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BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2001

The euro's tangible new legacy

On New Year's Day, many traditional Japanese performance arts come into their element. Rakugo is a time-honored version of standup comedy. Well, sit-down really, since the kimono-clad performer actually sits on a cushion and uses nothing but a towel and a fan as props -- any kind of prop that may be...
COMMUNITY
Dec 30, 2001

Getting out to see the new year in

So you want to be there to join in a great mass countdown to 2002 -- or you are determined to be one of the early birds catching sight of the Sun's first New Year rays? With so many venues vying for your bleary presence on New Year's Eve/New Year's Day, some observatories are opening their doors before...
COMMUNITY
Dec 30, 2001

Starting anew through the ages

The world's most universally observed festival, New Year is also its most diverse, with timing, inspiration and celebration differing among countries, cultures and religions. For some, it is an occasion on which to give thanks for another year of survival; for others it's a vantage point from which to...
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2001

Japan, U.K. to link up in mad cow study

The farm ministry will conduct a comprehensive survey of mad cow disease in fiscal 2002, in conjunction with a British research institute, it was learned Saturday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Dec 30, 2001

This will be the last slurp of the rest of your year

Even if preparing other Japanese New Year's dishes seems beyond your ability, you can't go wrong with toshikoshi ("year-crossing") soba, the noodles eaten just before midnight on o-misoka, New Year's Eve.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 30, 2001

Cerezo, S-Pulse reach cup final

SAITAMA -- Cerezo Osaka, relegated to Division Two next season, advanced to the final of the Emperor's Cup after beating the Urawa Reds 1-0 thanks to midfielder Michiharu Sugimoto's second-half goal on Saturday at Saitama Stadium 2002.
JAPAN / Media / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 30, 2001

A holiday basking in the blue glow

Depending on how you feel about the New Year's holidays and Japanese TV programming in general, the first week of the year is either the best week for TV or the worst. Most New Year's specials mimic what the average Japanese family is doing at home. Celebrities sit around in their finest holiday duds...
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2001

Japan, South Korea and China eye launch of IT talks

Japan, South Korea and China are expected to launch regular ministerial talks on information technology issues, telecommunications minister Toranosuke Katayama said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2001

Osaka to surpass Tokyo in crime

For the first time since the end of World War II, Osaka this year will overtake Tokyo and have the highest crime rate in the country.
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2001

Sony in talks with Fujitsu over Nifty

Sony Corp. is negotiating with Fujitsu Ltd. to acquire Internet service provider Nifty Corp., a Fujitsu subsidiary, industry sources said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2001

No public faith in Koizumi reforms

The first year of the 21st century has seen a great change in Japan's political landscape with the appearance of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Mr. Koizumi, who in April won the post of prime minister with an ardent call for "reforms without sacred cows," has been maintaining an unprecedentedly high...
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2001

Japan nears economic abyss

The story of the dimwitted man watching the rerun of a Clint Eastwood Western is relevant to current claims that the "structural reforms" urged by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will somehow rescue the Japanese economy.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 27, 2001

Satoya, Uemura headed to Utah

Reigning Olympic champion Tae Satoya and medal hope Aiko Uemura were named Tuesday to Japan's freestyle skiing team for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2001

Nippon Steel, French firm holding talks

Nippon Steel Corp. said Wednesday it is engaged in talks with French steelmaker Usinor SA over cooperation in the U.S. market but nothing has been finalized.
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2001

Prodding India, Pakistan to stand down

ISLAMABAD -- India and Pakistan, South Asia's two nuclear-armed neighbors, are once again on the brink of war less than six months after an historic peace summit between their leaders.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 27, 2001

2001: Science's top 10

In a year when the human genome sequence was published, when biological weapons were deployed and when a primate was cloned, how do you pick the scientific highlights and lowlights? You let the scientists do it for you.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2001

When men were men -- and spies were spies

Spy Game Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Tony Scott Running time: 128 minutes Language: English Now showing
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2001

Building on the euro's success

PARIS -- Created in 1360 to help pay the ransom for King John II the Good following his capture by the Black Prince's English forces at the battle of Poitiers, the French franc is living its final days. From Jan. 1, it, along with the currencies of most other Western European nations, will be replaced...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2001

Vice farm minister to step down

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Tsutomu Takebe said Tuesday two of his top bureaucrats will step down in a personnel reshuffle apparently linked to the outbreak of mad cow disease.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2001

Land-buy aims to halt airport plans

A network of citizens' groups opposing the construction of an airport on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture, have acquired a plot of land where the airport is slated to be built, members of the network said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2001

My heart will go on . . . for 1,000 years

Sennen no Koi Hikaru Genji Monogatari Rating: * * * Director: Tonko Horikawa Running time: 143 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
CULTURE / Art
Dec 26, 2001

Still F.A.B. after all these years

Almost four decades after taking off on the TV screen, "Thunderbirds are go" once more.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 26, 2001

'Jazzin' ' with UFO

It is a rare trick to be both popular and cutting-edge, a trick that the DJ unit United Future Organization has pulled off with aplomb. In the quicksilver world of club music, it is even more unusual for a dance event to last one year, much less ten. "Jazzin' " celebrates its 10th anniversary this month...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 26, 2001

Tuesday Weld: 'At the House of Clerkenwell Kid'

For film buffs, the name Tuesday Weld evokes memories of the blonde bombshell who starred in 1960s and '70s films like "Sex Kittens Go to College," "Pretty Poison" and "I Walk the Line." Stephen Coates, aka (The real) Tuesday Weld, must have been a fan. His music encapsulates her work: sumptuous and...
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2001

Yen-negative remarks send dollar soaring past 130

The U.S. dollar surged above 130 yen to hit a three-year high in thin Tokyo trading Tuesday. At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted at 130 yen.74-77, compared with 129 yen.85-95 at 3 p.m. Monday in New York and 129 yen.37-40 late Friday in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Dec 26, 2001

Tower's pop fire flickers?

A lot of people in the music biz -- not to mention regular music fans -- were shocked by reports that surfaced last week to the effect that all or part of Tower Records' Japanese operations will be sold.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell