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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2002

Table topics for Bush, Jiang

HONOLULU -- U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to include China as part of a three-nation Northeast Asia tour later this month underscores his personal commitment to start building a more "constructive, cooperative" relationship with Beijing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 6, 2002

Diary of a not-so-mad man

"I'm not the Antichrist, I'm not the Iron Man, I'm not the kind of person you really think I am . . . I try to entertain you the best I can, I wish I'd walked before I ran," Ozzy Osbourne sings in "Gets Me Through," the opening track on his new album, "Down to Earth." It is at once a touching thank-you...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 3, 2002

Japan makes a profitable connection

THE MOBILE INTERNET: How Japan Dialed Up and the West Disconnected, by Jeffrey Lee Funk. ISI Publications, 2001, 200 pp. $32 (cloth) In the 1970s and '80s, Japanese carmakers flooded world markets with products fresh from factories where workers wore uniforms, sorted parts into brightly colored bins,...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Feb 3, 2002

Clearly making the grade isn't such an easy task

One of the biggest barriers to learning about sake is the terminology used to define the various grades. It is not a simple linguistic matter, as even the average Japanese person, more often than not, does not know specifically to what the terminology refers. These terms were not coined at once, nor...
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2002

Whatever gets you through the night

Although aficionados tend to wax lyrical over the taste of their favorite tipples, shochu (a vodka-like spirit distilled from various grains) is always drunk swamped in a variety of mixes.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 3, 2002

Tower's Bar Bellovisto: You're the tops, baby

There's not long to go till we see off the cold days of winter with pagan festivities of fertility and wild abandon -- no, not Mardi Gras and the Rio Carnival but the ritual observances of St. Valentine's Day. Some people like to send out cards; others mark the occasion through the selfless receiving...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2002

Ten years of Japan-Ukraine friendship

Japan recognized the independence of Ukraine on Dec. 28, 1991 and established diplomatic relations with it a month later, on Jan. 28, 1992.
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2002

Sales of new vehicles decreased 2.6% in January

January sales of new motor vehicles fell 2.6 percent from a year earlier to 248,489, down for the fifth consecutive month, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Crisis fears grow as crunch time for banks nears

A recent nationwide flurry of collapsing credit unions and "shinkin" credit associations was accompanied by a total lack of panic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jan 30, 2002

Going Ga Ga Ga for Ozawa

Ozawa is doing well on the charts these days. Not Kenji Ozawa, the nasally singer whose popularity I cannot fathom, but his uncle, classical conductor Seiji Ozawa. The elder Ozawa's "New Year's Concert 2002" album entered the music-industry trade paper Oricon's Jan. 28 album chart at No. 9, marking the...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 28, 2002

The plastic nature of historic judgment

NEW YORK -- There is something mesmerizing about America's fascination with its own people of prominence, especially presidents. There is an endless stream of biographies, and some become immensely popular.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 27, 2002

Merchant's rich harvest

When Natalie Merchant was a member of 10,000 Maniacs, the seminal '80s folk-rock group, her songs betrayed a liberal social consciousness. In contrast, her 1995 solo debut, "Tigerlily," was willfully insular: a song cycle of love-gone-bad and a glum, some might say pissed-off, cover portrait. Characterized...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jan 27, 2002

Straight from the mothership

So, before I inundate you with a slew of new discoveries in the Shibuya-Ebisu-Daikanyama triangle, I must first pay homage to a funky little hole in the wall of seven years' standing -- Enjoy! House. It -- like 2626 (Flo Flo) -- sits within seconds of the Nishi-Ebisu fiveways. I can never make up my...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 27, 2002

In search of a new life and identity Down Under

FAREWELL TO NIPPON: Japanese Lifestyle Migrants in Australia, by Machiko Sato. Japanese Society Series, Trans Pacific Press, 2001, 161 pp., $29 (paper) At the turn of the millennium, the number of Japanese permanent residents in Australia surpassed 30,000, the highest figure since emigration Down Under...
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2002

Japanese test low in science knowledge

Japan ranked third from the bottom in scientific knowledge tests conducted last year in Japan, the United States and 12 European nations and compiled by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
COMMUNITY
Jan 26, 2002

Still passing on her father's ideals of democracy

Yukika Soma can't see very well these days. Her eyesight is fine, she says; it's just she has trouble controlling her eyelids. She still comes into her Nagata-cho office three or four days a week at the Ozaki Yukio Memorial Foundation, named after her father, but nowadays a young assistant escorts her...
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2002

Toshima eyes tax on nuisance bikes, studio flats

Toshima Ward in Tokyo is planning to introduce the nation's first taxes on studio apartments and on bicycles parked in an obstructive manner near train stations, according to Toshima Mayor Yukio Takano.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2002

486 police officers disciplined last year for improprieties

A total of 486 police officers were dismissed, suspended from duty or reprimanded last year, down 39 from a record high in 2000, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 24, 2002

What was eating away at Judea's King Herod?

Herod the Great, King of Judea, died more than 2,000 years ago, in 4 B.C. He is remembered, among other things, for ordering the Massacre of the Innocents, the systematic execution of baby boys in Bethlehem. It was an attempt, if we are to believe biblical records, to kill the newborn Jesus.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 23, 2002

Love always, Janet

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan seemed to be an odd choice for Janet Jackson's press conference, not that her being in town for the Japan leg of the "All for You" world tour didn't count as news -- the banquet room was packed with reporters and TV crews. But Jackson isn't the kind of news personality...
COMMUNITY
Jan 20, 2002

Living off the record

"I hereby affirm that the above is the complete list of the members of this household," reads a typical juminhyo (resident registration form). The mayor of the issuing municipality applies the official stamp, and the family's all accounted for.
JAPAN / PROTOCOL PURSUIT
Jan 19, 2002

Role of forests seen leading environmental debate

Last of three parts Staff writer Forests are now at the forefront of climate-change debate in Japan.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 18, 2002

Big-name jumpers to skip Japan

Eight of the top 10 leaders in the ski jumping World Cup standings will skip tour events in Japan later this month to prepare for next month's Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Ski Association of Japan (SAJ) said Thursday.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Jan 17, 2002

Chives or chocolate on that, spuds?

www.chocovader.com/ I love how candy aisles in Japanese convenience stores have become shrines to the branded characters of pop culture, shrines where no one pays their respects to the chocolate, which has become a wrap-around commodity to get collectibles placed at kid's eye level. The altars have been...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 17, 2002

Group seeks to close digital gender divide

The old stereotype of the "computer geek" -- taped Coke-bottle glasses, pens and protractors in breast pocket -- has gotten a series of upgrades over the last decade. The geek has morphed into the "techno-wizard," complete with a huge salary, power, influence and sometimes even new glasses.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2002

Sumisei fund becomes first listed on OSE venture market

OSAKA -- A fund managed by Sumisei Global Investment Trust Management Co. on Tuesday became the first investment trust to be listed on a new market for venture funds set up by the Osaka Securities Exchange in December.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2002

Cambodian aid raises concern

Through its involvement in Cambodia since the U.N. peacekeeping process began in 1991, Japan has played a positive role in attempting to bring peace and development to Cambodia. Japan's generous aid program has brought some significant benefits to Cambodians over the past 10 years. These include a glistening...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami