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LIFE / Travel
Oct 4, 2000

Step back in time to Sado Island

There is something about ferries that puts you in a frame of mind to think back in time.
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 3, 2000

Troussier sees progress in Olympic performance

SHIZUOKA -- "I don't think it was a defeat," Japan manager Philippe Troussier said Monday of Japan's performance in the Sydney Olympics, a day after the Summer Games ended.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 30, 2000

Koto player has tales to tell

Elizabeth Falconer, a former Japan Times hogaku columnist, lives in Seattle now, but in the many years she spent in Japan she steeped herself in Japanese culture, including winning a koto teacher's certificate from the late Tadao Sawai, one of the greatest koto masters of the 20th century. Since her...
OLYMPICS
Sep 27, 2000

Russian duo take synchro title

SYDNEY -- Japanese water-babes Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda swam for the gold in the synchronized swimming duet final Tuesday, but were beaten by a Russian team whose routine drew on Japanese culture for inspiration.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2000

Aussie singer-songwriter finds an authentic musical voice

"I must admit the music I do is a bit daggy," says Tokyo-based singer-songwriter Donna Burke with a laugh, rejecting any slick, "groovy" image in favor of the old-fashioned, down-to-earth comfort the colloquial Australian term implies.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2000

Toyota ups forecast after sales kick

Toyota Motor Corp. revised its unconsolidated earnings projections for the first half of fiscal 2000 upward due to brisk sales of its vehicles in domestic and overseas markets, company officials said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2000

Sabah -- unfinished business between Malaysia and the Philippines

SINGAPORE -- The kidnap-for-ransom hostage crisis triggered by the Abu Sayyaf rebels in a remote corner of the South China Sea has attracted worldwide attention. But of even greater significance, it has further strained ties between the Philippines and Malaysia, as each country blames the other for allowing...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Sep 20, 2000

I want my RTV

While on vacation in the States, I found myself watching the finale of "Survivor," the climax of a summer of reality TV. I could have turned it off. I could have returned to my book. But no. I had been (blissfully) ignorant of all that had gone on before, but that didn't matter. I watched both it and...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Sep 20, 2000

The flawed forests of Cuc Phuong

As many Americans have no doubt already forgotten, and as some will never forget, Vietnam was visited not just by their flag's red, white and blue but also by Agents Orange, White and Blue; toxic herbicides named after the color of their containers. A total of 72 million poisonous liters were dumped...
CULTURE / Books / POETRY MIGNETTE
Sep 17, 2000

Tokyo poets get a night out to Howl

Howl, the bar in Aoyama, was founded just after Allen Ginsberg's death in 1997.
COMMUNITY
Sep 17, 2000

Fusing technology, arts in fabulous future shocks

Omote-sando's cafe-restaurant Las Chicas needs no introduction. But few realize that the two-floor building in which it is situated was once a consulate, designed to wrap around the central courtyard -- one of the nicest places to eat in town. Under the umbrella organization Vision Network, the complex...
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2000

Porcelain design echoes Japan

It's not difficult to understand the influence of Japanese ceramics on famed British chinaware producer Royal Crown Derby.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2000

Smiling seen as key to economy

Make people laugh -- that should make the economy better and lead to a bright future for Japan, according to Masao Kimura, board director of the Osaka-based major entertainment firm Yoshimoto Kogyo Co.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Sep 12, 2000

Intercultural influences

East-West fusions are nothing new. Nearly 100 years ago, some Western classical music was influenced by Indian classical or Javanese gamelan music. In the 1950s, violinist Yehudi Menuhin performed with Indian sarod player Ali Akbar Khan and sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. By the 1960s, John Coltrane was...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 10, 2000

Utsugi ready to fulfill softball dream with Japan

Reika Utsugi remembers the summer of 1996 -- missing out on the Japanese Olympic softball team after she changed her nationality. Four years later, the former Chinese captain will play for Japan in Sydney.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 9, 2000

Photographer, gallery meet at the edge of Shinjuku

You'd never suspect it to look at the polite 27-year-old German photographer, but a survey of David Steets' work can lead to no other conclusion: Here is a man who loves to live on the edge.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 7, 2000

Educational TV: PTA knows best?

The Data Watching section of the Sept. 7 issue of Dime contains the results of various unrelated surveys regarding the current state of parent-child relationships. In addition to questionnaire answers about corporal punishment and what constitutes bad behavior, there is a list compiled by the Japan PTA...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 5, 2000

Asia takes capitalism on its own terms

ASIAN VALUES, WESTERN DREAMS: Understanding the New Asia, by Greg Sheridan. Allen & Unwin, 1999, 326 pp., 14.99 British pounds (paper). A lot of people thought -- hoped, really -- that the Asian economic crisis would end all that nonsense about "Asian values." The region's stumbles were supposed to...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 5, 2000

Rock 'n' roll high school back in session

The music of the Donnas is cleverer and more enjoyable than most of the retro-pop I've heard lately. Though it's high-school kids who compose the group's fan base, it's boomer music critics who've become their champions. They like these girls from Palo Alto, Calif., because they say they're the first...
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2000

Osaka's beer summit draws microbrewed stately heads

OSAKA -- If you're tired of the bland, mass-produced, artificially carbonated barley water that too many companies are pushing as beer, relief will soon be at hand.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2000

Tokyo disaster drill features SDF in big way

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government's annual major disaster-relief drill Sunday will feature the participation of Self-Defense Forces troops on an unprecedented scale -- 7,100 service members, 1,090 vehicles, 80 aircraft and five ships -- at 10 venues throughout the capital.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 1, 2000

Japanese rugby player Iwabuchi hopes to make mark at Saracens

The 2000-01 season will be a significant landmark for Kensuke Iwabuchi. The former Japan international rugby player joined English club Saracens, the team he has dreamed of playing for.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 31, 2000

Working together for the future

It's always your choice to live for today -- Raising your voice for all life to remain
LIFE / Travel
Aug 30, 2000

Travel in the company of women

"The challenge is to myself and not to the mountain." -- "Clouds from Both Sides," by Julie Tullis
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2000

Mejiro gets a long-overdue facelift

For the first time in 70 years, Mejiro Station is finally getting a facelift.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2000

Chopper failure sees test flights canceled

The Defense Agency has canceled test flights for its newly developed antisubmarine patrol helicopter SH60JKai after multiple cracks were found in its rotary wings, agency sources said Saturday.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.