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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 13, 2002

You're never too old to read a good self-help book

The best-seller list currently features three volumes on living and aging well: "Oite Koso Jinsei" (Nothing Is More Human Than Aging), by novelist/politician Shintaro Ishihara; "Unmei no Ashioto" (The Footsteps of Approaching Fate), by novelist Hiroyuki Itsuki; and "Ikikata Jozu" (How to Live Well),...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Oct 13, 2002

You think it's pure -- but is it really?

One of the great debates among sake fans with too much time on their hands is whether sake that has alcohol added to it is real sake. It is interesting to look at the history, technical facets and economics of this issue.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 13, 2002

Composer Toru Takemitsu gets his turn in the spotlight

A WAY A LONE: Writings on Toru Takemitsu, edited by Hugh de Ferranti and Yoko Narazaki. Tokyo: Academia Music, Ltd., 2002, 258 pp. with musical examples and one b/w photo, 3,000 yen (paper) THE MUSIC OF TORU TAKEMITSU, by Peter Burt. Cambridge University Press, 2002, 294 pp., with 133 musical examples,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 13, 2002

Japanese will have babies when living is easy

In the middle of September, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry released a set of countermeasures to address the declining birthrate, which Chikara Sakaguchi -- the head of the ministry -- has said will "sink Japan" if it remains as low as it is.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 13, 2002

Crowd aside, Department-H parties are never a drag

Gogh Imaizumi, a skilled cartoonist, left his hometown, Sapporo, at age 20 with the dream of becoming an illustrator. He took with him these words of advice from his mother: "Whatever you do, don't be a nuisance to anyone."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 13, 2002

School festivals of fun in the name of sport

Autumn in Japan means much more than cooler temperatures and colorful leaves. It means . . . sports!
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 13, 2002

Sports Day: the spirit of '64

"Have Japanese people already forgotten about soccer?" asks a recent advertisement for a satellite-TV station. The ad continues: "To all the Japanese people who were swept up in the soccer frenzy of the World Cup -- have you forgotten about soccer?"
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 13, 2002

Beijing stymies Pyongyang experiment

HONG KONG -- Pyongyang-Beijing ties used to be characterized as being "as close as lips and teeth," but that phrase no longer applies to the relationship. For no sooner does North Korea arouse deep Japanese public outrage with its prevarication over past abductions than the isolated Stalinist state provokes...
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 12, 2002

No triple crown for Matsui

One night after blasting two home runs, Hideki Matsui went 0-for-5 and came up short in his bid for a triple crown Friday as the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants triumphed 6-2 over the Hiroshima Carp in their season finale.
COMMENTARY
Oct 12, 2002

Cost cuts could compromise health care

WASHINGTON -- Public-spirited rhetoric usually masks intense interest-group combat in Washington, D.C., like that over pharmaceutical patents. Health insurers, which barely survived the Clinton administration's assault, are targeting drug-research firms.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 12, 2002

Personal fences and Hello Kitty killer

In the spirit of "benri de ii" (convenient and good) I would like to propose some ideas for making Japan a more convenient country.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 12, 2002

Success of globalization rests on good business reputations

These are not good times for business ethics in the industrialized nations. In spite of a carefully honed reputation for professionalism and honesty, businesses in the United States, Japan and Europe have seen scandals and problems. In the U.S. it has been the overstatement of profits by and exorbitant...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 12, 2002

Joel Stewart

When he is painting, Joel Stewart says that he watches "what is happening right in front of my eyes. I'm making an image, and I reach a fork in the road. Shall I pull back to my original conception, or follow the new direction, which may lead to disaster?" If it is disaster, he is philosophical about...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 11, 2002

Irish media not too Keane on McCarthy

LONDON -- It is difficult to imagine a coach can be under pressure after his team made a positive impression at the World Cup finals, has lost only three of its last 27 games and just seven of 41 competitive matches during his 6 1/2 years in charge.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 11, 2002

Fighters like American manager, but will he really be given chance?

It finally looks as if Japanese baseball is ready for a change.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Oct 11, 2002

Chant away to calculation competence

You will never guess what I've been doing the past two weeks. I, an Ivy League graduate, at the ripe age of 44, have been learning my times tables. That's right, multiplication. Now, before you write me off as a failure of American higher education, let me stress that I've been doing this in Japanese....
COMMUNITY
Oct 11, 2002

Fill a pressing need for foreign men

The hunt is on for foreign men to contribute their experiences to a unique, innovative, humorous, and much-needed guide for gaijin guys in Japan.
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Oct 11, 2002

Kanji power unlocks the secret room of Japanese literature

Surely many of you, including overseas readers of The Japan Times online, live within 100 km of a Japanese-language bookstore or a university with a collection of Japanese books. Japanese literature is available, but confronting the sheer volume of offerings can be overwhelming.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 11, 2002

What's a working mom to do with her kids in Tokyo?

Childcare An entrepreneur in central Tokyo, is up in arms. One of her Japanese assistants is about to have a baby and wants to continue working afterwards. But so far her assistant has been unable to find public child-care facilities for children under the age of 2.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 11, 2002

Motorists driven round the bend by license laws

In May 2002 the Tokyo District Court rejected a suit by freelance journalist Yu Terasawa in which he claimed 1.2 million yen in compensation for driving license renewal fees.
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2002

Japanese science shines again

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which is responsible for awarding the Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry, probably said it best when it described this year's physics laureates as having "used [the] very smallest components of the universe to increase our understanding of the very largest, the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Oct 11, 2002

"Time Stops For No Mouse," "Hairy Bill"

"Time Stops For No Mouse," Michael Hoeye, Puffin Books; 2002; 262 pp. It's a mouse's world.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 10, 2002

Suzuka special for Sato

Expectations are blooming each day for the rookie at the Japan Grand Prix. But don't remind Takuma Sato of Jordan Honda that his Japanese fans expect more than his sub-par performance so far during the 2002 season.
COMMENTARY
Oct 10, 2002

Small Mideast release valve

BAHRAIN -- Here in this little island kingdom just off the coast of Saudi Arabia, all the complexities and contradictions of the Middle East and the Arab world seem to come together.
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2002

Put a stop to rising crime

Spurred by a spate of vicious crimes and a sharp rise in crimes by foreigners, the number of criminal offenses in Japan last year reached a record postwar high of 2,735,612 cases. The arrest rate, which is a barometer of public safety, fell to 19.8 percent, the first time since 1945 that it had dropped...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 10, 2002

Women are the key to conserving Mother Earth

Danielle Nierenberg may work in the shadow of the White House, but she is clearly more enlightened than the man who lives there. At the end of April, the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute released a policy brief written by Nierenberg, a staff researcher. The title of her paper is a succinct statement...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 10, 2002

Giving you something to stretch your head round

Modern American anthropology owes a lot to one man: Franz Boas, widely regarded as the father of the discipline.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Oct 10, 2002

All bets off on upcoming U.S. midterm elections

WASHINGTON -- We are just a few weeks from election day 2002. Usually, in a midterm election, especially one just after the redistricting of Congress, it becomes apparent how the races are shaping up. Trends set in as candidates begin to pull away in competitive races. But not this year; just the reverse...
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Oct 10, 2002

Disney lives in 'Kingdom Hearts'

"Kingdom Hearts" may be old news in Japan, where more than 800,000 people already own it, but it's new to the United States.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Oct 9, 2002

The Captains chart retro course

Nostalgia is a dangerous thing. In the wrong hands, it can be an outlet for excessive sentimentality and out-and-out kitsch.

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