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LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Nov 25, 2001

A hodgepodge that really hits the spot

It's a cold evening and the salarymen are stopping off on their home from a long day of work at open-air stalls to down a cup or two of warm sake and a few pieces of oden — slowly simmered daikon, hard-boiled eggs and tofu, among other things.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Nov 25, 2001

I'd like to teach the world to karaoke

If, like me, you cannot sing, karaoke is a curse. One of the first things I learned to say in Japanese was, "If I sing, all your customers will leave."
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2001

Creator of the Z car returns with his revived brainchild

Yutaka Katayama has witnessed Japan's automobile industry grow from the ashes of devastation in World War II to become the best in the world by the end of the 20th century.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Nov 25, 2001

Hey, that's a sake of a different color

When you think about it, the realm of sake flavor profiles and types can be perceived as, well, a bit narrow. From the sweetest to the driest, from the roughest to the cleanest, we are not exactly talking about major bandwidth.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 25, 2001

'Prince of Knitting' spins a good yarn

KYOTO -- Being male and knitting for a living has earned Mitsuharu Hirose the reputation of being somewhat "strange." Parading about on television in women's knit tops and makeup probably played a part as well. But that doesn't needle Hirose one little bit.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 25, 2001

Only the garbage knows

One of the things all single-episode TV mysteries have in common besides being single-episode TV mysteries is ridiculous titles. The title of this week's "Monday Mystery Theatre" (TBS, 9 p.m.) is "Obasan Kaicho Murasaki no Hanzai Seiso Nikki: Gomi wa Koroshi wo Shitte Iru," which translates as "Middle-aged...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2001

Income disparity vs. growth

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan reminded the world recently that the battle against terrorism might have displaced front-page news, but it has not solved pressing problems such as poverty and HIV/AIDS. The international community remains formally committed to the goal of reducing the level of poverty...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 25, 2001

Failed chemistry experiments in the media lab

Two weeks ago, a friend faxed me an article from the weekly news magazine Aera about a new advertising trend called "collaboration CF," which is the selling of two different companies' products in one TV commercial. I had already read about collaborations two days earlier in advertising critic Yukichi...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

What she's doing in Japan: a novel with heart

ASH, by Holly Thompson. Stone Bridge Press, 2001, 292 pp., $16.95 (paper) Don't read "Ash" if you're a jaded expatriate pining for a ticket home. Don't give a copy to an idealistic friend considering the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. Above all, don't lend it to Japanese acquaintances keen to discover...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

Book Bites

TOKYO CONFIDENTIAL: Titillating Tales From Japan's Wild Weeklies, edited by Mark Schreiber. The East Publications, 2001, 257 pp., 1,400 yen (paper) Grown men in diapers? Couples going all the way in the back seats of Tokyo taxi cabs? Mothers stalking their daughters? Companies that rent out wedding guests?...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

A spark that ignited social change

ORGANIZING THE SPONTANEOUS: Citizen Protest in Postwar Japan, by Wesley Sasaki-Uemura. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001, 293 pp., $27.95 (paper) The events accompanying the revision of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in 1960 aroused strong emotions among those involved, making it difficult for...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 25, 2001

Japan's designers show they're going places

Sitting under the glare of the runway lights for three weeks of fashion shows, watching model after model sashaying up and down the catwalk, isn't such a bad way to spend time. It's kind of like traveling.
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2001

BTM to close 50 outlets, lay off staff

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi plans to close around 50 of its 310 outlets nationwide -- some 15 percent of the total -- and lay off 3,500 staff by the end of March 2005 to cut costs, bank sources said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 2001

Find the mad-cow infection route

The specter of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) continues to haunt the nation despite official assurances of safety. On Wednesday another cow tested positive at a meat inspection center in Hokkaido, even as the source of infection in the first case, confirmed in September in Chiba Prefecture,...
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Obituary: John Nason

John Nason, an American educator who as a college president helped release more than 3,000 Japanese-American students interned during World War II, died Nov. 16 in Kennett Square, Pa., a newspaper reported Thursday. He was 96.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Is safety net failing kids in legal trouble?

A 19-year-old who fled the Kurihama Juvenile Training School last year was literally running out of options.
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2001

German lessons for Korea

SEOUL -- Koreans have come to cherish Germany's experiences, as many see this country's unification saga as an important, if not the most important, point of reference. Korea's unification will probably be more difficult and complex than Germany's unification in October 1990. Koreans have one major advantage,...
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2001

Kokusai Securities plans merger

Kokusai Securities Co. plans to merge with two other medium-size brokerages affiliated with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in 2002 to form Japan's fourth-largest brokerage, sources close to the deal said Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 24, 2001

Giants decide to offload Martinez

The Yomiuri Giants will not offer slugger Domingo Martinez a contract for next season, officials of the Central League club revealed late Thursday.
COMMUNITY
Nov 24, 2001

Macchinesti: the accidental Ferrari of coffee shops

After the Japanese "kissaten," where coffee was coffee and not a lot more, came Doutor. Then came that all-conquering import, Starbucks, and a stream of similar lifestyle-focused camp followers of both American and Japanese descent. Now, suddenly, we have Macchinesti.
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2001

BOJ urges banks to clarify outlooks

Banks should promptly clarify their business outlooks for the financial market to help them pull out of their bad-loan straits, a senior Bank of Japan official said during a recent interview with Kyodo News.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Obituary: John Nason

John Nason, an American educator who as a college president helped release more than 3,000 Japanese-American students interned during World War II, died Nov. 16 in Kennett Square, Pa., a newspaper reported Thursday. He was 96.
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2001

NTT seeking to boost regional earnings

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. will try to boost earnings at its two regional carriers by 265 billion yen on a pretax basis next business year, partly through transfers of employees to lower-paid subsidiaries, NTT sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Rikkyo to get Rampo literary trove, home

Rikkyo University in Tokyo will inherit the home and nearly 20,000 books left by the late mystery writer Rampo Edogawa (1894-1965) from Ryutaro Hirai, his eldest son and a professor emeritus at the private university.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Gangsters arrested over loan-sharking

OSAKA -- The 62-year-old head of a group affiliated with a major crime syndicate and three other senior members of the gang were arrested Friday on suspicion of usury, police said.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Tottori mountain-top restrooms get 70 million yen upgrade

YONAGO, Tottori Pref. -- Weary climbers will be able to relieve themselves in style after local authorities shelled out some 70 million yen for two environment-friendly toilets on a mountain top.
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2001

Colleges for teachers face drastic cuts

An education ministry panel recommended Thursday that the number of government-run teachers' universities and education departments at other schools should be cut in half.
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2001

Koizumi turns blind eye to reform of farm sector

When he roared into office in April, the maverick Junichiro Koizumi vowed to die hard in a fight against old guard forces within his own Liberal Democratic Party. His proclaimed mission was clear: to turn around the decade-long economic slump in the medium and long terms through "bold structural reforms...

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