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Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 6, 2003

O, what a tangled web we weave

Though nowhere near as all-encompassing as the Renaissance in Europe, the closed, feudal world of shogunal Japan did throw up a few periods of vigorous artistic expression in the more than two and a half control-freak centuries it lasted. One of these was about 200 years ago, from 1804-1830, during what...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 6, 2003

Kings of Leon: "Youth and young Manhood"

The story about the Kings of Leon, a Nashville-based rock band touted as the next big thing, is that the four young men, with their tight bell-bottoms and shaggy hair are pure throwbacks. Having grown up shuttling between Memphis and Oklahoma City with their itinerant Pentecostal preacher father, the...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 6, 2003

Hanshin's magical season brings back memories of 1985

Sometimes history repeats itself. Eighteen years ago, in 1985, the Hanshin Tigers entered the month of August with a healthy lead in the Central League standings. The weather was as scorching as the Tigers who then, as now, played their home games at historic Koshien Stadium.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2003

Groups flouting highway discount system

Some 760 groups of businesses in different industries receive special heavy-user highway-toll discounts each year worth about 110 billion yen, a member of a panel discussing the privatization of highway-related public entities said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2003

Japan's role in Korea talks

The good news about North Korea is that it is now willing to talk in an expanded forum including Japan, South Korea and Russia. Whether this will lead to substantial progress in the nuclear standoff has yet to be seen, but at least the way is open for six-nation talks attended also by the United States,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2003

Tsutaya rental chain charts diversification course

The nation's largest rental video chain hopes to stay ahead of its rivals by diversifying, inaugurating a point-card system in tieups with off-industry partners and offering its customers more convenience and comfort.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 5, 2003

If you can't beat the Japanese, serve them

If you're looking for contentment in Japan, serve the Japanese. At least that's the impression one gets from being around Andy Lunt, Kerry Cox and Johnny Miller.
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2003

Execs less downbeat over economy after pickup in earnings, share prices

An increasing number of major Japanese businesses are less pessimistic about the economy, as earnings and share prices have started picking up, according to a recent Kyodo News survey of executives at 100 big firms.
SOCCER / World cup
Aug 5, 2003

New coach happy with Beckham

Real Madrid's coach said Monday that David Beckham is experiencing some problems communicating with his new teammates as he works hard to fit into the all-star side of the Spanish soccer powerhouse.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 5, 2003

NHK fees, will-writing and shipping

The NHK man Dear Lifelines: Recently my wife, who is Japanese, answered the door to an NHK rep. She was warned that not paying the monthly fee of 1,000 yen could wind her up in court. She paid.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2003

When hemlines start rising, don't sell short

NEW YORK -- Short skirts are in the news again. Hemlines are rising and, if you believe in statistical correlation, whenever hemlines go up, so do profits and business activity. No one has a logical explanation for this phenomenon, but it has held true for the past 30 years.
EDITORIALS
Aug 4, 2003

LDP leadership race heating up

With the end of the regular Diet session, the political focus has shifted to the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership contest in September. The LDP ballot is attracting all the more attention because it is expected to be followed by a general election, possibly in November.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Aug 4, 2003

Seasonal thoughts on Japan's sweltering summer troubles

Summer is as much the silly season in Japan as well as elsewhere. Nothing much moves forward and the papers struggle to find suitable topics to comment on. So do economists. Here are some thoughts for the season.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 3, 2003

Bucs stop Jets from taking off

The Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers picked up where they left off last season, defeating the New York Jets 30-14 at Tokyo Dome on Saturday in the American Bowl in the NFL's exhibition opener.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2003

War notes for the leaders in Pyongyang

WASHINGTON -- In recent weeks, as the heavy global workload and overcommitment of the U.S. armed forces has become apparent, some have asked if the United States could handle a major crisis or a war in Korea these days.
EDITORIALS
Aug 3, 2003

Season of mellow mindlessness

It's August, which means that, technically, we are well into summer's decline. The days are getting shorter, and September is next up on the calendar. But that is not how it feels. September seems as far off as New Year's.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Aug 3, 2003

Activist draws on his talents to expose U.S. militarism

American sociologist and antiwar activist Joel Andreas, 46, is the author of "Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism."
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Aug 3, 2003

Where the crowds head to cool off

With the rainy season coming to a close, Japan starts to slide into its dog days. As thermometer and hygrometer levels nudge to swelteringly high levels, many Tokyoites feel the burning need to escape the busy, cramped shopping streets of the city and find relief and peace of mind . . . in the busy,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 3, 2003

Out of time

At the age of 18 I fled suburbia, tripping into the dusty corrupting enlightenment of the bloody Vietnam War, like an Alice in an evil wonderland, never to return. Simply put, I was sent to Vietnam to defend a lie, to destroy those (the totalitarian commie "them") who dared oppose the "greatest nation"...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2003

Airline clipped its own wings

The self-defeating myopia of British Airways employees and the mind-numbing ineptitude of BA management combined to produce a nightmare journey recently. I had flown flight BA 8 from Tokyo to London on Friday, July 18, landing at Heathrow's Terminal 4 around 5 p.m. I was due to catch another BA flight...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 3, 2003

Becoming down to earth

ISAMU NOGUCHI AND MODERN JAPANESE CERAMICS: A Close Embrace of the Earth, by Louise Allison Cort and Bert Winther-Tamaki, with contributions by Bruce J. Altshuler and Niimi Ryu. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 2003; Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. 240 pp., 81 color photographs, 78...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 3, 2003

Getting down and dirty at Fuji Rock

Mix earth with rain and thousands of people, and you get a big muddy mess. But, rain or shine (and it did a little), the key ingredient is music. Philip Brasor, Simon Bartz and Mark Thompson indulged in FRF '03.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 3, 2003

Visitors to stay -- for the time being

GLOBAL JAPAN: The experience of Japan's new immigrant and overseas communities, edited by Roger Goodman, Ceri Peach, Ayumi Takenaka and Paul White. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003, 241 pp., £65, (cloth). Many in Japan have been slow to accept the fact that international labor migration does...
COMMUNITY
Aug 3, 2003

Greg's compassion with a camera was thousands of words

Big and burly, Greg Davis could walk into our club wearing his customary boots, windbreaker, open-necked shirt and wide grin, and we would be transported to some dusty Central Asian dictatorship or clawing Cambodian jungle -- a remembrance that the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan started off as...
CULTURE / Music
Aug 3, 2003

Joe Strummer: here for eternity

Joe Strummer headlined Fuji Rock Festival this year. On all three days. He was everywhere. Since his tragic death at age 50 in December, the former Clash frontman has been deified by his army of Japanese fans: A shrine was built at the festival where you could place flowers or a can of beer. Before the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 3, 2003

SDF bill provides ammo for DPJ bid for power

The photos and footage of opposition lawmakers trying to prevent a July 25 vote in the Upper House on a Liberal Democratic Party-sponsored bill to send Self-Defense Forces to Iraq were all over the media last week, which is understandable considering how action-packed the Three Stooges-like melee was....
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2003

Questions raised as Japan steams ahead on China bullet train

The race to win the contract for the high-speed rail link between the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai has entered the home stretch, with Japan ready to pull out all the stops to beat its German and French rivals.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 2, 2003

Buccaneers set for first game since victory in Super Bowl

The Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers officially showed up before Japanese fans for the first time since their arrival on Wednesday when they had an open practice session Friday morning at Tokyo Dome.
EDITORIALS
Aug 2, 2003

Mounting pressures to revalue yuan

International pressure is mounting on China to let its currency appreciate. Beijing seems to have no choice but to respond one way or another. The prevailing belief in the United States and Europe as well as in Japan is that the yuan is undervalued in light of China's rapidly increasing economic strength....

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