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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 18, 2002

A good place to keep cool

It really is too hot to wander far from home -- unless, of course, you're heading for a beach. Even the government recognizes this fact, with the official four-day summer O-bon holiday being one of three officially sanctioned and nationally observed annual vacation periods (the other two being New Year...
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Aug 17, 2002

Japanese players need to be more creative

"I get the impression that the players are too mechanical," said Masakuni Yamamoto, Japan's Olympic team coach, in delivering a strong message to Japanese players and soccer officials after holding his first training session with the under-21 squad Tuesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 17, 2002

Lions roar back to down Buffs

Kazuo Matsui hit a two-run tie-breaking homer in the bottom of the seventh inning Friday as the front-running Seibu Lions batted back from a nine-run deficit to a 12-10 victory over the Kintetsu Buffaloes for their fifth win in a row.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 17, 2002

'Little' Matsui getting major attention

Aside from the hype surrounding Giants' Hideki Matsui and whether he will use his free agency to join the majors -- more specifically, the New York Yankees -- the "Little" Matsui is generating as much attention from the major league scouts.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2002

Japan proceeds with spy satellite plan despite U.S. concerns

Japan's plan to deploy reconnaissance satellites to monitor military movements in East Asia will get off the ground in November, when the Cabinet Satellite Information Center starts up the system's nerve center in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2002

Indonesia's new order?

Indonesia has just concluded its annual legislative session by adopting reforms that could transform the nation's politics. During its two-week session, the People's Consultative Assembly agreed to ease the military out of politics and to let voters directly elect the president. These are potentially...
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2002

Professors to visit Afghanistan

A group of professors from five Japanese women's universities will visit Afghanistan for 10 days beginning Aug. 24 to prepare a training program for female Afghan teachers that will be held in Japan next year, Ochanomizu University said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2002

Seal checks into Hotel Tamagawa

A young bearded seal has been hanging out in the Tama River bordering Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture since last week, drawing daily crowds of onlookers during the Bon holiday week.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 17, 2002

Personal grooming goes grossly public

Of all the changes we have seen in Japan over the past 10 years, one really stands out: personal grooming. It used to be that people did their personal grooming privately, behind closed doors. But nowadays, the Japanese people have gone public. Sometimes there are so many women on the train applying...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 17, 2002

Peter Grilli

Former longtime Tokyo residents Marcel and Elise Grilli left abiding imprints here. Over many years, Marcel wrote a column on music for The Japan Times. Elise, art critic for the newspaper, produced books of outstanding merit on the Japanese art scene. They came to Tokyo in the late 1940s with their...
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2002

Uncertainty overshadows Earth summit

The largest United Nations gathering in history is to start in Johannesburg in nine days' time, with nations reflecting on the progress -- or the lack of it -- toward achieving a more sustainable world over the past decade and wrangling over how to do a better job in the future.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Aug 17, 2002

Juno's 10-year odyssey; Arcadia pulls off a gem; Hotaka: the next way-out party

Perhaps some day in the distant future, at some far away campus, students of turn-of-the-century electronic music will listen as their professor waxes on about the effect that the seminal British trance entity Juno Reactor had on the world.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
Aug 17, 2002

Photo processors bet livelihoods on digital age

For photo shops, the increasing use of digital cameras among consumers means fewer people dropping off rolls of film to be developed and printed.
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2002

Aug. 15: day to renew peace efforts

The 57th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II passed quietly, in part because Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi skipped a visit to Yasukuni Shrine this month. His trip to the shrine last August stirred up controversy both here and abroad, particularly in China and South Korea. To avoid a similar...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 16, 2002

Japanese rugby gears up for professionalism

Summer used to be a time for rugby players to either relax or pursue other sporting interests. Between the end of season tour (which generally involved a lot of drinking with a little rugby thrown in) and the start of preseason training in late August there was plenty of opportunity to pursue other interests....
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 16, 2002

Abe lifts Giants in grand fashion

Shinnosuke Abe hit a "sayonara" solo homer in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Yomiuri Giants defeated the Yakult Swallows 3-2 on Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2002

Mad cow outbreak sparks Matsuzaka beef boom

The supplier price of Matsuzaka beef, Japan's most prized variety, is nearly double what it was a year ago due to soaring demand for safe beef since mad cow disease was discovered in Japan in September, industry officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2002

Pop star Fujii hurt swimming in Hawaii

Pop musician Fumiya Fujii was injured while swimming in Hawaii during a summer break and will postpone several concerts scheduled for later this month until the fall, his agency said Thursday.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 16, 2002

Savage, Keane top scene as show begins

LONDON -- After almost 40 years of reporting the beautiful game nothing should come as a surprise.
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2002

Isuzu may take advantage of special tax breaks

Isuzu Motors Ltd. may accelerate its restructuring moves under the industrial revitalization law to take advantage of tax breaks and other favorable treatment, company sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2002

Intellectual balance of payments off

Japan's deficit in the balance of payments related to intellectual property has plummeted about 85 percent over the past decade, as more Japanese companies move to develop new technologies to enhance competitiveness.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
Aug 16, 2002

The Okinawan dollar-yen juggling act

Tenth in an occasional series By MAYUMI NEGISHI Staff writer NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- On Aug. 15, 1971, U.S. President Richard Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard and introduced floating exchange rates, sending the greenback plummeting.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2002

WWII survivors fear return to warpath

As wartime memories have faded in the 57 years since Japan's surrender in World War II, many aging survivors are anxious that the nation might follow the same path to war again.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 16, 2002

You've got mail: the romance of the shoe box

Remember the days before cell phones and e-mail, when people actually wrote letters to each other, by hand -- often pages and pages of kokoro-no toro (emotional outpouring)? Maybe it's just me getting sentimental in my old age, but, really, there's something to be said for the days when the sight of...
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Aug 16, 2002

Better off sleeping than working out?

Here's a fun exercise: Ask Japanese adults how they spent their childhood summers. They'll almost always mention rajio taiso, the morning exercises they did in neighborhood groups during the school holiday. Then ask if their own children participate. Chances are their kids sleep in rather than get up...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear