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LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 18, 2002

Let's hear it for the big wa in a small country

Although we seem to have built an entire culture based on loathing of all things Japanese and admiration of all things foreign, scratch the surface of our inferiority complex and you'll find a streak of patriotism somewhere.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 18, 2002

Stag beetle

* Japanese name: Miyamakuwagata * Scientific name: Lucanus maculifemoratus * Description: This is a large, reddish-black, heavily armed (and armored) beetle. Males have a fearsome but elegant pair of antlerlike jaws, about 15 mm long, with sharp teeth. Body length ranges from 43-72 mm. Females do not...
SUMO
Oct 17, 2002

Ozeki Asashoryu a quick study

One of the most gut-wrenching experiences Asashoryu has had to bear in his 22-year life didn't happen anywhere close to the sumo ring. It had nothing to do with adjusting to the hierarchical life of a sumo beya either.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 17, 2002

Terrorist front in largest Islamic nation

MADRAS, India -- The bomb explosions that killed more than 180 people in Bali last Saturday night affirmed what Indonesia has long denied -- that terrorists are active in the country. For many months now, Indonesia's neighbors and Washington have urged Jakarata to get tough with extremists, particularly...
EDITORIALS
Oct 17, 2002

Abductees' brief reunions with kin

Five of at least 13 known Japanese nationals who were kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s returned home on Tuesday aboard a government-chartered plane. But their family reunions -- the first since they disappeared in the summer of 1978 -- will be temporary; they are scheduled to return...
COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2002

Face down lobbies, factions

LONDON -- Why can't Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi carry out his promised reforms of the Japanese economy? Some may argue that he never really intended to reform the system and that his promises were all sham designed as a political boost. I don't agree, although I do question whether he and his close...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 17, 2002

Ticks: playing a waiting game to gorge on blood

Being in the field for several months each year in search of wildlife to study, photograph and write about may sound wonderful, and it certainly does make for an exciting life. There is a downside, though, because there's also wildlife out there looking for me. Well, not me specifically, but warm-blooded...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 17, 2002

Prince

The artist formerly known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince has suddenly embarked on a world tour and will be in Japan in mid-November. You should be excited, though no one can blame you if you're not. Having spent most of the '90s trying to figure out what to call him as he dropped one multidisc...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Oct 17, 2002

A proud town founded on ferries

The Ara River rises in the Chichibu Mountains of Saitama Prefecture, from where it flows southeast for some 140 km to reach the capital and discharge itself into Tokyo Bay. As its name (which means "rough") implies, it used to be a violent river, swelling after heavy rains and raging across the wide...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 17, 2002

Doug Martsch: "Now You Know"

When rock musicians "rediscover" the blues, it usually means one of two things: They feel a need to step back from their careers and look at one origin of their craft, or they've run out of ideas and need to give writer's block a swift kick in the pants.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 17, 2002

Tisziji Munoz: "Shaman-Bala"

"I've always known music as a way of spontaneously expressing free heart feeling," says guitarist and metaphysical theorist Tisziji Munoz in an e-mail from his home in upstate New York. "Playing music as a broken or wounded heart is a constant characteristic of my heart feeling, or Soul, as some call...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 17, 2002

Human traffickers targeting kids

Wani is an umbrella bearer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 17, 2002

'Tis a pity she's the leading actress

Contemporary theater in Japan existed as something akin to an underground cult in the 1960s and '70s. In the '80s, with bubble money swilling around everywhere, many of these youthful, looselyknit groups came in from the cultural margins and formed theater companies. Led by experimental directors such...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Oct 17, 2002

Japan image that resonates

Ichitaro Nakanoshima likes nothing better than to spend the late morning watching videos of old musicals like "Singin' in the Rain."
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 17, 2002

Searching within ourselves for the vaccine against HIV

It is 2005, in what was formerly the state of California. After a massive earthquake, the golden state has been divided into two: So. Cal and No. Cal. Scrawled and sprayed on walls and wreckage is the name of the people's savior: J.D. Shapely.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Oct 17, 2002

Honor (and fun) among thieves

American-made adventure games do not typically hit the Famitsu top 10 rankings that determine what's hot in gaming in Japan. "Donkey Kong Country," a British-made Super Famicom game, was Japan's all-time best-selling foreign-made adventure game.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 16, 2002

Lions' Cabrera finishes on 55

CHIBA -- Alex Cabrera will have to wait another year for a chance to erase Sadaharu Oh and Tuffy Rhodes from the record books.
EDITORIALS
Oct 16, 2002

A most fitting Nobel laureate

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has been awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. It is a fitting selection. Mr. Carter has worked tirelessly for peace and to help the poor and the powerless throughout his career; his efforts deserve the recognition afforded by the Nobel selection committee. Just as important,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Oct 16, 2002

Educational crazy golf is a hole in one

If life is a crap shoot, then the Japanese educational system is a game of mini-golf, or so reckons Peter Bellars: That's the message behind the English artist's current Yokohama Museum of Art Gallery exhibition.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 16, 2002

Savoring and saving China's art

Japan's history is replete with examples of the assimilation of art and artifacts from China, yet in many cases the cultural traditions that produced them have disappeared in China itself. Often, the best clues to further our understanding of these lost artistic traditions lie in examining artifacts...
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2002

Victory for the working man

A s Brazil heads into the second round of its presidential election, history looks to be in the making. For the first time since their country became a republic, the Brazilian people appear set to elect a working-class man as president. Although the front-runner, Mr. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has promised...
COMMENTARY
Oct 14, 2002

Resurgent Asia may yet help buoy America

LOS ANGELES -- Think of the world economy as one huge ship with many passengers from all over and wildly varying tiers of service.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Oct 14, 2002

Acute case of linguistic 'disconnectivity'

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- One of the best terms of the 21st century is "global connectivity." Composed of three elements -- (1) entrepreneurial and energetic individuals, (2) the Internet and (3) the English language -- global connectivity serves not only to exchange information and ideas but also to...
COMMENTARY
Oct 14, 2002

Testing times for Koizumi

Japanese politics is entering a crucial period. On Sept. 30, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reshuffled his Cabinet for the first time since taking office in April 2001. The reshuffle, however, was limited in scale. Moreover, he kept his party's executive lineup unchanged.
EDITORIALS
Oct 13, 2002

Crucial by-election campaigns begin

A round of parliamentary by-elections set for Oct. 27 is seen widely as a prelude to the next general election. Voters are expected to pass judgment on the job performance of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration for the past 18 months. Campaigning for Upper House elections in Chiba and Tottori...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 13, 2002

Confessions over a cup of coffee

ON TSUKUBA PEAK: Tanka by Hatsue Kawamura. Five Islands Press: Wollongong, Australia, z2002, 93 pp., $20/1,500 yen (paper) MEMORIES OF A WOMAN: Tanka by Harue Aoki. Mura Press, Tokyo, 2001, 204 pp., 1,800 yen (paper) Women poets have a long and industrious history in Japan, where they have been writing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Oct 13, 2002

Fiery duo take jazz to task

Pianist Satoko Fujii and her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, seem an unlikely couple to storm the citadel of jazz with challenging new sounds. Far from the typical black-clad, scowling and self-absorbed avant-garde artist, they are surprisingly casual -- the kind of people you immediately want to...
MORE SPORTS
Oct 13, 2002

Joanie's in town, and she's ready to kick some butt

Joanie Laurer lists herself as 5'10". She looks more like 6'4" in the flesh. Built like a brick lighthouse, former World Wrestling Federation (WWF) star "Chyna" cuts an imposing figure as she greets me at the door to her hotel room.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 13, 2002

Dear old dads star in series, specials

Fathers of all shapes and sizes are the stars of this week's lineup of drama specials and new series. "Otosan (Father)," premieres Oct. 13 at 9 p.m. on the TBS network.
COMMUNITY
Oct 13, 2002

Saved by . . . 'a bad feeling'

Paul Malone turned down the adventure of a lifetime -- but his decision probably saved his life. The 30-year-old Australian is alive and well in Tokyo. Instead, he could so easily have been named in recent news reports as missing in the South Pacific along with former NBA basketball star Bison Dele and...

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan