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COMMENTARY
May 29, 2003

Change hasn't halted decline

LONDON -- I was invited recently to Japan to speak to two Japanese audiences about the Japanese economy as seen from London and what should be done to ensure Japanese economic recovery. I prepared a speech that was pessimistic. This was inevitable as British reporting on the Japanese economy is full...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 29, 2003

Confessions of a Tokyo shojo

You can take the girl out of Tokyo but you can't take Tokyo out of the girl . . .
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 29, 2003

Best to remember this

A couple of years ago the British artist Damien Hirst explained why he now lays off alcohol: "Blackouts. I used never to get blackouts. . . . I was walking around in the morning, and they'd be going, 'You did this.' Did I? I couldn't even remember the violence."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 29, 2003

Targeting nature on a Texas shootout

Texas summons up images of cowboys and longhorn cattle, Western boots and horses, Stetsons, vast ranches, oil and gas -- and that Texan drawl.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
May 29, 2003

"Power and Stone," "Rome"

"Power and Stone," Alice Leader, Puffin Books; May 2003; 249 pp. There's so much more to history than memorizing dates.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 28, 2003

Giants' Latham finds it rough adjusting to Japanese baseball

Chris Latham's entrance to Japan and the world of Japanese pro baseball was supposed to go smoothly.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2003

Once a dove, Roh has now grown talons

CAMBRIDGE, England -- The recent summit meeting in Washington between President George W. Bush and President Roh Moo Hyun of South Korea has been hailed as a success. Not by me. The word success is being used by "experts," American experts that is, to describe a process of driving a wedge between North...
BUSINESS
May 28, 2003

Takenaka salutes bad-loan disposal efforts

Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka on Tuesday hailed efforts by major banks to dispose of bad loans in the year that ended March 31.
BUSINESS
May 28, 2003

Shiokawa aiming to keep tight rein on 2004 budget

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa voiced hope Tuesday that the fiscal 2004 budget won't be bigger than that of the current fiscal year.
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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 28, 2003

Arab Strap: "Monday at the Hug and Pint"

The Scottish duo Arab Strap are the poet laureates of alcohol-induced sexual torpor. Vocalist Aidan Moffatt's slurred, sotto voce ramblings about unpretty girls picked up in seedy bars and bedded in a haze of beer and E would normally be an acquired taste, but in the U.K. the group's songs have graced...
BUSINESS
May 27, 2003

Accounting panel against freezing real-time rules

An influential accounting board reached a consensus Monday in opposing a proposal by ruling coalition lawmakers that would allow companies to hide unrealized losses on their shareholdings.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
May 27, 2003

Toilet manufacturer plucks success from depths of despair

Failure is but a stepping stone to success. The proverb rang dramatically true in the process of developing a new product at Toto Ltd., the major toilet manufacturer based in Fukuoka Prefecture.
COMMENTARY
May 27, 2003

Recovery debate overlooks sensible economic policies

Is there something in the Japanese mind that prevents sensible economic debate?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 27, 2003

Banks remain in the red for second straight year

Japan's seven major banking groups stayed mired squarely in the red for the second year in a row, spending more than 5 trillion yen to dispose of bad loans and shouldering over 3 trillion yen in stock-related losses for the 12 months ended March, business results confirmed Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / NOTES FROM THE SMOKE
May 27, 2003

Japan's cup, it runneth over

This week, Notes From the Smoke features a saucy deviation from the usual format.
COMMENTARY
May 27, 2003

Is there something in the Japanese mind that prevents sensible economic debate?

Japan's semi-public National Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) recently gave more than three hours of prime time for a round-table discussion on how to save the economy. Predictably, much of the talking revolved around Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's claim that "structural reform" is the key to recovery....
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 26, 2003

Floating ABCPs on open market could repair interest rate gap

On May 17, the finance ministers of the world's major powers gathered in Deauville, France as part of efforts to set the stage for the annual Group of Eight summit in Evian. A statement adopted at the meeting urged Japan to pursue structural reforms in its financial and corporate sectors and overcome...
COMMENTARY
May 26, 2003

Megawati deserves greater U.S. support

LOS ANGELES -- What country has the largest population while probably remaining the least known among Americans? It's Indonesia -- an awesome archipelago of maybe 13,000 islands and some 220 million people. Most of them are moderate Muslims, and there are more of those in Indonesia than anywhere.
COMMENTARY
May 26, 2003

High cost of the farm lobby

The outlook for the World Trade Organization's new round of trade negotiations is uncertain after member nations failed to agree on farm-trade "modality" before the March 31 deadline. The U.S.-European split over the Iraq war has slowed the momentum for talks. The initial goal of reaching a comprehensive...
EDITORIALS
May 26, 2003

Talking down the dollar

The United States has apparently changed its dollar policy. At the weekend before last, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow pointedly excluded the traditional measure of strength -- the dollar's value against other currencies -- when asked to define what "strong" meant. While a spokesman added that there...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
May 26, 2003

Casualties soar in America's war on words

NEW YORK -- During war, news manipulation comes to the fore; so does language manipulation. In the latest war against Iraq, as in the Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon sold a "Star Wars" depiction of U.S. technological prowess, blithely hiding the carnage it created. And many American news organizations...
COMMENTARY
May 25, 2003

Clouds over Blair's parade

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is riding high these days. His popularity ratings have never been better, and he is about to receive U.S. government honors unparalleled by any non-American since British statesman Winston Churchill. World leaders flock to see him, and he moves among the people...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 25, 2003

Still stomping up a storm

Who needs drums when you've got a bucket and a broom? Who needs maracas when you've got a box of matches? Who needs cymbals when you've got garbage-can lids?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 25, 2003

Getting into hot water for health

In the hot-spring heaven that is Japan, there are a countless number of onsen from Hokkaido to Okinawa, from those of luxurious spas in nondescript concrete buildings to rotenburo set in pristine natural surroundings.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 25, 2003

Kansai rides the onsen wave

It's a sunny Saturday afternoon, and Spa World in Osaka's Naniwa Ward is crowded with people of all ages drawn to its 16 different kinds of baths. True to its name, it's an onsen theme park with a global approach.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
May 25, 2003

Take the first step toward heaven

NAGANO -- Here's one way to assure yourself a place in heaven. Get to Nagano City's noted Zenko-ji Temple by June 1 and catch a glimpse of its most sacred icon -- the Maedachi Honzon. According to tradition, making the arduous pilgrimage to this temple to pray to Amida Nyorai, the Buddha of Gokuraku...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
May 25, 2003

Classic country without the hair spray

Neko (pronounced like Nico) Case certainly has the tresses to make it in Nashville. Her long luxurious auburn locks would need only a little coaxing and a lot of hair spray for a Loretta Lynn do.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 25, 2003

Soaked in the city

Though you may not have seen Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-winning animated film "Spirited Away," which is set in an opulent bathhouse for the gods, even the most fleeting acquaintance with Japan will have made it clear that soaking in a hot tub is an almost celestial experience for the inhabitants of these...

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