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Features / WEEK 3
Feb 20, 2005

Operation Evacuation

Not only are they a biodiversity disaster, but the millions of sugi (cedars) planted as official policy in the postwar years to yield cheap timber -- but which are now more expensive to harvest than the cost of imports -- have become a serious health hazard across Japan.
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2005

Racist banner looks frayed

Understanding Japan and the Japanese was never meant to be easy. This is especially true for the Japanese attitude to foreigners -- at times exclusivist and at other times extremely open. There is an answer to the seeming contradiction, but it requires outsiders to accept that the Japanese might have...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 16, 2005

Golden Eagles inspire look back at MLB expansion teams

Much of the excitement building toward the opening of the 2005 Japan pro baseball season centers around the new Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. The Pacific League expansion team will, weather permitting, play its inaugural game Saturday, March 26, against the Chiba Lotte Marines at Chiba Marine Stadium....
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2005

Current account surplus hits record high

Japan's current account surplus rose 17.9 percent in 2004 from a year earlier to a record 18.59 trillion yen.
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2005

Dead man moonwalking

Pity Michael Jackson. Of course, that's after checking off a long list of other justifiable reactions to the sad, clown-like figure whose trial on child molestation and other charges is now getting under way in California with all the solemnity of a circus. Amazement, impatience, sympathy, repugnance,...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 13, 2005

Learn if your pet loves you in TV Tokyo's "Pochi-Tama" and more

Does your pet love you? It may sound like a pointless question, but this week the pet variety program "Pochi-Tama" (TV Tokyo; Fri., 7 p.m.) will offer a test that pet owners can take to determine the degree of affection that their dogs and cats feel toward them.
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2005

Cross-strait flights unlikely to narrow gap

New Year! Finally, there's a bit of good news to report in cross-strait relations. During this holiday period, the first direct flights are taking place between mainland China and Taiwan since the 1949 Chinese civil war. But while both sides applaud these charter flights as an important step forward,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 11, 2005

Brr -- diving in Atami in winter

As any scuba diver knows, when the diving itch hits, you just gotta scratch. But what if the itch strikes in midwinter when you have neither the time nor funds to fly to a tropical resort? Not to worry. Not only is it possible to dive around mainland Japan in the winter months, it can even be done on...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 6, 2005

Tokyo as fragmented as its observers

KUHAKU & OTHER ACCOUNTS FROM JAPAN, by various artists, edited by Bruce Rutledge. Chin Music Press, 2004, 224 pp., 3,500 yen (cloth). TOKYO FRAGMENTS, by Ryuji Morita, Tomomi Muramatsu, Mariko Hayashi, Makoto Shiina, Chiya Fujino; translated by Giles Murray. IBC Publishing, 2004, 206 pp., 2,100 yen (cloth). "To...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 5, 2005

'O-baa-chans' on the loose in Bali shops

I recently had the opportunity to accompany two Japanese women to Bali, Indonesia. This is not the first time I have been a personal tour guide for Japanese going to Bali, but this time was different because I was taking two very special people: my next-door neighbor Kazuko and another islander, Hiroko....
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2005

Hokkaido gets new commuter airline

New airline Air Transse Co. said Monday it will begin flight operations on March 13, starting with round-trip service between Hakodate airport and Tokachi Obihiro airport in Hokkaido.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2005

ANA net profit falls 25% on Haneda terminal move

All Nippon Airways Co. said Monday its net profit in the October-December quarter fell 25 percent from a year earlier to 5.1 billion yen, due to extraordinary costs of 6.1 billion yen, which included the move to a new terminal in Tokyo's Haneda airport.
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2005

Clarifying a whale of an impact

The Diet has begun debating postal services reform, the most important issue of its current regular session. The question at stake is how best to privatize the mammoth system that provides savings, insurance and mail services. It is a question that will deeply affect financial markets in Japan as well...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 29, 2005

Margaret Powell

Headquartered in Reading, England, GAP Activity Projects is a nonprofit organization that arranges gap year activities for young people. In the U.K., the gap year is offered between high school and university. GAP was originated in 1972 by a teacher who knew that some students were eager for overseas...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 29, 2005

All good things come to those who wait

Judy Ishizu holds up her latest English textbook, "Sekando Raifu no Eikaiwa" ("Second Life English Conversation"), and can scarcely contain her enthusiasm. "It's a dream come true to be in print. This is not my first book, however, but the fifth. To date the second -- "Eigo de Imi . Kangae wo Ieru Hyogen"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 26, 2005

Time to reflect on transition

Japan is in the midst of a "Korea boom." It seems that the smiling face of Bae Yong Joon is everywhere, and almost 10,000 (mostly) female fans greeted the superstar Korean actor when he arrived at Narita airport last November. Perhaps sparked by 2002's jointly hosted soccer World Cup, films, fashion,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 25, 2005

Japan's enemy within

Riding home from school on the crowded Tokyo underground recently one day, 12-year-old Kim says she felt something hit the back of her head. When she checked what it was, her hand came away covered in saliva spat by a middle-aged male passenger. As he was getting off, the man said: "Get back to your...
EDITORIALS
Jan 19, 2005

An opportunity for Indonesia

It is an old cliche, but there may be good reason why the Chinese word for "crisis" consists of characters that mean "danger" as well as "opportunity." The earthquake and tsunami that devastated many South Asian communities in the last week of 2004 are truly a "crisis" for Indonesia. The danger is obvious:...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 19, 2005

Goblins and deities in folk art

In celebration of the Japanese New Year, the Mingeikan (Japan Folk Art Museum) has organized a special exhibition titled "Otsu-e: Edo Period Popular Paintings," showcasing this traditional Japanese genre of painting from the Edo Period (1615-1868).
Japan Times
JAPAN / 10 YEARS AFTER
Jan 18, 2005

City's new face conceals unhealed wounds, a sense of communities lost

KOBE -- A decade after the massive Kobe earthquake, there remains little visible trace of the damage to this port city.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jan 16, 2005

There's white gold on them thar African isles

'Where there's muck, there's brass." In the north of England "brass" means "cash," but the old adage about dirt and money still rings true. And you don't get much muckier than an overcrowded seabird colony on a small Atlantic island.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 16, 2005

Antibalas burn it down and build it back up

At the intersection of North Moore Street and Broadway in downtown Manhattan is No Moore, a bar favored by well-heeled young professionals. The walls are exposed brick, the wooden floor is comfortably worn and, in the daytime, sunlight gilds the space through floor-to-ceiling windows. It's a pleasant...
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2005

State seeks to fund only quality foreign students

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry urged the government on Tuesday to review its policy on foreign students because their academic performance has been declining.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 12, 2005

Balancing act

Singer-songwriters are the half-breeds of pop music. Evolved from Bob Dylan's navel-gazing spawn, they lead hyphenated existences because each half of their calling is considered insupportable without the other. Though many are accomplished vocalists, what distinguishes them as singers doesn't always...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2005

Why does CCP still fret over the news?

LONDON -- A short while ago, when I was in Beijing, I wanted to keep up with some political development in Hong Kong. I turned on my computer and went to the Asia-Pacific page of the BBC's Web site. Or at least I tried to; I had forgotten that the BBC site is blocked in China.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji