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COMMENTARY
Sep 2, 2002

U.S. role critical in Indo-Pakistani dispute

ISLAMABAD -- Renewed Indo-Pakistani conflict in Kashmir, just before U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's August visit to the region, demonstrated how close to war South Asia's two nuclear rivals remain.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2002

Earthquake drills go off without a hitch

Almost two million people throughout the country took part in disaster-preparedness drills based on various earthquake scenarios on Sunday.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2002

G.O. group likely to face charges

Tokyo police are expected to establish a mass fraud case against the head of a Tokyo-based investment group for allegedly swindling money from tens of thousands of people, according to police sources.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2002

Hepatitis C victims may file lawsuit against state, firm

A group of about 20 people who contracted the hepatitis C virus via tainted blood products is considering filing a lawsuit against the state and now-defunct drugmaker Green Cross Corp., sources close to the group said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2002

Deadline for winter attack is drawing near

WASHINGTON -- As the saying goes, while politicians and civilians like to think about strategy when contemplating war, generals think logistics. If the United States and any coalition partners go to war against Iraq, the first part of that logistics effort requires getting up to a quarter million combat...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 2, 2002

Historic Tsumago: a time capsule of Edo living

Build a good tourist trap, and the world will beat a path to your door. This seems to have been the thinking in the small town of Tsumago in southwestern Nagano Prefecture. Facing rural decay in the late '60s, the townspeople decided to do something about it. They reached for their one real asset the...
COMMENTARY
Sep 2, 2002

It's time to arm America's airline pilots

NEW YORK CITY - Nearly a year has passed since the worst act of terrorism in America's history. The World Trade Center site is clear, the sky above is empty. And fear of another deadly attack remains. A so-called miscommunication between pilot and air traffic controllers recently led the government to...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Sep 2, 2002

Revival depends on openness, immigration

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The late Shigeto Tsuru's "Japan's Capitalism: Creative Defeat and Beyond," which I referred to and quoted in my Aug. 26 column, urged Japan to "work hard, through both aid and trade, to wipe out the poverty that plagues the Third World."
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2002

Man dies practicing for festival

OSAKA -- A 23-year-old man was killed and two others suffered minor injuries Friday night while practicing for the annual Kishiwada Danjiri festival in the city of Kishiwada, Osaka Prefecture.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2002

Bill on SDF deployment to have wording altered

The government plans to make key amendments to the wording of a bill that dictates how the Self-Defense Forces will deal with a military attack in the hope that it will be enacted during the extraordinary Diet session expected to be held in the fall, informed sources said Saturday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2002

Children try their hand at making 'kyogashi' sweets

KYOTO -- To mark the end of the summer holidays, some 100 people, including many schoolchildren, tried their hand Saturday at making "kyogashi" Japanese confectionery at the Kyoto Confectionery Museum.
COMMENTARY
Sep 1, 2002

The need to lose individualit

LONDON -- One week British citizens were worrying over whether we were going to war against Iraq and I was phoning all the antiwar organizations to find out what preparations they were making; the next, Britain was plunged into a collective horror of abducted children, citizenship had been washed away...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2002

U.S. faces bigger issues than hitting Iraq

In America, a military attack against Iraq to remove President Saddam Hussein from power seems to be a foregone conclusion. U.S. newspaper reports have been rife with various battle plans proposed by the generals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Sep 1, 2002

Losers sometimes prosper

There are two grown men on my futon playing with dolls, and I'm standing above them taking photos. We're all dripping in sweat, and I'm hoping my girlfriend doesn't suddenly come home and catch us at it. She might get the wrong idea.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 1, 2002

How can we be No. 3?

In a revelation no less stunning than if Mount Everest was suddenly surpassed as the world's tallest mountain or the Nile outstretched as the world's longest river, a July news report announced that Tokyo is no longer the world's most expensive city.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 1, 2002

Taking stock of power and purpose in Asia

STRATEGIC ASIA: Power and Purpose 2001-02, edited by Richard J. Ellings and Aaron Friedberg. Seattle, Wash., National Bureau of Asian Research, 2001, 378 pp., $19.95 (paper) Power is the currency of international relations. Incredibly, we still aren't exactly sure what "power" is, how it is exercised...
CULTURE / Film / CLOSE-UP
Sep 1, 2002

Films, Zen, Japan

Donald Richie is regarded as the leading Western authority on Japanese film. He first came to Japan in 1947 as a civilian typist for the U.S. Occupational forces -- an intelligent, restless 22-year-old in search of purpose.
EDITORIALS
Sep 1, 2002

The quest for the greatest Briton

It's the end of summer (even though it may not feel like it) and holidaymakers are returning home in droves, reminding us that it's time to turn our heat-addled brains once again to Serious and Important Matters. In this regard, Britain's BBC may serve as an inspiration to us all. Last week, in the depths...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Sep 1, 2002

Films, Zen, Japan

Donald Richie is regarded as the leading Western authority on Japanese film. He first came to Japan in 1947 as a civilian typist for the U.S. Occupational forces -- an intelligent, restless 22-year-old in search of purpose.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 1, 2002

Rene Paulo takes a break from the hotel circuit

For the better part of five decades, Rene Paulo has made a steady living playing piano in hotel lounges in Honolulu, Las Vegas and Los Angeles -- but don't call him a lounge player. And don't ask him if Liberace was an influence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 1, 2002

Reaching for the skyline

Sixty-nine-year-old British architect Sir Richard Rogers has been one of the world's foremost architects for the last 30 years. Awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1985, he was further rewarded for his outstanding achievements with a knighthood from the Queen six years...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Sep 1, 2002

Let the seasons shine through aemono

The most common aemono (dressed salads) are: shira-ae, the tofu-based dressing that we looked at last week; goma-ae, a simple sesame dressing; and finally miso-ae, miso dressing. I presented a version of miso-ae — vinegared and with mustard — when I wrote about the little firefly-like hotaru-ika...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Sep 1, 2002

How much do you really need to know?

The choice of yeast in sake brewing exerts marvelous leverage on the aroma and style of the final product. And, while creativity and diversity lead to better sake over time, things can indeed get out of hand. Today, there are so many different yeasts -- and ways of combining them -- that it almost ceases...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 1, 2002

The pros and cons of character typing

If you need help with a problem and want to make a bunch of celebrities feel good, check out Nippon TV's "Power Bank" (Sunday, 12:30 p.m.). For each episode of the show, individuals register as "helpers," meaning people with some kind of skill or experience, and when a viewer requests assistance, this...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 1, 2002

'Seven Samurai' 101

SEVEN SAMURAI: The Ultimate Film Guides Series, by Roy Stafford. London: Longman/York Press/Pearson Education, 2001, 91 pp., 6.99 pounds (paper) "Would you be willing to do what is right, regardless of the consequences? To see good triumph over evil and use your strength and heroism to protect the lives...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 1, 2002

Hitting English language-learning overdrive

The Japanese media is in the middle of another of its sporadic English-language learning frenzies, which, this time, seems to have been sparked by an Education Ministry decision to promote English conversation lessons in public elementary schools.
COMMENTARY
Aug 31, 2002

Terrorism or simply war?

Soon after last year's Sept. 11 attack on the United States by Islamic militants, I got into a debate with a hawkish member of the private consultative committee set up by then-Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka. He was demanding angrily that Japan should help eliminate something called global "terror."...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2002

A new strategy for 'forgotten' Chernobyl

Almost half a world away, in a remote corner of Ukraine, a routine safety experiment at a nuclear power station went terribly wrong in 1986, resulting in what in human history became universally recognizable by a single word: Chernobyl. Hiroshima and Nagasaki should never be repeated, and it is up to...
COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM
Aug 31, 2002

Reactions to 9/11 as scary as the attacks

For my friend Azusa, it was supposed to be a long-waited vacation in New York City. Despite a big autumn typhoon, her Continental Air flight to Newark took off from Narita on time at 4 p.m. and she began to doze off, expecting a long flight to the East Coast as usual.

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