Search - study

 
 
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 19, 2001

Bob Dylan: 'Love and Theft'

You can tell how much the critical establishment needs Bob Dylan by the praise heaped on his last studio album, 1997's "Time Out of Mind," which contained five excellent songs, five pretty good ones and one 161/2-minute bore. Music critics decided the album was all about death, and as this was, after...
Events
Sep 18, 2001

Slice of U.S. pie reveals dreams aren't in the sky

KYOTO -- In 1996, Akiko Hirano was finally ready to fulfill her dream of earning a diploma at a U.S. university. So the 47-year-old boarded a flight to Connecticut to chase a higher education.
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2001

Koizumi wants SDF to support U.S. action

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday instructed Cabinet members to study the possibility of drawing up a new law that would allow the Self-Defense Forces to give logistic support to the U.S. should the Americans follow through with military threats made after last week's terrorist attacks.
COMMUNITY
Sep 16, 2001

Can blood type determine character?

If you're a recent arrival to Japan, don't worry if a new friend asks "What's your blood type?" Your inquisitor is unlikely to be a vampire. Here, blood type is believed to tell a lot about a person in just a letter or two: A, B, O or AB.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 16, 2001

The ideology of Japanese identity

MULTIETHNIC JAPAN, by John Lie. Harvard University Press, Cambridge University Press, 2001, 248 pp. $35 Japan and many of its observers have avoided the confusion and contention associated with diversity by assuming, asserting and elaborating a monolithic, monoethnic Japan that jostles uncomfortably...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 15, 2001

Finding market niches to make really good books

Ivan Vartanian makes books. He is not a publisher, nor a commonplace packager. Rather he identifies a niche in the market, lines up the most suitable backing, and then physically puts the book together himself under the company name Goliga Books. All within the constrains of a tiny apartment in Tokyo's...
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2001

Nissan, Renault make integration effort

Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA said Thursday they will launch a joint organization later this month to study ways to integrate their information systems as they move toward joint worldwide automotive operations.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 12, 2001

Artist sees hospital life through a glass darkly

From Parisian alcoholic Maurice Utrillo to Japan's own polka-dot diva Yayoi Kusama, I would guess that the list of artists who have actually lived in mental institutions is just about as long as the list of painters (Picasso, Dubuffet) who regularly hung around them looking for inspiration, searching...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2001

A long-term relationship that works

PARTNERSHIP: The United States and Japan 1951-2001, edited by Akira Iriye and Robert A. Wampler. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2001, 333 pp., 3,800 yen (cloth). On Sept. 8, 1951, Japan and the United States, along with 47 other governments, signed a peace treaty that officially ended the Pacific...
COMMUNITY
Sep 9, 2001

Still healthy, after all these years

FUKUOKA -- Passing your twilight years in Japan used to entail long days of contemplation and an austere diet of tofu. Sound dull? The good news is that doctors these days recommend an active social life for a happy, healthy old age. The bad news is, according to medical practitioner Magoe Ando, you'll...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2001

This is the season of our national discontent

Last week's edition of Aera (Sept. 3) looked at the current "Age of Discontent," while Bungei Shunju published a special issue in August on ways to find happiness. Both themes currently feature on the shelves of Japanese bookstores as well.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 9, 2001

Katsuya Takasu, holding back the years

Katsuya Takasu regards his body as a vehicle to carry his mind. So what he had done to his face two years ago was, as he puts it, "just like fixing an old jalopy."
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 9, 2001

Home is where the harvest is

If you yearn to glimpse a vineyard in autumn, consider visiting one in Japan. In several prefectures, quality-minded vintners are exploring the grape varietals, cultivation techniques and microclimates needed to produce first-class wines.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 8, 2001

Misako Fedorowicz

SHREWSBURY, England -- This country town of Shropshire in the British Midlands is characterized by its crowding, crooked, black-and-white 16th century houses, clustered within a horseshoe loop of the River Severn. Narrow passages known as shuts link winding streets that keep distinctive names acquired...
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2001

Tokyo fails to stem suspected oil exploration

After two hours of nothing but the vast expanse of the East China Sea, a steel structure topped by a streak of flame and a helicopter pad appears on the horizon, growing rapidly in the window of a Maritime Self-Defense Force P-3C patrol plane.
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2001

LDP formulates employment measures

The Liberal Democratic Party has drafted a set of employment measures to help those rendered jobless by corporate restructuring, officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2001

Lens maker shines brightly in economic gloom

When Yasuo Ikuta saw the light focused by his unique lens erupt in a streak of smoke on a paved road about a decade ago, he was stunned by its potential.
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2001

Nippon Steel expands ties with POSCO to include IT

Nippon Steel Corp. has said its strategic business alliance with South Korea's Pohang Iron & Steel Co., or POSCO, will be extended into such areas as information technology and resource development to strengthen their presence in the global market.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2001

Ministry to examine risk of eating contaminated whales

The health ministry has decided to examine the health risks associated with consuming contaminated whale meat from small whales captured along Japan's coast, ministry sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2001

Traditional music industry looks to schools

The tones reverberating from a shamisen or shakuhachi easily bring to mind images of a Japan all but lost in the 21st century.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2001

Gas pipes ruled out as cause of Kabukicho blaze

An inspection of the gas pipes in the Meisei 56 Building in Shinjuku where 44 people died in a Saturday morning fire has ruled out the possibility the blaze was triggered by a gas explosion stemming from corroded pipes, Tokyo Gas Co. said Monday.
COMMUNITY
Sep 2, 2001

Who needs meat?

In 1984, Carl Lewis won four gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics. At the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, he set a world record of 9.86 seconds for the 100 meters. By the time he retired in 1996, he had bagged nine Olympic gold medals and had written himself indelibly into the list of all-time...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 2, 2001

Looking ahead to a reunified Korea

KOREA'S FUTURE AND THE GREAT POWERS, edited by Nicholas Eberstadt and Richard J. Ellings. University of Washington Press, 2001, 361 pp., $22.95 (paperback). Think what you will about North Korea's Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, but the man has a gift for theater. He captivated much of the planet when he...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 30, 2001

Economic might of overseas Chinese does not necessarily translate into political power

Numbering slightly less than 60 million people, the overseas Chinese form a far-flung network that extends from San Francisco to Singapore. With an estimated wealth of more than $1.5 trillion, this group constitutes what could arguably be the third largest economy in the world, following the United States...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 29, 2001

Marshall Crenshaw

With its encyclopedic array of early rock 'n' roll hooks and a spare guitar sound that anyone could duplicate, Marshall Crenshaw's eponymous 1982 debut was the perfect primer, the kind of record mainstream acts could plunder for material to plug into the already ebbing New Wave. The fact that the record...

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