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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
May 2, 2002

Are you going to Kayabacho plant fair?

Yakushi-in Temple in Kayabacho, Edo, is hosting a bustling plant fair, and people of all ages and every walk of life are there. In this woodcut print (right) by Hasegawa Settan (1778-1843), we can see tonsured monks, geisha, a senior samurai holding the hand of a little boy, a young woman under an umbrella...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
May 2, 2002

The life and times of a Manchurian girl

NEW YORK -- The New York Times' recent reprinting of a cartoon showing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat gagged and bound to a chair while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon presses him to "say something! do something!" made me think of Rikoran, known today mainly as Yoshiko Yamaguchi.
JAPAN
May 2, 2002

May Day rallies held across country

An estimated 670,000 workers on Wednesday took part in May Day rallies at around 450 locations across the nation, calling for government measures to secure workers' rights and improve the worsening employment situation, organizers said.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 2, 2002

20 years of writing on the wild side

The biological exuberance of the equatorial region is staggering to behold. Walking through a temperate forest (as one might find in many areas of northern Japan, the northern United States or across much of central Europe), it is commonplace to have a clear view for hundreds of meters -- even to the...
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 2, 2002

Dow down; Tokyo sensitive

New York share prices have taken a repeated battering of late, sending the Dow Jones average below 10,000 for the first time in more than two months.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2002

Firm seeks to boot out child labor

Children around the globe dream of someday playing in the World Cup, but few people know that thousands of them spend their days making soccer balls to help feed their families, unable to go to school or enjoy the game.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2002

Sachiyo Nomura given suspended prison term

Sachiyo Nomura, the high-profile wife of ex-Hanshin Tigers manager Katsuya Nomura, was sentenced Wednesday to a suspended two-year prison term and fined 21 million yen for evading 213 million yen in taxes between 1997 and 2000.
BUSINESS
May 2, 2002

Plunge in March tax revenue deepens government gloom

The national tax revenues plunged 13.8 percent in March from a year earlier to 2.19 trillion yen, marking the seventh straight month of decline and casting doubts over whether the government can achieve its fiscal 2001 revenue target, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
May 2, 2002

Don't cast out 'Outcast'

"Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" will be released in the United States next month and a lot of movie goers have clearly got Jedi fever.
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2002

Economic sense clashes with security concerns

HONG KONG -- Taiwan is coming to grips with a paradox: China is both its best friend and its worst enemy. In recent weeks, the island has been debating what its priority should be -- to enhance its economy by taking advantage of what China has to offer, or to safeguard its political security by restricting...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 1, 2002

Attitudinal shift is lifting taboo on death education: professor

Public attitudes in Japan toward death and dying have undergone considerable changes in the past 20 years, according to Alfons Deeken, founder and president of the Japanese Association for Death Education and Grief Counseling.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 1, 2002

Lopez puts tantrum behind him

Hiroshima Carp first baseman Luis Lopez says the problem between him and outfielder Tomonori Maeda has been put to rest. Marty Kuehnert, in his April 10 "Keen Edge" column, described how the teammates had nearly come to blows after Maeda twice failed to score from second base on outfield hits by Lopez...
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 1, 2002

Investors focus on earnings

Elated at the U.S. economic pickup, investors are opting for shares backed by favorable earnings prospects.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2002

Protest letters sent on bond downgrade

The Finance Ministry has sent letters of complaint to foreign credit rating agencies over their recent downgrading of Japanese government bonds, the ministry said Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 1, 2002

Mizuho boasts of 12-million-transaction day

The Mizuho financial group, hit by serious computer problems upon the launch of its two banks at the beginning of April, completed 12 million settlements Tuesday, the largest number of daily online transactions handled by a bank.
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2002

Le Pen victory a dark sign of the times

LONDON -- Political experts of all shades have been professing surprise and amazement that Jean-Marie Le Pen, with his wild mixture of views, some overtly racist, should have collected around 17 percent of the votes in the first round of the French presidential elections. But the real surprise is that...
BUSINESS
May 1, 2002

Fuji Photo sees 74% sales growth

Fuji Photo Film Co. said Tuesday its group sales in fiscal 2001 grew 73.6 percent from the year before to 2.4 trillion yen because Fuji Xerox Co. was included as a direct subsidiary.
JAPAN
May 1, 2002

Sato served fresh tax evasion warrant

Saburo Sato, a former top aide of ex-Lower House lawmaker Koichi Kato, was served a fresh arrest warrant Tuesday on suspicion of failing to declare 150 million yen that he received from talent agency Rising Production Co., investigative sources said.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 1, 2002

N*E*R*D: 'In Search Of . . .'

'This album is like a life soundtrack," N*E*R*D frontman Chad Hugo says on their Web site. "It's a diary of shit we've been through over the last year or two."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
May 1, 2002

A heaping spoonful of satire helps the politics go down

Mixing music and politics is always tricky. While it sometimes results in great art (e.g. Bob Dylan's pacifist tirade "Masters of War"), often the music is ruined by too much didacticism (John Lennon's "Some Time in New York City" is a prime example).
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Apr 30, 2002

Sex, lies, videotape and something fishy

I hate April in Japan. Step outside and the air smells of sweaty underpants. My friend Percy tells me it has something to do with trees secreting spitballs. Which is nice.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2002

Inventors advised to take out patents

Amid the prolonged recession, more people are trying their hand at inventing in the hope of making a fast fortune.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2002

Japanese cheerleader back for second season with NFL team

When Ai Yasuda was named to the San Francisco 49ers' Gold Rush cheerleading squad for the second straight year, she realized that although the door may not be wide, it is always open.
BUSINESS
Apr 30, 2002

'Community currencies' seen fulfilling only half of mission

The recent boom in community "currencies" -- a virtual form of payment being used to promote exchanges of goodwill and business -- seems to have reached a turning point.

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