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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 1, 2003

Prodigy foiled in U.S. quest

A U.S. Navy officer was strolling down a deserted street in the town of Shimoda, late on the evening of April 24, 1854, when he ran into two well-dressed young Japanese who handed him a letter in Japanese. The previous month, Commodore Matthew Perry had completed his mission to have Japan sign a treaty...
Events
Jun 1, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Japan films screened free every Wednesday: The Japan Foundation Kyoto Office is inviting foreign residents to its free weekly showings of Japanese films, starting at 2 p.m. each Wednesday this month at its facility in Kyoto's Nakagyo Ward.
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2003

Ministry protests refugee newspaper story

The Justice Ministry has protested against an article run by the Yomiuri Shimbun on Thursday that said the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau is recommending that a former North Korean agent be granted refugee status, according to ministry officials.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 31, 2003

Improve your English via e-mail correspondence

Studying French from age 11, it was exciting when my school in England teamed up with another in France for correspondence exchange. Francoise and I wrote to one another for five years before fading from one another's lives. But I have never forgotten her, or her impact on my life: opening up the world...
BUSINESS
May 27, 2003

JETRO, ministries opening 14 foreign investment offices

The Japan External Trade Organization and 13 other entities, including the trade and foreign ministries, were to each set up an office Monday aiming to boost direct foreign investment in Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
May 27, 2003

Toilet manufacturer plucks success from depths of despair

Failure is but a stepping stone to success. The proverb rang dramatically true in the process of developing a new product at Toto Ltd., the major toilet manufacturer based in Fukuoka Prefecture.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 25, 2003

Time to examine different approaches toward education

The eradication of illiteracy throughout the world is an ongoing endeavor and a noble one. However, in countries where the vast majority of the population can now read and write, those populations did not, as the German poet-essayist Hans Magnus Enzensberger once said, learn to do so "because they felt...
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2003

Auguries in a coffee cup

Eight years ago, there was no such thing as a Starbucks coffee shop in Japan. Now they are part of the landscape; in the big cities, you can often find two or three of the ubiquitous stores with the round green logo within a couple of blocks of each other. That might sound like the ultimate definition...
BUSINESS
May 24, 2003

Shiokawa not sold on Thai FTA

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa and Somkid Chatusripitak, deputy prime minister of Thailand, remained divided Friday over whether to launch talks on a bilateral free-trade agreement, according to a ministry official.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2003

Nonlife insurers show mixed fortunes

Three of the nation's six major nonlife insurer groups posted a net loss in fiscal 2002, due to hefty valuation losses on their securities holdings, according to parent-only financial statements released Monday.
COMMENTARY
May 18, 2003

A regime to quell nuclear fear

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Any real solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis will ultimately be a "grand bargain" with military, economic, political and diplomatic components. Fashioning that deal will require aggressive and creative thinking. The lack of trust in Pyongyang and Pyongyang's lack of trust...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 18, 2003

Dusty wellspring of a 'cultural gem'

Chen Village's simple appearance belies something profound. This dusty hamlet of fewer than 3,000 people has had an impact on Chinese culture far out of proportion to its size, since this is where Taijiquan was born.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 17, 2003

Defensive perfume: to use, just fling it

It was a bad Japan day. After a full day of teaching into the evening, the train was too crowded to find a seat on the way home, and just as I was taking up the old Japanese horse tradition (sleeping while standing), a drunk "salaryman" sidled up and accosted me with bad English for an entire 30 minutes....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 14, 2003

A 'smashing' place for pots

It was 20 years ago today . . . that the famous Kikuchi Collection of Modern Japanese Ceramics was shown to "smashing" reviews at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The 300-piece collection sparked a great interest in modern and contemporary Japanese ceramics that has continued to this day. The...
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2003

Myanmar's gestures are not enough

Once again, the military government in Myanmar has made a symbolic gesture to placate international critics. The release of political prisoners is always welcome, but the government in Yangon does not question its right to use the opposition as pawns. The game must stop; nothing less than systemic reform...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 11, 2003

Koreans make good moves

THE KOREAN DIASPORA IN THE WORLD ECONOMY, edited by C. Fred Bergsten and Inbom Choi. Washington D.C.: Institute for International Economics, Special Report 15, January 2003, 180 pp., $25 (paper) In recent years, increasing attention has been given to the social and economic role of diasporas -- communities...
COMMUNITY
May 11, 2003

Shaking off the shogun's shackles

"The world is wider than we can imagine," said the novelist Iharu Saikaku (1642-93). It's a pregnant thought under a regime doing its utmost to narrow the world. A contemporary of Basho's, Saikaku shows us a restlessness of spirit quite different from the monkish poet's. "There's nothing," declared Saikaku,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 10, 2003

Law unto himself meets Japanese country singer

Hearing a great cover of the country song "All You Ever Do Is Hurt Me" as he descended into Kenny's Country Music Station one Saturday evening in 2001, Chicago-born Dan Rosen wondered who the American woman singing it was. Imagine his surprise, then, when he looked at the stage and heard "this big, really...
BUSINESS
May 9, 2003

Foreign reserves hit new record

Japan's foreign-exchange reserves at the end of April hit a new record high for the fifth straight month, rising by $3.26 billion from a month earlier to $499.44 billion, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
May 8, 2003

More breathing space in the classroom

Last month, just before the new school year started in Japan, I ran into a neighbor at the supermarket. She's a bit high-strung and gets worked up over school matters, so I try to avoid her. But she collared me by the cabbages and dropped her voice to a dramatic whisper. "Have you heard? The Suzukis...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 8, 2003

Shoppers' power coming to the aid of sustainable development

Few environmentalists or economists doubt that the G-7 must take an active role in promoting environmental protection and economic prosperity in the developing world. To date, however, though the G-7 nations -- the economic powers of the developed North -- have dispensed substantial aid to the developing...
COMMENTARY
May 5, 2003

Unity needed on nuclear issue

North Korea's statement that it already has nuclear weapons is most likely an exercise in diplomatic brinkmanship aimed at drawing the United States into direct dialogue. But if the statement is true, the security environment surrounding Japan and Northeast Asia will undergo fundamental change.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 4, 2003

New skipper Lee hopes to change fortunes of BlueWave

It was obvious some big news was coming when the Orix BlueWave indicated during their April 23 "nighter" against the Seibu Lions at Sapporo Dome there would be a press conference after that game. It came as little surprise when manager Hiromichi Ishige was fired, and a lot of eyes were opened when Californian...
COMMUNITY
May 4, 2003

Volleys that rang the death knell of an age

Oda Nobunaga is known as the man who dragged Japan out of its blood-soaked medieval past and cleared the way for the 264-year Tokugawa Shogunate to follow. This he achieved by dint of his advanced grasp of military strategy -- and especially by being the first to realize the deadly potential of firearms....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 4, 2003

Let's fight

It's early afternoon on a hot spring Sunday in Tokyo, and in the tranquil neighborhood park of Kodaira a fight is shaping up. Children still hurtle round the playground in one corner of the park, but at the far end, three men, burly and imposing, circle menacingly round a fourth. A crowd has gathered...
BUSINESS
May 3, 2003

Ruthless foreigners given bad-news role

Japan's regional banks are turning to a tried and true method of conveying bad news: asking a foreign third-party to do it for them.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 1, 2003

Feathered friends of the forest

In a passive way, plants have got birds sussed. They use them, abuse them (ever seen a thrush drunk on fermenting apples?) and mess with their digestive systems. Birds are willing pawns, though; brightly colored flowers and gaudy berries send a simple signal to the bird brain that shouts -- energy! ...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 30, 2003

Matthew Sweet: "Kimi ga Suki * Life"

When applied to pop musicians, the term "big in Japan" tends to be pejorative, as if Japanese fans were less discriminating than those in the rest of the world. The only way to dispel the condescension inherent in the term is by example.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2003

Hatfield of U.S., Devakula of Thailand to be decorated

Former U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield and Thai Privy Councilor Thep Devakula will be honored with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, the second-highest decoration awarded regularly by the Japanese government, the Cabinet Office said Tuesday.
Bank of Japan to start unloading ETFs in surprise move that rattles market
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda said it would take a century for the bank to sell all its ETFs at the pace proposed.
Nippon Ishin urges cap on foreign residents in Japan
While not specifying what percentage of foreign residents should make up the total population, “we conveyed the message that the ratio should be kept as low as possible and that the current rapid pace of increase must be properly curbed,” said Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Fumitake Fujita.
Japan may see its first female PM despite limited progress on gender gap
Hard-line conservative lawmaker Sanae Takaichi has consistently been a public favorite in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election scheduled for Oct. 4.
Osaka Expo visitors top 20 million as crowds surge
Visitors at the Osaka Expo on Thursday.
Koizumi makes economic growth top priority in bid for LDP presidency
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks during a news conference announcing his formal entry into the Liberal Democratic Party leadership race in Tokyo on Saturday.
Behold the glory of Japan’s fruit boxes
Otherwise common sights in Japan's supermarkets, the country's fruit and veggie boxes can hide surprising symbols of local pride.
How Yuki Joseph Nakajima turned failures into breakout success at Tokyo worlds
Yuki Joseph Nakajima after finishing sixth in the men's 400-meter final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Thursday.
Robot tour guides in Tokyo offer way for those with disabilities to work
Tours are being offered in Tokyo using a shoulder-mounted robot equipped with a camera, speaker and microphone. The robot twitches its wing-like arms, which it can fold together as if in prayer when visiting a temple.
World Athletics stars relish Tokyo atmosphere after COVID-hit Olympics
Organizers of the World Athletics Championships said over 500,000 tickets had been sold and that they are expecting to end the event in front of large crowds this weekend.
Japan’s front-line researchers see bright path ahead for dementia treatment
A scientist looks at scans of grains at the Memory Centre at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital (HUG) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 6, 2023.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’
By Alex K.T. Martin

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