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EDITORIALS
Aug 4, 2002

High standards to uphold

Veteran diplomat Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello has been named the new U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Mr. Vieira de Mello takes the job as questions rise about the wisdom of the commitment to human rights. The main causes of this "new thinking" are the war against terrorism and economic difficulties...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2002

Japan playing a vital role in Myanmar

Aung San Suu Kyi has completed two successful and delightful long-distance inland political journeys since her release from a second house arrest about 10 weeks ago. The State Peace and Development Council, or SPDC, the military regime, has provided full security for her travels in Mandalay and Mon states....
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 4, 2002

Salaryman quits to devote time to family name: Tokugawa

Tsunenari Tokugawa drew a salary for more than 38 years, climbing the corporate ladder to become executive vice president of major marine shipping company Nippon Yusen K.K.
COMMUNITY
Aug 4, 2002

Stars in your eyes: fireworks in Japan

Living with Tokyo Disney Resort in their midst, residents of Urayasu in Chiba Prefecture can enjoy its fireworks displays every night in summer. Even for them, though, the annual Noryo Fireworks Festival is something else altogether.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 4, 2002

The world according to a certified oddball

Once you finally know them, most people are . . . nice. A rosy sentiment paraphrased from Atticus Finch in the fiction classic "To Kill a Mockingbird." Words I now twist to match my own barbed view of life in Japan.
COMMUNITY
Aug 4, 2002

Touched by the hand of the fire god

Akiko Amano says she once saw the God of Fire. It was around 10 years ago when she first started working as a hanabishi (professional fireworks setter). That night, she was working at a countryside fireworks festival.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 4, 2002

Can you celebrate? Not yet, Amuro- chan

It's generally assumed by the media that pop singer Namie Amuro's recent divorce from dancer Masaharu "Sam" Maruyama is the first step in an earnest attempt to reinflate a career that lost a lot of air after the 24-year-old dance-music diva took a year's maternity leave. If that sounds like a cynical...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 4, 2002

Reform by fiat and persuasion

INSIDE GHQ: The Allied Occupation of Japan and its Legacy, by Eiji Takemae. London: Continuum, 2002, 751 pp., $40 (cloth) The U.S.-led Occupation of Japan ended 50 years ago, but still casts long shadows over the country and remains hotly debated among scholars and pundits. It is indeed fortunate, therefore,...
COMMUNITY
Aug 4, 2002

Shouldering the weight of tradition

YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa Pref. -- Never mind what the weatherman says, in my small town of Tanoura in Yokosuka, the two hottest days each year fall on the last weekend of July.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 4, 2002

Finding a place in history

SENTO AT SIXTH AND MAIN: Preserving Landmarks of Japanese American Heritage, by Gail Dubrow with Donna Graves. Seattle: Seattle Arts Commission, 2002, 220 pp., $19.95 (paper) A lumber camp in Selleck, Washington; a sento at 302 Sixth Avenue in downtown Seattle; a bowling alley in Los Angeles's Crenshaw...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 4, 2002

The sweet, soft option

Fukuoka sake, in general, hovers just below the surface of mass attention. You don't hear about it too much, and it doesn't have an image of overall style in the minds of most folks. But this belies its historical significance and, more importantly, ignores the fact that great sake can be found in Fukuoka....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 4, 2002

Shock of the new: modernism as a cultural force

TOPOGRAPHIES OF JAPANESE MODERNISM. By Seiji M. Lippit. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002, 301 pp., $22.50 (paper) Among the many results of the 19th-century "opening" of Japan to the West was a truly massive internalization of foreign culture, one which is now so advanced that concepts such...
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2002

Press secretary seeks to redefine role

Hatsuhisa Takashima, newly appointed as the first press secretary for the Foreign Ministry to come out of the private sector, vowed Friday to be a new breed of government spokesman.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 3, 2002

Theismann: 49ers one of top 3 teams in NFL

OSAKA -- "I think the 49ers are one of the top three teams in the National Football League," former Redskins quarterback and ESPN commentator Joe Theismann -- who has visited both team training camps this summer -- said Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 3, 2002

Orix slugger Sheldon starting to make things happen

Scott Sheldon and his Orix BlueWave teammates may be in the same boat, but for the past month they've been rowing in opposite directions.
EDITORIALS
Aug 3, 2002

Positive moves from Pyongyang

The good news about North Korea is that it is ready to resume diplomatic contacts with Japan and the United States. At the ASEAN Regional Forum in Brunei this week, Pyongyang's foreign minister, Mr. Paek Nam Sun, expressed a willingness to mend fences with Tokyo and Washington in talks with Foreign Minister...
COMMENTARY
Aug 3, 2002

Flaws mar proposed reforms

LONDON -- The Japanese Foreign Ministry has been much criticized over the last year. Reforms have been made and more changes are likely. Some of the criticism has been justified, but much is misplaced and some of the proposals for changes are mistaken.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2002

Lack of rival leaves Koizumi boss by default

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's sky-high popularity is a thing of the past. Over the last six months, his public approval ratings have declined sharply, as has his image as a charismatic reformer.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2002

Kokubunji snubs state resident registry

The western Tokyo suburb of Kokubunji on Friday became the latest municipality to refuse to take part in a national resident registry network that the central government plans to launch Monday, saying it will not join the system until a law to protect personal information is enacted.
COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM
Aug 3, 2002

ASEAN is on the right track with ARF

With reference to the July 19 article by Felix Soh on the ASEAN Regional Forum ("Security issues may be too hot to handle for ASEAN bloc"), as former foreign affairs secretary of the Philippines under two presidents during 1995-2001, I wish to clarify several points of regional and historical interest....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 3, 2002

I'm a carefree street food vendor, baby!

You know what I like about Japan? The mobile food. And I'm not talking about going to the drive-through at McDonald's for takeout. Albeit a dying tradition, in Japan you can still get some food such as noodles, octopus balls and "yaki imo" from street vendors who cruise the neighborhoods. If you have...
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2002

Koizumi seeks prudent budget requests

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told his ministers Friday to strictly screen their budget requests for fiscal 2003 because of the government's austerity policy, the top government spokesman said.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2002

Household spending rises, ends five-quarter trend

Average household spending in the April-June period rose a real 1.1 percent from the same period in 2001 to 300,802 yen, marking the first rise in five quarters, the government said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Aug 3, 2002

Artist's work brings copper plate color prints to life

An impression of stillness amid the wonder of color is a beautiful thing to behold.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Aug 3, 2002

Solstice weekend under the fog; Camping with the aliens

I knew it was going to be an interesting weekend the moment my press armband arrived in the mail marked No. 13, though I'm not superstitious enough to turn my back on an event like the Solstice Music Festival.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 3, 2002

Keeping up with family weddings around world

Betty Glover from Perth, Australia, cannot walk too easily these days. This does not stop her from traveling however. Assisted by daughter Mo (Maureen) and son-in-law Deg (Derek), she is just coming to the end of a two-month trip to the U.K. and -- a bit of a surprise this one! -- Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 3, 2002

Hema Parekh

At her family home in Bombay, as part of her religion Hema Parekh was taught "never to take away another's right to life." That meant she lived as a vegetarian.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2002

Uphill battle for regional hub aspirees

SEOUL -- South Korea (where the idea of becoming a regional hub is now all the rage) and Malaysia share the same basic vision for Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, respectively. In addition, the two countries are cosponsoring an initiative to formally coordinate the ASEAN plus three forum. Last month,...

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo