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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2002

Newly noticed whiskey makers forced to diversify products

It's winter, the perfect season to sip a glass of whisky on a long, quiet night to warm up, as well as a good time to sample the variety of quality whiskeys available on the market.
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Jan 1, 2002

Japan hopes 'people exchanges' will improve ties

This year, Japan cohosts the World Cup soccer finals with South Korea and marks the 30th anniversary of normalizing diplomatic ties with China. In 2001, however, bilateral relations were overshadowed by issues related to Japan's wartime past. This is the first article in an occasional series that will...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2002

Estrada the 'Most Abject,' Koizumi-Putin the 'Boldest'

HONG KONG -- The prize for the "Most Abject Politician of the Year" clearly goes to former Philippine President Joseph Estrada. His hang-dog expression, as numerous court cases went against him in his protracted legal battle against corruption charges, vividly illustrated the fall of the former matinee...
COMMUNITY
Dec 30, 2001

O-Shogatsu: a custom-made holiday

Yoshio Mamiya doesn't need reminding that o-shogatsu is almost here. For several weeks, the 78-year-old craftsman has been working 12-hour days, seven days a week at his studio in the Sanno district of Tokyo's Ota Ward, where he busily stitches away to meet his customers' demand to renew their domestic...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 30, 2001

Delicious plum choices from 2001

In a city the size of Tokyo, it is simply impossible to visit every single new restaurant or to keep track of changes at all the established places. For that reason, the Food File does not presume to assign year-end rankings or pronounce its best-of lists for the year, especially since, in the end, it...
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2001

Household spending up 3.6%

Spending by wage-earning households rose an inflation-adjusted 3.6 percent in November from a year earlier, up for the second straight month, with a notable rise in spending on entertainment amid a decline in overseas travel, the government said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 29, 2001

Tetsuya Kobayashi

Early in his career at the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, when he was still on the bottom rung of the ladder, Tetsuya Kobayashi was sent to the Kamikochi Imperial Hotel. Part of his duties there were the cleaning-up operations. "I shall never forget my first experience," he said. "While I was working, I was...
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2001

Tokyo hopes to curry favor with oil-rich countries

The government will support the development of water resources in four oil producing countries in the Middle East, government sources said Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 27, 2001

Resolve to raise a toast to thinking globally

With only days to go before 2002, New Year's resolutions are in order -- in theory, anyway. Whatever we promise, one thing is certain: Resolutions, viewed from this side of Jan. 1, are always made with the best of intentions.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 26, 2001

Giants slugger Matsui signs richest deal ever

Yomiuri Giants outfielder Hideki Matsui signed a new one-year contract Tuesday with the Central League club for an annual salary of 610 million yen, becoming the best-paid player in Japanese baseball history.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2001

Sales at supermarkets fall 4.5%

Sales at Japan's supermarkets fell 4.5 percent on a same-store basis in November from a year earlier to 1.26 trillion yen, the 36th monthly drop in a row, the Japan Chain Stores Association said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2001

Foreign Ministry to require diplomats use receipts

The Foreign Ministry plans to oblige officials dispatched to diplomatic missions abroad to submit receipts when claiming management expenses at overseas government establishments in the fiscal 2002 budget, ministry officials said.
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2001

Preserving freedom in an unfree world

WASHINGTON -- The massive terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 brought home to the United States its vulnerability. Protecting Americans' security has become a critical challenge. So has protecting their freedom. People who seek to do the first often sacrifice the second. So it has been in the war on terrorism....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 23, 2001

On a slow boat to Bangkok

SLITHERING SOUTH: by Steve Van Beek. Hong Kong: Wind & Water, Inc., 2001. 430 pp. with map and glossary, $11.95. Sliding (or bumping) down the shallow Ping River, the long tributary that joins the Chao Phya and flows through Bangkok, Steve Van Beek pondered his odyssey. Having begun in the river's headwaters...
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Dec 21, 2001

Seeking the broader picture

On a flight to Japan, the British writer Lesley Downer was surprised when her seat companion started berating her, mid-conversation. He was upset when he heard that she was writing a book on geisha. Better she write about the real Japan, rather than promote foreign stereotypes, the Japanese businessman...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2001

War 'back home' divides Jordan's Chechen community

ZARQA, Jordan -- When the wounded Chechen fighters arrived in Jordan in 1994, everything changed for Younis Ashab.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Dec 20, 2001

For the surfing Santa

www04.giftcertificates.com/index.cfmGiftCertificates.com has Uncle Spud's name written all over it. And it has your name written all over it, too, if you've got more nieces and nephews than you can count on one finger. And if you haven't broken out the plastic yet. Let's face it, it even has your name...
COMMENTARY
Dec 17, 2001

Britain's NHS shows how not to fund health care

LONDON -- Some high-powered Japanese experts recently were in London looking at British systems of welfare and social support, and at health and medical provisions in particular.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 15, 2001

Jigme Goenpo Dorji

BHUTAN -- As it emerges from isolation, the land-locked, central Himalayan country of Bhutan still maintains an annual maximum number of tourists allowed to visit. With arrangements made and paid for in advance, tourists fly in to Paro by Druk Air, the only airline serving Bhutan's only airport. Guide-interpreters...
JAPAN / READERS' FUND
Dec 13, 2001

Afghan aid groups persevere despite danger

Prospects for the upcoming winter in Afghanistan were bleak enough before Sept. 11, as years of drought destroyed crops and drove millions of people toward famine.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2001

The school of hard knocks

Mabudachi Rating: * * * * Director: Tomoyuki Furumaya Running time: 99 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 9, 2001

And they call it puppy love

H igh on the cuteness scale this week is TBS's "Dobutsu Kiso Tengai (Unbelievable Animals)" (tonight, 8 p.m.), a variety-cum-quiz show that covers animals both wild and domesticated.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 9, 2001

Young adventurers laid to rest far away

Four graves in a Victorian cemetery near London mark the final resting place of some of the earliest travelers from Japan to the West. Though they traveled separately, years apart, they shared the same aspirations and were fated to meet similarly sad ends. The four gravestones were joined by a monument...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 9, 2001

Drivers wary of the troll who collects the toll

With new highway construction suspended and the prime minister pledging to abolish public corporations, the business of the Japan Highway Public Corp. at the moment is anything but business-as-usual. As both the overlord of the nation's vehicle-choked intercity expressways and the troll who collects...
COMMENTARY
Dec 8, 2001

Look of Japan belies reality

LONDON -- A recent, short visit to Japan made me doubt whether there was much sense of an economic crisis threatening Japan's future and how far the recession has affected ordinary people.
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2001

Take action, Mr. Arafat

Two suicide bombing attacks by Islamic militants in Israel over the weekend followed by the severe responses on the part of the Israeli government have dashed hopes for bringing the Mideast peace process back to life in the near future. The horrific attacks have brought the situation to a head.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 6, 2001

Soft touch advised with unruly fans

The key to controlling English soccer fans at the World Cup will be to understand the cultural differences in behavior of fans from different countries and to not put too much pressure on the English fans, an English security expert said Tuesday.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji