that are much longer than the fore feet. The hind feet have five digits...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 27, 2003

Trials of a singleton

When a man's been single for too long, he can start to exhibit strange symptoms.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 25, 2003

Festival celebrates 400 years atop Atago-yama

Meet the Matsuoka family: Mineo (that's Dad), Yuriko (Mum), older sister Rie and younger sister Iku. Oh, and let's not forget Vino, the Mexican Chihuahua, who wears a hand-knit coat against the cold and makes pretense to be as fierce as a Rottweiler.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2003

Trendy teas try to give soda, coffee a run for their money

With a couple of Starbucks and at least one other big-name coffee shop within easy walking distance, not long ago Tomohiro Tsuchiya would have been better off opening his little cafe somewhere else.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2003

New privacy bill unshackles media

A new version of a privacy-protection bill features an exemption clause for news media and professional writers and may thus ease concerns about restrictions on press freedom, according to a draft obtained Wednesday by Kyodo News.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDEN PATHS
Jan 23, 2003

The bare essentials

This column is the first in a series of articles to take us strolling along some garden paths. Hopefully, along the way, we will come across some good ideas for our own patch of greenery, whether that is a garden, containers on a balcony, or just a few potted plants on the kitchen window.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2003

80% of teens favor ban on sex with minors met via Internet

A police report released Tuesday says that some 80 percent of respondents to a recent survey on Internet dating sites favor a ban on the pursuit of sexual relationships via the Web with anyone who is 18 years old or younger.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jan 22, 2003

Roy Haynes: "Love Letters"

With his steady stream of work stretching back nearly six decades, it's hard to think of a jazz figure drummer Roy Haynes has not played behind. He started out with Lester Young, then switched over to Charlie Parker. After that, he played with Stan Getz and Sarah Vaughan. Then from the '60s through the...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2003

Actress's estate worth 430 million yen

OSAKA -- The late actress Chocho Miyako had 430 million yen worth of taxable assets, sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2003

Economy, foreign attack bills lead new Diet session

The Diet convened its 156th session Monday, with the economy and a set of bills to give the government more powers in the event of an attack topping the agenda.
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 2003

Tasks for the newly opened Diet

Economic revival is the main theme of the 150-day regular Diet session that opened on Monday. One of the first items to be discussed is a supplementary spending package for fiscal 2002 designed to shore up the sluggish economy. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy speech, scheduled for delivery...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / NOTES FROM THE SMOKE
Jan 21, 2003

A reclaimed city that's for the birds (and bees)

An unintentionally caustic remark on one of the information boards that adorn Rainbow Bridge exposes the Gordian knot resting at the center of the vast Odaiba reclamation project in Tokyo Bay.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 21, 2003

Gadgets gnaw at polite society

A funny thing happened to me on the train home the other day. I had a conversation with a total stranger.
COMMUNITY
Jan 19, 2003

The danchi and postwar society

At the time, they were homes most Japanese could only dream about. Within their thick concrete walls, they were equipped with such mod cons as flush toilets and stainless-steel kitchen sinks, and they even had separate bedrooms -- for parents and children.
COMMUNITY
Jan 19, 2003

fl 20030119a1.xml SUN YES Boulevard Blitz

Omotesando Avenue, the tree-lined boulevard leading up to Meiji Shrine, is one of Tokyo's most beautiful streets. After many years of wrangling, though, from the end of March its much-loved look will begin to change dramatically, when demolition crews move in to tear down the Aoyama Apartment Houses...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past