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COMMUNITY
Sep 24, 2001

Tyndale and the English Bible

History sometimes fails to recognize the brilliance of a true pioneer, glorifying those who profit from his innovation while conveniently forgetting the source.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 2001

The city within

There are three things that stir the heart of every true Tokyoite: sento (public baths), mazelike roji (alleys) and matsuri (festivals). Over the last couple of decades, all three have been gradually fading from the city scene, though there are still pockets in the megalopolis where they can be found...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 2001

Living in the past, with pleasure

A short walk along a twisting, narrow stone path branching off a busy road through Tokyo's Yanaka district brings you to the warm glow of a small andon lamp, its paper shade mounted on a wooden frame.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 2001

Shitamachi survivors

Although the shitamachi areas of Tokyo may have lost some of their bygone ambience, a few shops dating back to the Meiji or early Showa eras still remain. Sticking to tried-and-tested favorites, they are loved by customers old and new. Some have even appeared in the works of great writers and poets such...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 2001

Striking out at playtime on a plate

OSAKA -- It's a hot and humid night in the Kujo district, but nobody seems to mind. That's because just a few blocks away, at the Osaka Dome, the Kintetsu Buffaloes are locked in a battle with the Seibu Lions for the Pacific League pennant.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Sep 23, 2001

A new kama meshi treat every season

Kama meshi is rice (meshi) cooked in individual little pots (kama) and often served table side directly from the cooking vessel. Seen since the late 1800s in Tokyo, this dish appears as a popular train station bento boxed lunch. The home-style version, takikomi gohan, is often prepared in an electric...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 23, 2001

Writ large on the small screen

'Platonic Sex," the memoir by popular talent and former AV queen Ai Iijima, has sold more than 1.2 million copies in Japan and, translated into Chinese and Korean, has become the "bible" of young women throughout Asia. It tells the story of a teenage runaway who, free from the obligations of family and...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 2001

Fact and fiction meet in re-creation of Ainu past

HARUKOR: An Ainu Woman's Tale, by Katsuichi Honda. Translated by Kyoko Selden. University of California Press, 2000, 315 pp., $19.95 (paper). When I was a university student in Kyoto during the 1960s, Katsuichi Honda was the most glamorous adventurer-journalist of the day.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2001

Banker-turned-'barista' predicts big things for gourmet coffee

Kouta Matsuda's obsession with world food began in his childhood, when he traveled around the globe with his father, a trader.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 2001

Dream weavers of a bygone era

When made up for work, Norie is perhaps as close to the classic image of Japan as you could wish. Clad in a colorful yet demure kimono, wooden sandals and a jet-black wig that provides a striking contrast to the white makeup lavished on her fine features, she looks like a doll.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 2001

The struggle for a strategic prize

THE ORIGINS OF THE BILATERAL OKINAWA PROBLEM: Okinawa in Postwar U.S.-Japan Relations, 1945-1952, by Robert D. Eldridge. Garland Publishing, Inc., New York & London, 2001, 280 pp., $85.00 (cloth) Of all the issues plaguing Japan's relationship with the United States, none is as contentious as the U.S....
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Sep 23, 2001

Hip-hop takes responsibility

Once upon a time, hip-hop reflected -- and reflected upon -- the urban experience: It was another black art form akin to jazz. These days, its purpose appears to be to give suburban white teenagers a vicarious thrill. In the commercially driven dichotomy of contemporary hip-hop, the gangstas and their...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Sep 23, 2001

Getting lost in the Shibuya triangle

When railways and expressways are carved through an existing urban grid, awkwardly shaped scraps of land are often left in their wake. In central Tokyo, if the fragment is big enough for a single room and a stairwell, something will be built. Architects need to think both laterally and vertically to...
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2001

Parties agree on multiseat Lower House districts

The three ruling coalition parties have agreed to try to reintroduce multiple-seat constituencies for the Lower House in major cities, coalition officials said.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2001

Laws thwart Japan's resolve to deal with crises

Staff writers The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States awakened Tokyo to the possibility that similar incidents could take place here, prompting lawmakers to review Japan's own emergency contingency preparedness.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2001

Exchange schemes put on hold

School trips, local government-sponsored visits with sister cities and other international exchange programs with the United States and other countries are being called off or postponed due to heightened tensions in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in the U.S., according to a Kyodo News survey....
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2001

Disposal of risky offal eyed

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is considering measures to ensure the disposal of the cow body parts that pose the greatest risk of transmitting mad cow disease, ministry sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2001

Troubled youngsters turn to friends, not family

Young people are more likely to turn to friends in times of trouble than their parents or teachers, with most youngsters both dependent on and fearful of their peers' opinions, according to a government survey released Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2001

Yanagisawa says banks don't need state help

Major banks can maintain sufficient capital-adequacy ratios without public funds, even if 20 troubled borrowers were to fail, Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2001

Japanese freelance journalist in Russia reported missing

A Japanese freelance journalist is missing after heading for Chechnya in southern Russia, French organization Reporters Sans Frontiers reported from Paris on Thursday.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 22, 2001

Clijsters, Dokic set up semifinal clash in Princess Cup

The top seed and third seed in the Toyota Princess Cup set up a semifinal clash after both Kim Clijsters and Jelena Dokic breezed to straight-sets victories Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2001

Asahi and Daiwa formally announce tieup plans

Asahi Bank and Daiwa Bank announced Friday that they have reached a basic agreement to join forces under a single holding company in a bid to survive as stock price tumbles eat away at their capital.
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2001

Transport ministry unveils its draft of privatization plan

Under strong pressure from the reformist Koizumi Cabinet, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry unveiled a draft plan Friday to privatize six controversial road- and housing-related semigovernmental corporations.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2001

Koizumi to meet Bush on Tuesday

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will hold talks with U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday in Washington to discuss Japan's support for possible retaliatory action against terrorists, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2001

Underwater eruption seen off Iwojima

There was an eruption Friday morning off Iwojima Island, some 1,000 km south of Tokyo, but no injuries or damage were reported.

Longform

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