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JAPAN
Apr 8, 2003

Asylum seekers want answers from minister

About 30 Kurdish asylum seekers submitted a letter of inquiry Monday to Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama, demanding an explanation over the ministry's rejection of all refugee applications by Kurds.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS '03
Apr 8, 2003

Tokyo governor hopefuls shun party ties

The Tokyo gubernatorial election has traditionally been a battle by the major political parties for the clout that comes with running the capital.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2003

Drive to thwart thieves moves to windows, doors

Doors, windows and shutters that can withstand break-in attempts for at least five minutes will receive official recognition as effective crime deterrents, a government panel said Monday.
COMMUNITY
Apr 8, 2003

Does Japan really care about its kids?

The people who do care for children seem to be fighting a losing battle.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / NOTES FROM THE SMOKE
Apr 8, 2003

Joining the moonwalking children in the realms of weird science

The irresistible force of spring has swept through the Kitanomaru National Garden in Kudanshita.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 8, 2003

Cancer testing, Takkyubin and foreign appliances

Testing for cancer Jeremy S. is seeking a dermatologist with a lot of experience working with Caucasians. Being exceptionally light-skinned, he has been told by dermatologists in America that he needs six-monthly check-ups to catch any possible cancer early.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 8, 2003

Society fiddles as young get burned

The vernacular media frequently goes tsk-tsk over crimes by juveniles. These days, people's concerns tend to be reflected through two terms: "kyoaku-ka" and "teinenrei-ka," which refer, respectively, to more violent crimes by increasingly younger perpetrators
COMMENTARY
Apr 7, 2003

Diplomatic offensive awaits

LOS ANGELES -- Iraq is finding out what it means to be an enemy of the United States. But what does it mean to be a friend?
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2003

Fans celebrate Astro Boy's 'birthday' in Tokyo parade

Wearing red boots and pointy black hats, Japanese revelers paraded down a Tokyo street Sunday as a brass band played "Happy Birthday" in honor of a fictitious robot boy.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Apr 7, 2003

U.S. racks up victories, and a huge debt

WASHINGTON -- After months of ducking the question of how much the war would cost, President George W. Bush sent Congress a request for just under $80 billion in new funds. It responded by moving quickly, with both the Senate and House Committees approving bills to give the president his money, but it...
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2003

Lawmakers don't want SDF in Iraq without welcome from Arab leaders

Japan's ruling coalition said Sunday that any dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to help with the reconstruction of Iraq would require the approval of the war-torn nations' neighbors.
COMMENTARY
Apr 7, 2003

Diplomatic tests await Tokyo

Japanese diplomacy will face a real test over the question: How will the country participate in Iraq's postwar reconstruction?
MORE SPORTS
Apr 6, 2003

Rain causes Murofushi to skip meet

World silver medalist hammer thrower Koji Murofushi skipped a trial meet at Toyota, Aichi Prefecture on Saturday, opting out of what would have been his season-opening competition due to rain.
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2003

New environment tax to begin in fiscal 2005

The Environment Ministry hopes to introduce a temporary tax on coal, gasoline and other fossil fuels in fiscal 2005 in an effort to reduce the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, ministry sources said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2003

Embedded in war's twilight zone

One of the most unusual things about the quite unusual war going on in Iraq is the presence of so-called embedded reporters, or "embeds," assigned to British and U.S. ground units, aviation units, ships and headquarters throughout the combat zone. The only difficulty is trying to figure out the significance...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 6, 2003

Popping up everywhere

GLOBAL GOES LOCAL: Popular Culture in Asia, edited by Timothy J. Craig and Richard King. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002, 310 pp. with illustrations, $24 (paper) It is commonly observed that as the political hegemony of the West has grown, so has its cultural dominance: Mickey Mouse, Elvis...
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2003

SARS scare results in lonely flights to Hong Kong

Major international airports in Japan saw a sharp decrease in travelers heading for Hong Kong on Saturday after local and international authorities issued travel warnings over severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 6, 2003

Masters of potions past

Your interest may have been aroused by a friend's story of how, after trying kanpo (Chinese herbal medicine), their pollen allergy has not been so problematic this season. Or, on the other hand, you may have been intrigued by magazine articles with eye-catching headlines like "The Chinese medicine way...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 6, 2003

A legend from Kyoto to Kerouac and way beyond

Gar Snyder is a legendary figure. The real-life original of Japhy Ryder -- traveling companion, friend and spiritual inspiration to the novelist Jack Kerouac -- he appears in that guise in Kerouac's 1959 novel, "The Dharma Bums." There, speaking as Ryder, he announces that, after study in the East, he...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Apr 6, 2003

Rock with a nasty bite

"What the hell happened to the Cobra Chicks?" I say, slapping last year's "Loaded" album onto the cafe table. Four rock chicks stare up at me from the CD jacket pulling pouty poses so effortlessly steamy that only a eunuch or a nun could resist dashing off to snap up a ticket for the next show.
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2003

Sign-language Bible to be made for video, DVD

Two Christian associations have begun a 15-year mission to produce a sign-language Bible to be made available on video and DVD.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 6, 2003

Sampling the sharp end of tradition

M shoulders have been stiff for years. I used to think the solid lump back there was simply a strange bit of bone structure I'd got somehow. In fact, I'd had my shoulder problem for so long that I had come to accept it as a fact of life.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 6, 2003

The grand illusions

Since celebrity is more a matter of exploiting opportunities than exploiting talent, this week's "Friday Showtime" (NHK-G, 8 p.m.) can be seen as an object lesson in cross-disciplinary synergy. Billed as an "astonishing entertainment" program featuring "music, comedy and illusion," the show brings together...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 6, 2003

Whole-istic medicine: being treated the traditional Chinese way

Thanks to modern medicine, many diseases that were fatal a few decades ago can now be cured. And with the decoding of the human genome, Western medicine is on the verge of taking another mighty leap forward.
COMMENTARY
Apr 6, 2003

Finale in Baghdad may delay the peace

ISLAMABAD -- The Bush administration's race to take Baghdad, the grand finale in its military campaign, leads to many questions about what may turn out to be a much more lethal war than expected against an Islamic country. The United States may be heading toward military victory, but the conduct of the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 6, 2003

Selfishness and greed motor the American Dream

Watching the war in Iraq from the vantage point of Japan, you don't get as much of the propaganda-like white noise that accompanies the coverage if you're watching it from the United States or the Middle East. But that doesn't mean you get less information.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers