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CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Feb 29, 2004

Street fighting men in the funhouse

"I saw your review about my band I was so disgusted with your review They'll say you're right and I'm not right But I'm OK 'cos it's nothing to me." The Gimmies -- "Dirty Trick"
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 22, 2004

The Great White Yonder: Japan's 'Siberia'

Once upon a time, there was a chilly little town by the sea. It had ice and snow to spare, but not a single winter resort facility. Its fading downtown managed to be both antiquated and charmless. Fishing, once the lifeblood of the town, had seen its best days, and for every new inhabitant, more than...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2004

A bombardment of images leaves riddles in the rubble

Naqoyqatsi Rating: * * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Godfrey Reggio Running time: 89 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] While all the attention has focused on "The Matrix" and "The Lord of the Rings," another trilogy, 20 years in the making, has...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2004

The market for 'hot' underwear is heating up

"Heat-generating" fibers developed by Japanese textile manufacturers utilizing the water-absorbing, quick-drying functions of artificial fibers are warming up the underwear market.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2004

Don't get stung by this one

Confidence Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: James Foley Running time: 97 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "Confidence" is the cinematic equivalent of a dream date that's really a nightmare: gorgeous, stylish and utterly insincere. You know...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 12, 2004

Play of Knicks puts Isiah in better position to wheel and deal

NEW YORK -- Dealing from weakness, Isiah Thomas was able to obtain Stephon Marbury when the Knicks were sinking out of the standings because he was willing to relinquish draft picks, youth and desirable contracts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 11, 2004

Dreams with wings

Last month, Brooklyn-born director Robert Allan Ackerman was in New York for the prestigious Golden Globe Awards, for which he had nominations for his TV movie of Tennessee Williams' "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" and his TV miniseries, "The Reagans," which CBS refused to screen. This month he is in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2004

Got something for everyone

Hanochi Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Itsumichi Isomura Running time: 122 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Gege Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Kiyoshi Sasabe Running time: 113 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2004

We wantsss it, we needsss it!

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Peter Jackson Running time: 203 minutes Language: English Opens Feb. 14 [See Japan Times movie listings] It's February, so we must be in Middle Earth. The annual magical mystery tour through Tolkien's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2004

A lesson on how to waste one's life

Pinero Rating: * * (out of 5) Director: Leon Ichaso Running time: 103 minutes Language: English Opens Jan. 31 [See Japan Times movie listings] One pitfall of artist biopics is the genre's tendency to select those artists whose lives were of the wrecked and splashy variety. It's extremely...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 25, 2004

Surprise guests inspire unholy thoughts

MOSCOW -- It started with a rectangular jellyfish floating toward the lower right-hand corner of my computer screen. The jellyfish carried a logo, Kodak Easy Share, and was of a nauseating white-yellow-red design. The jellyfish had been there for quite a while, distracting me from students' papers and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2004

Reliving the romance of nation-building

SYDNEY -- So you think your one-hour-plus commute into Tokyo each morning is agony! Pity passengers on Australia's newest train trip -- two days and two nights. And paying $12,000 for the privilege.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2004

Argument without contempt

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Without entering the notorious, unending controversy surrounding Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, I would like to examine peripheral issues arising from it and to question the inability of some campaigners to respect the views of others. While I fully understand the fury of many observers...
CULTURE / Music
Jan 18, 2004

On a mission for the future of funk

Coming up with a technical definition for funk isn't easy, but New York Times critic Jon Pareles did a pretty good job in his review of a Nov. 2003 concert by the New Orleans band Galactic. Stating that the "discipline of funk [is] the repetition and deliberate space that give the music its solidity...
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 15, 2004

Reysol inks Yoshiteru Yamashita

Kashiwa Reysol has signed former Japan striker Yoshiteru Yamashita from second-division Avispa Fukuoka, officials of the J. League first division club said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 13, 2004

Prospects dim for wage round

Japan's economy is showing increasing signs of recovery, yet there is nothing to cheer about concerning the job situation as labor and management brace for what promises to be yet another difficult bargaining season. Once again, wage restraint will be the main theme of negotiation in spring 2004.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 11, 2004

A step back to the way life was

Everyone knows -- especially the organizers of home stays and house visits -- that you can learn a lot about a society from observing the way its people live. But how about taking a trip back in time, to a home of times past, to gain a better understanding of the cultural roots of today's society?
EDITORIALS
Jan 10, 2004

Postcards from the red planet

We Earthlings have been to Mars before, of course. Dozens of times we've visited it in our imaginations, giving it special status as a far-off symbol of our own lust for war and the focus of all our fears and fantasies of extraterrestrial invasion -- Mars as the original red menace.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2004

Dialogue raises hope on the subcontinent

MADRAS, India -- Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee have met and shaken hands many times. But when they shook hands in Islamabad at the recent summit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the world heaved a sigh of relief. There was...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2004

Mobile phone giants strive for pre-eminence in 3G market

Anticipating that third-generation services will dominate the mobile phone market within a few years, NTT DoCoMo Inc., KDDI Corp., and Vodafone K.K. are rolling out new handsets with a range of advanced 3G functions.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 3, 2004

Q-chan recognized for road records

Sydney Olympics gold medalist Naoko Takahashi has been recognized for two world record marks for times clocked in two stages of the 2001 Berlin Marathon, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2004

High-tech 'smart homes' just get smarter

Japanese companies are rapidly commercializing the so-called Net Kaden system for electronic control and monitoring of homes through links with mobile phone and high-speed broadband systems.
COMMENTARY
Dec 22, 2003

Time to revise unequal SOFA

A group of lawmakers of the governing Liberal Democratic Party is campaigning for the drastic revision of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement. The group, headed by Lower House member Toshio Kojima, has come up with a proposal for revising SOFA in cooperation with a council of governors of 14 prefectures,...
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Dec 21, 2003

Big steps for Tokyo's little jazz labels

Independent labels have always been a mainstay of the Tokyo jazz scene, but this year saw a bumper crop of good music coming from small labels. While many of these artists' recordings can only be found at their shows, stacked up neatly on fold-up tables at the back of the club, a number of the larger...
Events
Dec 18, 2003

Question of SDF being sent to Iraq divides panelists

The British journalists taking part in the Keizai Koho Center symposium had the opportunity to meet with Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi during their one-week visit to Japan, with the issue of the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq one matter that came up in their discussions.
Events
Dec 14, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Ninth annual luminaire to light up Kobe streets: The ninth annual Kobe Luminarie will light up the Kyu-gaikokujin Kyoryuchi (Old Foreign Settlement) district and Higashi Yuenchi park in Kobe's Chuo Ward, near JR Motomachi Station, between 6 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. until Dec. 25.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 14, 2003

Sweet sounds of the soundtrack

MUSIC FOR MOVIES: Toru Takemitsu, Vols. I & II (3-4 of the "Complete Takemitsu Edition"), edited by Tetsuo Ohara. Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2003, 21 CDs, with program books, 24,000 yen each. Some of the most interesting contemporary film music was written by Toru Takemitsu. In just under 40 years he composed...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 14, 2003

Hair care from topknots to tints

To all outward appearances, Hair Salon Kitadoko is as modern as the Shibuya Cross Tower skyscraper in which it's located. As befits these times, too, it has a toll-free number for customers to call for appointments, as well as a Web site.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 11, 2003

S. Korea holds Japan

YOKOHAMA -- South Korea won the East Asian Football Championship on goals scored after a tame 0-0 draw with Japan at International Stadium Yokohama on Wed-nesday night.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2003

Ministry gets warmer in search for arsenic contamination source

Three locations around an arsenic-contaminated well in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, have the highest levels of the poison ever found in the area, the Environment Ministry said Wednesday.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo