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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 10, 2001

There's a fine line between parody and larceny

There is an unspoken belief among music critics that had George Harrison not been a Beatle, he wouldn't have lasted more than a minute in the pop business. This belief has nothing to do with Harrison's talent and everything to do with his professional judgment. First, he released all his good songs on...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 10, 2001

Publishing still in a slump; DaVinci stays popular with young

Last month, the National Tax agency made its annual announcement of those paying more than 10 million yen in income tax and, as always, the list reflected major trends of the times.
COMMUNITY
Jun 10, 2001

Home (not so) sweet home

"The word 'home' comes from the Nordic and Germanic languages and means a place of comfort, a warm fire and a place to sleep," said Colleen Lanki, artistic director of Kee Company, a Tokyo-based bilingual theater group.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Jun 10, 2001

A daughter of Madagascar traces a path home to Asia

"I feel at home in Asia," said Hanitra, leader of the group Tarika, during a recent visit to Tokyo. "Africa is more foreign to me."
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jun 10, 2001

Sake gold standards shifting

Last week, on May 30, the Zenkoku Shinshu Kanpyo Kai, or National New Sake Tasting Competition, was held in Hiroshima. This year 1,133 sake that made it through the nine regional competitions were tasted blindly by a panel of government-employed, highly trained judges. Out of these, 382 were given a...
EDITORIALS
Jun 9, 2001

Secret fund is still under wraps

The Foreign Ministry, responding to a recent embezzlement scandal involving a senior ministry bureaucrat, has put together a package of measures designed to "reform" its secrecy-shrouded diplomatic war chest. The package falls far short of public expectations, largely because the ministry has not disclosed...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Koizumi's reform foes entrenched

With Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi firing off a barrage of reform proposals aimed at turning the ailing economy around, his foes, including fellow Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and bureaucrats keen to protect vested interests, are drawing battle lines.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

FRC wanted major changes at banks

The Financial Reconstruction Commission, the predecessor of the Financial Services Agency, set out to push through a major reorganization of 17 major banks immediately after its inauguration in December 1998, according to minutes of the FRC's meetings disclosed Friday by the FSA.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 9, 2001

Putin picks a new gas czar

Behold, Russia has got a new czar. No, the Romanovs did not rise from their graves. No, the Russian people did not invite a Romanov cousin, Prince Charles, to claim the throne of his Russian ancestors. No, the authoritarian Russian president, Vladimir Putin, did not crown himself Vladimir I. He just...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

85% of Americans support security treaty: annual survey

Eighty-five percent of Americans support the Japan-U.S. security treaty, while Japan's closed markets topped the list of reasons a trade imbalance exists between the two countries, according to an annual poll released Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

Cambodia set to get aid package

An international conference to be held in Tokyo on Tuesday and Wednesday is likely to agree to provide Cambodia with some $500 million (about 60.22 billion yen) in aid, sources close to the meeting said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2001

Is Japan tilting toward China?

WASHINGTON -- Key officials in the Bush administration, especially Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, have long been on record as urging Japan to play a more substantial role in East Asia's security affairs. Some of them even want Japanese leaders to repeal, or at least modify, Article 9 of...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Killings shock parents, residents

OSAKA — Shock and disbelief gripped the city of Ikeda, an affluent Osaka suburb, Friday following the murder of eight elementary school children as parents, teachers and neighbors struggled to find an explanation for why it happened.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Koizumi clarifies missile defense policy with Tanaka, Nakatani

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday confirmed with Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and Defense Agency chief Gen Nakatani that Japan's basic position of "understanding" U.S. missile defense plans remains unchanged, government officials said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 9, 2001

Falling off a Kawasaki cliff, building an ashram

Sister Eugenie Fumiko Fujita went to bed toward the end of last year's rainy season, her life enlivened by a month of mold but still basically in order. She awoke before dawn July 8 to mayhem, her home hanging off the edge of a landslip.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Eight dead in school stabbing spree

A knife-wielding man stormed into an elementary school Friday morning in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, and fatally stabbed eight children and wounded 15 others before he was subdued, police said.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

Budget ceiling in fiscal 2002 will be lower: Shiokawa

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa indicated Friday that the ceiling on fiscal 2002 budget requests by ministries and agencies will be lower than the current year's level.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Global assessment of environment aims to provide layman's summary

Walter Reid is entering uncharted territory.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 9, 2001

Variety adds spice to bland English lessons

Tired of teaching the same old English lessons? Tired of drilling students on the same old topics: their hobbies, the weather and food? And getting the same old answers such as, "My hobbies are reading and listening to music"? Do you keep holding out for a truly unique self-introduction?
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2001

Economy to be rated down for fifth month

The government will downgrade its assessment of the economy for the fifth straight month in its report for June, Heizo Takenaka, minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, indicated Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Riken researcher may be in on crime: report

Evidence points to the possibility that a researcher at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) may have been involved in industrial espionage, according to a report on an Riken investigation submitted to the education and science ministry Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Plans aired for Futenma base alternative

The central government on Friday proposed eight possible construction plans for an airfield to replace the U.S. Marine Corp.'s Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2001

No answers in Nepal

The mountainous little Himalayan country of Nepal exploded into the headlines last week on the strength of an incident as bizarre, as mysterious -- and as bloody -- as the final scene of "Hamlet." On Friday, June 1, Nepal's King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was shot to death along with his wife and seven...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2001

A prince who loved women and guns shatters course of a dynasty

NEW DELHI -- The massacre in Nepal's royal palace is intriguing to the core.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2001

Marubeni searched over tax evasion

Customs authorities searched Marubeni Corp.'s head office Thursday on suspicion that the major trading house evaded duties on octopuses imported from Africa, customs officials said.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 8, 2001

FIFA chief Blatter comes around on Japan-Korea 2002 cohosting

Sepp Blatter previously was opposed to the idea of cohosting the World Cup. But now the FIFA president accepts it, opening up possibilities for smaller countries to host the world's most prestigious single-sport event.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’