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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2002

Nakata stars in U.N. antidrug commercial

The National Police Agency will air a U.N. antidrug advertisement featuring soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata on big-screen street TVs in major cities, NPA officials said.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 5, 2002

Our yankii are different from your yankees

You know you're old when the slang expressions so fashionable in your youth go right over the heads of 22-year-olds who stare blankly as though you've just spoken to them in ancient Egyptian. One remembers a time when mecchanko (extremely superduper) was the adjective of the day, used to describe everything...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 5, 2002

Brace yourself for "The Delta Force"

As hot as the trance music scene may seem right now, the electronica sub-genre itself is about "five years behind" where it should be, according to Marcus C. Maichel.
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 4, 2002

JFA boss praises running of Cup

Japan Football Association president Shunichiro Okano expressed his satisfaction on Wednesday with the running of the recently completed World Cup, which Japan jointly hosted with South Korea with one major exception -- the ticketing problem.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2002

'Spy vessel' had contact with ship off Shanghai

A vessel that may have been the suspected North Korean spy ship that sank after a gunbattle with Japan Coast Guard boats in December had previous contact with another mystery ship off Shanghai, government sources said Wednesday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE EXTRA
Jul 4, 2002

Henry, Horan sing praises of Japanese rugby

The Japan rugby team has, particularly in the last 30 years, had a number of false dawns. The 1970s saw it lose narrowly to England (6-3 in 1971 and 21-19 in 1979); the 1980s saw it lose to Wales 29-24 in 1983 and beat a weakened Scotland team 28-24 in 1989, and in 1999 it beat Samoa 37-34 to win the...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 4, 2002

Solving the nation's waste problem and raising bilingual kids

Everyone is aware of the problem of garbage. With Tokyo alone throwing away 6,000 tons of food a day, kitchen waste in particular is a practical as well as a moral concern.
COMMUNITY
Jul 4, 2002

The land of the early rising, and setting, sun

The issue of daylight-saving time is back in the news.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2002

Japan reaped benefits from World Cup: survey

Many Japanese believe the World Cup improved its ties with South Korea and spread information about the nation's culture, although it might not have produced the economic benefits many were hoping for, according to poll results released Tuesday.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Jul 3, 2002

Dollar declining, intervention efforts or no

I have long warned against Japan's political leadership shortcomings, expressed doubt about a real economic recovery and predicted the yen will be weak this year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 3, 2002

Mastering the fine art of science

"Japanese Botanical Art and Illustrations from Siebold's Collection," on show at the Iwate Museum of Art till July 28 (then traveling to Chiba and Tokyo), is the kind of exhibition one expects from a public museum trying to attract and please a wide audience. The creators of this show, it's tempting...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 3, 2002

This year's model

Having evolved over the past 25 years from an angry young man to a well-fed totem of artistic integrity, Elvis Costello would seem to have little left to prove. He started wandering outside the perimeters of rock in the early '80s, and several years ago hinted that he was through with rock. Then, in...
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2002

Lufthansa to nourish JAL-ANA ties

The Lufthansa group will maintain and strengthen its partnerships with both Japan Airlines Co. and All Nippon Airways Co., the chief of the German airline said Tuesday in Tokyo.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Jul 2, 2002

Success in first round weakened Japan's motivation

The World Cup ended Sunday night with Brazil claiming its fifth World Cup title following a monthlong soccer festival which has seen quite a few surprises, including first-round exits by France and Argentina and cohost South Korea's fine run into the semifinals.
EDITORIALS
Jul 2, 2002

Cup filled to the brim

It is a truth not quite universally acknowledged that interest in the World Cup diminishes sharply once one's country's team has been eliminated, unless one is actually hosting the affair. There were thus, by Sunday night, probably just four countries in the world still tuned in to the 2002 proceedings:...
COMMENTARY
Jul 2, 2002

Pork-barreling still rampant

Lower House member Muneo Suzuki was recently arrested by the Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office on charges of accepting a bribe in an influence-peddling scandal. Following the arrest, the Lower House approved a nonbinding motion demanding Suzuki resign as a lawmaker. This was the second such motion approved,...
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2002

Asian students face slim job prospects

As the decade-long economic slump grinds on, non-Japanese Asians studying in Japan face diminishing job prospects amid language and cultural barriers, a lack of information, a hermetic corporate culture and competition from native students.
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 1, 2002

World Cup memories:

Steve Perryman is currently manager of J. League club Kashiwa Reysol and a former boss at Shimizu S-Pulse. Perryman played for England's Under-23 side and won one cap with the senior team. He also won two F.A. Cups, two League Cups and two UEFA Cups as captain of English club Tottenham Hotspur. Following...
COMMENTARY
Jul 1, 2002

Tough talk is no key to success

LONDON -- An article in the June 10 Nikkei Weekly by a deputy editor of political news at the Nihon Keizai Shimbun had the headline "Foreign Ministry diplomacy failing nation on all fronts." The Foreign Ministry was criticized for not being tough enough in support of national interests. And praise was...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Jul 1, 2002

Scapegoat seekers fuel nation's decline

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- It is natural when one has domestic problems to look for foreign scapegoats. The United States' paranoia over Japan's trade surplus and foreign-investment binge in the 1980s is a good example. While most nations reflect this general syndrome up to a point, the Japanese seem to...
EDITORIALS
Jun 30, 2002

'An honorable man'

There is a professor at New York's Vassar College who clearly knows his Shakespeare, perhaps not as well as he thought he did until a week or so ago, but at least well enough to recall Touchstone's advice in "As You Like It": "Let us make an honorable retreat, though not with bag and baggage, yet with...
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2002

Tollgate mentality in Japan

Straddling the Keiyo Expressway linking Tokyo and Chiba is the Funabashi tollgate. A long row of booths collects a 200 yen toll from most drivers. Perennial jams at the tollgate have long caused frustration to me and others heading toward Chiba. People late for planes at Narita suffer even more.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 30, 2002

Please, Hama, don't hurt 'em

Actor Masatoshi Nagase became a star in Kaizo Hayashi's 1993 tribute to Cinemascope noir, "The Most Terrible Time in My Life," as private detective Mike Hama, a none-too-veiled tribute to Mickey Spillane's hard-boiled shamus Mike Hammer. The movie was a hit, both domestically and overseas (England's...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2002

Ramen reborn as noodles nouveaux

Could ramen, Japan's answer to the greasy spoon, go gourmet? It started out simple -- this dish of Chinese-style noodles in soup was conjured up by cooks in Yokohama's Chinatown in the 1920s. Its present association with drab 24-hour diners and poor nutrition gives it a low rank in the food hierarchy:...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2002

Soccer teams show the power of reform

The drama of the World Cup has implications for politics in Japan and South Korea. To be sure, soccer and politics are two different games, one a competition for skill and physical stamina and the other a struggle for power and interests. Nevertheless, we can draw lessons from the performances of the...
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Court recognizes 1932 massacre, rejects redress

The Tokyo District Court turned down a lawsuit Friday filed by three survivors of a 1932 massacre by Imperial Japanese Army troops in Liaoning Province, China.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 29, 2002

Reiko Itami

"In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, young men of well-to-do families in Great Britain set out after university graduation to travel around Europe. They observed language differences and absorbed foreign cultures to complete the final stage of their education. This socio-educational institution, known...
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Two doctors held over malpractice in heart surgery

Two doctors at Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital were arrested Friday for alleged negligence and destruction of evidence in connection with a March 2001 heart operation that resulted in the death of a 12-year-old girl.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes