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BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 20, 2002

JT readers like Giants, Hawks in Japan Series

The Yomiuri Giants will edge the Yakult Swallows in the Central League, and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks will slip by the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes in the Pacific League, creating a Giants-Hawks matchup in the 2002 Japan Series come October. So says the consensus of predictions of nine readers and yours truly...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2002

Drain the swamp that breeds terrorism

This week U.S. President George W. Bush meets in Monterrey, Mexico with 50 other heads of state to discuss financing for Third World development. Last week, the president announced that he would ask Congress to set aside $5 billion for a special development-aid fund. This aid will be on top of the 10...
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2002

Okinawa Cellular may get regulatory break

The telecommunications minister hinted Tuesday that Okinawa Cellular Telephone Co. may remain free from regulations governing "dominant" mobile phone operators even though its controls a large share of the market in Okinawa Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 20, 2002

Boards of Canada: 'Geogaddi'

Electronic music isn't known for its sentimentality. However, when critics wrote about Boards of Canada's 1998 release, "Music Has the Right to Children," the word "nostalgia" was kicked around more than once. The amalgam of Vangelis-like keyboards and loops of school kids at play unearthed subconscious...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 20, 2002

Lee 'Scratch' Perry: 'Jamaican e.t.'

Lee "Scratch" Perry has been stumbling along the very fine line between eccentricity and insanity for more than 30 years, and his latest album, "Jamaican e.t.," is one of his most mind-scrambling yet.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 20, 2002

Zazen and the art of playwriting

This month, the Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo is presenting two programs of kabuki plays and dance numbers starring such leading actors as Koshiro Matsumoto, Nizaemon Kataoka, Mitsugoro Bando and Sadanji Ichikawa, as well as the female-role specialists Tamasaburo Bando and Tokizo Nakamura.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Mar 20, 2002

VOCA roundup is a right royal letdown

It's been almost 100 years since Wassily Kandinsky began creating what are generally regarded as the first purely abstract paintings. The Russian's "compositions," as he termed them, freed him from representation and opened up a new world of expressive possibilities. These were fully explored in the...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 20, 2002

Kasey Chambers: 'Barricades & Brickwalls'

Home may be where the heart is, but sometimes the voice comes from somewhere else. Whether it's Mick Jagger's Mississippi drawl or Billy Joe Armstrong's cockney pretensions, pop singers adopt accents because that's the way they imagine one sings a particular style of music. It doesn't matter that Jagger...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Mar 20, 2002

Clay forms waiting to be unearthed

A lump of clay; what forms sleep undiscovered within? There are many ways potters can shape the "earth" they see, the most common is to throw it on a wheel or rokuro. Other ways include tebineri (hand-pinching), himo-zukuri (coil-building), tatara-zukuri (slab-building) or wari-gata (piece-molding)....
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2002

Nation-building vs. military goals

Half a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, President George W. Bush's war on terrorism appears to be entering a more complex and difficult phase. U.S. troops have mounted a major ground offensive in Afghanistan, while a special forces team is helping fight Muslim militants...
COMMENTARY
Mar 19, 2002

Tough times await Musharraf

ISLAMABAD -- In reaching out to Japan last week in his maiden visit there, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf created the impression that he is genuinely trying to turn his country around. And during his recent visit to the United States, U.S. President George W. Bush hailed him as a visionary...
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Seiko mulls reducing holdings in Epson unit

Seiko Corp. on Monday confirmed news reports that it is considering selling part of its equity stake in Seiko Epson Corp. by the end of this month.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Shimadzu to create DNA mapper with nanotechnology

OSAKA -- Precision-equipment maker Shimadzu Corp. said Monday it will begin developing a next-generation DNA-mapping device by using nanotechnology.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Electronics titans aim for LSIs

Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. announced Monday that they will set up a joint venture to integrate their semiconductor businesses relating to system LSIs, or large-scale integrated circuit chips.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Yoshinoya in cogeneration project

Tokyo Gas Co. said Monday it will conduct a cogeneration project with fast-food operator Yoshinoya D&C Co. at an outlet in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Mar 19, 2002

Troussier leaves us scratching our heads

Question: When is an "open" training session not an "open" training session?
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

State to offer banks deal on bad mortgages

The government plans to dispose of about 97 billion yen in unrecoverable home loans by asking private banks that guaranteed them to assume payment, a senior government official said Monday.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Mar 19, 2002

South Korea puts faith in Dutchman Hiddink

Guus Hiddink, the Netherlands' 1998 World Cup team manager, has been hired by South Korea in an attempt to end its winless drought at the tournament and get through the first round for the first time in soccer's quadrennial tournament.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Penta-Ocean picks new president

Penta-Ocean Construction Co. said Monday it has appointed Senior Managing Director Hideaki Kato as its president, replacing Renpei Mizuno, who will become chairman.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

A rendezvous with the master

During a recent interview at his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Arthur C. Clarke displayed a youthful enthusiasm that belied his 84 years. Clad in a batik sarong and pastel shirt with a dolphin motif, the wheelchair-bound author of "2001: A Space Odyssey" was short of breath and complained that he was tired...
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Wal-Mart spells chaos for already shaken industry

The entry into Japan of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of the United States, the world's largest retailer, will throw the industry into chaos as it struggles for survival amid the deepening recession.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

Will peace ever return to paradise?

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Foreign visitors to Sri Lanka have been singing its praises since the days of Marco Polo. From sacred Buddhist ruins and magnificent sculptures to gorgeous beaches and the verdant hills of the tea estates, this is an island that has much to offer in a relatively small area. Wandering...
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

Will peace ever return to paradise?

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Foreign visitors to Sri Lanka have been singing its praises since the days of Marco Polo. From sacred Buddhist ruins and magnificent sculptures to gorgeous beaches and the verdant hills of the tea estates, this is an island that has much to offer in a relatively small area. Wandering...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Mar 18, 2002

'Gerontocrat' academicians with myopia

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- After Harvard Professor Ezra Vogel's famous book "Japan as Number One" appeared in 1979, the West experienced a "learning from Japan" boom. I fully participated in this movement in both of its manifestations: publications, seminars etc., and the establishment of university Japanese...
SOCCER / World cup / EXCERPTS FROM PHILIPPE TROUSSIER'S BOOK
Mar 18, 2002

Leading my troops into battle

"Passion" is the story of Japan soccer team coach Philippe Troussier, his struggle to make it as a player and manager and his travels around France, Africa and Japan. In the book, Troussier also details his philosophy and thinking as he prepares for the World Cup in June.The book has been published...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2002

Ban pol-bureaucrat contacts

The alleged meddling in Foreign Ministry affairs by Liberal Democratic lawmaker Muneo Suzuki has stirred debate on rules governing relations between politicians and bureaucrats. The problem of "excessive interference" has been widely reported as highly abnormal, but I doubt whether that's so. In present-day...
COMMENTARY
Mar 17, 2002

U.S. embargo helps keep Castro in power

HAVANA -- Roberto Alarcon, well-dressed but of unexceptional appearance, is thought to be the No. 3 man in Cuba, after only Fidel and Raul Castro. He lazily sprawled in his chair before eight American journalists, fondling his cigar.
COMMUNITY
Mar 17, 2002

Taking a more traditional view

For many residents of Kyoto, the Kyoto Tower brings to mind the story about the Parisian artist who railed to whomever would listen about how much he hated the Eiffel Tower.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 17, 2002

The only certainty is change

THE UNITED STATES AND ASIA: Toward a New U.S. Strategy and Force Posture, by Zalmay Khalilzad, et al. RAND, 2001, 260 pp. (paper). Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Asia has enjoyed considerably more stability than has Europe, the other critical theater of the Cold War. It's fair to say that there...

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