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JAPAN
Jan 16, 2003

Survey exposes school quake fears

Fewer than half of Japan's school buildings are quake-resistant, according to a Cabinet Office study released Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Jan 16, 2003

Tokyo's refreshing oasis of history and nature

As the most important festival on the Japanese calendar, New Year is an occasion to make wishes and resolutions, and to wish others happiness in the coming year. Most people also like to visit a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple, and to gather together with family and friends. On Jan. 2, crowds also visit...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 16, 2003

When two hemispheres of the brain work as one

The French surgeon Paul Broca had a patient in his care in 1861 who had fallen and broken his hip. Eighteen months earlier the man, called Lelong, had collapsed with a stroke that left him unable to speak. When Lelong died on Broca's ward, a hip fracture being a fatal condition in those days, an autopsy...
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2003

Subaru expects sales increases in '03

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the maker of Subaru cars, unveiled on Wednesday a new 2003 worldwide sales target of 568,000 vehicles, up 2.4 percent from the year before.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2003

Airfares to rise with landing fees

Japan Airlines System Corp. is considering raising fares on almost all domestic flights in April to reflect a planned increase in landing fees, company officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2003

100,000 yen alternative to anonymous burial offered by temple

If someone dies whose name is not known, or who leaves behind no money or known kin, the person's ashes may end up in an anonymous grave with other "muen botoke" remains.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 16, 2003

Shame in a 'showcase'

Second of two parts I ended my last story by saying, "If it is wolves, or winter wilderness, you want to see, don't waste time wondering -- get to Yellowstone! But please, when you're there, don't rent a two-stroke snowmobile! I'll explain why in my next column."
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2003

Imperial Couple attend New Year's 'waka' poetry event

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko attended the annual New Year's poetry reading at the Imperial Palace on Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 16, 2003

LucasArts gives till it hurts

I have not finished the game "Star Wars Bounty Hunter," and I doubt many people will. But that doesn't make it a bad game.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 16, 2003

LeBron's new wheels really no big deal

NEW YORK -- What's all the frenzy and fury about LeBron James cruisin' around Akron in his new whip, a Hummer H2 purchased by mom, "To Son, With Love?"
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2003

Crested ibis may be freed into wilds of Sado by '07

After a comeback from the brink of extinction, Japan's crested ibis is being prepared to be reintroduced into the wild in four years, an official said.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2003

Japanese woman eyes refugee bid

A Japanese woman who moved to North Korea in 1959 along with her Korean husband and fled to China in November has sent a petition to the Foreign Ministry seeking refugee status in Japan, her supporters said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2003

Emergency calls to police hit record

The number of emergency calls to police between last January and November reached a record high of more than 8.12 million, 52 percent of which were made from mobile phones, according to the National Police Agency.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jan 15, 2003

Bembeya Jazz: "Bembeya"

The Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon has spread to Africa, but with a difference. Re-emerging African bands also spent years in recording exile, but returned less with a sense of unclaimed historical import than with a readiness to hit the dance floor. The latest rediscovery is the intense Afropop...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 15, 2003

Theater greats raise curtain on the new year

Have you made your first visit of the new year to the theater yet? If not, "Umi yorimo nagai yoru (The Night Longer than the Sea)," being staged by Seinendan at Theater Tram in Sangenjaya, will surely whet your appetite for what promises to be a lively and exciting year on the Tokyo drama scene.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 15, 2003

MoT showcases artists who draw deeply from real life

"Art," wrote the French artist Robert Filliou (1926-87), "is what makes life more interesting than art." And this, dear reader, is just about my favorite quote. Profoundly mystifying, it serves as an M.C. Escher-esque comeback when the old "What is art?" line is thrown out less as a question than as...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 15, 2003

You've got to give a little

Tamao Kubota, the founder and lead singer of Apple Beat, has a powerful, slightly husky voice and carries herself with an attractive air of unself-conscious defiance. She sounds as good belting it out like an impassioned R & B singer as she does slow, quiet and personal.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2003

Koizumi stirs diplomatic row with surprise Yasukuni visit

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a surprise visit to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday afternoon, a move that is likely to rekindle anger in South Korea and China -- countries in pivotal positions at a time of mounting concerns over North Korea.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2003

Japan NGOs to hold antiwar rally

More than 30 Japanese nongovernmental organizations will stage a demonstration in Tokyo this weekend to protest a possible U.S.-led attack on Iraq, they said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 15, 2003

Talent-laden 'festival' to bring back a pinch of that old magic

Once upon a time, rock shows were long, drawn-out affairs, with two or three opening acts who could be counted on to play as if they were headliners. Magic Rock Out, an event that will be held in Kobe and Tokyo in early February, is too limited in scope to be called a "festival" (only one stage), and...
EDITORIALS
Jan 14, 2003

Pointless posturing in South Asia

The posturing and muscle-flexing continues in South Asia. The governments in India and Pakistan appear committed to matching each other's every military move and utterance, no matter how inflammatory. This behavior is immature at the best of times, but missile tests and reckless talk of nuclear war are...
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2003

Electronics trio eyes grid-computing project

NEC Corp., Fujitsu Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. are considering joint development of software for grid computing, the integration of many computers to enable ultrahigh-speed data processing, company sources told Kyodo News on Monday.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person