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Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Jun 26, 2003

Everyone's a tour guide in ward civic pride drive

OSAKA -- On every fourth Sunday, Osaka's Hirano Ward turns out to put its best historical foot forward and demonstrate its community pride.
COMMENTARY
Jun 16, 2003

Averting a nuclear disaster

The international community is joining forces to prevent North Korea from escalating its nuclear threat. The Group of Eight summit (June 1-3) at Evian, France, adopted a declaration on the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, criticizing North Korea and Iran for its development of WMDs.
ENVIRONMENT
May 8, 2003

Emerging specialty puts focus on the 'green' way cities could be

Cities appeared relatively late in human history, and have gradually evolved over five millennia to support complex economic, political, religious, academic and military organizations and hierarchies. However, their concentration of wealth, talent and creativity that breeds cultural and scientific innovation...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2003

A silver lining to the SARS epidemic

SINGAPORE -- The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, is sending shivers down the spines of Asian governments and citizens alike. China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam have been the most affected by this scourge, while other Asian countries are desperately trying to prevent the disease...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Mar 27, 2003

Hitachi's friendly face

A 19th-century merry-go-round has been restored recently in the city of Orleans, 130 km south of Paris, thanks to the efforts of former JET Clarisse Carl. It is something her two children, ages 8 and 5, are proud of. But for Carl, an assistant to the president of Hitachi Europe, it is just one of her...
COMMENTARY
Mar 11, 2003

Japan's nation-building role

Amid escalating tension over the Iraqi situation, the international community, including Japan, has again pledged contributions toward reconstructing war-torn Afghanistan. The pledges came at the Tokyo Conference on Consolidation of Peace on Feb. 22, attended by officials from 34 countries, including...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 1, 2003

Mary Kilgarriff

Mary Kilgarriff says she grew up in a service-minded family in Ireland. "When I moved to Japan in 1990, I was struck by the absence here of the type of community service that I took for granted. I approached the Irish ambassador at that time, Jim Sharkey, and his wife, Sattie, and with their support...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 4, 2003

Refunded cash for working at home and a sumo day out

Greetings Greetings from 10,000 meters -- I am beginning this week's column from somewhere high over the Pacific Ocean on United Flight 897 bound for Tokyo.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 25, 2003

Mariko Asano

Americans Millard and Linda Fuller began Habitat for Humanity International in 1976. Appalled to know that more than one-fifth of the world's people were living without decent shelter, this couple set out to do something about poor housing and homelessness. They called on volunteers to help build simple,...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 12, 2002

A fresh approach

Ten years ago, at the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Severn Cullis-Suzuki got the chance to make the speech of her life.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2002

'Multicultural studio' offers hope

Teenagers gathered one weekday evening at an old two-story building next to a housing project in a Yokohama suburb.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Nov 1, 2002

Dialogue building as a social service

Patricia Wakida -- writer, editor, book producer and former JET teacher -- was back in Japan last October doing what she does best: networking.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2002

Testing times for the U.N.

In finally taking the vexed issue of war with Iraq to the United Nations, U.S. President George W. Bush has presented the organization with a double-edged test of credibility. Will it lift its performance and remain relevant to U.S. foreign policy on Washington's terms, or in doing so will it be seen...
COMMENTARY
Sep 4, 2002

Asian stereotypes die hard in U.S. national psyche

LOS ANGELES -- One of the best reading experiences in the United States this summer is the thriller "Absolute Rage," certainly a rage among applauding reviewers from Publishers Weekly to the Los Angeles Times. The 14th in a series of crime thrillers, it tells a well-informed tale about America's brutal...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2002

Armitage rallies Japan support

Richard Armitage, U.S. deputy secretary of state, said Wednesday that the United States will keep its option of launching a military strike against Iraq but will consult closely with Japan and other allies before making a decision.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 24, 2002

When guilt goes beyond crime

First of two parts. The second will appear on this page tomorrow. If you kill one person, an old joke goes, you get sent to jail. Kill 20, you get sent to a mental asylum. Kill 20,000, you get sent to Geneva for peace talks. The story is very much a reflection of the mass atrocities of the 20th century....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2002

It takes a village . . .

The feat of building a community takes vision, commitment and lots of time. But once every year, a massive village materializes on a mountainside in Niigata Prefecture in late July, only to vanish into thin air less than a week later.
COMMUNITY
Jul 4, 2002

Seeking a foreign channel

A movement to keep the channel is developing throughout Japan in reaction to the announcement by News Broadcasting Japan that the 24-hour news service Foxnews will cease operations at the end of July.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2002

Asian Conference on Religion and Peace gets under way in Indonesia

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — The sixth assembly of the Asian Conference on Religion and Peace (ACRP) opens today at the Sheraton Mustika Hotel in Yogyakarata, the ancient capital and cultural center of Indonesia.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2002

A cup of green tea in the jungle

OKINAWA, Bolivia — Shiko Asato is glued to the TV set as NHK news shows the highlights from a recent sumo tournament. His wife Shizuko sets out cups of green tea, a plate of manju bean-paste buns and a couple of cans of nicely chilled Japanese beer. It has, after all, been a scorcher in the jungle....
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2002

Start Indo-Pakistani peace process by recognizing LOC

The recently concluded conference on South Asia, held at the United Nations University during an especially tense week in that region, confirmed three things.
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Feb 11, 2002

Recalling the Tabata district's golden age

Seeing the rows of houses and apartments clustered around JR Tabata Station, it is hard to believe the area was, until the beginning of the last century, a vast agricultural landscape marking the northeastern end of downtown Tokyo.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2001

Afghanistan promised education support

Japan on Friday promised long-term educational support for Afghanistan as part of aid efforts to help rebuild the war-torn country, education ministry officials said.
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2001

Talk to TELL if you get into any kind of trouble

If the time is between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., there is a Tokyo English Life Line volunteer counselor sitting alone at a secret address somewhere in Tokyo, waiting for the phone to ring. This counselor may be male or female, young or elderly, Japanese or non-Japanese. But he or she will...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 7, 2001

Soaking up history

In a quiet residential area of Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, half hidden by a large maple tree, stands an impressive, castlelike wooden structure that is like a portal to another time. With old-fashioned kawara tiles on its pagoda-style roof, and its curliculed surrounding stone wall, the building is evocative...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 2001

Living in the past, with pleasure

A short walk along a twisting, narrow stone path branching off a busy road through Tokyo's Yanaka district brings you to the warm glow of a small andon lamp, its paper shade mounted on a wooden frame.
COMMUNITY
Aug 19, 2001

Tradition in transition

Art went private at the beginning of the 20th century. Back then Cubism's quest for a new visual language, abstract art's pursuit of purity of form, and Surrealism's sense of inwardness had little appeal to a public who viewed Modern Art as self-serving and difficult.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2001

Backers of Chinese press in Malaysia mobilize to defend its freedom

KUALA LUMPUR -- Despite stringent mass media laws, Chinese newspapers in Malaysia have built a reputation for objective, balanced and accurate political reporting and analyses. This widely-held perception among all ethnic groups in multiracial Malaysia -- Malays, Chinese and Indians -- often stands in...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2001

End the neglect of mental-health care

World Health Day, April 7, 2001, focuses on an undervalued and often misunderstood aspect of our health -- our mental health. The World Health Organization and its partners in public health are taking steps to change this perception.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell