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Events
Sep 4, 2001

Fukushima area's face-lift puts it back on Osaka map

OSAKA -- Once a backwater in the shadow of Osaka's highly developed Umeda district, the area around Fukushima station is slowly being transformed from a slightly run-down neighborhood of cheap ramen shops to a gentrified area of French restaurants and Internet cafes.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Sep 4, 2001

Where the diamonds aren't, any more

If you missed the last column, here's a brief recap. We were about to enter the Namibian Sperrgebiet (lit. "Restricted Area"), a vast southwest African coastal wilderness, off limits for nearly a century due to its dense concentrations of diamonds.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2001

Russia seeks Japan's support on chemical arms deadline

Russia requested Japan's support Monday for its plan to seek a five-year extension to 2012 of the deadline for eliminating chemical weapons under a global treaty, Foreign Ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2001

Gas pipes ruled out as cause of Kabukicho blaze

An inspection of the gas pipes in the Meisei 56 Building in Shinjuku where 44 people died in a Saturday morning fire has ruled out the possibility the blaze was triggered by a gas explosion stemming from corroded pipes, Tokyo Gas Co. said Monday.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Sep 4, 2001

Far and away: The story of Japan's World Cup venues

Last weekend, I was on tour in China with British Football Club Tokyo. We played so badly in the annual Shanghai Sevens tournament that I decided to give poor Shunsuke Nakamura a break in this week's column (something about the pot calling the kettle black).
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2001

Fire departments vow to find unsafe buildings

Fire departments in major cities nationwide announced Sunday they will launch safety inspections of 6,300 buildings to ensure that a deadly fire like the one in Tokyo that claimed 44 lives Saturday never happens again.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2001

Ishido, translator of Marx, Lenin, dies at age 97

Kiyotomo Ishido, who introduced the works of Marx and Lenin to Japan through his translations, died Saturday of old age at his home in Kiyose in the suburbs of Tokyo, his family said. He was 97.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2001

Banks' works guarantees to rise

The infrastructure ministry plans to triple the amount of money banks must guarantee the government when funding major public works projects in a move that is likely to realign the construction industry, sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2001

Miyake evacuee students begin fall term with fewer pals

Seventy-eight junior high school students evacuated from Miyake Island last year due to volcanic eruptions marked the start of their second semester off the island Sunday at Akikawa High School in Akiruno, western Tokyo.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2001

44 die in fire, blast at Tokyo nightspot

A powerful fire and explosion ripped through a mah-jongg parlor and an adult entertainment club in the Kabukicho entertainment district of Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward early Saturday, killing at least 44 people and injuring three others, authorities said.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Sep 2, 2001

'P' words fly over boorish behavior

"Men," my wife announces, "are nothing but pigs."
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 2, 2001

Let these be a lesson to you

Fuji TV, one of the main sponsors of the Year of Italy in Japan festival currently under way, will continue its promotion of all things Italian with a "docu-drama" that begins Monday night at 11 and runs for four consecutive nights at the same time. Each 40-minute episode of the "Itaria-tsu (Italy Expert)"...
COMMUNITY
Sep 2, 2001

Who needs meat?

In 1984, Carl Lewis won four gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics. At the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, he set a world record of 9.86 seconds for the 100 meters. By the time he retired in 1996, he had bagged nine Olympic gold medals and had written himself indelibly into the list of all-time...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Sep 2, 2001

Standing out in the crowd: the joys of tachinomiya

Tachinomiya hold a special position among drinking establishments. There is something about standing while drinking that puts a whole new spin on the sake experience. What such places lack in serenity they more than make up for in value and fun.
COMMUNITY
Sep 2, 2001

Temptations of the flesh

One man's meat is another man's poison, as they say, though I have never really had qualms about my own fondness for flesh in its many and varied forms.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 2, 2001

Looking ahead to a reunified Korea

KOREA'S FUTURE AND THE GREAT POWERS, edited by Nicholas Eberstadt and Richard J. Ellings. University of Washington Press, 2001, 361 pp., $22.95 (paperback). Think what you will about North Korea's Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, but the man has a gift for theater. He captivated much of the planet when he...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 2, 2001

They say breaking up in public is hard to do

Pop culture has given us many marriage archetypes. At one extreme, there was "Thin Man" Nick Charles and his wife Nora, who epitomized a partnership based on privileged cynicism: witty, alcoholic, rich and inseparable. At the opposite end are "The Honeymooners," Ralph and Alice Kramden: the short-tempered,...
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Sep 2, 2001

Kitchen tools that you can trust

In kitchens around the world, there are dozens of gadgets cluttering the walls and drawers, not to mention the precious counter space. Some people simply must have the latest lemon-juicer to add to their collection of 12, while others are on a never-ending quest for the perfect garlic press.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Sep 2, 2001

Baba's back and he wants your head

Four men on stage, stripped to the waist, dripping with sweat, belting out demented rock 'n' roll that sounds like The Stooges jamming with The Doors, and fronted by the craziest, most charismatic singer you will ever lay eyes on. God, if only it was always like this.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2001

Tokyo hoping to double number of foreign tourists

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government hopes to more than double the number of foreign tourists visiting Tokyo to 6 million a year within five years and is considering building a casino to attract visitors, officials said.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2001

Disaster drills staged across Japan

Disaster drills were held across the country on Saturday, the 78th anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake which reduced most of Tokyo and Yokohama to rubble and left more than 140,000 people dead or missing.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2001

Severity of injuries left doctors powerless

Most of the victims of a powerful gas explosion and fire in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district early Saturday morning were dead before they reached hospitals in the metropolitan region, leaving doctors with no chance of saving them.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2001

Suzuki denies all links with Kenyan project

The following are excerpts from an interview with Lower House member Muneo Suzuki about a controversial hydropower project in Kenya. The interview was conducted on Aug. 22 in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2001

Foreign Ministry tied to new scandal involving padded Tokyo hotel bills

A number of bureaus and departments within the Foreign Ministry have been improperly pooling funds by having several Tokyo hotels overcharge the ministry account, according to ministry sources.

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