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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 27, 2003

Bottlers ride a 'purity' wave

Japanese people have for generations believed that whatever the times have in store, life's essentials such as water and safety would always be theirs for free.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 23, 2003

Dodgers fan scores in 'Hideki Matsui Sweepstakes'

Former Tokyo attorney Russ Roten has won the Baseball Bullet-In "Hideki Matsui Sweepstakes" by coming the closest to guessing Matsui's home run, runs batted in and batting average statistics at the Major League All-Star break on July 14.
COMMENTARY
Jul 22, 2003

Foot-in-mouth disease spreads among pols

LONDON -- Foot-in-mouth politicians are a major cause of public disillusionment with politics. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, not only has a bad reputation for attempting to interfere in the legal process, but also for making stupid and embarrassing gaffes. His latest gaffe at the European...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2003

Iraq's long-suffering people desperately need the international community's help

"From now on it is each man for himself." Having said that, our colleague from UNICEF Iraq quietly locked our car's doors. We had just passed the final checkpoint between Kuwait and Iraq.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 20, 2003

Need to leave Japan?

YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN IN JAPAN TOO LONG . . . , by Bill Mutranowski. Tuttle Publishing, 2003, 120 pp., $14.95 (paper). Many foreigners will tell you that if you plan to stay in Japan long term then "for sanity's sake, get out of the country at least six times a year!" It is one of those warnings that...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 10, 2003

Know what you eat

Trying to understand the debate over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) is a bit like trying to pick up mercury. It seems solid enough, but try to grasp it and it slips away. Critics of GMOs might draw another parallel as well. Considering how pervasive GMOs are and yet how little we know about them,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2003

Lawmakers Sakurauchi, Hino leave long legacies

Yoshio Sakurauchi, a former speaker of the House of Representatives and senior lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, died of respiratory failure Saturday night at a Tokyo hospital, his family said Sunday. He was 91.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Jul 6, 2003

The straight shooter

Nobuyoshi Araki was born in Tokyo in 1940 and was given his first camera by his father in junior high. He studied photography and film at Chiba University and went into commercial photography soon after graduating. Four decades and over 250 photo publications later, the 63-year-old artist stands a long...
COMMENTARY
Jul 4, 2003

Does irrelevancy await Japan?

HONOLULU -- Japan-U.S. relations are at a postwar high, "the best they have ever been," report policymakers on both sides of the Pacific and longtime observers of the relationship. Credit growing realism in Japan about security issues, unprecedented decisions in Tokyo and a remarkable personal relationship...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 28, 2003

Darius Hecq-Cauquil

Old-timers remember the late Masaru Ogawa, characterful senior editor of The Japan Times 40 years ago. Bilingual and bicultural from his birth and upbringing in the United States, he returned to Japan, married and brought up his family here.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 25, 2003

Jack Johnson: "On and On"

In the off season, professional surfer Jack Johnson keeps himself busy -- keeping his boards waxed, of course, but also polishing his craft as a songwriter. To follow up his debut, "Brushfire Fairytales," he retreated to his living room-cum-studio with longtime buddies percussionist Adam Topol and bassist...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2003

Simpler may be better but it's Tu-Ka's only choice

The head of Japan's fourth-biggest mobile phone company is banking on the old maxim that simpler means better.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 22, 2003

Japan juggles issue of health vs. economy

The health ministry just never gets a break. As the guardian of the nation's physical well-being it is expected to warn the populace about practices and products that may pose a danger to health, but whenever it gets up the wherewithal to actually give advice people cry foul.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2003

Japan's communists to sing a different tune -- at last

The Japanese Communist Party is finally making moves to update its 42-year-old party platform in an attempt to better reflect the reality of modern Japanese society and the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jun 20, 2003

Solstice Music Festival off the calendar; Shared honors for 2002; new releases

It's like watching the lights go out at the stadium. You know, that low metallic "Klung!" "Klung!" "Klung!" as the off switches are hit in succession.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Jun 10, 2003

Security firm develops fuel-cell robot

Fuel cells that generate electricity via a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen are emerging as an environment-friendly alternative source of power.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2003

War veteran Ota questions new law

After 90 percent of the Diet endorsed the government's war contingency laws Friday, former Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota said the politicians and government officials who pushed the legislation do not understand the "horror and reality of war."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 8, 2003

Taisho Sophisticates

TAISHO CHIC: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia, and Deco, text by various contributors. Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2002, 176 pp., 7,390 yen (cloth). There are certain historical periods that resonate with a style and sophistication that is inimitable. They last for only a short, intense few years. The Restoration...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 7, 2003

Freelance photo-journalist follows way of dragon

When you have made your name in photo-reportage with the Los Angeles Times, where the hell do you go next?
EDITORIALS
Jun 6, 2003

What can revive insurance firms?

Deflation in Japan is taking its toll on life insurance companies. Since they make profits by investing policyholders' premiums and bank-supplied funds in stocks, bonds, real estate and other assets, they are more susceptible to falling asset prices and near-zero interest rates than companies in other...
COMMENTARY
Jun 6, 2003

Force restructuring anxiety

SINGAPORE -- There was a time when the Pentagon saw "relieving regional anxiety" as one of its primary alliance maintenance tasks in East Asia. Today, it seems more adept at creating this anxiety, rather than providing the reassurance that lies at the heart of sustaining America's critical alliances...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 28, 2003

Enjoy your complicite in a world of dizzying multiplicity

It was a difficult delivery. The fruit of the union between actor/director Simon McBurney, founder of London-based Complicite (formerly Thea^tre de Complicite), and a Japanese cast in Tokyo had been long-awaited, but even so it kept everyone guessing past the expected arrival time.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2003

Imagine there's convergence of religion

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- In these turbulent times, when the term "religion" is so often hijacked by the proponents of its very antithesis -- namely, conflict and strife -- an academic initiative to discuss religious topics in the framework of globalization feels like a refreshing breeze. This welcome...
COMMENTARY
May 21, 2003

Narrowing the U.S.-South Korean gap

WASHINGTON -- The summit meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun was, by almost all accounts, a success. The main reason, according to the skeptics, was that expectations were very low. No major breakthroughs were achieved, they argue; "success" merely meant...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 18, 2003

Tama-chan's secret link to white-robed cultists

You have to hand it to Tama-chan. The superstar bearded seal has caused some lively public discussion about important social issues. Because of Tama-chan, people have started talking about the disgusting state of the country's rivers, the cavalierly cruel treatment of animals, the impact that rubber-stamped...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
May 18, 2003

The fall and rise of rhinoceros

First of two parts Some years ago, the English adventurer Benedict Allen made the first solo crossing of the notoriously inhospitable but hauntingly beautiful Sand Dune Sea and the Kunene wilderness area of Namibia, in southwest Africa.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2003

Coalition mates 'George and John' savor diplomatic bonhomie

SYDNEY -- Two good friends, George W. Bush and John Howard, were chatting as they walked the American president's Scottish terrier, named Barney, around the "Texas White House." Suddenly Bush said: "You know, John, you should get yourself a dog."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 15, 2003

Big-mouth bulbuls time it just right

Second of two parts Imagine, if you can, an opinion poll of Japanese forest plants. Question: which bird is most important to you? The brown-eared bulbul, or hiyodori, would have to take a bow.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 14, 2003

Bulletins from life in a box

Once, people had more time to think about the meaning of life -- or its meaninglessness. Poor students brooded over their ambitions in 4 1/2-tatami rooms, undistracted by computers and 3G keitai. People dreamed of a peaceful future while huddling sheltered during the war. Long, long ago, some may have...

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