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CULTURE / Art
Nov 18, 2000

A peep into Tokugawa Japan

During the almost two and a half centuries when Japan shunned the rest of the world, the one Western country that remained on nodding terms was the Netherlands. This year the two countries are celebrating 400 years of continuous contact in what must be one of the strangest international relationships...
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 12, 2000

Evening of Marlovian erotica celebrates English literary great

English literature flowered magnificently during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The various writers of the time represent a phase in the development and flexibility of poetry, prose and drama that achieved a beauty and exuberance unmatched in invention and style.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 12, 2000

Orchestras demonstrate small can be beautiful

The attention of the concertgoing public was drawn recently to two compact but cultured cities away from the well-trodden pathways of Europe.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 7, 2000

No chippie off the old block

WOODBLOCK KUCHI-E PRINTS: Reflections of Meiji Culture, by Helen Merrit and Nanako Yamada. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2000, 284 pp., profusely illustrated, $65. That category of woodblock print called the "kuchi-e" has not been widely investigated. In the large bibliography that concludes...
CULTURE / Art
Nov 5, 2000

Redefining to rescue Kyoto

KYOTO -- When people talk about traditional Kyoto culture, all the "a" verbs come out -- everyone appreciates it, everyone admires it, many adore it. So why is it disappearing so rapidly?
COMMUNITY
Oct 15, 2000

Here she is . . . Miss Stereotype

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Miss America Pageant may aim to represent the ideal of U.S. womanhood, but it's got its problems; it's about as internally conflicted as Al Gore trying to act like respects George W. Bush's intelligence.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 9, 2000

From nothingness, a celebration of life

A DREAM LIKE THIS WORLD: One Hundred Haiku, by Nagata Koi, translated by Naruto Nana and Margaret Mitsutani. Tokyo: Todosha Publishers, 2000, 147 pp., 2,381 yen (cloth). Dream and waking life. Reality and illusion. Where does one begin and the other end? This question radiates at the heart of Nagata...
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.
COMMUNITY
Sep 21, 2000

Hanae Mori's gems shine brightly

Let's begin with the keywords: graceful, feminine, sharp, inspired.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 13, 2000

A Dance of hope: Rediscovering the artistry and power of Choi Seung-Hee

On March 20, 1926, a 14-year-old Korean girl was in Seoul, watching a performance of the internationally renowned dancer Baku Ishii and his troupe.
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 16, 2000

A ghost brings actress back into the spotlight

"I was deeply impressed by the beauty of the words," says actress Keiko Matsuzaka, 47, breathless with enthusiasm as she talks about the play she's producing: "Tenshu Monogatari."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 11, 2000

Haven't got the yang of Japanese gardening

I came home the other day and noticed my neighbor had cut my grass, trimmed my trees and watered my plants. This is normal. I apologized profusely, thanked Ueda-san repetitively and she said, as always, "Oh, it was nothing."
LIFE / Style & Design / SIMPLY DEVINE
Jun 1, 2000

Armpits come out from undercover

Get your pits out for the boys. Japan's largest beauty company is hoping to launch a new trend focusing on an often ignored erogenous zone -- the armpit.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 22, 2000

World of freeze-framed flowers at Mitsukoshi

Despite a long history dating back to the 16th century, when botanists in England and Italy began systematic collection of specimens, the art of flower pressing still tends to be treated as a mere hobby or handicraft in many countries. In Japan, too, although the number of oshibana (pressed flower) artists...
ENVIRONMENT
Apr 4, 2000

Group struggles to replant beeches

SHIROISHI, Miyagi Pref. -- Mountains are special for Shizue Hata, the 54-year-old owner of a small Chinese dumpling shop in this quiet city of 40,000.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 26, 2000

Impressions of an overlooked artist

In February 1866, three young artists tramped along the frosty paths of Fontainebleau, declaring that nature would ever be their muse. One, handsome, rich and carefree, would follow that muse until he lost everything except the respect of his friends. He died in poverty, in a home stacked with unsold...
LIFE
Mar 16, 2000

Slowing down to the pace of nature

When he first came to Rebun Island, wilderness guide and temple carpenter Miyuki Kobayashi was struck speechless with the natural pageantry before his eyes.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 7, 2000

Wanderlust and a pair of steel wheels

MOTORCYCLE VAGABONDING IN JAPAN, by Guy De La Rupelle, contributions by Owen Stinger. North Conway, New Hampshire, U.S.: Whitehorse Press, 1999; 255 pp., $19.95. With city centers in permanent gridlock and the availability of train and bus service decreasing in direct proportion to the distance from...
COMMUNITY
Mar 2, 2000

All in the name of the perfect cut

We live in an age where technology pushes us to be faster, more efficient and more connected than ever. We make phone calls while walking down the street. We send e-mail messages from handheld electronic organizers. We have oceans of informations just on the other side of a mouse click.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2000

Vesting the third millennium in peace

KYOTO -- Llamas grazed contentedly on the slopes surrounding Machu Picchu as John Kurtenbach spread out the kesa on the South American peak. Later it became part of a meditation held there.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2000

Taiwan turns table on terrible temblor

In the early hours of Sept. 21, 1999, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Taiwan. Within 45 seconds, over 2,000 people lost their lives and property damage amounted to billions of dollars. Fortunately, the epicenter was not in a densely populated metropolitan area, for the loss of life and property would...
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 20, 2000

Need a winter pick-me-up? Citrus splash quenches blues

Lately I've found myself sprinkling essential oil of orange here and there in the house. It seems suited to winter because something about the scent is both summery and wintery all at once.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 4, 2000

Childish reading for kids and adults

TALE OF THE BAMBOO CUTTER, by Kawabata Yasunari, translated by Donald Keene, illustrations by Miyata Masayuki. Kodansha Intl., 1998, 177 pp., 2,300 yen. SOMETHING NICE: Songs for Children, by Kaneko Misuzu, translated by D.P. Dutcher, Japan University Library Association, 1999, 146 pp., 2,500 yen. These...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 1999

Flaming Lips dampen the fire with absurdity

Though it's sad that major labels no longer have the patience to actively develop deserving artists, they at least know who's good and seem willing to allow musicians with something interesting to say to say it. How else do you explain the career of the Flaming Lips?
COMMUNITY
Oct 27, 1999

A walk through the Kyoto antiques district

KYOTO -- Long a Mecca for fans of Japanese antiques, Kyoto is more enticing than ever these days. Unscathed by the bombs of World War II, old family storehouses continue to yield a small but steady stream of somewhat dusty delights, while a host of new shops plying the antiquity trade promises something...
COMMENTARY / World / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Oct 24, 1999

Farewell to Russia's final Romanov

Few years in recent Russian history have been as turbulent as 1999. In five months, from May till October, the country has seen three different prime ministers, an Islamic fundamentalist invasion in Dagestan and five terrorist assaults against Russian cities that cost the lives of 300 civilians. In the...
EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 1999

Fashion and its victims

How does one get inside a girl's head? This rueful question must have occurred to many people recently on hearing reports of the death of a 25-year-old woman in Kanagawa Prefecture after she tripped and fell while wearing sandals with 10-cm-high cork soles. To observers of the elevated-shoe fad over...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 1999

The politics of love and hate

LONDON -- Here we are on the second anniversary of the death of Princess Diana, and neither her life nor her death seems as momentous as it did this time last year. Does this mean she really was just a media phenomenon, ephemeral, superficial, appearing and disappearing in our lives without consequence?...
JAPAN
Jul 6, 1999

Setouchi Special: Museum a journey into Hirayama's art

SETODA, Hiroshima Pref. -- A museum dedicated to one of Japan's most prominent artists, Ikuo Hirayama, traces the artistic growth of the famous native and his travels throughout the world.
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Jun 17, 1999

Do you have that not-so-fresh feeling?

After writing the column on flowers and flowery teas and all things bloomingly lovely and springlike, I came across an article about the current trend for all things "fresh." The feeling of now, it seems, is freshness. The millennium approaches, and with it the newness of the year 2000, and the 21st...

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb