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BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2001

Firms seek protection from fickle weather that swings sales

The current spell of sweltering weather has constituted a breath of fresh air for a wide range of businesses, boosting sales of items such as air conditioners, summer clothes, ice cream, beer and soft drinks.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

Reactions vary to Yasukuni Shrine visit

Opinions were divided among the thousands of people gathered at Yasukuni Shrine on Monday over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's controversial visit the same day.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Aug 12, 2001

Rich experience on a poor man's budget

Although hogaku is an important part of Japan's cultural identity, concerts and other opportunities for exposure are often difficult to track down. Meanwhile, the range of hogaku genres, instruments and performance styles is vast, and concerts expensive. So to experience hogaku in its totality involves...
COMMENTARY
Aug 12, 2001

Indonesian failure not an option

LOS ANGELES --If Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had but one wish, it might be for the far-off West, especially the United States, to put itself in Australia's shoes for a second. Imagine, if you will, that north of the U.S. hovers not stolid and sensible Canada, which has a population...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 12, 2001

To know us is to love us

ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE KEY WORDS FOR UNDERSTANDING JAPAN (Nippon o Shiru Hyakugosho). Tokyo: Corona Books/Heibonsha, 2001, bilingual (Japanese/English) edition. 328 pp. 205 plates, color, b/w. 2000 yen. This country has an abiding faith in the power of understanding. If we just understood each other,...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 12, 2001

Til death or demographics do us part: the changing face of family life in Japan

At the end of each year, NHK has a ritual contest of male singers vs. female singers, but signs have been emerging of more serious gender conflict on the horizon in Japan. The diverging interests of men and women are evident in a recent book on changing attitudes toward having children and an article...
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2001

Kansai / Who & What

Art space combines dance, dinner, bonfire A dinner party with dancing, music and a bonfire will be held Wednesday and Thursday at the KyoRyuKan International Art Space in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 12, 2001

Feet first!

Somewhere in the march of progress, we lost sight of our feet. Though there are cutting-edge running shoes incorporating space technology for maximum performance, many of us gladly choose low-tech gear in the name of style. We are willing fashion victims, but the damage can be more serious than many...
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2001

U.K. family of JAL victim confused at redress delay

The British mother of two girls who lost their father in the world's worst single plane crash in 1985, has expressed both confusion and hope over the family's claim for official and direct compensation from Japan Airlines.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 12, 2001

The life of spice in the big city

Our column last month on looking for laksa in Tokyo generated a good number of comments and recommendations. One correspondent felt we had not properly pointed out that these spicy noodles are also hugely popular in Singapore, not just in Malaysia. It was certainly not our intention to ignore or slight...
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Mabuchi cuts earnings projections

Mabuchi Motor Co. said Friday it has revised downward its group earnings projections for the year to Dec. 31, citing valuation losses on equity holdings.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Foreign teenagers leave following month exchange

Ten teenage students left Japan for their home countries earlier this week following a monthlong fact-finding tour in which they communicated with Japanese youths and among themselves in Japanese.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 11, 2001

Martin L.M. Smith

It is startling to see a man in a wheelchair high up the mast of a sailing ship.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 11, 2001

In South Asian taxis, chaos is the rule

It's summer vacation, when many of you will find yourselves clinging to the inside of taxis in South Asian countries as the drivers try to get you to someplace like your hotel as fast as possible, as if it will get up and move to another location any moment. The result is you get the life scared out...
EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2001

Easing the pain of reform

Japan's unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent in June, setting the worst post-World War II record for two consecutive months. It is likely to go up higher still, as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's economic-reform plans received a solid mandate in the July 29 Upper House election. For one thing, bad-debt...
COMMENTARY
Aug 10, 2001

Noblesse oblige in short supply

The immediate task for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is to wrap up a specific reform package. While his slogans — "Structural reform with no sacred cows" and "No economic recovery without structural reform" — are basically supported here and abroad, stock prices have continued to fall.
SOCCER / J. League
Aug 10, 2001

Jubilo, JEF United battle to 2-2 draw

Veteran Japan striker Masashi Nakayama and South Korea marksman Choi Yong Soo found the net twice apiece Wednesday as Jubilo Iwata and JEF United Ichihara battled to a 2-2 draw in the first leg of their J. League Nabisco Cup quarterfinal tie at Kamoike stadium in Kagoshima.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Aug 9, 2001

Hidden treasures in south Kyushu

Aside from the feral horses and the splendid views from Cape Toimisaki, southeastern Kyushu is known for its "living fossils": the cycads.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2001

Feelings run deep about Yasukuni

Staff writer Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says he simply wants to pay his respects for those who died for Japan.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2001

War criminal kin's widow on peace quest

Shizue Sugano, 60, a relative by marriage to Class-A war criminal Koki Hirota, embarked on her antiwar pilgrimage in 1994.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 9, 2001

Injunction process hopeless; fate of Bullfrog Pond sealed

The fate of Bullfrog Pond now rests in the hands of a Tokyo District Court judge, but the wheels of justice turn slowly in Japan. The court has yet to grant a crucial injunction, and hearings have dragged into their third month. Meantime, the pond in Tokyo's Minato Ward, known as Gama-ike, is being destroyed....
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2001

'Louise (Take 2)'

Rating: * * * * Director: Siegfried Running time: 110 minutes Language: FrenchOpens Aug. 18 at Shibuya Cinema Society 'Louise (Take 2)" is a "road movie" in the most truthful, undiluted sense of the term. And yet it is far, far removed from the liberating buoyancy of ordinary road movies in which...
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2001

MHI, GE in talks on diesel engines

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. is in negotiations with General Electric Co. to supply its U.S. rival with diesel engines used to generate electric power, company sources said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 8, 2001

Sonicmania

The music world is going ape for apes. Nigo, of fashion label A Bathing Ape, has just issued the latest installment of his Ape Sounds hip-hop project; Cornelius (named after the leading simian of the original "Planet of the Apes") will release the highly anticipated follow up to his "Fantasma" album...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 8, 2001

Two takes on what's really happening

Shiseido Gallery in Tokyo's Ginza and Art Tower Mito in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, will simultaneously present exhibitions of contemporary art from East Asia by up-and-coming artists, starting Friday. Asian contemporary art has captivated many people over the past decade. Masaki Higuchi from Shiseido...

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