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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 21, 2001

Women with fists of fury

"We're in uncharted territory," was how ABC sports commentator Dan Dierdorf began his announcement of the first women's professional boxing match on U.S. network television. That was in 1997.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2001

Shaky bridges across the language gap

POESIE YAPONESIA: A Bilingual Anthology, edited by Taylor Mignon and Hillel Wright. Printed Matter Press, 2000, pp. 200, $20 (paper) For some reason, I had expected "Poesie Yaponesia" to be a collection of poems by longtime, English-speaking residents of Japan, each given in two versions, Japanese...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2001

In the realm of crime, torture and depravity

THE DARK SIDE: Infamous Japanese Crimes and Criminals, by Mark Schreiber. Kodansha International, 2001, 251 pp., 2,700 yen (cloth) It's unfortunate but true that the names of notorious criminals usually outlive those of their victims. We remember Jack the Ripper, not the London prostitutes he butchered....
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Oct 21, 2001

Autumn brings a treasury of traditional music

The fall months are ideal for hearing the best of hogaku. This is partly owing to the natural increase in musical activity after the slow, sultry summer months, but also because of an annual arts contest, sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, from Oct. 12 to Nov. 10. Winning this contest can...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 21, 2001

Swallowed up by a passion for baseball

"Spurred on by energetic cheerleaders and the pounding rhythm of taiko drums, horns, whistles and other noisemakers, (the typical Japanese fan) becomes a veritable wildman, yelling and screaming nonstop for nine solid innings." -- Robert Whiting, "You Gotta Have Wa"
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 21, 2001

Meeting baseball's Dr. Ichiro and Mr. Suzuki

Last Sunday, Nihon TV did something interesting. At the last minute, they pulled the scheduled installment of their biography series "Shitteru Tsumori" and replaced it with a hastily produced documentary about "Mr. Baseball," Shigeo Nagashima, who a few weeks ago announced that he was stepping down as...
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2001

December deadline for SPEs: draft

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will finalize a plan on reforming special public entities in early December if the government fails to reach a consensus on the issue, according to a final draft of the plan released Saturday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 21, 2001

Like father, like son

My elder son sits across from me during supper and clubs me with the following questions: "Why can't Japanese die, Dad? How come it's so hard for them?" Not your usual dinnertime poser, perhaps, but we dads have to be ready for anything. I pause only briefly before delivering what I consider to be a...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 21, 2001

Playing to the home crowd

JAPANESE SPORTS: A History, by Allen Guttmann and Lee Thompson. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 310 pp., plates, 25. $50, cloth; $24.95, paper. When Commodore Perry arrived in Japan as an unwelcome guest in 1853, a small part of the initial interactions between the visitors and their reluctant...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 21, 2001

Autumn's harvest among the bamboo

Autumn is here, the season of antipasti misti and fruitful mellowness. It's also the time of year, of course, for bountiful supplies of mushrooms and other miscellaneous fungi known collectively as kinoko -- like the excellent assortment we enjoyed the other day at Aburiya, an atmospheric dining bar...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 21, 2001

Tune in, there are big things on the horizon

The cult of dieting takes on new meaning in Nippon TV's fall comedy serial "Kangei! Danjiki Goikko-sama," literally, "Welcome, Honorable Party of Fasters" (Saturday, 9 p.m.). The series is set at Rakuraku-jin, a Buddhist temple that accepts civilians who want to do the ascetic thing.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2001

Kato linked to tainted talent agency

A senior official at a scandal-hit talent agency loaned 100 million yen in 1999 to the private secretary of Koichi Kato, a former secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, agency sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2001

International schools' popularity up

Aki Ito has no regrets about moving from a Japanese elementary school to Nishimachi International School in Minato Ward, Tokyo, a few years ago.
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2001

Economy policy council approves extra budget

The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy on Friday approved an outline of a planned 2.7 trillion yen supplementary budget for this business year, with 1 trillion yen earmarked for structural reform measures.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2001

FedEx to lose its rights to Narita-Sendai route

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry will turn down a request by FedEx Corp. of the United States to continue cargo flights between Narita and Sendai airports, after its rights expire later this month, a ministry source said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 20, 2001

Food from home, direct to your door in Japan

Chuck Grafft spends much of his life surrounded by the stronger sex. Not that he is complaining. As president and CEO of the Foreign Buyers Club (FBC) in Kobe, most of his staff are women -- women representing nine cultures, including Japanese. Also, wife Kelly, now back to work, with four daughters,...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2001

Smokers given fresh chance to chew up their addiction

OSAKA -- Antismoking gum that can be obtained without a prescription has debuted on the domestic market, giving smokers a chance to kick their habit via over-the-counter medicinal supplements.
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2001

JNOC to terminate two oil searches

Japan National Oil Corp. said Friday it will terminate oil exploration projects in Algeria and Brazil after finding the reserves unfit for commercial production.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2001

Ministries declare beef safe on launch of cow-screening

The government on Thursday declared domestic beef to be free of mad cow disease and at the same time began a nationwide screening of cows for any signs of the disorder.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2001

First meeting of Asian city leaders outlines 15 projects to boost region

Leaders of major Asian cities issued a declaration Thursday, outlining 15 joint projects that include the development of the region's air industry, online education and environmentally friendly vehicles.
BUSINESS
Oct 19, 2001

Fujitsu, IBM negotiating tieups

Compiled from wire reports Fujitsu Ltd. and IBM Corp. are negotiating a tieup involving the joint development and use of software and technical cooperation for computer servers, Fujitsu said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2001

Sakaguchi plays down new variant CJD scare

Health minister Chikara Sakaguchi on Thursday downplayed concerns over media reports that a teenage girl in a Tokyo hospital has new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), a fatal brain-wasting illness linked to mad cow disease.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2001

U.S. needs to engage China in wake of terror attacks, security expert says

The United States should try to improve relations with China under the new security environment following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and that will require "careful and realistic diplomatic management on many fronts," an American expert on East Asia told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2001

Economies face up to world after Sept. 11

The events of Sept. 11 in New York and Washington were a watershed that has forced the world's traditional economic powerhouses to come to grips with a new danger that affects every aspect of political, economic and social life, according to participants in the Brookings Institution-Keizai Koho Center...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2001

Meat industry hopeful over government pledge

Restaurants, distributors and food companies dealing with beef are hoping the government's safety declaration Thursday will help revive consumer demand for red meat. The government declared domestic beef to be free of mad cow disease in a bid to allay public fears following the discovery of the first...

Longform

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