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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 9, 2003

Golf: a sport that mirrors the nation

Forget indicators such as unemployment levels and interest rates; there's no simpler way to chart Japan's economic well-being than by tracing the ebb and flow of the popularity of golf.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 8, 2003

Here's a tip: You don't deserve one, pal

The only woman who has ever chased me was a willowy Japanese waitress who trailed me half a block from her restaurant door.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 8, 2003

The Canadian eco-angle for using fur in fashion

I first talk with Paula Lishman in Ontario, where she lives in the earth-integrated house that husband Bill built. Married 34 years, she describes him as "a true Renaissance man"; his Web site explains just why.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

Kansai forum focuses on tourism hope

KYOTO -- Kansai needs to wake up and exploit its economic potential as an attractive tourist destination and center for industrial innovation, local business leaders said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2003

Transsexuals, sex-change advocates fight on against social, registry snub

Transsexuals and their supporters have teamed up to seek public acknowledgment of those who suffer from gender identity disorder and to pressure the government into allowing sex changes to be recorded in official documents.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2003

Video shorts become cafe fare

OSAKA -- The 20-odd people sipping coffee and tea in a shop in Chuo Ward here haven't come in just for the beverages. They also want to see free short videos made primarily by amateur filmmakers such as high school students and citizens' groups.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 2, 2003

One-man media airs his views

It's 10 a.m. Sunday, and TBS TV's "Sunday Japon" show is getting under way. American entertainer Dave Spector, a regular panelist, shares the stage with a former porn actress, a Korean journalist and a member of the Diet. After an hour of exchanging ripostes with the others on major international and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Feb 1, 2003

Crystal Skulls: 'hatsumode' for the groove generation; Yokosuka joins the party

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- We plowed our way into the mass of humanity packing the Makuhari Messe event hall moments after the cheers rose to ring in the new year.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2003

Loan-sharking cases hit record high in 2002

Police acted last year on a record 238 cases of loan-sharking or unauthorized lending, in which a record 122,000 people were victimized, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2003

Making waves over foreign policy 'realism'

HONOLULU -- One of the advantages of living in Hawaii is that you get to spend weekends at the beach. I spend mine with the Grizzled Old Vet, a longtime observer of East Asia who has spent a lifetime straddling academia and the minefields that litter the Beltway. Between waves, the Gov (as I will call...
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2003

Can we trust 'Davos man'?

The rich, the powerful and the famous last week descended once again on the Swiss village of Davos for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). This year, the assembled luminaries pondered the loss of "trust" that has sapped institutions worldwide. The question is a vital one. Of the many...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 26, 2003

Cleaning up Japan is one tall order

Thanks to improved nutrition, the height of the average Japanese person has increased considerably since World War II. Nevertheless, many Japanese, especially those over a certain age, despair over what they believe is their short stature.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 25, 2003

'Gaijin' do just the strangest things

People often ask me what I find strange about being the only "gaijin" living on a Japanese island. I wonder if people also ask the residents what they think is strange about the gaijin living on their island. Indeed, we gaijin seem to have unlimited ways of causing consternation and raising eyebrows...
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2003

Yahoo takes on fraudulent auctioneers

Yahoo Japan Corp. started posting on its Web site Wednesday the family names and bank account numbers of people who have repeatedly engaged in fraudulent and other illicit transactions on its auction sites.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2003

Review of moneylender interest rate caps triggers tug of war

A tug of war is under way over a government plan to review the upper limit on interest rates that consumer finance firms and other nonbank moneylenders can levy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 21, 2003

Gadgets gnaw at polite society

A funny thing happened to me on the train home the other day. I had a conversation with a total stranger.
COMMUNITY
Jan 19, 2003

The danchi and postwar society

At the time, they were homes most Japanese could only dream about. Within their thick concrete walls, they were equipped with such mod cons as flush toilets and stainless-steel kitchen sinks, and they even had separate bedrooms -- for parents and children.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2003

Coping with a grayer world

Like globalization, population aging is a universal force with the power to shape the future. By 2050 the number of people aged 60 and over in the world will increase from 600 million today to almost 2 billion. In Japan, the proportion of the population aged 65 or over will climb from 17.2 percent in...
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2003

Group reveals additional 40 suspected abduction victims

An influential citizens' group investigating the abduction of Japanese citizens to North Korea released Friday a list of 40 more cases that it wants the government to look into.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2003

Japanese escape woes in 'Boogie Wonderland'

Middle-aged disco lovers in Japan boogie to the sounds of a past era, when flares, platform shoes and gold medallions were cool and the economy was on the upswing.
COMMENTARY
Jan 5, 2003

No room for thoughtful patriot in China

HONG KONG -- China's release of prominent dissident Xu Wenli on Christmas Eve was a welcome gesture, but not much more than a gesture, unless the Communist Party fundamentally alters its policies and allows its citizens basic rights such as the peaceful expression of differing political views and the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 4, 2003

Banish bad habits with hypnotherapy and healing

Erik Bragg had said to look for a beard and a big blue coat. And here he is, though not quite as hirsute as imagined, and wearing an anorak rather than the more theatrical style somehow envisaged. He has traveled in from Kashiwa, in Chiba Prefecture, where he practices as a certified clinical hypnotherapist...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 18, 2002

'Red Demon' to claim British souls

Acclaimed in Japan for the last quarter of a century as a drama director, writer and actor, Hideki Noda is set to become a major player on the world stage from Jan. 31, when his "Red Demon" opens for a near-monthlong run at the famed Young Vic in London's West End.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2002

No surprise tourism suffers

LOS ANGELES -- The government plan to privatize Narita airport in 2004 is welcome news to international travelers who know what good travel service is. The plan, which also includes a halt to building new airports, upgrading existing airports and improving customer service, could go a long way toward...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2002

City of hope for Russian Muslims and Jews

KAZAN, Russia -- It was a time of turmoil in Russia's Tatar Autonomous Republic. In 1994, local officials were demanding independence for the historically Muslim region, and taxpayer dollars were rebuilding mosques that had been converted to warehouses during Soviet times.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 14, 2002

A nation that's set up for looking down

Only in Japan is it possible to ride a crowded train to work, stop to buy your "o-bento" lunch at the convenience store, and arrive at work -- all without ever having eye contact with anyone. That is because people spend a lot of time looking at the ground in Japan.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 12, 2002

A fresh approach

Ten years ago, at the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Severn Cullis-Suzuki got the chance to make the speech of her life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 11, 2002

All I want for Christmas is the third of the tonic chord

As 2002 draws to a close, public halls are bracing themselves for the regular flood of yearend classical music concerts featuring Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 "Choral."
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2002

Meeting opens in Kobe to raise public awareness of AIDS

KOBE -- Africans with the human immunodeficiency virus stressed to participants of an international symposium here Friday the importance of considering the issue their own and listening to the voices of people living with HIV or AIDS.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear