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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 16, 2002

All-out attack

Visionaries, alleged pornographers, artists of enduring repute -- Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele both died in 1918. With them ended the first flowering of the Vienna Secession, an artistic movement that declared war on the Establishment in the cause of liberty and modernity. "Der Zeit ihre Kunst (Art...
COMMUNITY
Jan 13, 2002

Time catches up with old men and the sea

HAKODATE, Hokkaido --Kenji Fujita sits among his crabs, the wood fire in a tin bucket at his feet a thin defense against the predawn chill. It's minus 3 degrees at Hakodate's famed morning market, the pitch darkness of 4 a.m. adding layers to the cold.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Jan 10, 2002

Plants for all seasons bring us midwinter cheer

Little by little the days are starting to get longer, though with spring still a long way off this is a good time to do some armchair gardening. Whether you browse through gardening books or magazines, or search the Internet for your reading material, without stirring from your armchair there's plenty...
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 10, 2002

Can you take the Payne?

"Max Payne" falls somewhere between "Pulp Fiction" and "The Matrix." Well, OK, "Max Payne" is a video and computer game, so maybe it only falls virtually between those two Hollywood blockbusters.
COMMUNITY
Jan 6, 2002

Change: Now new and improved!

Whether through genetically modified foods, the mapping of the human genome or global climate change, technology and science are changing our lives, often much faster than we might like. Things are moving so fast that it is difficult to imagine our lives 20 years from now, let alone what's in store for...
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jan 6, 2002

Starting at the root of Japanese cooking

A samurai party — pungent as daikon radish their conversation! — Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 5, 2002

13 another lucky number for 'surimono' albums

David Bull is as insistent as he is stubborn. No sooner has he sat me down beside his workbench (the only warm room in the house), with younger daughter Fumi (16) creating a Web page on the computer on top of the "kotatsu," then he is demanding how much I know about "hanga" (woodblock prints).
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2002

Dads take child-care leave at own risk

Minoru Omoishi, 35, took three months' leave in 1999 to care for his newborn triplets.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 4, 2002

Medic's lifesaving mission

Human rights activist Dr. Masaki Tada leads a double life. He has just returned from Peshawar, Pakistan, where he struggled to save the lives of Afghan refugees with the meager resources at his disposal. In Japan, he plays a very different role -- as president of Josai Hospital, a modern, fully equipped...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 1, 2002

Bad times spark new breed of lottery fan

Masao Kitasawa, 58, is a lottery fan. He buys about 10 lottery tickets a week, spending roughly 10,000 yen a month to "dream a little."
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2001

The euro's tangible new legacy

On New Year's Day, many traditional Japanese performance arts come into their element. Rakugo is a time-honored version of standup comedy. Well, sit-down really, since the kimono-clad performer actually sits on a cushion and uses nothing but a towel and a fan as props -- any kind of prop that may be...
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2001

Little bags of luckiness

Just about a month ago, at the start of the holiday shopping season, consumers in Japan and other affluent countries were being urged to sit on their wallets for "Buy Nothing Day," the now annual and global act of homage to self-restraint. Get in the habit of buying only what you need, not what you want,...
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2001

Mitsui Mutual to get 100 billion yen cash injection

Mitsui Mutual Life Insurance Co. said Thursday that Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and other firms have agreed to plow a combined 100 billion yen into its foundation funds to improve its financial health.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 27, 2001

2001: Science's top 10

In a year when the human genome sequence was published, when biological weapons were deployed and when a primate was cloned, how do you pick the scientific highlights and lowlights? You let the scientists do it for you.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Dec 27, 2001

Get ready for Xbox

The last time an American company successfully launched a game console in Japan, Jesse Takamayama was the famous Hawaiian Sumo wrestler and Chad Rowan (aka Akebono) was still in high school. The last time an American company successfully launched a video game console in Japan, a famous hanafuda card...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2001

Simply, the best

This was a year in which the most memorable screen image belonged to reality, not cinema. Indeed, as many have noted, the spectacle of airline jets ramming into the World Trade Center towers was all too reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster's money shot -- and that may have been the point. Terrorists...
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2001

Two-time killer given death sentence

OSAKA -- The Osaka High Court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling and imposed a death sentence on a former rightist group member who killed two men in separate murder-robbery cases in Osaka Prefecture in 1992 and 1994.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Dec 25, 2001

And the winner is . . .

My grandmother used to tell us that Christmas is a time for forgiveness, not just binge drinking and belching your way through the Bond movie as the 6 pounds of turkey you scoffed at dinner threaten to reappear from the nearest available orifice.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 23, 2001

Beating the game -- at last

"Dad, could you show me how to make a jump shot?" So my younger son once requested as we stood beneath a hoop in his junior-high playground.
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...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Dec 20, 2001

Sports world fails to confront fear

It's very interesting to see how people react to crisis. Some embrace it and confront it. Some try to fight it and overheat. Others just run from it altogether.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2001

Scale of Sept. 11 determines type of trial

SEOUL -- While Afghanistan has historically been referred to as the great game among the Great Powers vying for political supremacy in central Asia, a great debate has emerged in the United States over whether the terrorists responsible for the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon...
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2001

Shiodome development to spruce up center of Tokyo

The southern half of central Tokyo is teaming with development projects aimed at reviving a city long criticized for its lack of space and greenery.
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2001

Think tanks negative on '02 economy

Eight of Japan's 10 major private-sector think tanks predict the nation's economy will shrink between 0.3 percent and 1.2 percent in fiscal 2002, painting a bleaker picture than the government's earlier forecast of zero percent growth.
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2001

Would you believe? e-mail@30

When Alexander Graham Bell sent the first telephone message on March 10, 1876, he was not only well aware of the date, he had someone on hand to record his words ("Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.") The man knew he was making history.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2001

65% worried or uncertain about their lives: survey

About 65 percent of Japanese people are worried or feel uncertain about their lives, the highest rate on record, apparently due to the continuing sluggish economy, according to a Cabinet Office survey released Saturday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 16, 2001

The final downfall of a hard-boiled harridan

Just audible under the cheers that greeted the birth of the new princess was the tip-tapping of bored fingers coming from the direction of the "wide shows," where smiling faces and mandatory keigo barely masked acute impatience. Nine months of being forced to keep quiet about the crown princess's pregnancy...
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2001

'Spirited Away' shares culture award

Blockbuster animated film "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" ("Spirited Away"), directed by Hayao Miyazaki, will share one of four grand prizes at the Agency for Cultural Affairs' 5th Media Arts Festival in February, according to the executive committee for the annual event.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 12, 2001

Diverse splendor in many a jar

The depth and variety of Japanese pottery has enraptured the senses for many a season. As the seasons change and the baton of life is passed on, the beauty of older Japanese pottery remains unwithered, even in this winter season and amid all the changes that have occurred within and without. In a sense,...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2001

Israeli occupation spawns cycle of death

AL-BIREH, West Bank -- In the 48 hours following the horrific suicide bombings in Israel, hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon addressed the nation while simultaneously increasing, by yet another step, Israel's part of the violence in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Sadly, no end...

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo